With friends like these, I still need Rimini

After my return from Napoli, not much happened during the week except one aperitivo!

Then I knew I had two “free weekends” coming up before my vacation began. The plan was to take at least one of those weekends to take a train up towards Lake Como and go hiking!

As that first weekend arrived, the 27th-29th, I did nothing. I planned nothing. I did nothing. I think I may have actually stayed inside the entire day on Saturday haha. Oh well. I then had to leave Sunday evening for a 2 day work trip back to Switzerland anyway, so I felt pretty good about being in town.

This trip to Switzerland was only the second overnight work trip I had done since being in Italy (if you just disregard the 6 weeks in Sweden), so it was only my second opportunity to have that social bonding time after hours with folks in that scenario.

Sunday night we got in late, so we essentially went straight to bed. We were staying at the adorable Hotel de la Nouvelle Couronne (Hotel New Crown). The room was nice, I think I had a king size bed, and the breakfast of croissants, deli meats, yogurt, and coffee was just fine. No central A/C in the rooms, but they have a portable unit in there which makes it bearable.

All day meeting on Monday. Then Monday night we got to explore the town we were staying in called Morges. Four of the 6 of us went for a walk along Lake Geneva (so freaking pretty) then we all met for dinner at Casino de Morges. I think the building used to be a casino, but is now just a restaurant/venue. We sat outside and had beers and wine with a really good dinner. They spoke in Italian most of the time, but periodically took the effort to pause and switch to English to make sure I was following the conversation. I cannot describe how much I appreciate when people do this for me, even though it makes me feel a little silly because it highlights me as the non-Italian speaker haha.

After dinner we wandered through town just a little, saw the Chateau de Morges et ses Musees and window shopped the closed stores. It was a really nice moment for me.

The next day we once again had an all day meeting and then the long train ride back to Milan.

THAT weekend, then, I was determined to go hiking. It was essentially my last opportunity. A coworker had given me some details on a hike he had done before near Como, so I was kind of banking on that. I did a little reading on it before bed Friday night, got a little nervous because there were thunderstorms in the forecast for that Saturday afternoon. I decided to head to bed, and if the forecast still looked uncertain in the morning, I would just do something cool in Milan or find somewhere else to go…. Said the girl that sucks at Europing.

Obviously I woke up and the forecast had NOT improved. The hike I had wanted to do was quite long, so there was absolutely no way to get up there and complete it before the storms were supposed to hit. I had to find a plan B. I immediately started looking for shows or concerts or performances or free events or a freaking MOVIE to see in Milan that day and came up empty. That Saturday was August 4th, and in the month of August much of Italy just… stops. People are on vacation for most of the month, so no one is going to schedule events because no one would attend them.

So there was NOTHING happening in town. Alright, plan C… I’ll hike somewhere else! Unfortunately, through a few hours of googling and mapping and planning, the best options in areas with better forecasts were also not doable for a day. I even looked at staying somewhere that night but it kind of became a frustrating mess very quickly.

By that point I just wanted to go SOMEWHERE. Do SOMETHING. So I zoomed out of my map and started looking elsewhere. If I can’t hike nearby, where else can I go? Where I have I not been?

And then I saw Rimini. I had heard of Rimini, but I am honestly not sure where or why. I hadn’t been there, it wasn’t a TERRIBLE train ride away (about 4.5 hours for the cheaper regional connections and 3 hours by direct faster train), and I could get some beach time. Sold.

I booked a train ticket leaving about 1.5 hours later, I booked a hotel, got a quick workout and shower in, and left. I spent the train ride working on blog posts, so I actually wasn’t frustrated at all by the time on train.

I got into Rimini about 6pm and spent the next 1.5 hours walking around the city center. There are actually some really neat historical ruins and such in Rimini that I didn’t know about until I was headed there! The city was founded in 268 BC (though inhabited since before the 6th century BC) and has kind of unique history for a small town. I recommend the Wikipedia article :-)

I am also now finding the analogy to best describe the feeling I get when I am seeing some of these ancient ruins and reading about their history (who put them there, why, what was it used for, how is it still here, what stories surround this place or monument or bridge or plaza???).

