9.26 - Monday Part II - Viareggio

ROUND & ROUND & ROUND VIAREGGIO

“I think you turn left here, no wait that’s not Via Antonio Fratti, try that way… no wait, that’s not it.”

“OK let me see that thing, yep this aint the way, I’m going back to the circle and we will try this one more time. Opps there’s the road, we turn right here.”

“I … don’t… think…so...”

“OK we will try this way…Hey… there’s A. Mazzini, the parcheggio can’t be far - its along here somewhere…”

And so the girare-u adventures continue. This time in Viareggio. Our primary purpose for visiting this seaside town often referred to as “Tuscany’s Beach” was to visit a restaurant famous for his fish “Da Giorgio” on Alessio’s recommendation and of course Chucky plotted directions to both Da Giorgio & what has now become an elusive parking lot a short walk away. We have just spent 30 minutes going round and round Viareggio looking for the parcheggio. Dragon Chic is starting to get frustrated & so is Chucky who pulls over into an available parking spot to pull out the directions & decides they are lost and declares, “I’m heading for the water, I know I will find something there”

Now we are trying to find Vialle G. Marconi,  more girare-u’s   so he pulls over to another parking spot..”maybe we will just park here” still trying to decide where Da Giorgio is and how close we are.

“No I don’t like this place, lets go and find something else.” We find Marconi [he was never really lost, we were] & slip into a parking spot across from the Grand Hotel Viareggio and he heads off to ask directions. 10 minutes later he is back in the car,

“They have no idea where I am talking about” and “I don’t like this parking spot, there are too many kids around”  So we pull out and head for some more girare-u’s . Chucky decides it is time to call Da Giorgio’s to make a reservation since he forgot to while in Lucca.  The earliest availability is after 8PM and they don’t OPEN until 8pm. This is too late as it would put us on the road to Il Pianaccio after 10:30PM for a 1 ½ hour drive.  Chucky doesn’t feel like driving that dark, rough road up the hill at midnight.

Now what to do?

“Whadda ya wanna do/”

“I dunno, whadda you wanna do?”

“Ok…. Lets not get all Abbot and Costello here, lets just park the damn car and walk ,I am sure we can find something somewhere to grab a bite.”

3 parking spaces later, Chucky finally finds a spot on Via Zanardelli right next the shopping promenade Antoinio Fratti, right down the street from guess who…Da Giorgio.  His obsession with finding this bloody joint leads him to wander down the street and confirms that Da Giorgio is on the next corner & they are closed.  [Stubborn little Italian man!!!] BTW, DL is typing this as he dictates on the way to Castello Verrazzano Tuesday.

Now with a string tchotchke stores at hand DL is on a mission to find Tchotchkies for the kids & Henry’s birthday but the flea market & pedestrian only shopping [a la Lincoln mall on MB] nets nothing to her liking and now with all the chatter about Da Giorgio decides she is hungry.  On the way to the car she spots a baby who is becoming more & more agitated because her Nonna won’t let her walk by herself. DL, ever the sucker for a crying baby, proceeds to conduct her very first conversation in Italian, or so she thinks, with the Nonno who somehow manages to understand her. And they chatted away like old buddies all the while DL is calming the baby. She convinces Nonna to let the baby walk by herself [independent little critter] & all is well in the universe.  

As we wander back to the car she stops dead in her tracks having spotted non other than a VERY familiar black and yellow book, thrown on a doorstep.  Can you guess what it is?  She swears it follows her everywhere.   

Chucky is out of coins for the parking meter so we head back to G. Marconi where he knows at least one of the gelato shops will slip him enough coins to pay for the parking meter. They are just like the ones back home, you drop in the coins & you get a time stamped ticket for the dash board.

The ever hungry Illy has decided that the area reminds her of Fisherman’s Warf in SFO & she is expecting to find quaint restaurants out by the water or long piers but soon finds nothing but a 10K stretch of beach clubs. Hence Tuscany’s Beach.  Ok, time to wander through one of the clubs, out onto the sand & down to the surf for some great pics & the cool fresh sea air. The beach was full of colorful umbrellas & miles of chaise lounges for as far as the eye can see up & down the beach with the back drop of the mountains & beachside hotels it was spectacular.  We decide its really time find some place to eat and after walking up the pedestrian promenade of G. Marconi, we ask a nice lady in a book store to recommend something, and she sends us all the way to the end for Tito Del Molo.  A 5 block trek to the end of the promenade nets another ZERO…Tito doesn’t open  till 7:30… looks like all the good spots open late… so we settle on a small Bar/Ristorante near where we parked for a meal so unmemorable that we cant remember the name, thus it gets a neutral 2.5 stars.

Not much else to see in Viareggio so we girare-u our way back to the Autostrada and head home to Il Pianaccio.

Tomorrow, Siena, Castello Verrazzano winery and who knows what else… maybe San Gimignano, maybe not.

Ciao 4 Now

Uncle Chuck & The tired of the Parcheggio shuffle in Viareggio, Dragon Lady

Ready for more Fine Wine, Aged Sharp Cheese & Great Crusty Bread