Hotel Raffaello Cesenatico

... heard of San Marino but as Sue mentioned it is an independent state named after a Christian stonemason Marinus from around 300 when he hid in the mountain peaks to avoid persecution by the Romans and started a community there. It must have been a case of too small a fish to worry about as today, the mountain state exists as the 5th smallest country in the world. The buildings and scenery were breathtaking. Well worth the long bus ride to get there

... we were glad when we arrived in Rimini.

It rained the first few days we were here, but the past 2 days of sunshine have made up for it! Our hostel has great rooms but a really awful atmosphere, so we were so glad when the sun came out and we could spend all day at the beach, or in the town. Relaxing in the sun is just what we've needed! I'm still embarrassingly white though. I'd even call it offensively white. It's going to take more than 2 days of sun to bring me even to human ...

... br>
Am nächsten Morgen - nach Frühstück - Aufbruch nach Assisi - ca. 15 min. Fahrzeit. Da d** Parkplatz am Fuss des B**ges liegt auf dem die Stadt liegt - kurzes "Schlucken" - ab** in 10 min. warn wir beim Dom - dann ar wied** alles ok !
Assisi - eine wirklich wund**schöne alte Stadt , in die ich demnächst sich** mal auf läng** zurückkommen w**de.
Grab des heiligen ...

... the world) it was one of the more enjoyable and relaxing days we have had. Also pretty funny was when we went grocery shopping they actually had their own vats of wine in the store but funnier than that was when Jen got caught by the armed security gaurd taking a photo and he started ranting in Italian at her. Not much else to say just a real different kind of beach town that has a historic center. Very relaxing and fun. Now it is off to Verona the next morning...

Ravenna was somewhere Matt had insisted we visit, so I included it as a day trip in our packed itinerary. Little did I realise this would be the highlight of our trip. Ravenna is possibly the only place on earth where you can visit 8 UN World Heritage sites in less than a day (although we unfortunately only managed 7, as one was closed for renovations).

Home to the oldest and best ...

... his course funneled him to the middle of the field where 11, the Marines best player, was waiting. From my vantage point I thought Reggie’s only chance of getting in the end zone was to cut left, but instead he stuttered stepped, froze 11, and broke right. I was furious again for a moment – until 11 dove after Reggie and came up empty, leaving Reggie with one or two more obligatory defenders to run around before he was free to jubilantly hurdle the goal ...

... the staff were really friendly and helpful. The Theatre was weird, kind of in the middle of nowhere, a large basketball arena attached to some other massive, factory like buildings pretty ugly. The one big thing that really did stand out here were the audiences. It was like they were just waiting, nay longing, to be entertained and were clapping, laughing and dancing ...

... she told me a story about a young US soldier that parachuted in around Firenze. My details are a bit fuzzy, I’m not sure if bailed out of a plane or was part of an invading force, but he apparently was alone and shot and killed by the Nazi’s. I believe she said that the Nazi’s waited until he landed to kill him. They then either left the body or the Italian’s just took it, but somehow the Italian’s got the young soldiers ...

... as the bikes were not fully restored and were housed in a 2 level building on what seemed to be this mans home land. The smell of oil covered the place and we saw some very old bikes including Guzzis. Wayne loved it as the bikes were in original conditions , cleaned but not restored. While we there someone turned up and the man turned him away saying the museum was closed and when he saw us the man said we had a special entry because we were from ...

... il mio italiano.
Le cose più belle sono successe in questo viaggio. Ho conosciuto gente dal tutto il mondo e ho fatto amici veramente di cuore. Al corso italiano che andavo ho conosciuto l'amore della mia vita e la persona migliore per girare il mondo. Ho cominciato a viaggiare molto purtoppo finora solo in Europa ma con la intenzione di andare dappertutto.
Milano, la grigia città secondo molti, la città più brutta di Italia, per me era incredibile...