The explosion at the train station kind of overshadowed our last night in Viareggio, naturally, but we did have some good times before it happened that I wanted to mention. For one, Sara, Brian and I took a long bike ride down to the murolone (big wall) of Viareggio, down through the parks that go through Torre de Lago, and back to our favorite, the Cremeria Emma, for our ultimo crepe with lemon and sugar. The next day, Sara, Brian, and I, along with a girl we had become friends with from the hotel, went to the beautiful town of Lucca which is just a short train ride away. We however rode the bus which took almost an hour through the curvy Italian roads. Once we got there, we were very happy and enjoyed visiting the medieval city-which is also the only city in Italy surrounded entirely by walls. Anche, there is a unique tower in the middle of the town that has a small grove of oak trees growing on top. We climbed it, took in the view, and toured the rest of the city. The pictures show it off better so check them out on Picasa. That evening after Lucca, we had our delicious dinner prepared by Muriel with Sofia, Carlo, Sara, Ivan and his son, Joshua which Brian mentioned in the last blog. Then our walk out to the pier and the explosion. Very tragic and strange and sad... The next day, Sara and I rode over to see the scene at the train station and get some pictures of the fire damage. When we returned, Sofia told us that Berlusconi, the Italian President, was coming to Viareggio because of the tragedy so Sara and I, being the curiose that we are, went over and joined the crowd to wait on him. That was also interesting and something I've never before experienced. When he arrived, half of the crowd started cheering while the other half started shouting out against him. Then some people yelled at them to have respect for the people that died the night before and then people were arguing all over the place and the media jumped all over it. We have gotten very mixed reactions on Berlusconi and his presidency from the Italians we've met and there I got to witness it first-hand. I got a great video of them arguing and tried to post it, but it was too long.

Aside from all this, we loved our time in Viareggio. Sofia, Carlo, and Sara were so wonderful to us and we were very sad to leave them. We made so many memories and had so much delicious food plus the incredible amount of Italian we learned through our day-to-day interaction and their patience was priceless. They're our favorite people in Italy and we'll miss them. I hope you all enjoy the pictures on Picasa! Brian is going to make a post on our trip to Venice with Erica and Alan soon.

We love you all, thank you for keeping up with us,

Jessica and Brian

by the murolone

the view of Lucca from the tower with the oak trees

short video of Berlusconi's arrival (no fighting)

at Carlo's butcher shop on his last day of work and our last day in Viareggio

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Tonight was our last night in Viareggio, and what a night it was.
We ate like kings and said our goodbyes.

The meal was prepared by our new friend Ivan, a ship captain, and his "first mate" Muriel. We ate an octopus casserole made with potatoes and greens, seared tuna, and tiramisu con frutti di bosco (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries). It was a wonderful dinner needless to say. As usual, we finished it with a cup of espresso and a walk to the pier. All was well.

And then the sky lit up with flames...

Everyone on the pier began to panic - calling family members and rushing towards their homes. The four of us were running to what looked like an explosion in the center of our city. It seemed to be spreading like a wildfire...

The closer we got to our home, the more clear it became that the fire was not in the center, but at the train station. When we arrived at the hotel, this was confirmed.
People were gathered in the streets covering their mouths and trying to make sense of what happened. Apparently a train carrying 14 carriages including two gas tanks had derailed and collided with another train... hence the explosion. The collision happened just past the passenger platforms - the same platforms we stepped off of just 5 hours earlier upon returning from Lucca.
After a short while, someone had the idea to take our photos to the giornale "newspaper". So we did just that and hurried over to the giornale where we uploaded our pictures to their server.
Now we are all watching the news and listening to reports of people who have been killed (16 so far) and badly burned. It's too soon to tell, but the damage appears to be great.
Alan and Erica, if you're reading this... we might run into a few snags tomorrow on our train ride. I'm not sure how we'll get out of Viareggio yet, but we'll more than likely take a bus to a surrounding city and leave from there. We will keep you posted.

Keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. They will need it.

Much Love,
Brian & Jess

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