Pisa

Ok Ok I know I was meant to be going to Rome. But as I didn't end up at the train station till lunchtime I decided somewhere closer with not so much to see would be a better plan.

I got up early to get the bus to the station so I could get to Rome as early as possible and therefore see as much as possible. I was a bit late for the bus but could catch it if I was quick so I ran out the door and was running down the road when a bus comes down towards Vairano (theres a bus stop just outside but apparently the bus only goes down once a week or something) so I thought fantastic saves me a bit of walking, jumped on the bus a tried to ask where it was going the driver mumbled something and I thought ok maybe not such a good idea so turned round and tried to jump out when the driver slammed the door shut, I asked if I could get off she mumbled something else and motioned for me to sit down. The bus is packed and everyone seemed quite young and all had backpacks... hmm... a school bus perhaps?? SUPER!!! Ok this could be not so bad hopefully it will be going through Vidigulfo Ill just jump off at the next stop there and get the proper bus. We get to the end of the road and bugger it turns in the complete opposite direction. So not much to do at this point but ride it out. Long story short I ended up somewhere in Pavia and had to ring Laura and get her to talk to the nice lady at the bar and ask here where the hell I was!! - Great start! It turned out I was miles away from anywhere and had to catch about 3 buses to get to the train station which I then discovered you couldn't really get anywhere from there anyway (there were much more options from Milan) by this time I was completely sick of buses so brought a train ticket to Milan and opps... got off at the wrong stop (hey the sign said Milan how was I to know there was more than 1 station!!) and the next train wasn't coming for another hour. Fantastic! Luckily the underground was just down the road so I jumped on that and found the central Milan train station. To my relief the lady at the ticket counter spoke "a little" English (I think one of the only people in Milan) it was going to cost £60 ($100ish) for a 1 way ticket to Rome that took 5hours (would have got there about 6pm)!! "Ummm... thanks but no thanks, is there anywhere cheaper/closer?" Hence my decision to go to Pisa.

I ended up having to go through Florence and get a connecting train to Pisa on which I met some really lovely Americans (that spoke English Hooraay!) who were over on a 10day holiday. When I got out of there train station there was a big red bus called City Sightseeing Pisa. It was awesome lol so touristy! We got headphones that you plug in a choose your language and the voice says "on you left you'll find..." and everyone runs over to the left side of the bus cameras flashing and tips the bus onto 2 wheels. But basically it takes you on a 45min drive around Pisa (really theres not much to see apart from the tower) and you can get on and off as much as you like (the ticket lasts for 24hrs) so you can just cruise around and do your own thing.

I stayed at a hostel thingy that was a short bus ride out of the city (another drama of finding the right bus - I wont bore you) which had 6 bunk beds (go the bunks!!!) and was completely empty! So I had the whole place to myself and could do whatever I want (yea cause theres heaps to do in those places) anyway it was cheap and was fine for what I wanted.

And yes I climbed the tower!!! OMG not good for my fear of heights (especially on the side it leans towards! ) But really cool. Its beautifully made (apart from the supports I guess?) and an awesome view from the top.

So yes a very exciting couple of days hopefully Ill make it all the way to Rome next time.

Fontainbleu

OMG I have never been so cold in my life!!! The weather here in Vairano was so nice for the week leading up to us leaving. We were all in shorts and sunbathing during our lunchtimes (I love how I don't get burnt over here!) so I packed lots of singlets and shorts etc. and as soon as we passed the boarder into France it started snowing!!! (I was rather excited but I don't think everyone shared my joy) So anyway I spent the whole week wearing ALL my clothes and still I just about froze to death. But anyway once I got moving (something I did a lot of) I warmed up slightly and had SO much fun but man it was full on!

The ponys went ok. Ava did well in the dressage, clear XC but had 4 rails (she can be a little clumsy at times). Caro did ok dressage, 1 stop XC (Susy was not happy), and 4 rails SJ (Apparently shes never taken this many in her life - needless to say Susys going to do a bit of work with her) And Tucker the little star got a ribbon ended up about 10th ish (hes the horse that everyone hates hes really stiff and not easy to ride) but he scored quite well in the dressage (probably a bit higher than he should of but hey its all good) clear XC and SJ (only a handful of horses went clear SJ) so yeah he got extra carrots on the way home.

