We left Venice for Verona, and spent the morning having brunch and taking a walk around Verona. We left at midday for our train down to Rimini, and were ushered into the first class dining car by a waiter who must have thought we were all rich americans who had bought the wrong train tickets (second class). He invited us to order a salad, and then we ended up having meals and a glass of very good wine. What a nice man. Unfortunately we had to pay up, but he must have realised we were not yanks when we left no tips! We eventually got a bus up to the town of San Marino from Rimini train station.
San Marino is a country of its own within Italy, a very high and scenic hilltop town, famous for its racing and historic sights. We managed to choose a major race day for our saunter around the town, and got caught in the melee. Marcelle was politely yet forcibly removed from the press gallery while trying to take a photo of the San Marino royalty, while Val, Nola and Cheryl dodged the fast cars around the track. We stayed at a local guesthouse owned by an Italian family, pleasant enough although Nola complained about freezing all night and Cheryl felt the saggy bits in the bed made sleeping tough. What fun. We now really miss the Hilton, although cerainly not Dubai!
We ended up missing our bus (and surviving our first transport scam)with all the chaos of the race day, but we managed some last minute shopping that dulled the sheer frustration only known to other travellers in Italy.
We finally made our bus, then out train to Ancona. Exhausted!
