March 27: The Birthday Party Entertainment
Photo Gallery: Siracusa, Modica
After a really good night sleep where I'm not really sure I even moved, a normal morning ensued ... woke up, got ready and headed downstairs to meet the bus. We had the morning to tour the area before heading back to Modica for another match.
As we loaded the bus, in our well-traveled blue warm-ups, we looked as though we were going on some Arctic expedition. We were loaded up with sweatshirts, sweatpants, gloves ... everything you would need for a return trip to the Modica gym.
Before leaving, we met up with Caroline's mom, who had flown down from Venice last night. Tim had decided that we would visit Siracusa - a city originally built in 743 BC!!
Along the way, we encountered a backup on the freeway. Two trucks, going in opposite directions, were trying to get past one another on a very narrow stretch of road. Neither one was going to give any room to the other. Finally, they found a way to share the road. And I'm not sure how. You could've maybe ... MAYBE ... fit a piece of paper between these two trucks as they passed.
Once the game of `chicken' was over, we were on our way. Just before entering the city limits of Siracusa, we pulled into the bus lot. Because the streets were narrow, they had designated a parking lot for tour busses on one of the docks. There were a series of bridges that connected the town center to the docks. We stayed together as we crossed the bridge, but then the girls started to disperse.
It was raining, so a good portion of the team went to this one restaurant. Dee and I kept wandering. And the rain started coming down harder. We looked at a few places, but they seemed expensive. Finally, the rain was coming down really hard and we saw this restaurant located down a little alley.
After leaving our umbrellas in the holder at the door (which I think is incredibly smart, not to mention very charming), the host guided us to this little room up a flight of stairs. The whole restaurant looked as though it had once been a church, due to the arches and detailing.
Anyways, our little room, which housed a loft filled with wine bottles, had just three tables. It was empty when we got there, so Dee and I thought maybe this was where they put the wet foreigners dressed in matching blue outfits.
We stared at the menu as though we could understand it. Dee caught a few words she knew and picked her meal, while I pondered my options. Deciding to go on the safe side, I picked the pasta dish that sounded the most plain. Plus, it was the cheapest, so there couldn't be that much on it, right? Dee and I both figured that this was the best one for me.
Well ... we were wrong.
The waiter gave Dee her place and then presented me with a plate that included calamari, clams, oysters and a bunch of other seafood-type things. I think there was some octopus legs involved. I guess for someone who likes this sort of thing, the price was good. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Luckily for me, Dee is. And because she is such an awesome person, we traded plates.
Dee and I nearly lost our minds we were laughing so hard. This quickly became known as our "Calamari Incident". And the story added an even funnier chapter when we found out that they actually had a menu in English.
So, with our meal "experience" complete, we headed back outside. We had a little over an hour to kill before we had to be back on the bus, so we found a gelato shop around the corner. There was a temple somewhere in the city, but we were in an area we knew, so we decided to stay there. Despite the rain-chilled air, we sat outside in this covered patio and enjoyed some delicious gelato.
After desert, we started back to the bus, stopping along the way to take pictures of the buildings. We found some ruins, apparently "Tempio de Apollo". It was a basically part of an old stone wall and a few little clumps of rocks, but ruins nonetheless. We also found the "American Grille", which looked like any normal sports bar (except there was futbol on all of the televisions).
Walking back to the bus, we saw Maj Filzen, Coach Kyle and Tim. There was already one group of girls on the bus, including Ellen, Tyler and Ricci. Our meeting time of 3:00 came and went, with just our little group of about 10. We did debate getting the driver to move the bus over a few spots just for fun, but it was all just talk. At 3:27, the rest of the group showed up and we were on our way.
We still had a few hours before our match, so we decided to find another small town. Coach White wanted to go back to the town we'd had dinner in last night because we'd passed a shoe store that was having a sale, but Tim and the bus driver said that there wasn't much else in that area.
So, we went to a town that the driver said had good shopping. The name of this charming little city escapes me, but we were quickly acclimated to the city as the driver pulled up to a bus stop and we had to quickly jump out. We got our departure time and dispersed.
There was a huge clock built into the top of the cliff, so you knew what time it was from wherever you were in the city. I'm not sure if the stores there would qualify as `good shopping', but Dee and I had a great time wandering and window-shopping. We found this little old-fashioned toy store and a museum that had a ton of stuff to see before you got to the part where you had to pay.
It must be election time in Sicily because we ended up seeing our second political assembly in as many towns. While there was a full blown rally in Siracusa, here there were cars driving up and down the streets with speakers attached to their roofs.
At 6:00, we met back up at the bus stop and made a run for our bus as soon as it pulled up. From there, it didn't take that long to get to Modica. We weren't playing in the same little ice box as last night, but in their home gym. This place had a huge set of bleachers, real locker rooms, a training room and a weight room.
Before the match, the teams gathered at center court for a combined photo. Although there were only about six or seven people in the stands, it was our biggest crowd to date! It was about 7:00 when you could hear, then feel, the fact that the heat had shut down for the night. Luckily, since we had been prepared for the other gym, we layered up the clothes.
Modica won all five games and when we were done, the two teams traded gear. Everything from tee-shirts to uniform tops to sweatshirts seemed to be up for grabs on both sides. The Modica coaches invited us to dinner at another restaurant, so we loaded up the bus and headed to yet another pizzeria.
This time, we were in two long tables. Most of the team ended up at one table, while our staff and the Modica staff shared the other. The only other group in this large room was there for a birthday party. Well, I don't think anything could have entertained the kids more than our large group. They came back in twice and ended up taking some photos with the team.
During dinner the televisions were turned on to the Italian version of Guinness Book of World Records. There was this one guy who's `talent' was to see how long he could keep his eyes bulged out of his head. Yes, it sounds gross (and it was) yet we all watched. How exactly does one even decide to try that?
After saying our goodbyes to our new friends from Modica, we loaded the bus and began the long drive back to the hotel. Once we pulled into the hotel, we got a full itinerary for the following day and headed inside and sleep soon followed.
