Monterosso

After an early morning training session the boys took their bus back to the hotel for breakfast. They then caught the 10:50 train down the coast for 1 1/2 hours to Monterosso, a beautiful seaside tourist resort. The first order of business was to eat which they're all very good at...and they quickly discovered some pizza and fornaccio restaurants where they ate like horses. After lunch it was off to the beach for a swim but the lifeguards weren't allowing any swimmers in the sea in the spot where they wanted to go out due to unusually large surf (for the Mediterranean, er rather, the Ligurian Sea). Unbeknownst to the lifeguards was that most of the Newport water polo players are highly trained ocean lifeguards and/or very accomplished watermen. So instead of defying the lifeguards most of them played a circle game of volleyball with the prop flown all the way here by Dustin Hayes (along with a frisbee) while the rest did a day's worth of female watching - in less than an hour! As the time was approaching for the train back to Recco they hit the gelato stand and loaded up on the world's best ice cream. Lynne corralled them into a group for the requisite Daily Pilot "On Vacation" shot. The only problem - no Daily Pilot. Your erstwhile photographer dropped the ball on that one. But his ever-so-clever wife suggested that we use the International Herald Tribune, a copy of which we had in place of our local fish wrap. Our ever-so-clever team mom said "No problema, (son) Riley will can with a push of a button here and the click of a mouse there turn the IHT into the DP courtesy of Photoshop. Do not dare tell anyone...and we'll see if we can pull it off! The boys are now resting (5 p.m.) for a possible game in the Recco pool at 7:30 tonight. Schedules are a little looser here in Italy than back home. The boys and coaches are keeping their fingers crossed that they'll be able to play. If they do I'll shoot information tonight about how it went. I'm uploading today's Monterosso fotos as I write this blog so be on the lookout on the web gallery. And keep an open mind. No moral police work, please. This is Italy after all! "When in Rome do as the Romans do!" Ciao, Laird