Day 4: Riding - Relaxing - Eating pizza

October 12, 2021

Today is a relaxed day. After the hike to Knottnkino yesterday, we relax in the apartment this morning. Sleeping in, having a cozy breakfast, and then playing some games.

After lunch, my husband and son play a round of badminton outside in the yard (we brought a portable badminton net from home).

The weather is not as nice today. It's cloudy and quite chilly with temperatures of 10-12 degrees Celsius.

At 2 pm, the girls are meeting for a horseback ride:

we have planned a 2-hour ride.

We are both excited and arrive at the stable half an hour earlier. Peter is currently saddling the horses. There are a total of 6 horses ready. Pinto "Daisy" is Peter's horse for today, I get to ride "Fany" again, and my daughter will ride the Haflinger mare "Issy". Mara takes Hafli "Wasti" again.

The mother-daughter duo, who had a riding lesson after us yesterday, are also joining and will ride the Haflinger mare "Una" and the Haflinger-Arabian mix "Artax", who looks like Fany's twin.

We help with saddling and bridling - today we will ride in the countryside with a Western saddle. Very cool, I like Western riding.

At exactly 2 pm, we leave Gfreinhof and ride through the forest towards Hafling, crossing the road and riding uphill through Hafling into the forest.

The tour is quite road-heavy, I expected more "trails" or meadow paths. But well, Peter will know where to ride well.

In the forest, we trot uphill for a stretch. However, the horses are very excited as they haven't been in the countryside for a while, so we walk the rest of the way.

We basically circle around Hafling during the 2 hours, through the forest and fields, and finally back to Gfreinhof through Hafling.

Considering that I got on a horse for the first time in 20 years yesterday, my legs and butt feel pretty good after riding for 2 hours today. This morning, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to walk anymore 😜

We return around 4 pm and unsaddle the horses, who can now join the other Haflingers out on the pasture.

We watch the 'bondies' galloping across the pasture for a while before spending the rest of the day chilling in the apartment.

Tonight, we have plans to have pizza with our friends from South Tyrol in Marling. We met them in 2010 during our RV trip through the southwestern USA. Over the years, we always said that we would eventually visit South Tyrol. Well, it took 11 years, but we finally made it!

And tonight, we are going out for pizza together!🍕🍕

Before that, however, we need to go to a pharmacy and have the kids take a rapid COVID-19 test. The information we found online beforehand was inconsistent, but everywhere it said that the test would cost around 30 Euros per child. Because of that, my husband was not very happy…

In the evening, at half past six, we go to a pharmacy in Merano and are surprised that the test costs "only" 8 Euros per child. Great! We'll come back here 😇

The test results should arrive on our phones via email within the next 30 minutes. Perfect, because we have plans to eat at 7 pm.

We meet our friends at 7:15 pm in front of Pizzeria Ladurn in Marling, where they supposedly serve the best Neapolitan pizza.

It's great to see them again after such a long time - and it's just as fun as it was 11 years ago! Yay 😜🥳🥳

Unfortunately, the emails with the test results don't arrive. A call to the pharmacy reveals that they seemingly noted down the email address incorrectly. They send the results again - they are negative - and we can finally go eat!

The evening is really fun.

We treat ourselves to a huge pizza - very delicious!