Onward and Upwards Through Italy

After a wonderful stay in Roma we caught a train to Florence, hainvg been informed by an Irishman called Rori that the famousish horserace Il Palio was due to take plaec in nearby town Siena on the next day. We arrived in Florence at about 22 HUNDRED HOURS and walked in a direction we assumed would be helpful.

5 mins later we bumped into some Dutch guys at a bus stop who asked if we were going camping. "We are now!" came my thankful reply and eventuall ya bus turned up and bunged us at a lovely campsite which had no room for our tents. Luckily they offered us their own tents for a mere 2€ extra because they were sorry that they were full. yay! That night we hit the bar and drank some of the booze we had loaded up on in Barcelona. It was VERY MERRY INDEED and we went to bed.

Next day Will, Matt and I left for Siena, Dinty choosing to stay in Florence and chill out. Our first train was cancellced, our second turned out to be a bus and the third eventaully for us there. I bought 300g of gross plastic cheese and a lump of bread before we left and having consumed the inner soul of the bread I refilled it with cheese - a dish I cunningly named Cheese-bread which Matt trasnlated roughly into German Keise-brot (I canàt spell that) which sounded amusingly like Schizer-brot, so that is what I called it. It rocked and I was hungry NO MORE.

We strolled through the beautiul town of Siena, revelling in the atmosphere that gripped the town. EVERY SINGLE PERSON was there for the race, wearing their region°s colours. Basically each region enters and horse and then all the horses (over a dozen of them) are riden in a MANIC race around the town centre in which the only things that get mashed up worse that the horses are the riders. Seriously people, it is MADNESS. the first start was a false one, the second start involed a horse bucking the hurling the rider over it°s head, causing a cheer to go up from the opther regions and ambulances to come screaming through the town. We watched the race on a screen (there were too many people) and then heading home. A lovely day all in all.

That night Will hit the hay, I drank tea and Matt ate pasta. We went to bed happy and ready to head out the next day.