Rimini to Firenze

If the bicycles are not in bags then they (and the cyclists) must travel on i treni Regionali.
The way to do this is to change in Faenza.

Here are some potential solutions:

13:00 Rimini Regionale 11536 13:37 Faenza
14:20 Faenza Regionale 23570 16:11 Firenze SMN.

14:44 Rimini Regionale Veloce 6564 15:35 Faenza
16:16 Faenza Regionale 21480  18:11 Firenze SMN

By contrast if the bikes are in bags then the Freccia trains run about every half hour and take about two hours for the journey. For example,

14:19 Rimini Frecciabianca 9818 15:15 Bologna Centrale
15:35 Bologna Centrale Frecciarossa 9569 16:10 Firenze SMN.

Bagging the bike at Rimini and unbagging at Firenze adds about 30 minutes (assuming only dropping one wheel and seat post out).

13 days to go

I don't think I could be any more ready! I'm completely packed, I got some Euros from the bank... I could leave with five minutes notice.

This morning we have scheduled a planning meeting brunch with the four of us... the first and last joint planning activity f2f.

Phone SIMs

If we go Vodafone (usually the best choice), this is the current best looking Vodafone plan. You just have to remember to cancel it before you leave Italy. The cancellation can be done in advance.
http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privati/Tariffe-e-Prodotti/Tariffe/Estero/Vodafone-Holiday-English

So how to get one?

The best bet to buy appears to be the Vodafone store at Parco Leonardo outside Fiumicino which is a shopping mall about 10km away. It is open seven days till 21:30. There is a small local store that is only about 600m from the hotel but it looks less likely, at Via Giorgio Giorgis 89/A, 50, Fiumicino. Or we could wait till Firenze but the stores there are not open on Sunday however there is a large one very close to the hotel that is open on Monday. I'd be for buying on Sunday unless K&J can get two purchased on Saturday in which case I think it would be tolerable to wait till Monday for Marie and I.

Chianti Wine Festival

The details are now available at the web site here.

Clearly we can only sample from some of the 55 wineries and partake in a subset of the food events, given that we only have two days. Sounds like fun!

There is an associated program of events including fashion, food and music. All within around 200m of our hotel.

The weather

Our trip is now getting close enough that it is worth starting to monitor the weather forecast. As of today, this is what Accuweather indicates for the period of our trip:

7th  Florence         18-28 Partly sunny
8th  Florence         19-29 Mostly cloudy with a morning shower
9th  Lucca            21-29 Mostly cloudy
10th Florence         19-29 Partly sunny, afternoon thunderstorm
11th Greve in Chianti 19-27 Sunny
12th Greve in Chianti 16-26 Sun and clouds
13th Arezzo           15-22 Mainly cloudy
14th Sansepolcro      14-22 Mostly sunny
15th Sansepolcro      13-24 Sunny
16th Novafeltria      14-22 Mostly sunny
17th Longiano         16-22 Sunny
18th Rimini           18-25 Mostly sunny
19th Florence         17-28 Partly sunny