We are now in Padua. After we checked into the hotel we went to the tourist info center and bought a 48 hour pass for the city. The pass is for free admission to museums and free rides on public transportation. We took the tram ( designed for tourists) to the end of the line and started walking back to the hotel visiting churches and museums along the way. St Anthony’s was really beautiful and houses the tomb of Luke. Of course no pictures were allowed, but we took a picture of an outside area.

We then visited a museum about early Venetians See pic. We walked around town and of course dinner. I had fried olives and penne with a spicy sauce. Marsha had a linguini with cream and zucchini.

We slept in because today we needed to do chores. First on the list was laundry. The laundromat was close to the hotel, so we got there fine. The directions were only in Italian and we needed exact change. We figured out the machines – we thought. Marsha’s washer started fine, but mine did nothing. In the meantime I went to a store next door and got a few coins. We would need more change so I went to a bank across the street. The banks here usually do not have money, but I thought they would at least tell me where I could get some coins. To enter the bank I had to push a button, an outer door opens and I entered a metal detector. The the inner door of the metal detector opens and lets you enter the bank. Now remember – no one speaks English, but I was able to show them some coins and a €20 bill and they understood and gave me a roll of coins. Believe me they could understand how grateful I was as I thanked them many times. Back at the laundromat a woman and her daughter tried to help me get my washer running. They called the owner of the laundromat and he must have told them how to get that particular washer started because it began to work. But I had paid twice, so the woman told him I needed a €6 refund. Remember these people do not speak English, but somehow we communicated. The owner was coming to give me a refund. The owner did arrive and give me my money and he was just in time to help us with the dryers. Finally our clothes were clean and dry and we headed back to the hotel.
Also in the morning Marsha was on the computer looking for hotels at Heathrow airport and Irish ferry schedules for later in the trip. This is time consuming stuff.
After the laundry was the post office – also close to the hotel. We had decided we would mail some of our clothes home. The weather has been very nice but we are headed to much cooler areas so we will not need our summer clothes. At the post office we purchased mailing boxes with no problem. Marsha’s box was fine – mine turned out to be too big. We now have much lighter and roomier suitcases. Back to the post office to mail Marsha’s box and I bought a smaller one and packed it from the big one in the post office. I wanted to give the larger box to the woman at the post office because I couldn’t use it. I didn’t ‘t ask for a refund, but they told me to buy something the value of the large box. Post offices here sell all kinds of things and I am now the proud owner of spaghetti tongs. The laundry and post office took us 6 hours. The post office told me my neighbor would have to pay duty on the package when it is delivered in the US. I don’t know why.
Everyone was extremely helpful. As you can imagine it is hard with a language barrier trying to explain weights and how to fill out forms. We are going to dinner soon and plan on attending a concert tonight. Will let you know about the rest of the day. I took a picture of one tower but cannot tell if it is leaning.

We went to dinner and picked a restaurant just outside the entrance to the concert. Marsha had pasta with tomato and porcini mushrooms and a salad and I had a local cheese with figs and honey. They serve this with piadina, a locally made flat bread. The piadinas can contain all kinds of filings or have different ingredients baked into them. All is yummy.

The organ concert was held in the Basilica di San Vitale, the #1 recommended tourist spot for Ravenna. We went in and said WOW. The church is beautiful and the mosaic floors are amazing. I took some pictures, but I don’t think we were allowed to, so I took them without flash.

After the concert we headed back to the hotel, but we passed a gelateria (ice cream shop). Here is a picture of some of what they sell. Marsha got one and said it was the best gelato she ever had.

We are now at the hotel watching Columbo in Italian. We can’t believe we walked all over Ravenna for 2 days and didn’t go uphill once. Tomorrow we go to Padua.

We are now in Ravenna. I forgot to mention we were on a high speed train from Florence to Bologna on our way to San Marino. The train reached speeds of 247 km per hour. We were in tunnels for most of the trip, but the train was really nice. After we checked into our hotel in Ravenna we turned on the TV looking for an English speaking station. We found a Tampa Bay Rays game! It was from last year, but it was a baseball game.
Ravenna is not a happening town, at least not on a Sunday. A lot of the stores were closed, but we walked the old town and saw a neat museum that had mosaic floors from the 5th century and also walked thru a beautiful garden that had a lot of pomegranate trees. I took pics of the city gate and Dante’s tomb.

We then went to dinner. I had an assortment of meats and a local flat bread. Marsha had pasta fagiole and a salad. We decided to go back to the hotel and hot lost. I can’t believe we got lost in such a little town. We really walked way out of our way. We stopped at a little local restaurant to ask directions. No one spoke English, but the owner spoke German – so we asked how to get to the train station in German and he told us. (Our hotel is next to the train station.) I can’t believe we are in Italy asking for things in German.

Again it is late. I can’t believe how fast the time goes. I am going to channel surf for an English language station to see if we can find some news. There is no international news – not even in Italian.

We are now in the Republic of San Marino. It is the oldest republic in the world. We took a bus from Rimini, Italy to San Marino. It was all uphill – thank goodness we didn’t walk. Here are a couple of pictures from our hotel balcony.

We checked in and this town does require going uphill as you will see. We went to see the changing of the guard at the palace – this is our 6th or 7th changing of the guard – then walked around town for a little bit. See picture of one of the streets.

Then we decided to go up the towers. Yes it was uphill again. We were on the top of the tower in the pic and then went to another tower and went up that one. The view is spectacular. I have many more pics on my camera.

Of course now it is time for dinner. The good here is Italian which makes sense since the Republic (country) is surrounded by Italy. We found a nice Italian restaurant and Marsha had an assortment of cheeses with jams and I had pasta with sausage and mushrooms. We then walked around town some more and went into a liquor store that sold cordials only made in San Marino. The clerk gave us samples and it was good. We are back early since we are traveling to Ravenna, Italy tomorrow.

After breakfast we decided to take a train to Pisa to see the tower. It is amazing how much it is leaning. We took our pics and toured the Cathedral and Baptistry and headed back to Florence. We were in time to do the free walking tour of the Medicis. Then we walked to Michelangelo’s burial place. By then we were ready for our late afternoon break. After our break we took a bus to Piazza Michelangelo to see an overview of the city.

We took a city bus from Piazza Michelangelo back to the city. This ride was better than a tour bus – it went all thru the city and we saw many different places that tourists usually don’t see. Than we went to the train station to check on schedules for San Marino. We had to make reservations and the train personnel were very helpful. Then we thought we should eat dinner because we will have to be up and at the train station early in order to catch our train. We were walking and believe it or not there were not many restaurants on our route. When we were close to the hotel we found a restaurant and just went in. The worst that could happen is we don’t like the food. What a gem of a place. The food was different than the usual Italian fare and it was great. Marsha had a puréed bean soup and the buffet and I had an assortment of meat, cheese and grilled vegetables. Mine wasn’t even on the menu. We liked the place so much we took pics of the menu. I hope you can read it. As I said tomorrow is an early day, so it’s time to get some sleep.