Horse Hunting Day #3

Day 3 is upon us!

Excitement filled the breakfast table as Dad, Mum, Conor and I enjoyed a meal anticipating the day ahead filled with beautiful horses and a lot of scary Belgium traffic.
We all got ready and met in the hotel lobby. As I waited the A.C. Milan team that was bunking at our hotel were coming and out of a back room where they were relaxing and getting prepped for that nights game, I found it amusing that a grouped of 3 guys, 2 teenage boys and their father I messed sat in the lobby and waited for the players to pass so they could get an autograph. The coach passed at one point and I was nearly taken out by a group of 5 teenagers that rushed in with autograph books and iPhones in hand for photos and a signature from the great coach. I guess hockey to us is soccer to these guys.

We headed back to Stephex stables and before long we were there, after a very confusing and screwy car trip thanks to our little leprechaun tour guide Conor, including a few circles, a few red lights run and an interesting few moments of Conor sitting smack dab in the middle of a 3 way street.

Stephex day 2 was a great success, we saw 3 horses, first a fiery, gorgeous 7 year old gelding with a total white face, that was just a little too... untrained, then we tried the 7 year old mare from last night (the one with the small star and spot on her nose. absolutely beautiful girl)  and found that she was better outside, in better footing not to mention it seemed as the jumps grew, she improved. Finally a little cutie, a 6 year old stallion that was not our taste but cute as a button anyways, pretty face with a nice long white blaze.

After a cold afternoon we joined Stephan the owner of Stephex Stables for a hot soup for lunch before striking a few deals and headed out. But nothing before Dad and I went back to see Stephan's second business, horse trailers, both solely campers and half living half stalls, incredible machines I might say, gorgeous on the inside, Canada really should get some of those, they would work magic around here and sell like hot cakes.

Since we had been there for hours by the time we went home it was time to simply lay around and enjoy a little relaxing, we headed to a strange Italian restaurant down the street, after probably the best pizza I've every had... literally. We paid the bill and walked home.

It was time to have a few drinks, time to toast the future of our horses. A successful trip, coming home with 2 horses and hopefully another after negotiations but all in all a great trip. The few drinks, turned into a few more and a few more, I ended up going to bed since I was dying of sleeplessness. After a long conversation regarding the owner side of the new horses and a chat with D I'm going to lay my head down and sleep.

Tomorrow will bring a long trip home, but it will be worth it for my pets, my bed and to wake up enjoying my sheets, my house and my real life.


Cheers everyone,


A.Grange

Horse Hunting day 2

Evening from Belgium.

I wish I could be more energetic but after inly around 2 hours of sleep last night I am a little too tired for effort right now.

The day began with a confusing car ride through Italy, I must say it is rather beautiful in the sunlight, especially the Swiss Alps which personally took my breath away! Including the city streets, the amount of people, and the parking... which seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time, some were backwards, others right on someone's bumper or with another car on their bumpers, a mad house to say to least!

We arrived at the barn within an hour. I had made the joke that since the city seemed like it was going on forever we would most likely just turn a corner and be at a horse farm, equipped with outdoor schooling rings and all! Well I was not far off! The turn we made was into an old alley, next to a stone wall that was over 100 years old, there was a large gate that led us about 100 feet from the front door... interesting set up, look West and you have a farm, horses and nice fields.... look East and you have a few small town houses, one next to the other and a main road. A little different from the Canadian and American barns I am use to I suppose.

I have not been on a horse hunting trip in some time but they are exciting. We met "Dixson" a chestnut who gave a lot of love to our riders and us, a lovely stallion who is creating all the rave in our minds! Showing great promise and strength. Then there was a little monster at the age of 5, he is also a stallion and a beautiful one at that a shiny grey sheet laid over him with such amazing spots and features, by far my favorite and I just cant seem to get him out of my head. The way he moved, the way he jumped, his heart, his spirit, just the look of him  captivated me.

