Friday, May 25, 2012

Italy Tour - Day 10

Wednesday, May 23

7:30 am, Rome - We wake up and eat our last Italian breakfast, then check out of our hotel and load up the bus. We get to the airport and unload the bus. After we take our final group picture with Rebecca, Marta, and Massimo, we realize that we are at the wrong terminal. We load up the bus AGAIN and drive to the other side of the airport. It is a long wait to finally get through check in lines, but we finally make it and are on our way back to the Unites States! It is hard to describe how amazing this trip was. This experience will stay with everyone for the rest of their lives. Hopefully the chemistry and relationships built on this tour will be carried into next year for another great season of Trinity Basketball!

Italy Tour - Day 9

Tuesday, May 22

7:15 am, Vatican City - We slam our breakfast quickly and load up the bus nice and early today, heading to another country - well, kind of...the Vatican City. Governed as it's own city-state, the Vatican City is home of the Catholic Church and the Pope, bursting with priceless history. We meet back up with Jac at the walls of the Vatican, again passing so many people waiting in line to enter. We're starting to feel guilty about never having to wait.
Similar to yesterday, once we get into the Vatican City, the rain clouds start to roll in. The rain here is funny - it pours for 10 minutes, then is sunny, then drizzles for an hour, then is perfect outside. Jac is giving us a thorough tour of the entrance courtyard when the rain starts to come down in sheets and we hustle inside the museum, upon Coach Cunningham's instruction (if it were up to Jac, we would probably still be outside learning about every small picture soaking wet).
As we enter the museum, our guys find plenty of statues to impersonate. The god of athletics is one of the favorite.
Not quite sure this is how most tourists act in the walls of the Vatican.
The halls are so impressive, with not only the walls being decorated with ancient artifacts like maps and statues, but the ceilings are almost even more detailed with paintings.
We make our way to the Sistine Chapel, which because it is considered a holy place, does not allow photographs. A few more "NO PHOTO, NO VIDEO" commands ring out as we stand in the chapel, in awe of quite possibly the most amazing paintings in the world. It almost doesn't feel real being there. Another place for people to put on their bucket list!

11:30 am, Vatican City - We exit the musem to enter St. Peter's Basilica. For most, this is the most amazing sight we have seen. Jac explains that it took 100 years to construct the church and you can definitely see why - each column, archway, inch of wall or ceiling is so detailed with paintings, designs, and statues. Nothing compares.
One of the more impressive aspects to the church is the golden Altar of the Chair of Peter. A massive altar in the middle of an already enormous church.
We make our way outside to see where the Pope gives his outdoor sermon to the people every week. Unfortunately, due to the rain, we are not able to see this live.

2:00 pm, Rome - After leaving Vatican City, we proceed to our last lunch in Italy, a place called Spaghetteria L'Archetto Pizzeria. It is an exhausting hike in the rain to the restaurant, but once we are there, it is totally worth it. 100% fantastic meals in Italy!

6:30 pm, Rome - Our final international game is tonight against the Under-19 Veritas Basketball Club in Rome. They are preparing to play in the Italian U19 National Championship game next week, so it is good for them to get some tough competition from us. For all of the missed shots and dead legs we had in the prior two games, our guys are the complete opposite tonight. Shots are falling, guys are crashing the boards and taking care of the basketball. It was a close game through the first quarter, but eventually we ran away with the game, winning 72-44. A nice way to finish the trip and end on a high note. All three teams we played this week were extraordinary hosts and great competition. We couldn't thank each group enough for the experience.

9:30 pm, Rome - After the game, the opposing coaches gave us a great local place to eat called La Rosa Rossa. There is a nice back area that can accomodate our entire group and we share our last Italian dinner as a group. Our seniors got up and gave a heart-felt toast that topped off an amazing evening and trip. We really do have the most special group of student-athletes any program could ask for. In fact, on the bus ride back to the hotel tonight, we had the privilege of hearing a couple of our players sing some Nat King Cole and Fiddler on the Roof over the bus' PA system. So talented!








