We decided to take advantage of all the public holidays in May and sneak away for a little trip to relax. We drove about six hours to a little Italian town called Rimini. Thankfully it was still the "off season" so we had the place to ourselves, but with incredible weather. It could not have been more perfect for the kids.
Rimini is perfect for kids. Our hotel was right on the beach and when you walked out there was a play ground for kids and then beach and water as far as you could see. The Mediterranean in Rimini is very shallow and there are no waves to speak of. Both kids had so much fun. James loved splashing in the water and Hailee loved collecting shells and building sand castles. Todd and I enjoyed relaxing and enjoying the sun while watching the kids play.
We basically had the beach to ourselves. There were a few other vacationers, but not a lot. While we were playing at the play ground there were a few other Italian families there. One little boy a year or two other than James was playing as well. For a while the Italian boy decided he didn't like James and kept tormenting him. James was a bit confused because he didn't understand what he was saying. Once I explained to James that he was speaking Italian and didn't speak English it wasn't long until they worked out their differences and because good friends. By that point James had a group of little Italians top play with. The next day when we went to the playground and the other kids weren't at the playground yet and James said, "Oh no, where did my guys go?" (We discovered our little German kids are much earlier risers than the Italian kids when we went down to breakfast the first day at 7:00 and discovered breakfast didn't start until 8:00!) Thankfully it wasn't long before his little group came down.
Our last full day in Italy was suppose to rain. We had a beautiful morning, but then the clouds came in. We decided to use that time to check out San Marino. A tiny (27 square miles, 31,000 people) country completely surrounded by Italy. We caught a bus, because I discovered I do not like driving in Italy in our huge German car. James was so exhausted from the last couple of days of playing he was completely asleep in the first couple of minutes. It took about an hour on the bus to get there and we couldn't get James to wake up. I carried him for the first little bit until he finally woke up.
While we were eating lunch the rain came. And then hail came. Honestly it was crazy. I was expecting sprinkles of rain but this was just a down pour. Thankfully it stopped by the time we were done with lunch and dessert, and we got to enjoy San Marino.
This was the BEST pistachio ice cream. Italy really does have the best gelato.
San Marino was filled with people shopping. Honestly I've never seen so many little shops. But away from the crowded shopping streets were these beautiful little streets. San Marino, San Marino is on top of a mountain top and just has the cutest little winding, hilly streets. We all fell in love with its charm.
I am so glad we brought James' bike. He loves riding it and went all over the place. In Germany it's quite normal to have little ones on the bike, but in Italy it was quite a novelty.
Italy is one of our very favorite places to travel, between the food, people and sites you really can't go wrong. I am always so impressed with how kind people are and how sweet they are with our kids. Honestly the Italians are so cute with our kids everywhere we go. One little story on the way back to our hotel from San Marino we were catching our bus and since it was late in the day and everyone was heading home from work it was really crowded. We split up and Todd took the bike and Hailee and I had James. James was doing pretty good, but when you're so short and the bus is getting more and more crowded he wanted to be carried. I picked him up and it was difficult holding him, my purse, and trying to hold on. A lady that was sitting down by us, but down all of her bags and put James on her lap and was really sweet with him. I was worried he was going to be scared (he doesn't like it at all if people talk to him and he can't understand), but she was so sweet with him. My tired little guy just relaxed and almost feel asleep. I wish it would have been less crowded so I could have snapped a picture.
Our kids outdid themselves again by being the best travelers. Honestly they are so good. They were both sad we weren't going on the train, but they both did really good in the car. I can't complain one bit. :)