After a quick lunch we rushed to the airport to fly to Belgium, had to spiral out of the airfield. I just want to add, if you have not seen or some people may not know about the Swiss Alps, I ask you dearly to put it on a MUST DO list of your life, we had to fly over them twice to get out of Italy, I haven't been mesmerized so much in my life in a very long time I believe. The alps are probably the most beautiful thing Ive ever seen... I swore to myself I would take the trip to they're base and maybe farther up to photograph they're amazing sights. I was honestly so stuck on them, still don't think 40 photos was enough!

The short flight to Belgium was the easy part it was getting through 5-6pm Belgium traffic that was the pain, but eventually we arrived at Stephex, the most beautiful and super complex facility I think I've ever seen! The Mare was ready to go and we viewed her with great success, wonderful horse.
Since our tiredness had gotten the best of us, our rider led us to our hotel to sign in. SCARIEST CAR RIDE OF MY LIFE! I swore I was going to die atleast a dozen times, people in Belgium not only have no respect or care for the LINES ON THE ROAD, but also, pedestrians just walk out any time... you HAVE TO STOP or you hit someone, and either way it is your fault! So scary... Like there are no parking garages in downtown Belgium, get on that government!

Dropped the bags in my room, changed and headed to the bar for something very cold and preferably strong! A deep whiskey later and the rest of the group had joined and we had ordered dinner. As we sat with cocktails a band of large, fit men marched past in addidas jumpsuits with Red and black colours, they were the Milan F.C. Professional soccer team, big strapping guys, soe scary looking, marched past headed back to their rooms, suppose they are in town for a big match as our rider informed us NON-SOCCER FANS.

Enjoyed dinner and looking forward to a busy day tomorrow, today was hard enough but the travel is over until Thursday when we head home to our loved ones, pets and warm, comfy, familiar beds (my favorite part). Cant wait to be home but for now Im just trying not to die in Belgium. And hoping to come home with a horse or 2.


Cheers,




-A.G

Horse Hunters

Benvenuti a Torino, Italia

A long day, with a long flight, met by a late arrival has brought us into Turin, Italy. Torino, though dark under the moons light had proven to be a beautiful place, filled with light and history.

our night ran off lIke many late flights do, check-in to the hotel, find the friends already there, change out of sweaty, gross plane clothes and head down for a drink. I was slightly dying after the long long flight so have been running up and down the stairs as much as I can which will delight my workout Nazi of a boyfriend (<3 sorry D lol).

Tomorrow brings a new, early day. hopefully a trip to the gym followed by a hot shower will bring me out of the jet-lag funk before we get in our cars and drive 30+ mInutes to the stables to view a new horse.

Even with the busy few days ahead the new cities and places are proving to be a new adventure, off to Brussels either late tomorrow or early Wednesday, we will see but for now I am taking in Italia for the first time and liking what I see.


cheers!
-A.Grange

Dromoland adventure

Welcome to Shannon, Ireland

We are now on the Northern point of Ireland off the very unbeaten path that is the drive entrance way to Dromoland Castle, a beautiful hotel in the rural sections of Shannon.
We are only here for 2 nights and today we will on a plane to head home for what will hopefully be a long time!

Since we were only here for a few days it was apparent that we needed to fit in as much as we possibly could! With 8 people that may seem like a hard task to do but it really proved otherwise when we managed to get a whole days worth of adventures over, done and photographed on Sunday.

We started out with a nice breakfast, some of us had been up early... D being one of them up for a nice workout and I did wake up when he left bed, just kind of went back to sleep till he came home and woke me.
Breakfast lead into a walk and the walk was met by an 11:30 meeting with a mr. "Patsy" or Pat who was around the age of 60-70 we guessed and was the archery teacher on the grounds.
We went out to the stretch of land where the target had been set up and started our lesson.