Ok, so. Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon or really any of our National Parks or maybe somewhere like the Great Wall of China or the Eiffel Tower or even looked out into the ocean for goodness sakes? You know that feeling where you realize how physically small you are in the world? How you are just this one tiny person that can swim in that ocean or climb that mountain without disrupting anything because they are so relatively physically immense? That is how I feel in time when reading about these past cultures. Even reading about medieval times does it a bit, especially as an American where my country didn’t exist yet in those times, but when I read about the ancient cultures who lived and worked and socialized and learned and played and fought and died 1,000 or 2,000 or 8,000 years ago!!?!?!? I feel small. I become so acutely aware of the fact that my hopefully 80+ year existence is minuscule in the big picture. I mean. Humans were already farming like 12,000 years ago at the start of the Neolithic era. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Anyway. So. Rimini.

Piazza Tre Martiri

A statue of Julius Ceasar in Piazza Tre Martiri

Porta Montanara

The Arch of Augustus

Castel Sismondo

My favorite, the Ponte di Tiberio...an ancient Roman bridge built in 20 AD and is still used today for CARS.

And some vague remnants of an old amphitheater

While walking around, I got a gelato at Gelateria Biologica Santa Colomba. I had Madagascar vanilla and mango, and it was amazing. I honestly think it was the best gelato I have had in Italy.

As I started the long walk to my hotel (because as mentioned previously I am still scared of figuring out bus systems), I first saw these cool trees...

and I then realized they were not lying about the fact that Rimini has a 15 km long beach. Once you get to the water, the [sandy!!!] beaches go on forever and ever.

I once again showed up soaked in sweat. I had been wearing my backpack the entire time I was exploring so my stomach, shoulders, and back were just… drenched. It was gross.

I was staying at the Hotel Montecarlo which is just a block off the beach but a good ways down from town (took me an hour to walk there). The guy working...Stefano maybe?.. Talked very slowly but was very nice. He said that they serve a huge free brunch until noon (rare in Italy) so hopefully I wouldn’t need lunch. He also said I should ask for recommendations of where to eat nearby because they were all very passionate about their guests having a good food experience and didn’t want our stays to be ruined by accidentally choosing a bad restaurant. I thought that was funny but thoughtful!

He also offered me a glass of water when he saw how gross I was from the walk hahaha.

I went upstairs and cleaned up, then went and asked for those recommendations. I thought it sounded nice to go somewhere where I could listen to music while I ate, but when I told him that he seemed very confused. I don’t think they combine dinner and live music very much here, so in his head, places with music were just bars selling pub food which apparently does not sound enjoyable to him hahah.

Anyway, I ended up at his second recommendation, Il Mare Dal Moro, where he told me to get seafood. When I got there, though, it was very crowded (even though it was already 930pm at that point) so the waiter told me I would be waiting a long time if I ordered anything other than pizza.

Pizza it was then.

Unfortunately he sat me upstairs in a room where there was a total of about 15 seats and you could not see anything or people watch or anything. About par for the course. Matt was occupied at home with some Saturday festivities, so I sat and ordered a half liter of wine, ate my pizza, texted my mother, and was treated to limoncello at the end.

Not too shabby for Leslie.

The streets of Rimini are very similar to any touristy beach town in the US. It was crowded, there were a ton of T-shirt shops and mini arcades, there were people braiding cornrows for tourists (is that REALLY still a thing????) and selling sunscreen by the tub. At home that is not really my scene, but there was something kind of funny about being 1,000 miles away and experiencing the same shitty beach town haha.

I walked around just a bit and then went into a bar closer to the beach called Frontemare. They had a 10 euro cover but it included a free drink. There was a cover band playing 80’s and 90’s music (mostly songs I knew!). So I stayed, had my free drink, and danced until about 1am. I was alone at a bar on a beach in Italy dancing to American songs from the 80’s, and I loved it.

