I was extremely lucky enough to be invited to join Stone Cold, Will and Lain on a 3 day trip to Italy. I took plently of photos, rubbish POVs and hopefully a video will make an appearance too.
Saturday 19th September 2009
Will and I stayed at Lain's house the night before. Richard picked us up from his at 3:30 in the morning, joy. We got to Stansted airport in quite good time, we arrived around 4:something. We went through security which was amusing because we were tired and a silly answer to a serious question resulted in security man bursting out into hysterics. After that fun game we searched for food. Richard, Lain and I grabbed a Boots meal deal but Will wanted something from the pub restaurant, it was busy. Oh well, after eating breakfast we made our way to the boarding gate. It was then time to board our Ryanair flight, I got a seat next to the window
This was cool because we flew over the Alps which just looked amazing.
We then landed at Venice-Treviso.
After getting through security Richard had to sort out the hire car. This took a very long time, we got a little bored.
Well, it all got sorted and we made our way to the car. We saw loads of these lizard type creatures on this fence, I want one.
So we were in Italy and we had a car. We started our new epic car journey to our first destination. I'm not too sure what the area was called but it had a beach with kids attractions and rollercoasters. We arrived.
We were happy tired
Then we found out that the rides were all closed
Bad times. Oh well, off we went to the next location. This was to be a very long journey (made longer by the sat nav getting confused in the seaside area). On our journey we got hungry, we spotted a McDonalds so we opted to go there.
It was ok, the burger was meh, the fries were too salty and the McFlurrys?
They were epic, big thumbs up from me. So, our journey continues. We were optimistic about the rest of the day and full of sugar energy. Which is why we probably found this excellent...
We then finally got to our first hotel of the trip. Not sure of the name but it was an absolute excellent choice by Richard. Good views, large rooms and comfy beds. Will approves
So off we went to the first theme park of the trip. Fiabilandia.
It was 22 euros to get in, annoying. We didn't really know what to expect from this park. The first coaster we spotted was a spinning mouse thing, bit different to the other ones I've ridden. It was behind some trees though and we weren't sure how to get to it. Richard uses a map...
Which led us to this..
I was quite impressed by this coaster, it felt smooth and it had some good spinny moments.
I don't think the others agree with my opinion though. Anyways, next to it was a kiddy coaster, this was the entrance...
It was bizarre. It was pleasant, well themed and very different to what I've seen before.
See, look at the amusement on Lain, Will and Richard's faces...
Approval, Lain gives it...
We then came across a western themed area.
It had a rollercoaster in it.
It was very unusual, although the inside section had awesome lights, apart from that it wasn't great and didn't do a lot.
Well that's all the credits that the park has. The original plan was to credit hunt then leave but from the cost of entry we decided to stay a bit longer and explore other attractions. We continued around the lake and found some slides.
Richard and Lain decided to have a go.
The mats didn't seem to slide very well so they didn't go very far, Richard wanted the full amusement of the attraction so pushed himself until he reached the wall, much to everyone's amusement. There was then a random walk through thing with cool bridges. It didn't seem to make much sense but there was a platform that looked out to the lake. Which is when we spotted a sealion in the water and a Pelican on the side. How unusual.
Oh and a boat for no apparent reason
Then it was bridges of fun time.
Then there was a random tunnel of mist
The last ride we went on was a little boat ride in an Asia themed area. It looked like a lot of the effects didn't work, oh well.
We then left the park to head for our next location which had no credits. We drove to San Marino which was absolutely beautiful. Large hills (I don't know if they class as Mountains), great architecture and windy roads which challenged our rental car to its limits
We wanted to go here...
so we did. The views were amazing. It had a nice little atmosphere too.
When we got to the building we were after we watched a newly married couple having their wedding photos with the following as a background...
We had a lovely meal at a small restaurant that had a similar view. It was really nice view and the staff were very kind and welcoming (they spoke excellent English). We then made our way back to the car after picking up some drinks for the evening.
We then spent the evening at the hotel. Richard, Lain and Will had alcohol (I opted for soft drinks). Will got very very drunk and spent some time sitting in a wardrobe much to our amusement.