Patsy is a very interesting man, very soft spoken until you say something he likes to hear, we found out that nice old Patsy, the archery teacher was NOT an archer... rather a hunter who used mainly rifles to take down his food. We did give him a show though when we realized that the patch of mud we had been standing on (where everyone else that takes lessons shoots from) was now almost 20 yards in front of us. We had picked up the art of longbow decently quickly and with a little competition between my hunni and I we continually moved back a few steps every mark. It was difficult to stay accurate might I add since all of the 5 arrows had no more then 2 wings on them some having only remnants of what we guessed used to be wings which made almost all of our shots a little wonky. The company did prove to be comical and the black and blue marks down our left forearms prove to be a recall of the memory of old Patsy and his wonky arrows.

After then archery "lesson" we headed off to walk the grounds a few moments before our stomachs got the better of us and we met Annie and Don down in the Fig Tree restaurant attached to the golf course where we grabbed a quick bite before running off the Falconry...  Yes with real birds, if there is ever a course or trip you can take where this is offered I suggest it highly!
We have all seen or at least heard of the "Birds of Prey" demonstrations, well this was that... on steroids. Not only did you get to see a demonstration of this beautiful bird in motion, "Bruce" (our lovely companions name) sat right up on our hands. As we took off for our walk through the woods at Dromoland which are beautiful in themselves our trusty guide handed all of us "falconer gloves" and simultaneously went through the group as we walked, talking about facts or stories of these birds he would place a piece of chicken on our up-held closed fist and whistle. The bell on Bruce's leg was a dead indicator that he had popped off the tree branch he was perched on before he came into view at a gorgeous glide through the arm to stop dead on your hand and within a split second be looking for the next piece of meat to gobble down.

The walk was beautiful and except for a few issues with some dogs alarming poor Bruce (falcons and hawks and other birds of prey hate dogs and will let out a warning call when one is near) we managed to walk through the forrest with no issues and eventually made it to the other side of the grounds where the falconers spent time training and where these beautiful birds live, a nice little "nest" area where each bird gets their own little pool for bathing and cooling down and a stand to perch on in the sunshine (or rain... since it is Ireland).
We met a few more beautiful birds including 3 female owls who's colours and puffy exterior made them unforgettably cute.

After another quick walk and a pint in the sitting room along with a snack it was time to relax a little, with time to kill as the rest of our group gathered they're wits for a game of golf, D and I headed to reception to ask about a horse and buggy ride or "trap and ride" as they called it through the grounds.
Now when you think of a couples 60 minute horse and carriage ride through the beautiful grounds of a gorgeous castle and its forrest pathways you think of a romanic, quiet, cuddly ride... well Sean and Patty knew better then to just offer us that!

Sean was a wonderful man, he works 7 days at the castle and loves his job more then any man I've ever met. Patty, his trust Sunday sidekick was a beautiful old boy with a big blaze of white down his black face and a look of complete peacefulness in his eyes. Sean popped us into the back of his small carriage and after a few pictures and a warning of "there will be no courting in here ya hear!?" we were off and the adventure as he called it himself began.
First it was a little history of the castle, how the original was knocked down and the ground raised over the years by human hands to push the once moat into a now fine and calm lake, how the original entrance to the old castle still stands as an entrance to date, the grounds still sit the same and the story of a old buried race horse still holds its mystery with every passer by. We were amazed to hear that a family had lived in the "home" up until 1962 when it was sold and turned into a hotel residence, this was interesting because it must have been over 20 times in the last day that we got lost through its corridors.

As the tour continued, which might I add went on for almost 100 minutes instead of only 60, we learned all about the grounds, the old hermit house made of corral with its dated stone at the entrance, the man-maid hills and raised grounds that peaks where there is a monument with 8 pillars and a dead horse buried beneath it, but the most interesting thing of all and amazing is saying far too little about it was the idea of a lilly pond... but it was no ordinary lilly pond as Sean and Patty came to explain, although it simply looks like a beautiful pond with lilies and a small pathway out to its centre it really focuses as the main point between different lines, tree lines. He went on to explain how the lines of the trees indicate the months of the year, when the sun in highest and lowest it hits proper trees and the months come into light. The monument looking down onto the lilly pond as well as off to each side and onto the castle shows 8 pillars on one side, 5 on the next and 4 on the next (representing the horses legs), he spoke (and had photographic evidence) of the sun beaming through those pillars within 5 months, each month shining through a different pillar and sending a beam of light across the pond and over the centre where it stays for only moments before the sun falls from the sky completely.