I walked back to my hotel and fell into my bed. The air conditioner was not working, and that late at night I could not figure it out, so I slept in the heat. Around 6:30am I woke up so hot I couldn’t stand it. I flipped a random switch on the controller unit (it was still dark in there and my eyes were still tired so I couldn’t really see) and the A/C came on. Hallelujah.

When I got up later that morning, I took a look at the switch I had flipped. Apparently something was wired backwards because I had to flip the heat on to get the A/C to work. Sigh.

When I went downstairs for the huge brunch that had been promised to me, I of course had so many Leslie Struggles.

I walked up to a guy near a coffee machine and when he said something in Italian that I did not understand, I ordered a cappuccino. He then repeated in English that he needed my room number. Woops. After I gave THAT, he made my cappuccino :-) Then I grabbed my food and drinks and sat down.

At some point I realized that everyone else had placemats but me. I THEN realized that I was supposed to grab one when I was grabbing my plate and forks and such. At this point, it was too late to go back to get one, move all of my stuff, set the placemat down, then put all of my stuff back on it. It wasn’t worth it. But then I wanted a croissant. And croissants are notoriously the messiest bread product on earth. I had to devise a plan. A distraction. A smooth criminal operation where no one would even see me put the placemat on the table.

I slyly moved my cups to the other side of the table. I grabbed my plate to get said croissant. I grabbed the croissant. I stuck out a hand as I walked back and snagged a placemat. I set the placemat and the plate down in one smooth motion. Good job Leslie, good job.

After breakfast I grabbed my stuff, left my backpack at the hotel again, and headed out to the beach. The man at the front desk had directed me to beach 107 which was just a few minutes away.

(Remember how in my Cinque Terre post i mentioned that all beaches are sectioned out into private areas?? Since Rimini has SO MUCH beach, there are dozens and dozens and dozens of these areas with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of chairs and umbrellas set up)

I walked up and sweet old lady gave me an umbrella fairly close to the beach (only like...10 rows back hahah) for 10 euros for the day.

I spent the rest of the day going back and forth between lying in the sun in my chair and sitting in the water. It was quiet and lovely and beautiful. I was so glad that I had found the sandy beaches!!

I think around 330pm I mosied back to hotel to shower (they allowed me to access a hall shower), change, and pay the city tax that was not included in my pre-paid reservation (was only going to be a few euros). I went up, showered, changed, repacked my backpack, and went down to settle up. Sigh… this was when the sketchyness occurred.

Without giving an exact play by play… essentially the guy working saw that I had booked a double room for just one person. I booked it through Booking.com, so I had prepaid without talking to anyone. He said that if I had called the hotel (which I don’t do) they would have found a different room or given me a reduced rate.

So, he wanted to be generous and try to adjust my payment NOW… but I had prepaid a third party company. So we did a little manipulation and in the end I only paid 45 euros instead of the original 76 euros.

Again. Very nice, I appreciate it, but I was talking to my mom and Matt the whole time and REALLY felt like I was about to get ripped off somehow. I did appreciate, though, that they recognize individual’s circumstances and try to be reasonable.

I then started the long walk back to the train station, stopping for gelato on the way (didn't write the name down). Very good. Wasn’t quite as good as the night before, but still pretty good.

I made it to the station with time to grab a cheap pre-packaged sandwich and grab my 6:20pm train. Made it back to my apartment about 9:30pm.

Unplanned and short, but this trip to Rimini was exactly what I needed that weekend. Something to get me out of the city and relaxing in good weather as I was then under 4 weeks until my return home. Wow. And I didn’t hate that I got some really good sun in the process ;-)

The following week was pretty normal and unexciting, but with the long hours I had worked the week prior with my trip to Switzerland, I was able to take Friday off in preparation for VACAATIIOOONNN. Woot woot!!

See you soon!!!