June 10 Update

We have still been having issues finding reliable Internet connectivity. Europe is very connected with wireless, but little of it seems to actually connect to the Internet. We now have a great connection for the next couple of days while we are in Trieste.

We broke off from the Girl Scout tour when we saw them off at the Rome airport Wednesday, June 8. We rented a car and headed north. We stopped at Orvieto to see the magnificent cathedral there.




We then headed further north to Siena, but the city was packed!! We had no place to park and with all the visitors we just decided to head east towards the Adriatic.







Spent the night at a 4-star hotel that at one time must have been glorious. The rooms were nice and there was a gourmet restaurant next door, but the hotel had the feeling of a combination of the hotel in "The Shining" and the Bates Motel. Didn't let the girls wander far and kept the door locked. I think we were the only guests... But we made it to breakfast so it wasn't that scary.


After we left the hotel we went further east till we hit the Adriatic then north. We buzzed thru the tiny Republic of San Marino - lots of tourists, then on to Rimini where we found a nice 4-start hotel for a very reasonable price. We are before the high season starts here in Europe, or at least in Italy, so there are some great deals.





The girls went down to beach and found many sea shells and played with a jellyfish !!