Nerds in Lucca
This past weekend there was a Comics and Games convention in Lucca. The plazas had been filled with giant tents, all packed to bursting with eager, sweaty young people with an unnatural fascination for fantasy. Some were amusing, and many people had clearly devoted a lot of their lives to their costumes, but in the end it seemed the biggest celebrity was the police Lambroghini.
It was a fun few hours walking around the tents and looking at the comics, but the best part was taking the train to Lucca from Borgo. It is only 20 minutes each way and less than $2. One walks into town through the old walls. All very picturesque and very beautiful, even when mobbed by kids in strange anime costumes.
Halloween in Borgo a Mazzano
I flew to Italy on the 31st, just in time for the big Halloween bash in Borgo. The whole town puts on the “largest Halloween celebration in Europe.” It was hard to imagine that our little town could really claim such an honor, but it seems plausible now. The town was filled with people from end to end, even late at night. There were bands in every plaza and dancing and scary costumes and fireworks below the Devil’s Bridge at midnight.
Our friend Leslie came out with Carolyn a week earlier and stayed for the party. Carolyn and she both had to leave very early the next day (Carolyn took off well before dawn to go to Sweden to do an install and I took Leslie to the Florence airport a few hours later).
The party was really enjoyable. It was very energetic and enthusiastic. It seemed everyone was having fun and people came from all over Italy to see it. We stayed out dancing until about 02:30 and walking back through the by-then less crowded streets, there were piles of trash stacked all around town. By early the next morning the whole place was clean again.