Italy Tour - Day 8

Monday, May 21

7:45 am, Rome - Well, it was bound to happen...it's raining today. After getting up and eating breakfast (which is similar to the Florence "american breakfast"), we load up the bus and our umbrellas to head to today's tour of Rome. Once we get to our drop-off point, like in Pisa, we are surrounded by street vendors, this time brilliantly selling umbrellas and ponchos (they had to have made a fortune off of all the tourists today!). Several of us in the group go ahead and buy a few, as the rain has picked up a little.
Our first destination of the day is the Roman Colosseum. Here we met our Rome tour guide, Jac, who might be the most knowledgeable tour guide in all of Italy, but would occasionally get a bit long-winded on the smallest detail. Similar to the Accademia Gallery in Florence, we are allowed to pass up the extremely long line to get into the base of the Colosseum. WOW! This structure is enormous, and according to Jac, only took 10 years to construct. We wander to one of the top levels, while Jac continues to fill our heads with interesting history. It's amazing to think that something like this could be built so long ago, with so much attention being placed on the tiniest of detail. Lots of "thumbs down" (which apparently wasn't the signal for death like we learned in the "The Gladiator") came from our players - I wouldn't want to have fought in the arena if these guys were emporers!
As we are leaving the Colosseum, the rain lets up and the sun starts to shine again! This is fantastic because apparently the bus can't navigate the city center streets of Rome, so we will be walking to our next destination.
The second destination for our morning tour is the Forum. These ancient ruins are more of what should be expected of thousand years old buildings. Many of the buildings are now covered by land, but there are several structures that are still standing after all these years. It's impressive that Jac can know so much about even the smallest rock here.
Our players took a particular interest in some of the ancient columns. We're lucky there were no injuries.
As we are leaving the Forum, we run into Trinity Women's Basketball player Kelsey Daniel, who is on vacation with her family. You never know where you will see fellow Trinity people - the TU bubble spans the globe!

1:30 pm, Rome - After leaving the Forum, we walk around for a bit longer, looking for a good place to take 30+ people for lunch. Luckily, we come across a Pizzeria called Dora. The guys look exhausted. Some actually start falling asleep while waiting for their meals. Once the food started coming out though, they were wide awake...go figure!
We finish up another delicious Italian feast. Sadly, this is where we have to part ways with Sam. He needs to catch the metro to the airport so he can get back to work (if that's what you call it) the next day in Spain. It's amazing how cheap it is to fly around Europe - apparently it cost him less than 20 euro each flight!

3:00 pm, Rome - We continue our walking tour of Rome, this time on the way back to the bus. First we make a quick stop by the Trevi Fountain, which is the largest fountain in Rome (the city with 1000 fountains) and quite possibly one of the most famous fountains in the world. This piazza was PACKED. It took us a while just to regroup and find everyone to leave here.
The next stop on our trek back to the bus is the Scalinata della Tinita dei Monti, or as we all know it, the Spanish Steps. This is the widest staircase in Europe and the tourists/locals use them to the fullest. Each side of the staircase is at least cleared so that our guys can walk to the top and back down.

8:30 pm, Rome - Because we added a third game for this trip, we are having our "farewell dinner" tonight, rather than tomorrow night. We head back to the area we were last night and go to a restaurant called Capo de Fero. Like most of the restaurants we go to, we take over nearly the entire seating area and are definitely not the quietest dining guests.













Italy Tour - Day 7

Sunday, May 20

10:00 am, Siena – We packed up for the second time and left Florence after breakfast, this time stopping for a day-trip in Siena. This is one of the more unique cities we’ve ever been to. Located, what feels like, on top of a small mountain, the streets of Siena tend to stretch more vertical than horizontal. Trying to maneuver through the streets is similar to winding through a maze, with little help at times from the maps we were provided (just ask Coach Cunningham, who may or may not have lead his group the wrong direction a couple of times). The narrow, stone streets give Siena a unique authentic feel.


1:00 pm, Bettolle – Between Siena and Rome, we stop for lunch at a small restaurant named Enoteca Opera in a cool small hillside town, Bettolle.