This is Sean's passion, his obsession some might say but his passion. This is the SunDial of Dromoland Castle. Laid out in the trees and the high and drops of the land, calculated as the sun grows higher with each passing month and how it falls across the sky to beam onto the pond.
The most intricate of stories, true in every words spoken. Just as Patty ;)

The evening ended with a nice dinner, then a quick walk before bed called our names.

After 3 weeks away from home, my bed, my house, my dogs, my cat, my pony! I'm excited to rest my head in my own sheets tonight.
Although it will be sad to loose the fun and relaxation of a nice old fashion family holiday it is something that holds too many memories to forget and we will always have our photos and our jokes about it all.

Thanks for reading.


Cheers,

-Hero

Nations Cup Irish Style

Hello all,

So for the sake of not spending 2 days writing about our touristy crap I figured I'd spare you all and skip to the good part.

The last few days were filled with horses, amazing dinners, good friends, shopping and of course lots of Jameson's and Guiness all around. My horse did very well he was a good boy and we are proud of him but he gets a day off due to another event, a big, fun, loud event that got all of us up and cheering right till the last fence.


The Nations Cup is a well known jumper class where different nations fight off against each other to win for they're homes, due to the fact that Canada and Australia didn't have teams here in Dublin we decided that we would all be "adopted Irish" for a day and cheer for the green to win it for the first time in almost 10 years on home soil!

If you don't know what a "Nations Cup" class is, I suggest (if you are anywhere in Calgary or Florida mainly) stopping by the horse show and watching a night of fun. There are nations of 4 horse/rider combinations, each combination on the team is ranked usually with the best for last (going 3rd and 4th). The teams are picked at random and the list runs through having each of the first riders going one after another till they are done, then it skips onto the second riders, then third and fourth all one after another alternating through the teams. There are 2 rounds, for the first round the team is allowed to drop its highest score at the end of the 4 riders, all the rider/horse combinations come back for the 2nd round and the scores are added up giving the team an overall final score, the team with the lowest amount of faults (each jump being knocked down counting as 4 faults) wins.

This was the first time in almost 10 years that Ireland won on home soil, but oh was it a good show! All the teams fighting they're hardest and it coming down to a very close battle between 3 main teams but Ireland prevailed for the home crowd and brought in the trophy. Good on ya boys!

After the nations cup it was time for another dinner, this time celebrating my brother's wifes birthday and then bed since the next day was a tour, horse show and fly out day.

We started Saturday with a nice breakfast down the street, hopped in a taxi and went off to the Jameson's Distillery which we were very excited about all trip. Unfortunately we did not see the real distillery as this was the site of the older one, Jameson's whiskey has now moved to a more modern distillery just outside of Dublin where all the Whiskey is also bottle and distributed from.

If you are ever in Dublin, Ireland, I suggest this particular attraction, for 13$ a person it was a great tour and ended with a nice glass of fine Jameson whiskey to cool you down. After a trip to the gift shop for some "distillery reserve" only sold in the direct distillery, bottles of 12 year old whiskey we rushed off down the street found us a rather "tour oriented" taxi driver and headed to the show where we watched Lance jump beautifully through the course and enjoyed a nice goodbye dinner with our Irish friends and colleagues.

Then it was back to the hotel and off to the airport to take the short trip to Shannon on the Northern end of Ireland.
Shannon is not a big place, its very rural and holds a lot of character to say the least. We arrived later on in the day around 6pm and it was one of the most beautiful sites I had ever seen.
Dromoland Castle... yes CASTLE... Stands on a man- maid hill looking out over the lake that once came straight up to the end of the front walls and bled into a moat that protected it back in the 1700's.
Though the original castle is gone there are a few things that remain, the Wall Garden that has been cut down a little still holds its original walls, the Castle itself which was a private home up till lately in 1962 still has the original entrance to the main castle that used to stand there, the grounds are as they were thousands of years earlier and it is as beautiful as you could ever imagine... and its a CASTLE.

