italia!

hi all, arrived in italy safe and sound, got a wee bit soggy this morning!
the thunderstorms had been chasing me over the adriatic and while it was a dry night, it certainly was a wet morning. my trainers fell apart in a puddle at the ferry port and my combats looked more like waders. oh well, it only lasted half an hour and its turned out to be a glorious day. the ferry was 'interesting' read:carnage as it seems that common sense bypassed the continent..
instead of setting up a queuing system the ferry guys thought it'd be hilarious to let everyone charge and form a swarm in front of the ramp so that the 2 passport control people didn't actually stand a chance, and on top of that, rather than get all the passangers on board and then worry about the cars, they thought it'd be even more hilarious to do 2 jobs extremely badly, dribbling both on board in small dollops, delaying the boat by over an hour.
why the stupid idiots didn't use the passenger side entrance also baffled me, as once you did actually get in, you then had to dodge the parking traffic to get to the stairwell.
inside doesn't even get a mention as complete and utter chaos doesnt even come close to describing it.
i bailed out of the way as stroppy croats battled with raging italians over who's seat this was and why the other couldn't put his suitcase there or anywhere near and retreated to the sundeck to observe the sunset and passively smoke a cigarette factory.
i had to sleep on the sundeck of the ferry as there was no room inside, and no way was i paying fifty quid for a seat! only to battle it out with the locals.
it wasn't too cold in my jumper jacket and sleeping bag, but i won't be rushing back to do it anytime soon :-)
ancona seems very nice, if it wasn't for the graffiti and italians it'd be gorgeous.
of course its a sunday so not much is open, but i'll have another look around tomoro and hopefully see the place at its best.
i can get a signal now on 3 ITA so i can mms off my phone, hence the photos above!
theres a wilted flower on the auschwitz-birkenau memorial that i though particularly poignant, krakow old square, a paraglider coming into land at bohinj and ljubljana's old town castle.
i'll post more up when i can!
cj