Day 8- River Park Lucca

Today was another day spent in Lucca. We walked North, outside of the walls this morning to the Serchio river park.

The park is in a floodplain along the banks of the Serchio river. There are trails that run the length of the river, all the way to Pisa.

We stuck to the grassy area near the bridge. Jasper got to use his new soccer ball to play with Grandma and a dog who wandered by.

There was also a huge pipe in the park, that provided an hour of entertainment for the kids. 

Oscar got one minor injury in the pipe.

We were back at the apartment for lunch and naps, then Ellis prepared us a snack platter.

We rented bikes again for a sunset ride around the wall. This time, Pat and I were on a tandem and Ellis and Jasper each had their own bikes.

Ellis had a spill, since she wasn't used to the hand breaks. She crashed right near a seniors tai-chi class, so lots of people ran to her aide.

Jasper was so fast on his bike that we couldn't keep up. We ended up having to leave Ellis behind for a minute to race ahead and tell Jasper to slow down, otherwise I think he would have biked past our end point. Each of the gates to the city look very similar once you're up on the wall.

Oscar also got to try out a pedal bike with training wheels. He still rides a balance bike at home, but he got the hang of pedaling pretty fast.

After all of that hard work, we had to get gelato on the way home. Pat also found an English used bookstore to purchase some reading material.