Jeanne visits / Family Picnic.

We've had a busy week-end. Nancy's friend Jeanne from Washington DC arrived late last week to stay with us for a few days. She had courageously travelled alone on this her first trip to Europe, spending one day in Rome and the next in Florence before taking the train to Lucca. We did our best to help her recover from the initial shock of those bustling places and to ease her into the easier pace here in Lucca and Camaiore. Vivienne, Nancy and Jeanne did quite a bit of shopping in the first 48 hours; then we all stayed here



The picnic was quite a success, although a few folks from last time were not able to come this year, we added Vivianna, one of my mother's first cousins, who we had not met before, as well as her son Sergio (a recent college graduate) and her 90-years-old mother. Altogether, we numbered 26 persons at the table under the big tree.
We saw Jeanne off at the train in Viareggio on Sunday; Monday Nancy and I took a daytrip to Pistoia, a fairly large city near Florence, which despite not having received any particular recommendations from our local relatives turned out to be a fairly pleasant place, at least in the old center of town.
We have today received an invitation to lunch at the country home of cousin Franchesca (other first cousin of my mother's) who having missed the picnic is hoping to host a family gathering of her own.