It was an excellent first day (despite the failed credits at the beach). I'm so glad I got to see San Marino, such an amazing place, photos just don't do it justice. Thanks for reading, day two coming soon....
Saturday 19th September 2009
Will and I stayed at Lain's house the night before. Richard picked us up from his at 3:30 in the morning, joy. We got to Stansted airport in quite good time, we arrived around 4:something. We went through security which was amusing because we were tired and a silly answer to a serious question resulted in security man bursting out into hysterics. After that fun game we searched for food. Richard, Lain and I grabbed a Boots meal deal but Will wanted something from the pub restaurant, it was busy. Oh well, after eating breakfast we made our way to the boarding gate. It was then time to board our Ryanair flight, I got a seat next to the window
This was cool because we flew over the Alps which just looked amazing.We then landed at Venice-Treviso.
After getting through security Richard had to sort out the hire car. This took a very long time, we got a little bored.
Well, it all got sorted and we made our way to the car. We saw loads of these lizard type creatures on this fence, I want one.
So we were in Italy and we had a car. We started our new epic car journey to our first destination. I'm not too sure what the area was called but it had a beach with kids attractions and rollercoasters. We arrived.
We were happy tired
Then we found out that the rides were all closed
Bad times. Oh well, off we went to the next location. This was to be a very long journey (made longer by the sat nav getting confused in the seaside area). On our journey we got hungry, we spotted a McDonalds so we opted to go there.
It was ok, the burger was meh, the fries were too salty and the McFlurrys?
They were epic, big thumbs up from me. So, our journey continues. We were optimistic about the rest of the day and full of sugar energy. Which is why we probably found this excellent...
We then finally got to our first hotel of the trip. Not sure of the name but it was an absolute excellent choice by Richard. Good views, large rooms and comfy beds. Will approves
So off we went to the first theme park of the trip. Fiabilandia.
It was 22 euros to get in, annoying. We didn't really know what to expect from this park. The first coaster we spotted was a spinning mouse thing, bit different to the other ones I've ridden. It was behind some trees though and we weren't sure how to get to it. Richard uses a map...
Which led us to this..
I was quite impressed by this coaster, it felt smooth and it had some good spinny moments.
I don't think the others agree with my opinion though. Anyways, next to it was a kiddy coaster, this was the entrance...
It was bizarre. It was pleasant, well themed and very different to what I've seen before.
See, look at the amusement on Lain, Will and Richard's faces...
Approval, Lain gives it...
We then came across a western themed area.
It had a rollercoaster in it.
It was very unusual, although the inside section had awesome lights, apart from that it wasn't great and didn't do a lot.
Well that's all the credits that the park has. The original plan was to credit hunt then leave but from the cost of entry we decided to stay a bit longer and explore other attractions. We continued around the lake and found some slides.
Richard and Lain decided to have a go.
The mats didn't seem to slide very well so they didn't go very far, Richard wanted the full amusement of the attraction so pushed himself until he reached the wall, much to everyone's amusement. There was then a random walk through thing with cool bridges. It didn't seem to make much sense but there was a platform that looked out to the lake. Which is when we spotted a sealion in the water and a Pelican on the side. How unusual.
Oh and a boat for no apparent reason
Then it was bridges of fun time.
Then there was a random tunnel of mist
The last ride we went on was a little boat ride in an Asia themed area. It looked like a lot of the effects didn't work, oh well.
We then left the park to head for our next location which had no credits. We drove to San Marino which was absolutely beautiful. Large hills (I don't know if they class as Mountains), great architecture and windy roads which challenged our rental car to its limits
We wanted to go here...
so we did. The views were amazing. It had a nice little atmosphere too.
When we got to the building we were after we watched a newly married couple having their wedding photos with the following as a background...
We had a lovely meal at a small restaurant that had a similar view. It was really nice view and the staff were very kind and welcoming (they spoke excellent English). We then made our way back to the car after picking up some drinks for the evening.
We then spent the evening at the hotel. Richard, Lain and Will had alcohol (I opted for soft drinks). Will got very very drunk and spent some time sitting in a wardrobe much to our amusement.
It was an excellent first day (despite the failed credits at the beach). I'm so glad I got to see San Marino, such an amazing place, photos just don't do it justice. Thanks for reading, day two coming soon....
