Bloggin' From The Boot: Kelsey & Bethany

 Bloggin' From The Boot: Kelsey & Bethany's International Journey

August 13, 2008

After moving into school the 8th and practicing with the team, it is finally time to leave for Italy! We started with a small bus issue, but after that was resolved it was smooth flying.

Coach's motto, "Being on time is being early" gave us all plenty of time at Logan to relax before the flight and even exchange our US Dollars for Euros...

The 6 ½ hour flight to our Madrid layover wasn't all that bad for those on the flight who sleep through anything...     

August 14, 2008

It's 12:30am in Boston, but we have already eaten breakfast because it is now 6:30am in Madrid. After traveling for another 30 minutes in the Madrid airport on trams and escalators we arrive at our gate for our second flight. Another 2 hour plane ride will finally bring us to Milan, Italy!

We arrived to Italy at 11:20 am, met our tour guide Giancarlo, exchanged some money and were off to Lake Como. It was about an hour drive to our hotel, most could not even keep their eyes open due to severe jetlag. Giancarlo allowed us about a 40 minute powernap before he woke up us all up with his information about the city. Pulling into the bay of the lake, we all whipped out our cameras on the bus and snapped a few photos through the glass, as if we were only driving by this one time...

After arriving at Hotel Como we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Some people enjoyed the sun at the roof top pool while others got a head start and explored the city by the water.

At 7pm we all met up for dinner in the hotel lobby. We all thought the meal was over after our first plate of lasagna...little did we know three more would follow.

With dinner out of the way, we decided to enjoy the night life in Lake Como.

We never expected that thunder, lightning, torrential down pours, gusts of wind and hail would be on the agenda for the night. By 1am everyone was soaking wet, exhausted and ready for bed, but still had a great first day at Lake Como.

Ciao!

Kels & Tighe

August 15        

Our first full day in Lake Como started off with a ninety minute guided tour of the city. We saw some beautiful churches, The Duomo and then finished it off at the town square by the bay.

After the tour ended, our team traveled by cable car to a mountain top village overlooking the lake. The sites were unbelievable.

We stopped to eat lunch to avoid another torrential downpour. No one wanted to admit it, but people were happy when the rain came. Much needed nap time.

At seven o'clock, dinner was served in the hotel lobby restaurant. The pasta with ham and alfredo sauce, chicken and vegetables, salad, and some sort of chocolate cake desert was delicious.

The rest evening was to ourselves, although it was a night before a game, our curfew was Some gelato and a walk by the water, and it was time for bed. Up at seven the next morning for a fun boat ride on the lake was on agenda.

August 16

7am came soon enough. A wake up call then breakfast, and we were off to tour Lake Como by boat. The villas and hotels were enormous and incredible, especially George Clooney's. We pretty much had to hold Coach back from jumping off the boat when Giancarlo informed us that George was home.

The boat ride was about an hour long, and took us to a lovely town called Bellagio, which is at the tip of the lake. We had over an hour to explore the town. We walked to the tip of the town and took tons of pictures with the lake and the Swiss Alps in the background. Next thing you know, the men's team is in nothing but underwear, ready to jump in. Us girls were a bit more prepared with our bathing suits. Clearly it wasn't normal for people to jump in because we had a crowd of locals pointing and laughing at us as we swam in the freezing cold water.

Another hour boat ride and we were back to land where we walked around a bit before our pre-game meal. Yes...it was a game day...we forgot too.

At 7pm we played a local "dream team." The game was a bit sloppy and the international play was somewhat different. It took sometime for us to adjust to the playing style, but we still ended with a victory. 1 game down, 1 to go...with much more of the Italy boot ahead of us.

Ciao!

Kels & Tighe