Troy University Athletics
Troy in Italy Travel Diary - May 19
5/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
On the 17th after a day in Lugano, Switzerland, and a trip to Como's Mantero Silk Factory, we had dinner and then played our second game.
It was quite a different experinece than what we are used to. The 8:30 p.m. start time, and the less than 10 minutes to warm up, made it a test. We also played F.C.F. Tradate, a team from Serie A, the top Italian professional league.
They were impressive and scored on us early, as we struggled to get going after the short warm-up. After settling in, we played very well, and ended up with a 1-1 tie, a great result for us against this team.
On May 18, we checked out of our Como hotel and spent most of the day driving through Tuscany then arrived in Montecatini, about 45 minutes from Florence. We had a little time to stretch our legs before going to our third game (three days, three games!).
We played ACF Oltrarno Firenze, who were also a Serie A team. We looked exhausted all game and struggled very much against this team. We lost 2-0, but played well considering how good they were, how tired we were, and that we played several players out of position to avoid some injury problems.
It was a fun and eye-opening experience for the girls. After arriving back to the hotel following the game we had a late dinner then a little free time to stroll around after dinner.
Today (the 18th) we have been in Florence. Our visit so far has included a guided tour of the city including many artistic and historic sites. I have learned more about art in one day than in my entire education!
Florence is the true center or Italian art and, although we have seen some other amazing artwork, such as The Last Supper in Milan, this area is particularly impressive. I am heading with some others shortly to view the statue of David.
For those not so interested in art there are great open markets selling leather, jewelry, silks, and of course soccer and other souvenirs. Tonight will be a free night in Montecatini, then tomorrow we will go to Pisa!
A few interesting cultural notes:
Public restrooms are non-existant, and our tour bus doesn't have a toilet, so that has made for some distress occasionally. If you do find a bathroom, it often involves a circular hole in the groud with a continuous flow of water! Very interesting...The food is amazing! We will all probably come back fat despite lots of walking and playing soccer. Also, I'm going to have a hard time switching back to American coffee...We made the local paper but they had to call us "del Trojans" because "Troy" is very close to a bad word in Italian. So, when we played other teams and they saw "Troy" written on our jerseys they laughed because they thought we had foul language on our shirts!
We haven't had a lot of time for the internet, so more to come as we can...
May 18 Entry from Jenny Smith
Day 3
We woke up and had our usual breakfast of various pastries and fruit at the hotel and then headed to a packed day of activities in Milan. First of all, we were very privileged to see a private tour of Leonardo DaVinci's The Last Supper after its 21 year restoration. After that we went into downtown Milan where we were led on a guided walking tour of major attractions such as the Piazza de Duomo, Fashion District and The Castillo. We were then allowed to have free time to roam the city where we all shopped and enjoyed the Italian cuisine. From Milan we transferred to the city of Lecco, where our game would be played, and ate a 3 course meal of pasta, chicken, and cake at Giardino's. We quickly drove to the fields and changed in time for a quick warm up and started the game. After learning to adjust to the "no touching" Italian rules we settled down and played a sloppy game on the dirt fields, eventually losing 2-0.
Day 4
We woke up and loaded the bus at 9:45 a.m. to the nearby Swiss border where we crossed and were allowed to explore the city of Lugano. After sampling lots of Swiss chocolate, looking at fine watches, and more shopping we transferred back to Como where we browsed the nearby silk factory. We were then allowed a couple of hours to shop on our own in the town of Como. Tonight we have dinner at the 3D Culinary Institute and then a game at 8:30 p.m. for our second game.
