Pleasant

After trips to Cinque Terre, Rome, and Pisa over a four-day span, we spent the last couple of days in Lucca and in the apartment.  Sunday was a day of rest, a day for catching up on writing, for doing laundry and going to the grocery store, and we even stayed in for dinner.  We thought about going out and finding a place to watch the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina, but it didn’t start until 9:00 p.m. our time, and any time after that is past Shelley’s bedtime.

Yesterday we awakened to thunder and heavy rain.  It was cool enough that Shelley was wearing a sweatshirt (not the Italia sweatshirt she bought the other night in Pisa), and the weather app said that it might clear by nightfall, so we spent most of the day inside reading and writing.  Shelley did find an umbrella in the closet that that she used to go out and buy sandwiches for lunch.

The weather has been a pleasant surprise.  Everyone in Richmond predicted, “It’s going to be hot,” but it’s gotten as hot as 90 only a couple of times, and even then it’s not Richmond hot, because it’s not as humid.  I learned about how brutal the heat and humidity can be in Richmond during the summer when I first moved to Ashland right after college to start my job at Randolph-Macon.  My girlfriend at the time (pre-Shelley) had given me a baby cactus as an apartment-warming gift, and because I wasn’t moving in until the end of the day, I left it in the car.  By the end of the day the baby cactus was dead.

By contrast, the weather in Lucca has been bearable and even pleasant. (Pleasant has become my new favorite word.  At least once a day I’ll be sitting somewhere, usually at an outdoor café, and I’ll be moved to say, “This is right pleasant.”)  The first week we were here it was warm enough that we used a fan during the day to keep the air moving and the small room air conditioner at night, but over the past couple of weeks the temperature has ranged from very comfortable to verging on cool.  I have read that Italy gets hot in August, which is why the entire country goes on holiday, but I haven’t seen it here in July.  We’ve gotten enough rain to know there’s not a drought, and the view out the window when I sit down to write is scenic, a mixture of green vegetation and old buildings.

The weather cleared by mid-afternoon, so late in the day we went out to run a couple of errands and find dinner.  Shelley had bought a Lucca Summer Festival t-shirt last week that was small, so she exchanged it.  While she was doing that I took a look at a commemorative picture book of the Summer Festival that has pictures of performers who have played in Lucca between the first festival in 1998 and 2012.  It’s like a Who’s Who of Rock and Roll, including artists such as: Bob Dylan; Crosby, Stills, and Nash; James Brown; Paul Simon; Alicia Keys; Elton John; Earth, Wind, and Fire; Eric Clapton; the Dave Matthews Band; Norah Jones; and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  I’m sure there are others I’ve forgotten.  Then there are acts like tonight’s headliner, Chic, featuring Nile Rodgers.

Lucca is not the only city in Tuscany with a summer music festival.  When we were in Barga we noticed posters for the jazz festival, and Pistoia, located halfway between Lucca and Florence, has a blues festival.  Performing at that festival tomorrow night is singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega, whose best known hit was “Luka” (not about the city).  For opera lovers, there is also a Puccini festival in Torre del Lago.  Giacomo Puccini, the composer of operas such as La Boheme, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly, was born in Lucca, and each evening at 7 p.m. one of the local churches gives a one-hour recital of his works.

After exchanging shirts we had dinner.  After three weeks in Lucca we have yet to eat at the same place twice, we have eaten outdoors every time, and we have yet to have a bad meal.  Last night we decided to pass on pasta, pizza, and other mainstays of our Italian diet.  Shelley had salmon and I had roast beef, and I am sure I said at least once as we sat enjoying our meal, “This is right pleasant.”