Walking with Angels. Lucca to Altopascio

GIt was a good nights sleep with lots of room. We walked around the narrow streets last night, filled with tourists and locals all out enjoying a warm evening. We got away at 7:30am and with a tourist map, found our way out of the walled city and suburbs. Both of us are still exhausted from yesterday and the legs got heavier as the morning went on. We had decided some time ago to stop at Altopascio which is only 18 kilometres from Lucca and it us a good thing we did. We need more rest time and a short day is one way to get it. We both could have had another full day in Lucca as it is a very interesting place. It is Saturday today and as usual we get a lot of looks from all the students at the bus stops on their way to school. A few days ago we saw where they were quarrying the stone from the mountains.

Trucks carrying huge cuts of marble and yards and yards full of stone cut into sheets being polished. Now we are into more industrial areas where we see some smoke stacks, but we also see some closed down factories. We can see why Angela Merkel in Germany wants to prop up the weaker sisters in the EU, there are an awful lot of Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes cars being driven here. We are developing an ever growing observation of Italian drivers. They ignore all posted signs such as stop signs. They talk on their phones while driving and smoking. They show absolutely no respect for any pedestrians. They drive as fast as they want to whether in town or not. The use of signal lights is definitely optional. These are not criticisms, just observations. Our room in Altopascio is very nice with a balcony and ensuite for 55E and no breakfast, but this city is no Lucca with its interesting old town. Went into centro to get a few things for tomorrow. We asked the pharmacist about a doctor and he sent us out with a map of where yo find him. When we found him, he looked at C's knee and said something about a cyst. He also said we should go to a specialist to have it drained.

C decided rather than go back to Lucca we will keep going and try to find an emergency room hospital along the way, perhaps in Sienna. We met Michelle tonight who is from Besancon and is walking to Rome as well. Michelle didn't think the cyst is something to be overly concerned about, so we will see as we walk along the next few days. Unfortunately I dropped the camera today so there are no pictures. If I have any pictures from now on they will be from the iPad.