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Italy & San Marino, 1999 |
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| After 3 days in the Alps, we
woke up on 5th of August and headed for Italy. Kevin had forced a route change in order to
try to visit the Ducati factory in Bologna, but as it ended up being closed in August (so
we were told), we decided to try Parma instead. A short deviation from the expressway into
Parma changed our minds, however, and we ended up headed directly for Rimini and the
beach. |
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Family beach shot. (large) |
The beach in Rimini was the
largest Kevin or the kids had ever seen. And you could walk very far out into the water
with only gradual increase in water depth, which was perfect for the kids. The first night we had an excellent pasta dinner in a tourist-trap
area (which is pretty much all of Rimini). The next day we woke up and headed for the
beach. Our beach (the private area for the hotel) had a kids playground and trampoline and
hundreds of deck chairs which are assigned to you for the duration of your stay. We swam
and played and baked in the heat until lunch when we happened across a really excellent
pizzeria/pasta restaurant on the beach, good enough to bring us back again the next day. |
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<-- Nick and Katie in
sand castle (large)
Nick and Katie playing
in the sand (large)
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<--
Nick perfects sand castle (large)
Nick and Katie playing
in the sand (large)
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| The sand was particularly well suited to
sand castles and we had a truly great time swimming and building sand castles. Each
afternoon at about 18:00 the water would get a little rough as the wind picked up and the
water would fill with seaweed. The seaweed was soft and suspended in the water like dust
in the wind, but even though it brushed against our bodies continuously, it didn't really
freak the kids out at all. Kate and kids finish castle. (large)
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On our last day in Italy we woke
in the morning and headed for San Marino. About 20 km inland from Rimini, San Marino is
perched atop a cliffed hill overlooking the hilly countryside. The famous towers and wall
of the ancient city-state made for some great photos and an excellent playground. <-- Postcard of San Marino. (large) |
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After a great visit to San
Marino, though admittedly we had a very touristic lunch, we headed to Ancona to catch our
evening ferry/cruise ship to Greece. |
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| While we don't have any still
shots onboard (we have video which will appear in a future version of this website), the
ship was outstanding. We put the Camry onboard and then took the escalators up to a
surprisingly luxurious "check-in." We were taken care of by a porter to escorted
us to our room. We had a very neat and clean little room with 4 beds and a bathroom with a
shower. The ship had 3 swimming pools, a cafeteria, an "expensive"restaurant,
shops and bars and a disco and a casino. We went outside at night and tried to walk on the
top deck but it was too windy. The next day we had breakfast and then went all over the
ship and took a swim before having lunch. After lunch we had to rush quickly to check-out
and get off because we had mistaken the time of arrival by an hour. |
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| French Alps |
Italy | Metsovo | Volos | Athens |
