Rimini - sunshine and rain

After a very long trip we were safely met by Mr B in Rome and driven to Perugia where we delivered Mandy to her friends for a few days. We explored Perugia for a little while, a pretty little town with cobbled streets and lots of history. Lisa's apartment is set very close to the mini metro which is a cute little tram running on its own up and down to the city without a driver ie fully automatic - great fun. After lunch in a delightful little pub with awesome coffee (sublime - we have truly arrived in Italy) Mr B and I drove on to Rimini and I must admit I dozed a lot on the journey utterly exhausted! On the plane trip I managed to watch about 4 movies and several episodes of Sex and The City but I slept very little and was very tired.
Rimini is busy preparing for the duathlon. Our hotel is full of athletes from all over the world. We have met lots of interesting people and of course there are lots of people we know from Canberra too. Caroline, Rad and Lachy are here and we have met lots of other interesting people from Aussi, NZ and Canada especially. I have run the route a couple of times, once with Caroline at a gentle 6min km pace and today with Mr B at 5:37 pace - 5km each time. We have experienced every season so far - extreme cold, wind, rain, storms and this afternoon the sun has shone and finally we enjoyed running in a singlet and felt the warmth of the sun. Mandy, in Perugia, on the other hand has had hot sunny days every day and it's only 2 hours drive away - grrrr!
Yesterday Mr B and I drove to San Marino, a fascinating independent city set high on a hill with a tower at the top where we walked to explore. It was such an interesting place. We visited it in 1974 and it was just a distant memory. There were lots of interesting nooks and crannies and it was a lovely little city to explore. We saw lots of cyclists struggling up the long steep hill no doubt enjoying the thought of riding down again rather fast trying to avoid those Italian drivers on the way!
Last night we had the Aussi team dinner - a great way to meet everyone. There are only 25 entrants from Aussie and 45 from NZ! Tonight is the pasta party and this involves everyone from every country so should be heaps of fun. Already we have met heaps of people - it's a bit like being in a mini Olympic village! Today was registration day and another opportunity to meet yet more people. Mr B has been training hard and is ready to go. This is all very exciting! Tomorrow we will explore the Expo. And now I will leave this as people are waiting. Mandy and her friends arrive on Sat to support Mr B too - our supporter singlets are ready - woo hoo!