Guinigi Tower- the Lucca landmark

The hostel where I stayed is to the right of the church in the back middle

I love Lucca

Tree on top of the tower

More pictures of Lucca

Hotel Universo- Where I worked in the Piazza Giglio

Sara, Patti and I- the great women I worked with :)

The Alimentari- best sandwich shop I have ever been to in my life

Laura and I- my friend from the Villa watching the Norah Jones concert

Group listening to the Elton John concert- before we got crazy and danced to Crocodile Rock

Goodbye Lucca

Today I say goodbye to Lucca, and that saddens me deeply. I have had a wonderful summer full of new experiences. I will never forget my time here and will miss the Lucchese people and culture so much. The opera was performed this week and it was absolutely beautiful, but it has been very sad to say goodbye to many people I have grown close with.

I am headed to Paris tomorrow morning to travel around with Sarah so that should be loads of fun. We are probably going to Brussels and Amsterdam later in the week, so I might try to do some alone traveling on Mon-Wednesday.

Hopefully I will be able to update some more photos from my travels. I will be back in the US on the 23rd and I look forward to seeing many of you. Thanks for reading my blog this summer.

Love, Kaye

Tuscan Villa

On Sunday the brass choir was invited to a Villa outside Lucca to perform. I was invited to travel with them and experience the Villa. This villa is owned by the sweetest family and they have dedicated their life to educating young people about the Mediterranean diet, so needless to say there was an amazing meal at the end of the concert. All the food was grown on the property as well.

Back side of the main house

So beautiful!

Patti and I inside the main house

Robin and I after dinner

Robin and Travis near the pool where we took a late night swim!

More pictures

Karl playing at Bar Astra

Marie joining in and sounding amazing

The Dome from the inside

Karl took a fun picture in the Piazza in front of San Croce

Statue in the Uffizi courtyard

Other pictures

Brian got his clothes after three weeks of waiting

Nathan and I coming back from the beach

Kathleen, Dan, Karl and I

Karl and I

The Brass Choir, post concert

Top of the Duomo

Friday I traveled with my friend Karl to the top of the duomo in Florence. It was an incredible view. Here are some of the pictures from the top.

Update

Well another week has flown by here in Lucca. I got pretty sick last week so I spent a great deal of the week napping and trying to feel better. However, I got antibiotics for 10 euro with no prescription from the Farmacia- who needs insurance right?
On Saturday Brian, Anthony, Nathan and I traveled to the nearby beach to soak up some sun and swim in the Mediterranean. The free beach is really crowded so we only stayed a few hours but it was nice to relax and swim a bit.
Sunday I spent the day recuperating and taking a nice long nap in the middle of the day. I am almost back to 100% now, so that makes me very happy.
Last Friday I did get the opportunity to have the best meal I have had this far on the trip. The two women I work with and some other faculty went to a seven course vegetarian meal at a wonderful restaurant. It started off with fried sage leaves, polenta with cheese, rissoto with gorgonzola, and fried eggplant...I cannot remember the rest, but every course was delicious! I really love Patti and Sara in the office, they are making this experience so nice and easy for me. I could not ask for better people to work with.
Overall I am learning a lot about scheduling and my Italian is getting a little better every day, although it is still pretty poor. I had a job interview last week with the Chicago Symphony on the phone, and I hopefully will have another interview lined up soon with Music of the Baroque. If anyone hears of good jobs in Chicago please pass the info my way.
Miss you all, Happy Birthday Dad, I love you :)