Saturday November 19 -- Yesterday I set an appointment to get my hair cut at Sagar for 9am this morning. I thought it would be an interesting experience, and it sure was. After exiting the apartment, it turns out there is a HUGE antique fair in Lucca, which we thought was tomorrow. As I was walking over to the hair salon, the vendors were setting up their booths.
Well going to get your hair cut in another country is an experience and one I wanted to try. When I arrived, they were just opening, so they ushered me into a room to put on a smock. their smocks were sort of like paper, whereas at Belli Capelli, they are cloth. I had to wait until exactly 9am where a young girl with a very funky hair cut, washed and conditioned my hair. The basins are much different from what I have seen in the US -- you basically sit up staight and then bend your neck into what looks like a bed pan (sounds bad but was not). The water force here is very light as it is the ancient plumbing, but they give you a great massage as they wash. Then a separate young girl came over and combed out my hair and applied the conditioner. They then walked me over to a chair, where another woman came and combed out my hair. Finally Adriano, one of the two male owners came over to cut my hair. While I was facing a mirror his cutting was out of view... and was much different from how it is done in the US... it looked like he as clipping and clipping... and while I only wanted 1/2 inch taken... there was more, maybe an inch. It is a bit feathered instead of an even cut, which will be interesting to see how it works in Seattle. After he finished, another different girl came over and blow dried my hair - something I normally do in about 3 minutes, took her a good 20 minutes, as if she was drying each and every strand. In the end, it looks acceptable so now I can say I have the experience of an Italian hair cut for the mere price of $47e - much cheaper than I would pay in Seattle. Adriano spoke english, and instead of trying to explain what I wanted done, I had to explain in English -- for fear of asking for a mohawk... but then revered back to Italian - for which he complimented me (at least for trying). I watched him jabber away at another lady as he cut her hair and her head was bobbing all over the place... but in the end, she had a very modern hair cut. Me, just the same, but shorter. Hey -- hair grows, so even if I dont like it in a few days, it will grow out. Sorry no pix of me.
Now we are off the explore the antique fair that seems to have covered each and every corner of Lucca today. The travel books said that this was held on Sunday, but to our surprise, virtually every square in the SW part of the city is covered with antiques. Carol and I strolled around for an hour or so. Carol buying a few items, and me buying a mongolian egg made of bone. I antiques here are really amazing but way to costly to ship to the US .... so I can only dream about furnishing my villa.
We met my cousin Michelangelo and his son at the train station. From there we went to Annunziata's house to chat for a while where rest of the family waited. They are such fun people that is was so nice to see Michelangelo, Mirella, Fulvio, Valeria, Sara, and Annunziata. We had coffee/tea/hot chocolate and got caught up on what was happening in everyone's lives. Michelangelo has a summer home that is near Prato where we will go to visit tomorrow.
Annunziata and Fulvio looking at small apples that grow at Annunziata's house.
For tonight Fulvio made reservations at a restaurtant near their summer home. Off we went on the Autostrada to a fantastic restaurant near Ponte Bugganese (between Lucca and Florence) that used to be a place where cows were weighed, now turned into a restaurant. Fulvio ordered virtually every one of their appetizers for sample ranging from plenta, a wine soaked nut bread, pickled olives/carots, you name it, we tried it. Then local beer and wine was ordered before our main course. The dish I had was fantastic a local tuscan tortellini. As a followup Michelangelo ordered some lemon gelato for everyone to share.
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