We
think we’ve solved the mystery of the elusive bar, Girano del Gusto, or at
least we’ve rationalized to our satisfaction our failure to find it. Last evening, armed with a fresh look at the
map and with directions found on the internet, we made another excursion to
locate and, hopefully, patronize it.
We
left the apartment and took Via Fallungo past its intersection with Via Buia
(which may or may not be pronounced Boo-yah!). According to the map the next right was
Chanesso Barletto, the street where the bar is supposed to be located. Chanesso Barletto, like a lot of the side
streets in Lucca, is indistinguishable from an alley, and there was no street
sign (in Lucca the street signs are on the side of the building on the corner),
but we are relatively sure we were on the right street.
We
are also relatively sure that there was no bar to be found. Shelley’s internet map search showed it on the
corner, but Chanesso Barletto ended without anything that looked like a
bar. There were, however, several empty
storefronts, leading us to believe that Girano del Gusto is no longer in
business, at least at that location. And
how could it be, when it’s impossible to find?
If anyone knows that it does actually exist, let us know, as it’s become
our Holy Grail (of pale ale).
After
that we needed a beer (not to mention dinner), so we stopped at a café on the
edge of Piazza San Michele. The menu
offerings were minimal, so we decided to have a drink and then go somewhere
else to eat. There was a nice breeze
blowing, and across the piazza a jazz trio was playing at the very spot where
during the day a guy dressed as a Roman Centurion, with face painted white,
poses for pictures with tourists. A
couple of blocks down Via Vittorio Veneto, we could see the stage in Piazza
Napoleone, where the Lucca Summer Festival starts tonight.
As
we sat there, a car pulled into the Piazza and stopped. It appeared to be tourists, and the wife got
out asking for directions. Traffic is
restricted inside the wall, and tourists are advised to park in lots outside. The
predominant modes of transportation are on foot or by bicycle, so seeing an
automobile is rare and may be cause for alarm.
Most of the streets are so narrow that it is not easy to drive even a
small car, and I now realize why they manufacture all those tiny cars, although
I was shocked yesterday to see someone driving an SUV. The
other day we saw our first traffic light, at both ends of a narrow, windy
street, but it wasn’t clear how it worked.
Perhaps it turns red at the other end once someone drives through at one
end.
It’s
not clear whether the driving restrictions are because of the narrow streets
and the largely pedestrian population or in recognition of how careless and
casual drivers are. It is not unusual to
see someone weaving through people walking down the street with almost no
clearance on either side of the vehicle or popping out of a blind alley without
stopping, but that doesn’t stop drivers from doing so while occupied talking on
a cell phone. I’ve started to wonder
whether drivers in Lucca are required by law to use a cell phone while
driving. In any case, both Shelley and I
are amazed that more people aren’t hit by stray vehicles on the streets of
Lucca.
We
ended up walking back to one of the restaurants located just outside the Piazza
dell’Anfiteatro for dinner. Shelley had
ravioli and I had homemade lasagna, and the food was good, better than the
service. Italian servers thus far have
been without exception much more laid back that servers back home. The guidebooks I consulted have all said that
tipping is not an expectation, and last night our bill included a 2 euro per
person charge for service, the first time we have encountered that. Shelley decided that removed any need for a
further tip. So here’s today’s
chicken-or-egg question: is tipping not
common because the quality of service doesn’t justify it, or is the service the
way it is because of tipping not being common?
On
a related note (related insofar as the chicken is a member of the bird family),
our table gave me a view through an entranceway to the center of the Piazza,
and I had an opportunity to consider the existential conundrum of being a
pigeon in Lucca. The pigeons are
everywhere (or at least everywhere there’s food), and are comfortable enough
that they walk between tables and feet at the outdoor cafes. But being a pigeon obviously has its
challenges as well. Last night there
were adults in the center of the amphitheatre feeding the pigeons at the very
same time that their young children were getting their exercise and kicks
chasing the pigeons.
I
had hoped to return to the Piazza later in the evening to watch the USA-Belgium
World Cup game, but Shelley was fried (the game didn’t start until 10 p.m.
local time, past her normal bedtime) so I stayed in and followed it
online. It was clear throughout the game
that Belgium was controlling play and that it would have taken a miracle for us
to win (which we almost got at the end of regulation), and after an amazing
performance by U.S. goalie Tim Howard
kept the score at nil-nil through regulation time, the inevitable finally
occurred in the 30-minute extra time. It
certainly would have been nice to win and advance at least one more round, but
I went to bed proud of our team.
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