Italy Tour Journal - Esa Maki-Tulokas

9/1/06 -- Bonjourno!

If the Italy trip was highly anticipated, the city we most wanted to see was Rome! On Thursday morning we packed our bus –again - and this time the target was Rome or Roma as its called by the Italians. Everyone knows Rome, and most know the stories about the city, but now we finally had an opportunity to see all those wonders with our own eyes.

As soon as we arrived, we began our first tour. The tour was nothing less than the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Forum, the Arch of Constantine and many other ancient treasures. The tour was unbelievable. It was a miracle that those buildings were ever built, but the fact that they were built thousands of years ago. After the tour we had couple of hours for our own explorations and we were able to see many other wonders such as Capitol Hill and Piazza Venezia.

After finishing our explorations, we were on the bus heading to our last game against US Stella Uzzurra. I guess we started the game too well since the lights went off after just five minutes of play (we were ahead!). After the lights went back on, we quickly built a 20-point lead. That was the margin after the game, as well.

On Friday morning our alarms were set for 6 a.m. Quick breakfast and subway to the Vatican. Luigi- our host for the week - had a good plan for us since we had to wait just couple of minutes on the subway line to Vatican Museum. The museum opened at 8 and we were on the line at 7.30. Just five minutes later there was a huge line behind us. Huge.

The Vatican Museum itself was an impressive experience with all the uncountable works of art, but we also got to see Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s famous piece of art The Story of the Creation, and the largest church in Christendom, St. Peter’s Basilica.

After the tour some of the guys needed to get some more sleep and some of the guys headed to beach for a last minute tan. My plan was quite a different. I walked from the Vatican, all around Rome. I ended my walking tour to our hotel after 9 hours of continuous walking and 267 photos just today. I’ve taken about 800 all together, Mary Ann Fox, Greg, our associate AD’s wife has taken about 1100 and Stacey – our media relations director- is up to 700. Lots of photos.

I was able to see so much in one day. I saw pretty much everything that my map had to offer. I also got a nice little meal at the local Trattoria, and the food was better than ever before in this trip. And of course, two gelatos, which are great, but nothing beats Finnish Ice Cream..;)

I would say that I saw just as much as is possible to see in two days in Rome, and especially as much as one can see in nine days in Italy. The trip was great and I am sure that everyone is going home with hundreds of unforgettable memories. If nothing else, at least with hundreds of digital pictures. Thank you so much for this wonderful experience.