5:00 pm, Rome – We arrive in Rome! After checking into our hotel, Eurostars Aeterna, Massimo drops us off at Piazza Trilussa for us to tour around the south end of Rome. It is much more crowded than the previous cities we toured, but not as hard to navigate around as Siena was. Every street we go down has interesting shops and small cafe/restaurants. The players are starving by now, so we find a cool little (standing room only) pizzaria-to-go called Da Li Cochi a Trastevere. It is interesting in Italy, pizzas by the slice (which is what our players got tonight) are usually thick, like what we are used to in America, but if you are at a restaurant and order a pizza, they are whole personal pizzas and thin crusted. The guys got plenty to eat and wandered around the streets of Rome, while the parents/coaches found a nice sit-down restaurant to pass the time.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Italy Tour - Day 6

Saturday, May 19

Morning, Florence – Saturday is a much needed “free day”. With so much traveling and touring, today we are given the day to just explore Florence on our own. Apparently this means “everyone go shopping”, because that is exactly what everyone did. While it should have been a day of resting our legs, in reality it probably is one of the more exhausting days, wandering up and down the streets, in and out of so many shops. A few of the husbands on the trip are appropriately weighted down with leather purses and shopping bags!

1:00 pm, Florence – We reconvene at the Piazza Santa Maria Novella and follow Rebecca and Marta to our lunch destination, Cipolla Rossa Osteria. Still haven’t had a bad meal here in Italy.

Evening, Florence – After lunch, we are again free to roam Florence. Later in the evening, some of the group just sat in the hotel bar and watched the UEFA Championship game where Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in one of the most intense soccer games anyone has witnessed.

Italy Tour - Day 5

Friday, May 18

10:15 am, Florence – The breakfast at AC Firenze is definitely considered an “American breakfast”, with eggs and bacon, but also has Italy bakery selections. After we get up and have plenty to eat, we meet downstairs where Rebecca and Marta are waiting to take us towards the Florence city center and our walking tour of the city’s attractions. We arrive at the Piazza Santa Maria Novella (which is obviously in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella) and meet our tour guide for the day, Sara.
From here we make our way through the narrow streets of Florence to the Palazzo Strozzi. This palace is extremely interesting because the locals were actually able to walk around the downstairs portion, while the owners stayed on the upper floors overlooking the miniature courtyard.
After walking through the Palazzo Strozzi, we make our way through an enormous archway which leads to the Piazza del Repubblica. This is one of the larger plazas in the city and is lined with a lot of restaurants and shops. One point of interest in this plaza is an old city map of Florence that shows the layout of all the local historical buildings.
We head south from the Piazza del Repubblica and walk on Florence’s most famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio. This isn’t your typical bridge as, not only does it have an amazing view of the river and city surrounding it, but it is lined with shops that sell jewelry and other items only made of gold. Quite a bit out of our souvenir budget, none of the guys stop to buy anything, just to look.
Once we are able to drag some of the parents away from the gold shops, we make our way to Florence’s most famous plaza, Piazza della Signoria. This plaza holds one of the most amazing (and underrated) galleries in Italy, Galleria degli Uffizi, along with Palazzo Vecchio, and the Museo Gucci. Our guys stop for a while to get plenty of pictures with all of the statues outside of Uffizi, before we continue on.
Our next stop is definitely a sight that everyone needs to have on their bucket list – the Piazza del Duomo, which holds the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. This unfinished cathedral is enormous! It is hard to put into words how spectacular this structure is, as every inch of the building is so detailed.
Our last stop of the tour is the Galleria dell Accademia, also known as the home of Michelangelo’s David. Luckily Rebecca had the tickets ahead of time and we were able to go in right away, because the line outside went all the way down the block! Once inside, we were not allowed to take pictures and anyone who disobeyed was quickly yelled at – “NO PHOTO, NO VIDEO!” While the Accademia holds lots of rare and amazing paintings/statues, the Statue of David trumps them all. The sheer size of the statue is impressive and pictures don’t do it justice, but the detail of the statue is what puts this piece of art in a league of its own. Sara tells us that Michelangelo actually slept at the feet of David for the three years that it took him to sculpt it – now that’s dedication to your craft!

2:00 pm, Florence – After our tour with Sara, we pop into a nearby restaurant, Trattoria Zio Gigi, for lunch. This place is exactly what you think of when you think of a small Italian restaurant, there is even a boisterous waiter named Tony who pretty much sang 75% of the time we’re there. It is another delicious meal, but the highlight of the experience is when Tony sang to Coach Cunningham’s wife, Mary Jo, for her birthday. It’s not every day you get serenaded in a restaurant in Italy for your birthday!

