Day 5: Florence to Lucca to Cinque Terre

At the middle of the trip the little annoyances build up. Last night we were sound asleep and had to deal with a student who was locked out of his room…took awhile to deal with that. (No, his room mates were not at fault.) QThis morning I never got to sit down and eat breakfast. I had one problem after another: a lost phone, a need for Tylenol (but it has to be pure Tylenol. I can’t take ibuprofen or aspirin or any other pain killer), keys that didn’t work, people who just needed to sit down on the bus so we could go. At the end of the day, same thing: I’m not happy with my room. I have to be with my friend. My daughter is unhappy. My friends ditched me. A circuit breaker blew and a couple of rooms had no electricity. I need an extra key. I love them all and want them to be happy, but sometimes it’s not possible. mEveryone, including me is exhausted. I might be getting too old for teen travel because I sometimes just want them to show up, sit down, and be happy. Other times they are amazing and wonderful. Gee whiz, I sound like their parents!

That said, we had a wonderful day. We stopped at one of my favorite cities: Lucca. It’s one of those historic walled cities that still feels authentic. it’s filled mostly with people who live there and not just tourists.

We went to the Carrera marble quarries. The marble for Michelangelo’s David came from here. I always love doing things I’ve never done before, and this was a special and unique experience. We climbed all over the huge rocks. The boys scared us by being way too close to the sheer drop offs. It was spectacular. Again, the pictures don’t give any idea of how magnificent it was. Some of the graffiti was cool.