March 23: Calling for a Slight Chance of Rain
As we met downstairs for breakfast, we were pleased to discover that the gift shop was open. (Being Easter Sunday, we had been worried that it would be closed all day and those postcards would remain on the other side of the glass door.) As a team, I think that we nearly took care of their stock of postcards, while probably making their daily profit in a span of minutes. We continued on down to breakfast, where we had another buffet in the dining hall.
Familiarity ran rampant, as nearly everyone took the exact same seats that we had sat in for the previous two meals. And the "fear of change" in the Hotel Pula dining hall wasn't limited just to our team, as the couple at the table behind us was the same as during lunch yesterday ... and several other groups were similarly situated from dinner the night before.
After a short trip upstairs, everyone met in the lobby and began our hike back to the gym. It actually didn't seem as long as yesterday, since we had a slightly better idea of where we were going. Regina found directions for a local church from the front desk and headed out on her own.
Once we got to the gym, the Falcons joined the squad we played last night. After stretching and warming up, the two teams trained together for a couple of hours under the guidance of a former player/current coach. According to a guy who started talking to Dee and I while we were watching, the coach is one of the top youth coaches and clinicians in the area.
After a long, hard workout, during which the team learned several new drills that the Croatian team uses, the two squads took to the court for a pick-up game. In lieu of a coin flip, Jasamine and the other team's captain played a best-of-three "rock, paper, scissors" to determine the serve/receive order.
The Falcons played two more games against the Croatian team, taking both in victory. It was nice to see the team immediately showcase the skills they had learned during the clinic.
After tee-shirts were exchanged and photos were taken, everyone returned to the hotel ... and the hotel dining hall. And yes, we all managed to sit in our assigned seats. During the three lunch/dinner meals we had at the Hotel Pula buffet, I am pretty sure that we took care of the kitchen's spaghetti and meat sauce supply.
After lunch, we stored our luggage in one of the hotel's meeting rooms. We had a couple hours before our bus was scheduled to leave. Cory had told us about a Roman Coliseum that was located on the other side of town, so we decided to go in search of that historical landmark. Dee, Regina and I took Ellen along as our navigator.
It was drizzling as we headed out on our adventure. Since Dee was the only one that hadn't left her umbrella back at Aviano, we had one umbrella between the four of us. But, we weren't about to let a little rain stop us.
Along the way, we passed an old underground storage facility for mushrooms. Across the street from the shore, they had built an underground warehouse which provided the perfect damp, dark combination. It wasn't too noticeable ... save from the doors with little mushrooms on them.
As we progressed on our trek through the streets of Pula, the pressure of the rain increased. Soon, we were completely drenched and our warm-ups stuck to our skin. Dee's umbrella became the shelter for our cameras as we took photos of the quaint downtown area.
Nearly everything was closed and the area was basically deserted due to the Easter holiday. There was one lone man sitting outside a cafe, who called out us `his beautiful blue'. Along the way, we passed the Temple of Roma and Augustus, as well as an old church and clock tower, a `katedrala' as the sign declared.
We finally saw the coliseum rising above the trees. But before we headed there, we found this very unique fountain. The large flat disc was a map of the city, with the buildings built to scale. A small fountain shot out into the `ocean' portion of the fountain. It became quite a challenge to capture the whole display.
After splashing across the street, we came upon the "amfiteatar". It was truly an amazing sight ... to see something so old still standing. According to a little research on `Google', the first-century amphitheatre is the sixth largest in the world and one of the best preserved. Through some of the archways you could see the ocean.
While taking photos, a familiar shade of blue caught our eye from across the courtyard. Guided by Michelle's dad and Caroline's mom, the team had arrived at the coliseum. We must have been quite the sight, with about 24 people in completely wet, matching clothes.
With Ellen in charge of the map, we headed back to the hotel using a different path. This route took us past one of several gates left over from when the city was walled in. I think it was called the `Gate of Hercules', but we never found a sign. We also found a McDonalds, which provided us with a lovely moment of heat (and shelter from the rain).
We arrived back at the hotel about 15 minutes ahead of the team. We made a mad dash for our luggage and dry clothes. I had to borrow a pair of flip-flops from Dee since I hadn't brought an extra pair of shoes. The bus arrived back at the hotel, so we loaded our luggage and waited for the team to change and get their stuff on the bus.
I was able to pick up the wireless signal from the lobby, so I used the time to get results from the track and men's gymnastics meets that had taken place on Saturday. Soon, everyone was on board and we were on our way back to Italy. Cory left us there, as he drove home to Slovenia with his wife. During the trip, I worked on my two recaps (highlighting our Academy record on the pommel horse!!), while others slept, talked or listened to music.
Remember how I said the boarder guards on our way into Croatia only stamped half our passports? Well, that came back to haunt us as we attempted to cross into Slovenia. The boarder guard got on the bus and checked Major Filzen's passport...no stamp. Then he checked Kyle's passport ... no stamp.
Then, we were all off the bus and in the security checkpoint. We formed a line that took up a good portion of the room and the guard went through each of our passports page-by-page. But thanks to the stop, every single one of us got the "Slovenia" stamp!
We loaded back up on the bus and on our way through Slovenia and into Italy. Once we returned to the town of Aviano, we stopped for dinner and a restaurant that the team had eaten at during one of their first days in Italy. The girls loaded up on pizza and pasta, while I tried the calzone. (Good choice!!) I thought my meal was huge until they brought Maj Filzen's calzone out.
While we had gotten situated in the restaurant, Maj Filzen and Michelle's dad had gone back to the base with the bus and got their cars that had been parked outside the main gate and loaded the bags in the Harrington's SUV. Once the girls finished their dinner, we began the shuttle process again. This took a little longer because of the distance from the restaurant to the base, but everything worked out alright since groups were able to leave as they finished up with their meal. Dee and I were a part of the next to last shuttle. Mr. Harrington was nice enough to drop us off right outside our building.
Even though it was late, Dee and I managed to stay up a lot longer than we had planned. Naturally, we had to catch up on the upsets that the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament had produced, dry our sneakers and I had to post the two recaps that I had written on the bus. This habit will became a theme for us ... get back to the room late, comment on the time, turn on sports, start to talk and realize that an hour or two had passed before finally going to sleep.
