Mi Scusi!!! (Italy Part 2)

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Hi everyone! It's been ages since we last updated you so here is a quick recap of where we've been:

We arrived in Rimini, Italy after a hellish day and night of travel from Corfu. After sleeping a LOT, we headed the next day to San Marino, an independent republic within Italy that I had never heard of before researching this trip. Apparently it has been around since before Charlemagne. Yes Peter, we got you a postcard (and more) from here! We left Rimini under overcast skies, but by the time we had ascended up to the main city of San Marino we were above the clouds and in brilliant sun. San Marino is striking because the city is built up on a rise, with three castles on top of a sheer cliff over the rest of the territory. The bus dropped us halfway up the hill and we walked to the top through winding streets full of cute little shops. The city is incredibly clean and beautiful. We paid to go into one of the castles and were treated to a sweet view of the valley.

The next day we took the train to Venice and checked our bags at the train station. After dealing with Venetian ticket vendors (who are tools) for the train to Ljubljana for about an hour we wandered the streets and canals to Piazza San Marco. We had heard rumors of Venice having a gross stench from the canals, but perhaps because we were in the off season we didn't notice a smell. In fact the city was quite charming, with a maze of narrow streets winding around and only yellow signs to guide us to the main square. In the Piazza there is a huge church which we went into briefly. The ceiling is done in gold tiled mosaics and it's very detailed. The square outside is home to about a million mangy pigeons. Pigeons are basically rats with wings, and yet we saw some misguided Japanese tourists picking them up and taking pictures with them. EW. So our accomadation for the evening was a campground in the middle of nowhere, but it was actually quite nice and had many amenities, such as beer. However these amenities did not include hot water. Brrrrr.

We arose very early the next morning and caught a train up to Villach, Austria. Never heard of it? Neither had we, but those charming ticket vendors informed us it was either Villach and a 4 hour layover or a train that got in at 2am. We chose Villach. And were pleasantly surprised! We passed an enjoyable four hours walking along the river, sampling some local bratwurst and browsing the shops. But the best part about the city was the ice cream flavours. Anyone schmoe can have vanilla, strawberry, and hazelnut, but only Villach is able to brag about being home to Red Bull flavoured ice cream. Talk about reinventing the Jager Bomb.

And now stupid things TJ has done:

-Showering at 6am outside in freezing cold water at the end of October
-Running through the Jet d'eau waterfountain in Geneva
-All activites in Corfu
-Somehow managing to get bit by a duck
-Ramming our paddleboat into a canal wall in Amsterdam
-10 Red Bull Vodkas

Now off to the east.....*insert spooky noises here*

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Comments

[Peter Wright]

So by "and more", you mean a Swedish girl right?

[Carling]

Silly TJ
Oh god Tj. Another fountain? lol Was it foamy?