Thursday, August 02, 2007

ANOTHER BIG MONTH - July 4th x2, Spain, Bulls, England, and my Birthday!

okay... July was a little crazy...

So the month started with my first July 4th since coming to the States. July 4th this year fell on a Wednesday so on the Saturday before we travelled up to Connecticut for a Smith family BBQ on Rowayton Point. It was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with everyone.

The following Wednesday (the actual july 4th) Steph and I made our way up to the roof of my apartment building just after sunset to watch the NYC fireworks display. The whole experience was incredible. Millions of people were partying on the interconnected rooftops of Manhattan. When the fireworks finally started they were on all sides of the island and ran for about half an hour.

A few days later I travelled to San Sebastian Spain to spend a week vacation with Mim and Pip, relaxing on the Spanish coast. Unfortunately for the first half of the week the weather had other ideas. At the same time the San Firmin festival in Pamplona was on, so we travelled into Pamplona to watch the Running of the Bulls from the safety of a balcony. The run looked crazy, and awe inspiring but looked like it could be done safely (or so I thought). So later in the week we headed back to Pamplona to join the all night carnival, and in the morning I was going to run with the bulls. I thought I had it all planned out.. I knew where I was going to run to, where I was going to hide, I had a strategy... So at 8am on Thursday morning I was dressed in the traditional white with red scarf and had just heard the gun which indicated the bulls were in the street.


I ran for about 400 metres until saw the bulls getting close and jumped into my doorway as planned. The problem occurred when a stray angry black bull decided it didn't want to run and turned around to impale the guy next to me through the stomach then throw him across the street. It was very quick and I was very lucky. Thankfully the bull then turned its attention up the street and kept running. So.... I can say I've done it... a once in a lifetime thing... never again.

I then visited Felicity who thankfully put me up for a night and we hit a few bars in old London town. The following week was spent working in the Brighton UK office.

Finally when I arrived back in NYC it was my birthday. Steph took me out to a fantastic french restaurant in the meat packing district (where mum & lucy, we had some Bordeaux wine from San Emilion!!) We then saw the Blue Man Group which was hilarious. All in all it was a fantastic birthday... although it was a bit weird being the first birthday away from the Towers clan. But I guess that's a sign of things to come.

So anyway it was a massive month and I hope everyone is well and hope to speak to you soon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh My goodness,
Happy Birthday!!!!! Sounds like you have had a massive month, my friend!!! Still craving NY but getting the business end over and done with before I can come back... Hope you are fabulous and lets chat soon!!!!
Phe -xx-

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize you'd posted your movie star moment...you should email it to michelle as proof! We'll have to watch the movie soon so I can see your combat skills. =) xoxosteph