Une Baguette s'il vous plaît

Well it wouldn't be an Amelia trip to the airport without some sort of drama. It seemed like a good idea to get a late night flight so I could work that day and leave in the evening, I had it all arranged for Mauri to give me a ride to the train station at 5 so I was all ready and waiting watching the clock tick by twiddling my thumbs getting increasingly nervous. He finally shows up at 5.40 (last train leaves at 5.50) and off we bolt breaking all sorts of speed limits. As we arrive at the station I can see the train at the platform so off I run out of the still moving car sprinting through the tunnel and dive into the train just as the doors close behind me - I think I must have been a stunt woman in a former life. At this point I thought it was a good idea to actually find out whether this was the right train or not (there wasn't a whole lot of time for confirmation before hand) turns out that although the train was going to Milan it wasn't going to the central station where the airport shuttles leave from... Can't have everything I guess. So by the time I got off the train and caught the metro I was again very late and had to do another desperate sprint waving the arms please don't leave before I get there highly embarrassing maneuver. So the shuttle arrived at the airport 10min before the plane was scheduled to take off. I was jumping the ques for the xray etc and was the last one to board the flight doing the walk of shame down the plane aisle avoiding everyones glares and 2min later we were racing down the runway

When I got off the shuttle in Paris I was greeted by Shona and Jude with berets, how cool we must have looked wandering the streets in the middle of the night with our funky hats! We then headed back to their apartment (I met the famous Maurice!). After winding our way through the multitude of hair braiding shops and dodgys cooking and selling popcorn from shopping trolleys on the street (mmm food poisoning) we get to the apartment building, climb six million steps, open the front door and are greeted by a hallway full of junk a trend that was continued through the rest of the apartment. Hey, it was cheap.

So off we went early in the morning to see the sights. First up was Notre Dame, up up up the spiral staircases and up some more. I almost passed out from exhaustion / dizziness more than once but didn't fancy having to climb again when I woke up in a heap at the bottom so managed to control myself. Saw lots of awesome gargoyles and had a photo with Emanuele and back down the staircase which strangely went in the opposite direction.

Next was the Louvre. We spent a few hours walking around (would have to stay for a week to see everything) we got a bit hungry a little way into it so despite the no eating or drinking signs posted around the place we thought we might stop for a small snack on the baguette we had. After finding a quiet corner we sat down and started chomping away when we looked up and spyed the surveillance camera pointed straight at us... opps. We now had the energy we needed to fight the crowds for a glimpse at the Mona Lisa, and a glimpse it was we fought our way through to the front but still we were miles away.

The Eiffel tower was pretty cool. We spent hours waiting in the que despite the fact that the sign said the top level was closed (what is the point if you're not going all the way to the top?!?) Anyway just as we were about to buy our tickets it opened to much excitement. We went up in the evening and stayed up until after sunset and saw all the pretty lights and the towers impersonation of a Christmas tree and learned that Auckland and Wellington are in different directions, I didn't think New Zealand was that big but what would I know...

Badminton

Wow wow wow wow!!! I was at Badminton!!! So so many people, they were saying it was record numbers, you could hardly move through the crowds it was crazy. And the shopping was something else you could buy anything you wanted even not horse related (except the one thing I needed which was a spanner! I spent hours looking for one but alas no I was forced to borrow one to do my studs for the whole weekend) Every time I went into the trade stands I seemed to get lost – not fun when I have to get back to Ava in a hurry! Although they had a golf buggy shuttle service from the stables to the main arena which was very handy and saved a lot of time and walking.

We took Ava the Raver in the end who was such a little star. She jumped so awesomely but unfortunately had a couple of XC refusals.

The huge badminton conspiracy that nobody tells you until you try to wash your horse... theres no wash box or hose or anything! What is up with that?!? And the other crazy thing, steps to the muck heap?!? Its not like everyone brings wheelbarrows or anything. But seriously wouldn't it be easier to built a temporary ramp than temporary steps?! Sometimes I wonder...

I caught up with Hannah when I wasn't frantically running about the place which was awesome hadn't seen her for over a year so was neat to catch up on the goss.

Driving home was terrible! We left at 8 on Sunday afternoon to catch the 12.15 ferry which all went fine until we got to Dijon at about 10 the next morning, we were so lost and drove round and round for almost 2hrs poor Ava (and me!) before we finally managed to find the stables we were staying at. Deja vu the next day when we were very lost on the other side of Milan trying to get home! Oh I miss Susys driving!