How to ride a Horse-In Italian part 2

I had my second lesson on thursday night, in hindsight I should have cancelled because we had to rush from the stables, pick up Richard from work and go screaming down the autostrada(and by screaming I mean ME screaming since the traffic was horrible) towards Malpenza airport to fly to Rome.
In the rush I left my iphone and 150 Euros on top of the car while I was putting Reese in and then drove off....so I am now minus an iphone and a lot of cash, AND...I am going through smartphone withdrawls!!!!

The lesson went much better though. Lynn had given me a prep talk through before hand and I had Mirna this time. Leading AND mounting went much better(cirque de soleil move again) Rising trot was pretty good, didn't fall off, small bonus.  Mirna took some good kicking to get her moving and I managed to steer her the entire lesson without cutting corners. So all in all, it went better than the first lesson :)

PASSO, TROTTO, GALLOPO!!!!
Walk, Trot, Canter!!!

Bellagio, Como, Maranello(Ferrari), and ROME!!!!

We've had guests since last Friday. Richard's mom Lynn and her boyfriend Richard are in town. We've had some great adventures this week!!! Back out to Como, on the boat to Bellagio, it was GORGEOUS!!Then we drove down to the Ferrari factory in Maranello on Wednesday and it was pretty freaking great too. THEN...Thursday night we took off to Rome for two nights and it is now official........

Rome is my new favourite city on the planet. Its beautiful, easy to get around and SO OLD!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!! We didn't even see everything but it was such a great trip.

SO...as you can imagine I have about a BILLION pictures to edit(taken with my new rockin' camera which I'm STILL frantically trying to get used to :) I will try to start posting them all this week sometime. I'm excited about them, I've even made a conscious effort not to take as MANY alley pictures...........but of course there are still a few.....Rome has some beautiful little alleys don't you know ;)

How to ride a Horse- In Italian-Part 1

So for those of you that didn't know, I'm taking English riding lessons, and by English I mean in an English saddle because my lessons are in Italian!!!!
Now, I have ridden on a western saddle a few times, and I've ridden on an English saddle a few years ago for the first time and thought I'd cracked my sacrum for the next two weeks. I've been wanting to take riding lessons for years now and now here is my chance.

EXCEPT IT'S IN ITALIAN!!!!!

So its a bit nerve wracking to haul yourself up on a big horse and stay on when your instructors are speaking to you in English, now try it where the instructor is only speaking VERY basic english and you only understand the basic Italian.....sometimes!!!! I was a bit overwhelmed.  In a perfect world I would start at how to tack up the horse and groom it and then how to walk it, how to mount, and so on and so forth. I like knowing exactly what I'm supposed to do before I do it.
WELL.....I walked my horse into the arena with some guidance, they did this INSANE mount where they grab your left foot and basically throw you in the air and you're supposed to gracefully land on the horse........rrriiiiggghhhhtttt. Poor freaking Baron (my horse) was probably thinking (OH MY GOD WHAT JUST LANDED LIKE A ROCK ON MY BACK!?!?!) My mount was not graceful at all. I was prepared to put my foot in the stirrup and mount, or mount from a block but not for the cirque de soleil move I had to perform!!

They DID show me how to hold my reins(with the stupid crop too which really messed me up!), and how to sit, but they wanted me to hold my reins quite far up the horses neck and kept moving my hands back there. The only way for to hold them that far out was to move my upper body forward which made my posture crap, and now today my neck hurts like heck! Lynn (Richard's Mom)  is coming to my lesson with me next week and she rocks it out on a horse so hopefully she can tell me in nice, detailed English what I'm doing wrong!!!!

My horse was lazy and didn't want to take the corners properly, but I also didn't know how to properly "steer" him until almost the end of the lesson*sigh* I'd read up on it all in English but putting it all together while trying to keep myself on the horse was more than my brain could handle....while also trying to translate the Italian I was hearing!!!!

I was quite proud of myself that I didn't fall off during the trot, and seemed to be doing what I was supposed to be doing since I got a "Bravissima!" from the instructor....which I think is good :) I didn't FEEL like I knew what I was doing(which is probably because I was winging it) but hey.....I guess it will come with practice.

It was much more of a workout than I expected, but my legs don't hurt nearly as much today as I thought they would. Guess the insane amount of stairs in our house has helped a bit!

My dismount was a bit more graceful than the mount but I'm pretty sure Baron would strongly disagree!!!

SO....I survived, didn't fall off, was completely confused the entire time but hey....I guess I'll learn Italian pretty quickly this way won't I!?!?!

I'M GETTING A NEW CAMERA!!!!!!!