Though our evening was fast and dinner was met by the instinctive need for a soft bed and heavy eyelids, dinner was amazing and the sleep was very restful! Especially after a short walk through the grounds to admire the lights on the stone after nightfall.









If there is one thing that everyone in the world wants to do it is to stay in a castle.
Check mr.Bucket List.


-Hero

Dublin in short-form

Good Eve'n all,

So heres the gist of what has happened (why I have been away for a few days).

As soon as the truck arrived with my parents and my man, I kind of was more excited about doing the fun stuff in Dublin and that involved, early starts, horse show, site seeing, come back to the hotel to shower and change, late late dinner, and all over again so safe to say I was too tired to even think about trying to write these those nights... also I'm not going to pass up falling asleep next to D after being away from home for the last 2 weeks.


So I will sum it up as best I can, deal?

It was a slow first day, to the camera shop where I bought a new camera point and shoot to help with my travels since my trusty XTi lens has broken, then up and down Grafton Street and eventually, after only an hour or 2 might I add we decided that the travels so far (London, Amsterdam and Paris already) had been enough of a whirlwind that it would be best to just relax and spend the afternoon lounging around, Wade played video games, I did homework and then joined him on a few game sessions then for late showers and eventually (around 9:30 might I add) we had dinner and met up for drinks with a family friend who actually is Irish and grew up just out of the city.

Since the night ended later then earlier as our friend said at the end of the night, we had a later start to the day. The cheesy tourist bus tour seemed to be the best route and within the hour we had hoped onto the "Hop-on Hop-off Red Bus tours" and traveled around the city, eventually getting off at the Dublin zoo! Which was a decent size and although we showed up and stayed after dinner time when the animals were all either napping or brought in back to feast it was wonderful and we got to see a lot of cute and cool animals including a baby giraffe, a snow leopard, a siberian on his way in for his feast and a pack of wolves that proved to be serving very kindly to the "pack"mentality aka-no one was touching the big hunk of cow meat leave out for dinner since the alfa-male was asleep in his cave in the back and the enclosure.
The bus took us on a nice tour home and our day was basically set, showered and got ready for the arrival of the rest of our company, which consisted of waiting in the pub overlooking the doors and watching for that taxi to arrive.

I will say one thing, when that taxi arrived its a lucky thing D was getting baggage from behind it and I couldn't really see him, I gave mum, pops and our family friend Annie a hug, waved to Don and by that point D had come from around the van and it took all of my power not to run the last 10 feet and leap into his arms, instead I think I must have put the biggest smile on my face and all I could think was how incredibly happy I was at that second... or at least that was my second thought, my first would have been I need to hug him and I did and that was that.

After a little bit of a relaxing drink and settling D into our room as well as everyone else getting unpacked, we all gathered for a pint in the pub at the hotel, once 10:30pm came rolling around we sat down for a quick bite which was great (like all the food we have encountered here in Ireland) then off into the sitting room on the far side of the main doors for a few drinks and some chatting.

D and I went to bed early for the sake that we were out of it pretty early, when Wade came stumbling into the little room at around 4am it took all my effort to even open my eyes to see it was really him before I collapsed with my arm and head back on D's chest.

The next few days were filled with wonderful meals, horse jumping, liquor and pints, a little shopping and a lot of good conversations. Our horse did wonderful and we are so very proud of him! Unfortunately we did not make it into the bigger class but that did not stop us from enjoying the festivities at the Nations Cup event which I will tell you about in the next blog, but for now I think its time this sleepy head, closed these heavy eyes and said goodnight.

Night all,

Cheers,






-Hero

The Road

Hello from somewhere between Amsterdam and Paris, France.

It seems we managed to book about the coolest collection of travel we could find just short of jumping a boat for a days ride to Dublin!