The journey was a very eventful one. On the way there we had a driver that took us up. We went through the tunnel on Mt Blanc (the 6km one where they had a big fire a couple of years ago and lots of people died from smoke inhalation) so they're quite strict on following distances you get stopped on the way in a let through a few seconds after the car in front has gone so your not too close. Anyway on the other side we got asked to pull over and asked to show his license and was like umm I left it at home!! (big no no over here) so anyway they took him out somewhere and he ended up getting a fine for not respecting following distances but somehow managed to talk his way out of the not having license one (luckily he spoke French very well otherwise things could have been a bit tricky) And things didn't get any better on the way home either. We stopped at a toll booth thingy (I guess that's what they're called - when you have to pay to use the road) and we went into the wrong one which was all good we just backed out and went to go into the next one however apparently we didn't go back far enough cause we didn't make in round the concrete post separating them and now have a huge dent and a chunk missing from the side... opps Susy was not happy about that!!! She wasn't just mad about having to pay to get it fixed she was worried that someone would see her looking like a Gypsy lol (personally I would be ecstatic to be seen in that mansion whether it had a dent or not) so anyway we got back home and were backing round the corner to where it gets parked and CRUNCH she backed into the gutter - not a good day.

I actually found it very interesting how friendly and helpful the French were with the language thing. Maybe I was just lucky but I found a lot more people spoke English than in Italy and they all seemed happy to speak to me in it. Which is completely the opposite to what everyone has told me. I dunno maybe I was just lucky.

New Pony

... well technically hes not new, Susys owned him for a while but sent him away to get sold as he can be a bit of a shits not that nice (well actually hes amazing but all the others are so OMG STUNNING they make him look average) but he hasn't sold so has come back home. Have attached a photo of him.

Oh and the real exciting news for me I JUMPED ROSE!!!! OMG she is amazing!! It was so much fun!! She has the most awesome powerful jump (I must of looked like an idiot flying all over the place hehe) Susy put the jumps up massive but Rose was just like ok I can pop over that. YAY YAY YAY it was so much fun. =) Unfortunately I didn't have my camera there so haven't got any photos - hopefully next time.

OMG having a major panic Rose is going SJ on Sat and Susy wants me to drive her back by myself cause she has to go to a dinner thingy. Ah ah ah! I haven't driven in over a month, have no idea what the road rules are or how to drive on the wrong side of the road or go around roundabouts and I have to do it for the first time by myself and in the lorry with a horse on!!! Ah ah ah!!!

I'm having major TV withdrawals especially missing Greys Anatomy and just to rub salt in the wound its coming to TV here but in Italian!! =( sob sob (don't tell me what happens I'm going to buy the DVD). But am managing to work out the best times to watch TV: during the middle of the day usually our lunchtime they have that trashy reality TV show "date my mum" its shown in English with Italian subtitles so also quite handy for learning the language, Tom and Jerry would have to be the favorite they don't even bother translating it and great for a laugh. And if I get really desperate theres 2 music channels which which I can switch between to avoid the ads and the presenters babbling away in Italian. But its also hard to get rid of the bordness with books. On my first trip in to Milan I found a really great bookstore with a huge English section and though great this must be what all book stores are like however everyone Ive been to since has been terrible! Some have no english books at all and others have like half a shelf and only have those terrible classics: hamlet, pride & prejudice etc I'm currently reading Treasure Island!! - tis slow going I must say.

We leave for France on Monday to Fontainbleu and are there for a week. I have no idea if my phone works there - I guess Ill find out. Taking 3 horses Ava, Caro, Tucker. Its the world cup qualifying thingy (like what they have at Kihikihi) will be my first big 3 day over here so hopefully it all goes well =S

Photos

Finally I got round to taking some photos of the place. The first one is of the horses in the field with their Darth Vader masks on lol. On the left is Ava, Caro (Carrera) in the middle and Tucker (Nova Top) on the right.

Milan was cool did lots of shopping and found a 10 story shopping complex!! Fun fun =) =) I brought a phone so can now have contact with everyone.

Haven't really done much since I last emailed. Went to a SJ show with Rose yesterday. OMG the warm up arena is so scary!! Horses everywhere I nearly got run over so many times. Susy was wanting me to change the jumps but there where horses jumping them non stop and then when I tried to touch them people would start asking me stuff in Italian to which I would reply with a blank stare... seemed to work well. But Rose jumped well. Was all very interesting, very different to back home.

Last night we went out for dinner to a cute little restaurant in Pavia. They had a band thingy there which was nice (very entertaining hearing them trying to sing in English) We had a 5 course meal! The main course was I think cow vertebrae =S I kinda had a pick but it wasn't really all that tasty, interesting...

I think were going to France for a 3day in a couple of weeks. Exciting!!