After much research, and a very dedicated payback plan which funnels all Christmas presents from my parents, Richard and Reese into it, I am getting a Canon 7D!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Since it was a lot cheaper to buy it in the UK, Lynn is bringing it over with her on Friday when she comes. I am ridiculously excited about a new camera as I've wanted one for a while and my old one has been frustrating me lately since I want it to do more than it has the capability to do. Its a great little camera don't get me wrong, I love the pictures I've taken with it. But I want to be able to do MORE! hahaha

Play school

So it seems that pretty much every kid over the age of two in this village goes to play school!!! At home they don't usually start until 4, and I'd heard it was around 3 in Europe. I resisted at first since its 3 mornings a week,  but the more I think about it, the more it sounds like a good idea. Reese would have the same little kids in her class so she'd have some consistency, she'd have an outlet for playing with other kids, she'd learn Italian since some of the activities are done in Italian, and I would have some free time to take Italian classes.
SO...we're going today at 2:30 for a tour and to find out what happens etc.
I'm really not ready for this but I think it will be so good for Reese!!!!

If you can't beat them.....join them :)

So I decided to try riding my bike with a skirt on today!!! Just to see what its like to be a local :) Because I don't feel like flashing to everyone around me I also wore my spandex running shorts underneath which I think might actually be seen as cheating by the Italians.

We went for a long bike ride and found Lake Basiglio!!! Then we proceeded to ride around it on a tiny little dirt track that at times was overgrown and I will admit I was every so slightly concerned about viper attacks!!!!
We turned down a track into the rice paddies and we found this AWESOME old, run down farm house/barn that in true Italian style was graffitti'd to the hilt. But really cool place for pictures!!!! We found the path that leads into the back of Basiglio and then turned around and continued along the lake.
Of course no sunday afternoon ride is complete without a macchiatto and a gelato so we stopped in Milano 3 for those. Beautiful afternoon!!!!
This weekend was also a festival in Basiglio and the town square has been taken over by a market/carnival/dance party/fair!!!! It was pretty cool to see and the decorations look like Christmas ones. St Agatha is who we are celebrating and I *believe* she is the patron saint of Basiglio. The bells have been going insane all weekend :
The path around Lake Basiglio and Richard's awesome new bike!!!

That's right, when in Rome. Me perched on my awesome bike in a SKIRT. With cycling shorts underneath I assure you. It was an interesting experiment to ride a bike in a skirt. I think the Italians are so good at it because they start them young. Also, a picture of Lake Basiglio!!

Basiglio as viewed from the rice paddies!! The graffitti in the abandoned building we found. Yes I know, I'm obsessed.Along with a photo book about alleys I can also have one of random graffiti!!!

I just liked the smiley face! And one of Reese exploring, cautiously! 

Richard posing and him and Reese looking at the graffiti colours

No idea what the graffiti says! Reese looking adorable!! Hmmm I just noticed that some of the pictures look a bit distorted :(

Reese showing her happy face when she found the happy face graffiti

My pictures look weird!?! hanging out in front of the wall

Looking into Basiglio, fierce concentration from Reese on the gelato spoons, its like she's WILLING more gelato to appear on them!!!!

Cafe Macchiato, so yummy, and over much too soon!!!!

Ummm because I really want this bag and this gives me an extra entry!!!

So I would LOVE to win a Kelly Moore Photography Bag!!!!! They are AWESOME. They look just like fashionable purses but when you open them up there is room for your camera and lenses and they are all protected too!!! Seriously what more could I ask for!?!?!

Kelly Moore Bag Giveaway

No, Non, Nein, Nada....I do NOT want the bracelet that you are selling

So yesterday Reese and I ventured into Milan since it was such a lovely day. I decided I was going to drive and find Abbiategrasso station which we thought was near Milano Fiore. Yeah, well its nowhere near Milano Fiore!!! Its a few kilometers away from there actually and it also has no parking garage attached to it so I had to abandon that plan and drive to Famagosta station which I know has parking but which I could not for the life of me FIND!!!! So I ended up parking on this side street and praying that I wouldn't get towed!!! Made it into Milan and found this boutique store that I am absolutely in LOVE with
Luisa Beccaria
 However I'm pretty sure a dress from there would cost me an arm and a leg and would throw off my budgeting for getting a new camera lens and eventually a new camera for years!!! I can stare in the windows and drool though.
 Went to Milan castle, it was pretty, but was definitely not the prettiest castle I've ever been to(Yup totally spoiled for castles when your family is from the UK!) Took some pictures and tried to fend off the overwhelming number of West Afican guys who were selling bracelets and other stuff. They try to get you to take one or tie one on your wrist so that you then have to pay them and I imagine they put up quite a fuss if you refuse to do that so that you would just pay them to shut them up!!! WELL...I wasn't having any of that so I gave the first guy my best get away from my child before I go mama bear on your butt look... and walked away. From then on when they spoke to me in Italian, French and then English I just pretended I didn't know what they were saying and smiled and walked away! It was just Reese and I though and they made me a little nervous, so our trip to the castle was cut short. We went and had drink in a sidewalk cafe instead. So as usual, here are some pictures of the castle!!! And one really old, really cool church
in the square near Marc Jacobs.
This is the Santa Maria del Carmine
 


Fountain outside the castle