7:30 pm, Empoli – It’s been another long day on our feet and, again, it shows during our second game of the tour. We drive about 15 minutes outside of Florence to play USE Empoli, which feels like a suburb of Florence. The gym is very nice for a smaller European club (Rebecca tells us this team is in one of the top leagues of Italy, but not the premier division). The game is a little bit better than the first, but not by much. We struggle with making shots and keeping up with the European pace, especially since we have 4 players on the injured reserve for the game (both of our point guards didn’t play). The competition is very good – Empoli can really shoot the ball. We end up losing the game 82-87 to probably the best team we will face on this trip. From a basketball standpoint, it was a great experience for a lot of our guys, as we had to ask a few new faces to handle the basketball against their full court pressure.

Italy Tour - Day 4

Thursday, May 17

10:30 am, Viareggio – After getting up and eating breakfast at the hotel, we load up the bus and check out of our Lucca hotel. Our first stop is about 30 minutes west of Lucca in a smaller beach town called Viareggio. It is a beautiful day for the beach, so three of our guys actually change into their swimsuits and make their way into the Ligurian Sea! The water is a little too cold for the rest of the guys that brought swimsuits, so most of us wander up and down the beachfront town, checking out the shops and gelato stands.

1:00 pm, Pisa – We got back on the road from Viareggio and continued on our way to Florence. This time, we make a minor detour and visit Pisa. Immediately when we get off our bus, we are introduced to the Italian street-vendors. Equipped with cardboard box tops filled with items like sunglasses, umbrellas, “real rolex” watches, and any plenty of other trinkets for sale, about 10 of them surround us as we get off the bus one by one. A few of our guys are convinced they are getting a “good price” and buy sunglasses, only to attract the attention of more vendors. We eventually get on another bus system that takes us directly to the entrance of the Pisa city center, which holds the famed Leaning Tower of Pisa. For about an hour, we get all the pictures near the structure we can get and wander the streets to find a very late lunch. It almost feels like an amusement park because there are so many people and tour groups packing the streets of Pisa. Many of us stop at the Pisa CafĂ© and eat some pizza for about 20 minutes. After coming back out of the restaurant and seeing the Leaning Tower again, it almost feels like a fake backdrop – it’s such an amazing sight.

4:30 pm, Florence – We finally regrouped and left Pisa for the hour long drive to Florence. Once we get into the city, we check into our hotel – AC Firenze. It is a very different hotel from the one in Lucca – a bit bigger and more modern feeling. The best part about our arrival to the hotel is that we are greeted by 2011 Trinity Basketball alum Sam Dworkin (who had been waiting for a while because we were over an hour late getting to the hotel). Sam is currently working in Spain and decided to fly over to Italy to join in the fun. We all get settled into our rooms and meet downstairs for a “rundown” of what was in the immediate area from Rebecca and Marta. Most of the group leaves the hotel to familiarize themselves with the streets of Florence.

8:30 pm, Florence – We have our first dinner in Florence at a place called Rosticceria La Spada. This is where our group is first introduced to the appetizer of duck liver on toasted bread. Let’s just say, some liked it, and some couldn’t stop talking about how brave they were to try it.

Italy Tour - Day 3

Wednesday, May 16

Morning, Lucca - To combat the long last two days, we decided to have a free morning in Lucca. Majority of the group slept in and ate breakfast at the hotel. After getting up and moving around, most went and explored the City Center a bit more. Whether it was biking the massive City Center Wall, climbing the Torre del Oro, or visiting the grand Cattedrale San Martino, it was a perfect morning to stroll through the historic streets and soak in Italy's smaller city lifestyle.

1:00 pm, just outside of Lucca - We walk to the entrance of the City Center and load up the bus to drive 15 minutes outside of Lucca to eat at Nanno Mariano. It was another amazing FULL course meal (which ended with Italy's famous gelato - literally, it is on ever street corner and in every bar/restaurant), which was accompanied by a spectacular view of the mountains surrounding the Lucca/Pisa region.

