Hello from Rome everyone,
I have fallen in love with this beautiful city. Although my travel here from LA was not as wonderful, I left my wallet in the Copenhagen airport SAS lounge and thought my trip to Rome would be a tough one as I would be in this fascinating city with no credit cards but I was wrong.
We had a chance yesterday on our first full day off since being with our new coaching staff to enjoy this fascinating city of Rome. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to see the entire city, but getting away from the hotel and fields and 2 sessions a day was a nice change.
Our morning yesterday started with breakfast and we left the hotel around 10 but were in traffic for quite some time. We are staying 45 minutes away from city of Rome but traffic seems to be an issue no matter what time you travel. We got into the city and went straight to the Vatican. I have to admit for so many reasons I was excited. There is so much history in this city to start with, but the Vatican City (which is a country of its own by the way) has so much more meaning because of what it stands for. I remember many years ago, Sincy and I was roommates and we were on one of our European tours and there was a new Pope waiting to be announced. There were limited English channels and CNN was the permanent channel on the television for us. As many of you know there is black smoke coming out of the Vatican until a new Pope is announced and then it turns to white. For days we sat and waited and there was nothing but we felt we knew every angle of what it looked like. This was proven untrue yesterday. We were fortunate enough to walk thru the artistic Sistine Chapel well known for the artistic mastery of Michelangelo. I have attached many pictures so I do hope you enjoy them. I have to admit I had an exciting energy as we approached the chapel as I remembered studying it in great detail from on of my teachers, Mr. Bugler. I am sure he would be so thrilled that I remembered what he taught me so many years ago.
We then headed to our 2 hour Italian lunch which was very delicious but for those of us anxious to see the city of Rome, we really wanted to get out and about. Again, the Italian way is one of many courses but the ‘athlete’ version of that is a bit different. We started with salad/greens/potatoes followed by a pasta plate which was a wonderfully flavored linguine, followed by another pasta dish of penne, followed by a meat dish, followed by dessert (which I stayed away from). It was delicious.
We then hopped on the bus and drove by the Vatican again and then were dropped off at Piazza del Popolo and had 2.5 hours to do as we pleased. As Mel and I stated it, it was our Amazing Race to complete as we had several spots we wanted to see before we had to be back on the bus. We saw the Piazza Navano (Spanish town), Palace Madama, the Patheon, the Mantecitorio, Temple Adriano, the Fountain of Trevi, made our way up to Trinia dei Monti which is the famous Spanish steps and amazing shopping along Condotti St and walked our way back along the famous Via del Corso. Let me just say a lot to do in little time. We were told we could see the other side of the Coliseum Sunday so we are excited about that.
We arrived home after a decent ride home where pretty much everyone slept on the bus, had dinner and most of us sat in the lobby to get online and see what went out in each of our individual lives.
Today was back to reality where we had another 2-a-day session but it was really light. It is great because the coaching staff really pay attention to our bodies and how we are as both sessions were relatively light. Mario, our strength and conditioning coach returned to us so we were back to doing a lot of fast footwork things along with the training. It really is a great environment. I am really enjoying playing soccer and it never seems like work but having fun. I am sad that I will be missing some of preseason with my new team, LA Sol but either way I am playing soccer. We leave for Cyprus on Monday for several games which will also be exciting. We scrimmaged on Thursday night against a boys team and did well. You can see a change in our playing style and how Carolina wants us to play. Everyone is learning and wanting to get better which is nice.
Tomorrow we have one session and get to go to a Lazio game which I am sure will be another experience of a lifetime. Soccer here truly is life and I like it.
Thanks for checking in. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I will try to have them up within the next little bit
KK
