“The Leaning Tower of Chisa”

Our last day before our departure for Rome was spent in my natural habitat: At the beach. On the way to the beach we made a quick stop in Pisa to take in the sights and do our new favorite pastime which is eat gelato. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is truly an intriguing sight. It literally looks like it may fall at any second. I highly recommend seeing it in person if you happen to be in the area.

Once the hour of taking pictures of each of us holding up the tower was over it was off to the warm and extremely salty waters Mediterranean Sea. The beaches in Europe vastly differ from those at the Jersey Shore many of us are familiar with. I am a Jersey Shore native and will put it up against any beach in the world but the coastal plains of the East coast of America cannot hold a candle to calm warm waters and picturesque background mountains of the Mediterranean. Also, I learned that Speedos are much more acceptable (Eric Burnett would have felt right at home).

The next morning we departed for Rome. The bus ride was a little over four hours which would not have been too bad if it was not over 100 degrees, the air conditioning did not break, and the windows could open. But, it’s hard to complain when you’re on a tour around Italy with your basketball team and families.

Once we reached Rome we embarked on a walking tour of the city. The two main stops were the Spanish Steps and the Chevey Fountain. After the tour the players had a dinner together when we witnessed the most poorly executed ‘dine and ditch’ of all time. The two ditchers continued to walk around the area of the restaurant and were eventually confronted by our extremely disgruntled waiter. Post-dinner activities included admiring various street vendors’ art, bargaining for Rolexes that were exceptionally well priced, and even witnessed a boxing match in Rome’s main square.

Sorry for the delays between posts. WiFi is hard to come by in Italy. I’ll be sure to get new blogs up of Ursinus Basketball’s Invasion of Rome ASAP. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I feel like we’ll be able to explore it all in three.

Ciao!