Day 34 – 29th May. Bus Day, Rome->San Marino->Venice

Day 34 – 29th May. Bus Day, Rome->San Marino->Venice

Wake up at 6am today, bags out at 6.45 and on the road at 7.45am. We drove almost ½ the length of Italy today! Stopped after 5 hours at a fantastic little town called San Marino, which used to be the smallest republic in the world until Naru declared its independence. It is way, way up in the Appenine mountains.

Friendly people there after Rome, and the shops were full of imitation label perfumes, watches, caps etc and it was actually great to see cheap stuff for the first time since we left home. Had a nice hour there, even in the rain it was picturesque.

Drove another 5 hours to Venice and stopped at a restaurant for dinner then finally to the hotel at 10pm – a long one today but since we had previously done a tour, it wasn’t such a shock for us – although this has been the longest bus day overall for sure.
Danni was so great, she never complained or asked how much further once, she was happy reading and playing the PSP. We do make sure though, that if we are having a long day we tell her about what to expect in advance.

We have a big day with touring in Venice then 2 optionals tomorrow- a trip to the island of Burano on a boat with the infamous “Burano seafood meal” that everyone on the Trafalgar forum raves about then a combined one in the evening with a trip in a water taxi up the grand canal and the famous gondola ride.

We get to sleep in till 7am tomorrow Michael the TD tells us, he is a real chatterbox and likes to tell stories a lot of the time about himself and his experiences?!@#!!

Its been great history wise to have read the Da Vinci code prior to coming overseas, so learnt heaps about Paris and its architecture, history, religion etc. Also, now reading Angels and Demons which is centred around Rome and the Vatican – I was reading today about things I just saw yesterday in the Pantheon- this author really does his research!
Was also interesting to note that the Coliseum was actually called Flavivin ampitheartre and many Italians don’t know it as the Coliseum! (think it was something to do with a family name?)