Our Tuscan adventure took us away by train this afternoon to lovely Lucca. After an hour and a half we stepped inside the fortified walls of the city and into a place quite different from Florence. Wandering from sight to sight we all enjoyed our free time here. Lucca has a beautiful walking and bicycling trail along the tree-lined upper part of the walls. Some of us took time to stroll there while other checked out shops and sidewalk cafes. A couple of folks were spotted eating gelato too! This city has a quiet sophistication that makes it seem a world apart from Florence and other places full of tourists (us!) this time of the year. Napoleon took a liking to this Italian jewel and gave it to his sister as a gift! The train ride was our initiation into the nuiances of Tuscan train travel. It was a good beginning to several more train rides coming up in the next week or so. We were happy to hear "Firenze - Santa Maria Novella" as we pulled back into our home station after a very pleasant day. More later . . . Ciao!