A flight from Toronto to London.
Buses, taxis, Clipper boats, the tube, rail tram and everything in between in London.
A flight from London to Amsterdam.
DEADLY Bike taxi in Amsterdam.
(On it right now) Train to Paris.
Tomorrow night a flight to Dublin and then who knows from there except for a flight home on the 20th.

Its a fun ride, a little strange and filled with a few missions that involved some frustration, speeding and sprinting including through an airport.

It is strange how you can be so blind to things that are right in front of you. In Toronto there is a "tube" aka the Subway, there are buses everywhere, taxis (obviously), boats, etc, but it seems that unless you are a tourist somewhere those things go untouched. In London we met a lot of people that had not done the Eye ride, tours including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Tower of London. I guess if you live there it isn't a huge priority because its always there... but still I think its weird, then again this coming from a girl who hasn't been in the CN Tower since she was about... 5 i think? Mum... Pop.... you tell me cause I don't know. Theres a lot of cool stuff in your own cities that doesn't get done... So people go do it its crazy cool, I wish I had time to do the Big Ben tour and Buckingham Palace and especially the Eye's view of the city but we did get a lot of stuff done on our trip through London and it was beautiful and amazing and we thank all of the city and helpful hello's and info desks.

We left a nice note on leaving the house we had rented in London including a mini Canada flag as a token of our nation pride and appreciation and a special gift for one of the kids. The family had 4 children and we were all divided into rooms, Wade and I got a young boys room named Henry, Henry had such cool stuff! Including a few bills from different countries, maybe a collection? So It seemed necessary to leave a $5 and $10 for Henry to add to his board, hopefully he likes them!
The plane and trip to the airport was incredibly... entertaining but worth it since we made the flight and managed to get settled before our long train to Paris.

I won't say much but one thing is for sure, people can tell you about it, explain it perfectly, maybe even show you a picture but it does nothing to explain what its really like... just saying.

Anyways, we are now off to Paris on this wonderful train. I have been to a lot of places in the world, including Holland a few times (no never Paris) but i have never even thought about the train and it is really beautiful! We are also just skipping along, you may not pay attention to it as it passes between the hills but if you have never been on one I suggest it, it really is a great thing to experience...
Wade tells me I'm small town but if being small town makes me appreciate things like this this much more then the other around me (so it seems) then I'll take small town any and everyday for the rest of it all!

Until next time I suppose.

Enjoy.

Cheers,

-Hero

Paris in a day

Hey everybody,

What would you do if you only had a day?

That is what we asked ourselves Saturday night as we walked through the gay district of Paris in heels and fancy clothes trying to find a restaurant that was not there anymore actually 2 of them weren't there and we ended up hiking over 3kms and then getting a taxi to Four Seasons for dinner which was incredible.
We had a wonderful day, the train that we got to Paris showed up at around 3:00pm we tried to check in but found the rooms would take an hour and a half to be ready, luckily there was a really cool courthouse in the middle of the lobby that we sat out and had some snacks and a few beers then when our rooms were finally ready we changed into nice clothes and headed to the street to get a cab to a wine bar, which was our main goal. What is the one thing that you have to do in Paris?
WINE and CHEESE.
So what'd we do? We went to get wine and cheese, one bottle and cheese plate at one restaurant, got a taxi to the next (finding out it was closed so we walked down the street a little) and had another bottle of wine, before we headed to Four Seasons for dinner where we had a few drinks and a bottle of wine and a delicious dinner! Listening to the most beautiful Pianist playing all night.

Best part here... We went home and changed and I urged everyone that we needed to see the Eiffel tower at night when it was all lit up! And oh did we see it!! Did you know that the Eiffel tower sparkles at night?!? Google it, Youtube it! It was amazing that it all was sparkling like a diamond for like 10 minutes, its amazingly awesome!

We took a taxi and walked right underneath it with all the lights on then went around the corner to have aa drink and people watch basically then home and while Mel passed out on the bed, Dyl and Wade stayed up and had a few more drinks when I went to bed.

