Marquette University Athletics
Monica, Monica, Wherefore Art Thou Monica
5/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
May 22, 2003
COMO, Italy -- Ciao everyone! Our group is currently in the city of Como. Yesterday we traveled from Venice to a winery outside Verona to Como. The winery we visited was a small family owned business that was tucked in a valley surrounded by green hillside. The family that owned the winery let us take a tour of how wine is made and allowed us to try the many different flavors they produce. And of course, many of the girls loved this free opportunity. After all, it isn't often that you sit down and taste wine with your coaches!
Once we left the winery, we stopped in the small town of Verona. This was the home of Juliet, from William Shakespear's "Romeo and Juliet." We visited the famous balcony were the lines "Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo . . ." were spoken. Although MOST of us know that this play is not actually real, Jon felt it necessary to tell us that the play is fictional. Thanks Jon.
Our bus drive to and from the winery all the way to Como was the most beautiful scenery we have seen yet. The country roads we traveled on curled around quiet mountainsides covered with rows of green vineyards. Once we arrived in Como, the scenery was no let down by any means. After driving for over five hours total that day, we dragged our luggage into the lobby to see a gorgeous view out the back windows. Behind a quiet blue lake that held numerous piers with white yachts were tall, steep mountains that stood tall in every direction we looked. And by this time it was evening, so all the quaint restaurants and homes that ran all along the water were lit up to create quite the perfect view.
So all of us were quite pleased with the last hotel we would be staying in for the remainder of our trip! Our team was allowed to go out in the night to find our own dinner. When our translator does not come with, when no adults come with, it is always and interesting experience to watch us all try and order our meals. Leslie does not understand that you cannot order tap water, that it is all bottled, and Carolyn unfortunately orders something that she cannot quite recognize once the meal is brought out. But it is all part of the experience. We are in Italy!
Today was some down time for us all. We walked around Como, and took a lot of pictures of the lake and mountain views. Most of us took a train up the side of one steep mountain that gave a beautiful view of the whole area. The most incredible part of standing at such a high point was being able to see the snow-capped Alps hiding amongst the low clouds in the background.
Tonight is game night, so I must go prepare. All we know about the team we are playing is that they won the Italian A1 league (the top women's league in the country), and they are very good. Once we heard this, we all say, bring it on!