5:30 pm, Lucca - The players and coaches load up the bus and head 5 minutes to the nearby Athletic Club Luccette to host a kids basketball clinic for the local youth teams. As we pulled up to the gym, many of the kids and their parents were waiting at the steps to greet us off the bus. In the gym, our players split into four groups for four 10 minute skill-instruction sessions. While they were unable to completely understand our guys, it was amazing to see how the kids were able to follow the basketball instruction. Basketball really has become a global sport and universal language!

7:30 pm, Lucca - We make a quick stop at a modern-looking sandwich shop called La Pasticceria right after the clinic. It is a quick turnaround before we drive to our first scheduled game, so our players brought their game bags on the bus before the clinic. The sandwiches are great, but we learned that European portions are considerably smaller than in the US.

8:30 pm, Altopascio - Our players' first taste of international basketball is a tough one to swallow. With jet-lag still keeping our legs heavy, we drop our first game of the tour 67-84 against a run-and-gun N.B. Altopascio, located 15-20 minutes outside of Lucca. We lead by as much as 10 early on, but fatigue and poor shooting set in very quickly. The atmosphere was enjoyable and the host team was terrific.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Italy Tour - Day 2

Tuesday, May 15

10:00 am, Rome - The Tigers are now in Italy! We land in the Rome airport after an approx. 9 hour flight and are more than ready to stretch our legs. However, upon meeting our two tour guides, Marta and Rebecca, we load up a bus and head out for our first destination, Lucca. As we drive up the Italian highway "A1", we get beautiful country-side views of the hills, mountains and lush terrain. It's much nicer to look out the side windows at the scenery than it is to look out the front windshield to the realization that apparently drivers here don't always stay within the white lane-lines. Our bus driver, Massimo, avoids a few wandering cars and trucks - sometimes even taking up two lanes himself for a good distance.

2:00 pm, somewhere between Rome and Lucca - After driving a little over 3 hours, the sounds of growling stomachs are easily heard at the front of the bus. We haven't eaten since the flat-blueberry muffin (?) on the flight, so Marta and Rebecca, find a place for us to pull off the highway to grab a bite to eat. The bus pulls into an Auto-Grill, which looks like a gas station attached to a two story convenient store. Upon walking in, we discover that the convenient store actually has a small market, a Burger King, and a second floor restaurant named "Caio Restaurante". We decide to head upstairs. It is our first experience with authentic italian food. With several food stations, we walk around and just point at dishes we would like to order - most getting a few types of pasta. Before pulling into the Auto-Grill, we had no idea what to expect, but after sitting in the window-lined restaurant, overlooking the highway, we realized that Italians take their food seriously...even at a quick-stop Auto-Grill.

5:00pm, Lucca - We arrive and check into our hotel, Ilaria, only to drop off our luggage in our rooms and meet our tour guide for Lucca. Apparently in Italy, tour guides must be licensed for the regions/cities they tour people, therefore at each of our destination tours, we will have a new tour guide specifically for that tour. We begin our walking tour of the City Center a block away from the hotel, entering the Piazzetta dell' Alba through a tall archway.
We proceed down Via San Croce to Piazza San Michele, which is a large courtyard area that surrounds the Church of San Michele. To the side of the Church is a large statue of the "Hero of Lucca", Fransesco Burlamacchi.
The Church of San Michele is the first church of many we will visit on this trip. Majority of our players have never been in any building this old.
The next stop on our walking tour was the Piazza San Frediano, which the Basilica di San Frediano is located.
Near the Piazza San Frediano is one of Lucca's main attractions, Piazza Anfiteatro, which was originally a smaller Colisseum, used for everything from theater to gladiator events. Now it still resembles a circular colisseum, but the walls are filled with shops, restaurants and premier living spaces. Some apartments are sold at $5,000 euro per square meter! After the Piazzo Anfiteatro, the group finished back at the hotel.

8:30 pm, Lucca - After the walking tour of Lucca's city center, and some much needed time to take showers, the group walked two blocks from our hotel to a restaurant named Gli Orti for our Welcome Dinner. We walked into what seemed like a small cafe, but were seated further back into the restaurant in a large seating area that was able to sit our entire group of 30 people. Once seated, we were treated like royalty. It was our first experience with a full course Italian meal. Each course was served with a good amount of time between each, which created a wonderful atmosphere for quality conversation. Of course, there was terrific wine with the meal and finished off with tiramisu. We were all stuffed by the end of the night and wandered back to the hotel for the night.