Travel and Sightseeing Days for Women's Basketball Team

A day in Florence and the first of three days in Rome are on the schedule for the women's basketball team.

A day in Florence by Haley Hall – 5/20/10

We left Pordenone on a long four-hour road trip to Florence. Our hotel in Florence was nice but the beds were like cardboard.

The city was awesome! The coolest thing we saw was the sculpture of David. We only had to wait about a half-hour before we could go into the museum. I ate a calzone from a small caf while we were waiting to go into the museum. Then I had some gelato.

After we saw the sculpture we had a chance to go do some shopping and I spent way too much money at the market. But I did get lots of souvenirs.

We had dinner in a nice restaurant with the whole team. It was a four-course meal and it was excellent.

After dinner our bus driver took us to a place where we could see the river and Florence at night. It was really neat. And just before we got on the bus heading to our hotel we saw Tony Horton of P90X fame. We got to take our picture with him.

First Day in Rome by Mindy Bonham – 5/21/10

Our bus ride from Florence to Rome was long but the view of the countryside was beautiful. We stopped in a little town called Orvieto for lunch and to stretch our legs. The town was on top of a mountain and it overlooked the entire valley. We took a funicular to get to it. I had a kabob and it was delicious. It had a lot of meat in a pita, and then I had some gelato. If I was able to, I could eat gelato three times a day

We finally made it to our hotel in the afternoon. It’s very nice and the rooms are really modern. They have a nice little bathroom and flat screen TVs. The outside of the hotel looks like it’s all glass.

Rome is huge!!! We went to the famous Spanish Stairs, Trevi Fountain, and to the Pantheon. We also saw the “Sister Churches” in the Piazza del Popolo. I think that this city is my favorite place by far! There are tons of buildings still standing from hundreds of years ago. I went to see all of these places today with my husband Mark, who served his mission here, as well as Juddy and his wife Mary Kay, the Vermunt’s, the Boettcher’s and Jazmine.

Even though it took us three hours by bus to get here, it was well worth the wait. I loved seeing some of Rome and the amazing atmosphere that is here.

I did a little bit of shopping today. I got a purse for my mom, which I’m pretty excited about because I got a good deal on it. Other than that, I am trying to keep my eyes open for other things to buy.

A week in Italy, a retrospect by Megan Leach - 5/21/10

We’ve been able to see so much in such a short time. The food has been great and it has also been interesting to watch everyone’s faces when a group of tall, beautiful American girls pass them.

The games have been fun and interesting as well. The courts are a little different as are some of the international rules.

The people here are very nice! Even though we don’t speak the language, they try to communicate with us. Also, everything closes so early here. They also take enjoyment in their meals and do not rush through them. They all seem to be a lot shorter as well, or maybe it’s because we are so tall!!

Our first day in Rome today was incredible!! There is so much to see here and so much history that it is hard to comprehend all of it. However, my favorite would be Florence because it was so unique and it was so fun to shop in the market. We all bought a lot of cute things!

The one part about this trip that I haven’t liked is all the traveling!! Although it’s been great to see so many different things, it’s not very fun to be in the bus for long periods of time going from one city to the next.

On this trip we've also done some shopping. When we were in Venice I got some lace, which was unique to the city. And then I went crazy in the markets in Florence!! So many great things for super cheap!! I bought some scarves, ties, bracelets, rings, etc. But most importantly, in every city, at least once a day, I get gelato!!