The next day wasn't as early as we thought BUT we did really well...
Did the super tourist Bus Tour which is awesome by the way, got off at the Louvre and walked around, walked through the garden and people watched, stood next to the glass ceiling and looked into the museum which I would have died to go into but its one of if not the largest museum in the world and that would take a day in itself!
Got back on the bus and headed over to Notre Dame, that place is crazy! The detail and the amazing structures they built on there, there was a 3 hour queue though to get into the front door so we couldn't do that either... But its fine.
After that we stuck on the bus for a little bit, trying to find a nice place to eat. We found a Cafe at the Intercontinental which sits looking into a square where the Academic Nationale des Musique is which was a great building.
Other then that we sat on the bus and moved around a little, went to the Eiffel tower after lunch and we waited in line for about an hour to go to the top, it was so cool! Put that on your bucket list if you haven't already... unless your scared of heights then don't do it... or at least don't do the Summit just do the 2nd floor cause its considerably lower then the Summit. It was amazing from the top, you could see all of the courtyards in most of the buildings over the incredible large and awesome city. Seeing the Louvre from that high just cements how huge it really is!
Also a must see.
Something strange that I got a picture of, when you imagine the Eiffel tower you imagine this crazy building, maybe some shops around it, lots of people, etc... but... we saw a bunny. He had a leash, was very cute and was sitting on a square stool with his carrot and bowl of water... yup, a bunny, thats weird, I even took a picture because it was so weird.

anyways.

We pushed it a little getting home and having some food and a bottle of wine in the courtyard of the hotel, grabbed out already packed bags and headed to the airport where we were almost an hour early for the flight but it was easy, etc.

We are now in Dublin, headed to the pub for a few drinks and some good snacks before bed, crawled into a comfy comfy bed and passed out really quick!

Can't wait to walk around... and since my camera lens broke guess where our first trip is today? the 150m down the road to CameraCity where I'm buying a new lens or two! Can't wait to walk around.

But it'll be the longest two days ever until my parents, friends and my man show up tomorrow! Can't wait to see them all and excited to spend some awesome time in Dubin.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers,


-Hero

What do Ben, the queen and sweating have in common...?

Good evening people,

The answer is us... we have Ben, the queen and sweat in common.

Its the day we were planning, sight seeing, shopping and packing for the following trips around Europe. It ended up starting very well since we were out for dinner, didn't sleep too early (I went to bed at around 2am after a wonderful conversation with my hunni back home, a much overdue one might I add) but it was all about the sites and all about the organization of seeing what we wanted to see and thats what it meant and thats what was going to happen!

We started out at a early time, around 8:30am when we all arose and grabbed quick showers and dressed for the day, packing some of the goodies and heading to town for some shopping.

We packed and stepped out of the house walked down the street and were on the platform 4 rail tram to Charring Cross station where we grabbed a taxi and head off to Harrods to grab bags (yes we needed more bags) and to allow Wade to grab a little souvenir for himself as well.
It was such a beautiful day in London... wait... let me say that again
It was such a BEAUTIFUL DAY in LONDON, ENGLAND ya its sunny and nice, soooo screwy! Especially since our sources back home say that its raining and shitty back there.

Anyways, we only spent a little time in the "mall" that is Harrods, Links of London for Wade's Maclaren ring then upstairs for a nice Team GB duffle bag and a few t-shirts including a Team GB sport shirt, an Australian team polo shirt and an official London Olympics 2012 shirt, all of which are beautiful and well worth the extra bag needed to fit it all.

After the quick mall run we headed off to Hatton Gardens, which we were told was a great jewelry market by a friend who lives just outside of London and is from the city, when we got there though it was a beautiful market and awesome place it wasn't so much nicer unique jewelry maybe some celtic (my personal favourite) but it was more fine diamonds, lots of woman's wedding bands and engagement bands as well as necklaces and pendants, bracelets and earrings, it was nice, no doubt but it wasn't really a day that we need to spend on the street looking at diamonds, it was worth seeing but still not necessary to walk up and down and pay attention to every window and etc.

