Outside the beautiful Villa Geggiano .. I don't know much about this place as we didn't go inside .. other than the fact that it has been used in many films including "Stealing Beauty" .. which I have never seen myself .. but I'm reliably informed that Liv Tyler spent a lot of time here during filming ... ok it gets better guys :)

I'm probably going to say this again and again and not realise .. but the amazing sunsets and rises in both Burgundy and Siena almost made the 4am wake ups bearable .. I wish I could have taken a picture of every single one of them .. the pallette was amazing and no photograph could ever capture the mood that the countryside was wrapped in .. from the metallic lavender in Burgundy to the rose in Siena. Each one was perfect in every way.

After take off in san gimignano looking from the entrance to the old town across the valley.

Inside San Gim .. I've had mixed stories on what the towers were about .. I used to think they were for food storage but Buddy says that San Gim used to be quite a fortified town and the guys used to piss off their neighbours by building taller towers .. the towers kept on going up until the town had had enough and put a maximum height rule or something .. eventually one guy built the two towers on the left to about the same height and felt happy in the knowledge that he'd won because if you put them on top of each other then they'd be the highest. That's Italian logic for you I guess. The sharper eyed amongst you will be able to see where I cheated in this picture :)

Scan of a San Gim Postcard

"San Gim" is a notable death trap for balloon chasing. The roads leave in a hub fashion along the tops of adjoining valleys, in one direction there is nothing but forest .. if you choose the wrong road it can be difficult to get to the next one along. It was great fun this day driving down narrow dirt tracks which would barely pass for bridleways here at disgusting-miles-per-hour. Dan was driving the pickup with the trailer and hit a bump so hard that it sent one of the inflation fans through the cab window (dispite it being strapped down) showering glass and petrol over the entire compartment. We met the balloon in time and landed her in a nicer field than I was becoming accustomed to. Being dragged face first through various spikey things seemed to be the norm but the increasingly militant heat was still there (when we drove down to Italy it was 38° and it got worse from there .. Italy was buying energy from France to cover the air conditioning needs but France couldn't supply what was needed as they were also affected by the heat wave .. so daily scheduled power cuts were increasingly common also. So setting up champagne picnics, gathering flowers and packing up ~300kg envelopes with rivers of salt water pouring into your eyes and mouth is no mean feat :D

The sightseeing that day was at Villa Cussano (at least I think that's the name) .. this is where various members of the Italian Royalty live. After a brief chat with the princess and one of her lovely daughters (who is a diamond model or something) the red-shirts (ref. our lovely uniform) were whisked away to eat seperately in the winery (below). This is the place that Tony and Cherie Blair go when they go to Tuscany on hols and when we came back we met Prince Gerolimo, the US Consol General and the guys who took care of the Pan-Am liquidation.

... there's me enjoying the swing .. and on the far left you can just about make out the hammock that I later on totally broke (or at least finished off) with my fat ass :)

.. one of the butlers loading us up with some really nice (and greatly appreciated) ice tea ... these guys were total legends and made sure we were totally stuffed by the time we left :) .. on the right of the picture is Michele who sorted out a lot of our translating and was a general cool dude ... still no word from his sister though :p

Also in the picture (apart from Sancho) are "Posty" (Andy) .. who apparently is the spit of postman pat ... and nigel .. (a real sound bloke) both of whom had been off with Dan when the earlier picture was taken making reparations to the wheel-less trailer.

Eating dinner in style ... we ate the same as the customers (less wine obviously) .. I guess they knew not to let us in the house cos we'd spent the morning sweating profusely and rolling around in ploughed fields :) ... Dan is the guy with the funny hair on the back left ... thoroghly and genuinely nice bloke .. I hope that kid goes far.

Johnny Fisher with the daughters of the prince/princess .. I have it on good authority that he is in fact a horse's arse. (last year - nicked from the Chase Lounge).

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