Day 9 Treviso and more

Today was a free day for the group. Many members of our group went to Venice to see the canals and experience all that this tourist city had to offer, including smaller boutique shops as well as larger shops. We were lucky enough to find sports stores, which included Nike, Puma and others. Almost half of the group went together and a few others went by themselves to enjoy a day alone. Other members returned to La Ghirada to play basketball and other sports with locals from Treviso.

Piazza San Marco was larger than many of us expected and extremely busy. The unfortunate afterthought of visiting a major tourist city on a Saturday afternoon. I was surprised to find a Bar Americano in the piazza. We did not visit it, but it seemed like a welcome place to find a true American burger and fries. Instead we had lunch over looking the Adriatic Sea and we were still able to eat burgers for lunch. (Unfortunately, we had to stop at a Burger King on the way back to the train station to have a "real" American burger and our faith in the American standby was reaffirmed.)

After visiting the souvenir shops along the Adriatic our large group of eight split into three and five. Three of us walked back to the train station for the ride back to Treviso, and the five remaining girls found themselves a lovely gondola ride.

While looking for the time of a basketball game with the hotel host, Dr. Buysse and I were surprised and pleased to discover that our group had made one of the local newspapers, La Tribuna for our visit to La Ghirada. The short story was accompanied by a photo of our group and one of guest speakers.

The group minus myself and Dr. Buysse went back to the city center to have dinner for the evening. While I stayed near the hotel I spoke with our host at length about American rock and roll music. We also spoke of Italian music and how it is very behind the times. We exchanged several bands to look up on the Internet. Although he won out in this department, while I received seven bands to look up, he (Robert) received 20-30. I think we are both excited to discover new music.

All in all I would say the day was a success for everybody. Whether finding souvenirs for loved ones back in the States, or getting lost in the world of sports, or lost in Treviso, we all enjoyed another sunny, beautiful day in Italy.

Ciao for now! We move on to Milano bright and early tomorrow morning.

Kitrick Myers
M.Ed. Applied Kinesiology - Sport Management