After not being able to find the pub that was used in the opening scene of the movie "SNATCH" we headed straight to Buckinham Palace where we said hello to the Queen, checked out her digs and made a few comments that we thought would help security including an electrically charged fence... not a lot... just a little shock, just to say "BACK OFF" I would personally sit in one of the windows and look out and laugh as people got shocked cause guaranteed they would go back multiple times without realizing that it was the fence that did it... we can warn them a sign "Please Do Not Touch The Fence" and so its just their own stupidity then!

Walking down the street we headed to a pub called The Birds Nest and had lunch and a beer before walking the mile down the road to Big Ben which is huge by the way... just saying. A few nice photos of the fine work on the outside and the amazing detail and immense size all in check we looked at the time and started to head for a beer at "The Market Porter" before we grabbed the Platform 3 rail tram back to Blackheath and hiked home ready to get in the car on the way to the airport.

Unfortunately we did not meet up with our trusty travel companions and so they took a different route that took them on 5 different rail trams, 2 tubes and an hour and 10 minute boat ride, by the time we got in the car with all the luggage and got to the airport we were 3 minutes over our final baggage deadline for the plane! As we pulled the 2 carts down the platform and headed into the doors we saw Dylan sprinting down to meet us, we ran into the airport and met Mel who was holding up the line at the front of baggage check, we checked our 5 bags and literally sprinted through the airport, through security, down the escalator and to the FARTHEST Gate in the terminal which is huge by the way... what the hell! ha

We made the plane with moments to spare and 60 minutes later we landed and took the taxi into the city, beautiful by the way, very beautiful and great and worth it but the sprint was nice and sweaty and gross. Quick dinner and a walk around a little made it a nice evening, finishing off just a bit ago with a glass of wine and olympic highlights including Bolt who is a freak of nature FYI, now to read a little and head to bed as I just realized the noise I thought was the air conditioning is actually Wade snoring in the other bed.

Good night all, and thank you for reading, again.

Hope you enjoy

Cheers,






-Hero

Individuals at last

Good afternoon!

It is now the night of Wednesday since my night last night revolved around too much alcohol into a very tired, sore and painful body that collapsed and wouldn't take it so my morning came with a too over-tired body and sickness I did not enjoy one bit.
Because of this I slept in later then the rest and joined them at the individual finals half way through.

I want to mention that Canada did extremely well, they tried they're hardest and because of the issues with Tiffany's horse we came 5th out of 18 countries teams and that was with 3 riders! Not bad for the Red and White I don't think!

I showed up at the Greenwich olympic stadium in the team pants for Canada in Beijing (if you haven't seen them please do google as I have packed them and don't have a photo), Dylan was in a red leotard and black shorts, running shoes and a cape, Wade was dressed in running shoes, red shorts and a red canada shirt with a flag draped over his shoulders, mel had a hockey jersey on and we were obnoxious!

Congrads to all the riders today, it ended with a run for 2nd and 3rd in the jump off seeing Cian O'Connor getting a little more speed then air, knocking the front rail of the last jump down and placing him 3rd, not bad out of 45 individuals! Ian was tied for 9th, which was great, he was great and we are all very proud of him and Nick Skelton, last man in the ring would have had it BUT... took a skinny jump down and had to go home with 5th place, a gold and 5th isn't bad Nick. Don't worry.

The rest of the day was easy, the walk home from the show was met by hunger and hunger was cured by amazing pizza in town. We went home and changed out of our ridiculous (but awesome) outfits and Wade and I walked down to the rail station and took the tram to London Bridge where we grabbed a cap and headed to Harrods big mall/store thingy. Links of London is where we got a few nice gifts for Wade's sisters and mothers, as well as a present for mumz and a little something for myself, each of which have the Olympic symbols and etc to remember our amazing trip to England!

After a quick tram back and a nice Mexican dinner we all came home and packed and hit the hay, it will be a long few days of travel but we are extremely excited to see some new things and have fun, can't wait to see my Lance in Dublin, I'm craving one of his big hugs.


Cheers for now





-Hero