Lucca!

So as I stated in my previous post, I went to Lucca today for a day trip. We got there around noon and just started walking around. We walked on a path that went with the wall that goes around the town. It was amazing! I loved Lucca! I could have studied abroad there and been extremely happy. I think what I really liked about it was that there were so many people out running, biking, walking, you name it. There were just a lot of people exercising. It was a nice change from Siena, where people look at you like you're crazy when you run. In Lucca, it was normal. It's one aspect of Siena that I don't particularly like. People usually only walk around to go to work, go shopping, or go to school. They don't just walk around to get exercise. It made me happy to see so many people running and biking. I do have to say that where we were walking was the perfect place to go running. I would love to run there and I can understand why so many people run. It takes to around the outside of the town via the wall. Another nice thing about Lucca was that it was quiet and peaceful. Siena is a small city, but there are a lot of people bustling about. It was great to have fewer people and fewer cars around. There was a street that I swear could have been put in Burlington, VT. As we were walking down it, I got the feeling of Church Street. It was great!
We went to get lunch at a really cute place. Our waiter brought over our drinks and ended up spilling one of the drinks on me. It took him a second to react. He just stood there staring and then just said "No. Oh no. No." I was totally fine and I kind of laughed it off. I mean, there wasn't much I could do. I went into the bathroom and tried to dab up my jeans a bit. Eventually I just stopped trying and went back out to the table. Since it was a really nice day out, the sun managed to dry my jeans by the time we were done eating. I was wearing a white shirt though and a bit of the drink got on it, so I'm hoping that washing it will get out the spots. The waiter was really sweet and when he brought the check to us, he told me that he had paid for my meal. It was really nice of him and I was pretty happy that I only had to pay for my drink. :)
After we just walked around the town a bit and went to see a couple of churches. We mainly just wandered and made our way back to the wall where we sat and relaxed for a bit. We saw lots of dogs just running on the grass, which was great to see. It was nice to see open areas of grass, since Siena really doesn't have that. We went back into the town and got some gelato before heading back to the train station. I basically got a sundae. It was soft serve yogurt with strawberries, nutella, and melted white chocolate. It was amazing! So good! I want another one right now. I want to go back to Lucca solely for that. Mom, Dad - I think we should make a detour to Lucca on our way to Florence :) You guys would love it! I'm so glad I went and it was a much needed trip out of Siena. Very relaxing and exactly what I needed :)