Waterfall Park and Molina

We went to a beautiful waterfall park North of Verona. It is a 2 hour hike with about 17 waterfalls to see along the way. We heard it could get pretty crowded, so we went on a weekday - which was perfect! We were one of the only families there. They even had a swing - where you could swing out to the waterfall. I loved the fact that it was "swing at your own risk" and no extra charge to do so. A really fun day!

The geography was amazing and the waterfalls were beautiful!

I loved this boulder/rock - I would love to know how it got there!

The water was crystal clear!

The town of Molina was adorable!

The rock formations were incredible!

This little guy greeted us at the entrance :-)

The walk down into the park was cool!

They even had a pedestrian stop light (it confirmed the fact that it must get quite busy on the weekend!)

Amazing Waterfalls!

A

Cheese for sale in the little town store...

So pretty!

We loved this little water bowl :-) Such a dog friendly country!!

And the swing out to the waterfall was fun!

 

Gardaland

For Mia's birthday, she got Season tickets to Gardaland. It is a Themepark on the edge of beautiful Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). We had such a fun time. It was definitely interesting with covid protocols. They limited the amount of people who could enter (we actually had to register our day in advance in order to get in). The other funny thing was that in order to access most of the rides, you had to use an app which put you in the queue without having to actually wait in line. At first, I hated it, but as soon as we got the hang of it, it was perfect. Instead of waiting in a hot line, you could wait anywhere in the park (park bench, coffee shop, walking around etc. You could also see right away which lines were short in order to get the most of of the day - brilliant! We had a great time and look forward to going back!

This drop was a little bit too much for me. Mia was all for it though - ugh!!

We loved the fact that people felt like they could leave bags out when they were on the rides...

A great day!!

 

Rimini, Italy (and Miramare)

When we went to San Marino, we stayed in Rimini, which is a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. Having lived the last 3 years in a beach town, it was really interesting to see all of the similarities and many differences as well! The beach spreads for miles and miles and there are hundreds of private beaches where you can pay and spend the day. Each private beach has its own activities (tennis, trampoline, bouncy house, bocce, shuffle board etc.). It is really a site to see! Such a fun weekend!

Even the simplest of decor was adorable!

Definitely not the white sands of Destin, but fun to see!

Kiwi enjoyed the cool floors of the Bars (a Bar in Italy is a coffee shop)

Love these 2!

Cappacino!

Fisherman :-)

Hotel Mia

Gelato!

And the thousands of Beach Chairs...

Miramare!!

Finding shade (masks get a bit hot in the sun - yikes!!)

If only it were so simple!!

The lady of the Sea!

More beach chairs and umbrellas!

So pretty!

They even have an "Eye" of Rimini, like the London Eye!

 

The Country of San Marino

 You learn something new every day! I knew Vatican City was its own country within Italy, but I had no idea that San Marino was also its own country within Italy. It is the 5th smallest country in the world and is the old Republic in the world as well! We parked at the bottom and took the cable car up to the towers. It was Kiwi's first ride on the cable car and the only rule was that she had to wear a muzzle during the ride (not a big fan - ha ha). Kiwi got a taste of what it is like for us to wear masks all day. She also had her first museum experience! (it is so great because dogs are allowed everywhere here!). We visited 2 of the 3 towers - the 3rd was closed, but we were able to get pictures). The country only has 30,000 residents and they elect 2 presidents a year. Truly an amazing society. We even met a lady whose family had emigrated to the U.S., but decided to move back to their little country. Such amazing history and such amazing views!!

Their parliament building