After our visit to Switzerland, we continued our journey toward Italy. During a restroom break, Mirre started looking for her shoes—only to realize they were still in Switzerland. Some of our followers won’t be surprised by this; there’s a trail of her belongings scattered across the world.
We spent the night near the highway and tomorrow, we’ll head to an agriturismo.
It’s only early February, but we’ve already been outside without jackets several times. The sun is shining brightly! We’re the only ones at the campsite, and it’s a lovely one. The girls are happily playing with all the little stones. We video call our great-aunt for a bit.
We’re so happy with this beautiful weather! It gives us a chance to recover from all the stress caused by the leaks. Although, in the background, it’s still there—some damp spots remain, and sooner or later, rain will come again.
We take it easy—Mirre works for an hour, then we eat. We spend nearly an hour on the phone with the ferry to Greece. We couldn’t figure things out with Goos. They have kennels, but also pet-friendly cabins, which we couldn’t book online. But we managed! We’ll be sailing on Saturday. We could have gone tomorrow, but we’re taking things slow, and it feels good. In the evening, we get some more work done and then head to bed. We’ve noticed that Jinte wakes up late in the morning because she takes a while to fall asleep at night. Diede, on the other hand, has dropped her afternoon nap and falls asleep easily. We actually expected it to be the other way around. Guess we’re still figuring out our new rhythm.
The next morning, we all sleep in. The sun greets us with a smile! We bake some bread, everyone takes a shower, and we slowly pack up to head toward Bologna. We stop for lunch on the way, and Mirre gets a call about the results of Diede’s biopsy. She had been having stomach pain for a while, but her bloodwork didn’t clearly indicate celiac disease. Now, the biopsy confirms that she does have it. Tears for her, but also relief that we finally have an answer.
We find a nice, secure parking spot in Bologna—it was recommended here, so we follow the advice! When we check in, the girls get a little foam camper van as a gift. It’s an instant hit! Of course, we had to write “Tinus” on it.
We take the bus into the city, and Goos steals the show. We find a new pair of sneakers for Mirre and stroll toward the historic center. It’s a classic Italian town—Jinte absolutely lights up and starts asking endless questions.
We had forgotten that restaurants here don’t open until 7:00 PM, but luckily, we find one. We celebrate the third “cool Sjakie” in our family with pizza and ice cream. No better place for that than Italy!
We take the bus back, and the girls fall asleep immediately—they’re exhausted. Johan puts in a few more hours of work while Mirre relaxes in bed, watching Winter vol liefde.
The next morning, we leave for Rimini—a short hour’s drive away. It’s surreal to see this beach town completely shut down. Mirre once visited with her parents in peak summer, and back then, there’s no way we could have parked the camper right by the beach!
We take a walk, and Goos has the time of his life running free on the sand. We set up the bread machine, though just barely—it trips the power. Lesson learned: from now on, we’ll only bake bread in the morning when the solar panels are charging at the same time.
We forgot to take meat out of the freezer, so tonight’s dinner is… pancakes!