BAGNI DI LUCCA IN SAN FRANCISCO

Some members may have noticed that I have been fairly quiet for the past month and a half. The reason for this was that we have been visiting our daughters who live in San Francisco (CA). I love the USA, San Francisco in particular; however, their coffee is terrible!!!! Searching for something drinkable and already experiencing withdrawal symptoms, we made our way to the Italian Quarter, North Beach.On 411 Columbus Avenue, the main artery of the quarter, we found a place which showed some potential. At least, its name was "music to my ears": Caffé Puccini. A rather small caffé and restaurant, decorated in authentic Tuscan style and a great cappuccino!!!! Good bye Starbucks, it is Caffé Puccini for the rest of our stay.The place also serves full breakfasts, sandwiches, pannini and a selection of Tuscan dishes, but it was my daily morning cappuccino that kept us going there. After a couple of days, they already knew what we wanted to have and came immediately to our table with two delicious and fragrant cappuccinos.On the last day of our stay, I asked one of the ladies at the counter whether they were from the Lucca region and... surprise!!! The lady was from Bagni di Lucca and she proudly showed us a map of the region. When she knew that we had a house in her hometown she could not believe it! She gave me the name of her only daughter who lives in Bagni, where she intends to retire as soon as possible.They say that we can find people from Bagni di Lucca all over the world and I already knew of a few local families who have relatives in San Francisco. But this is a small world, indeed!