Runnin with the B Team

So the last week was pretty chill. We toured around Tuscany all week which was amazing in terms of site seeing. We went to one or two small, hilly towns all throughout the coutnry side. We got to eat some of the best food and drink some tasty wine. Jay has one cousin who is of age to party while the rest were much younger. So each night we drank a little and got kind of drunk a few nights but nothing crazy.

The highlight of the week was definitely the Palio. Its this crazy horse race with no rules. You should look up its history online somewhere. Its been running since like the 700s or something and its kind of nuts. They lay a dirt track around the town plaza which is probably a bit bigger than the kennedy commons courtyard. there is minimal sun shade and so its blistering hot all day. and since we didnt want to pay a few hundred euros each to get grandstand seats we had to wait in the plaza all day to claim our spots, and boy did we get a great spot, we were right on the railing. I was under the impression that this was a shitshow of an event where everyone gets together to get wasted and watch their favorite horse compete. so jay and i drank a few beers before a cop came up to us and told us to put it away, got to love this country. there were signs, which we didnt see, which said that no bottles were allowed in the plaza but we just had to put them away and no ticket or pour out was required. But apprently we were the only ones drinking. Nobody was drinking. If this were America everybody would be wasted started at 10 am but not here in Europe and I guess thats why we have to always come in and save there asses during wars. Regardless we stopped drinking and proceeded to get nice and dehydrated for the race. There was a ton of pagentry and what not, you can read Jays emails for that stuff, and then the race, which lasted a whole 90 seconds.

The race was unbelievably fast and the horse that won was winning the entire time. But since there are no rules the jockeys are constantly pushing and shoving each other. In fact during one of the turns two of the jockeys fell off their horse and had to quickly be removed, it was interesting to see two horses running the track with no riders.

After the race, an entire mob of people rushed the track which ment us, who were closest to it, were pushed up against the railing fending for our lives, literally. Apparently this horse hadnt won in a while or something. Each horse represents a neighboring village. And so these people rushed the track and people were crying tears of joy. You would think that they had just won the lotto, which is apparently huge over btw.

Well my intenet time is out. Tonite is our first nigh on our own and we got some beer so hopefully we are good.

livin large

alex