Day Eight – Barcelona,Paris, Montreal, Vermont !

Well, remember that peaceful night’s sleep that we has settled in for last night…… well it didn’t go quite as planned. We had a late night visitor from England that came to our hotel and caused quite a stir. Peace was restored and finally everyone got some sleep.
Up for breakfast off to Barcelona, on to Paris, one hour delay in plane, on to Montreal. Arrived in Montreal with almost all of the players and chaperones that we had started the trip with. We are missing one of each, not bad considering the size of the group that we started with. Actually our two missing comrades had extended their trip so all were present and accounted for. Breezed through customs at the U.S. Border and we are home sweet home in good old Vermont. We have had a fantastic trip with many great memories. All are looking forward to seeing their loved ones and sleeping in their own bed (and maybe not in that order!). One more shot of our beloved beach at the Mediterranean Sea (note this picture has been edited so it is appropriate for all)

Day Seven – Tossa del Mar & beach

We had a free day with nothing scheduled. About half of the group decided to sleep in and then venture to the beach. There was no sign of them at breakfast, perhaps due to the extended curfew from the night before. The other group took a boat ride up the coast to Tossa del Mar. The boat trip was a sightseeing boat with a glass bottomed area. The old section of Tossa is located within a walled village castle that is situated right on the coast next to a beautiful beach. We explored the small streets and sat down for a big lunch of many local dishes (paella, pizza, fish soup, patataes bravas etc. We then jitneys beach and discovered some great rocks to jump into the water . Technically I suppose they were cliffs but I realize that there are moms reading this. The guys and some brave adults had a blast making some big splashes. We all boarded the boat for our return trip to Blanes. We reunited with the rest of the crew and finished the day at the beach and checking out the local craft market and stores.
After dinner the boys entertained themselves playing soccer in the street. Some decided to make a late night return to the disco (yes moms they were chaperoned at all times). The guys had a great time “throwing their Mack down’”. For those that are not so hip you can look that up in your urban dictionary. All have returned and have been sent to their rooms for a peaceful night’s sleep. We depart the hotel at 9:30 in the morning, one hour bus ride to Barcelona and then a roughly 1:00 departure for Paris, 80 minutes to switch planes and then we arrive in Montreal at 5:45. It will be a long travel day.

Day Six – Beach & games

We didn’t have games until 4:00 & 6:00 so it was a day that the guys could sleep in and some maximized that opportunity. We had a leisurely day checking out the local stores and also going to the beach. All decided that there were many worse ways to spend a day then catching some rays and bobbing in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it. Everyone is getting plenty of sun as the weather has been awesome.
We hopped on the bus and headed to our games which are about 10 km (that’s about 6 miles for you Americans) away.
First game was against a very talented team from Norway. We gave up two goals in the 1st half and then played them even the rest of the way but fell 0 – 2. Next we played played Greece, and much like the U.S. World Cup we let the other team get an early lead.
We gave them a 2 – 0 lead but then pressured hard and was rocketed off the crossbar and IN !!!!!!!! Now down 2 – 1 we pressured hard but could not get the equalizer, final score Bad guys 2, Good guys 1. Back to the hotel for dinner and hang out. Late in the evening some headed out to the disco to bust some moves. Curfew was extended for those players as we have no more games left to play.
A good time was had by all.
Sorry only one photo today pictures from today will be posted tomorrow.

Day 5 – Girona, L’Estartit & Viva Espana !!!

We left the hotel and headed north to sightsee the town of Girona. Girona is a walled city that dates back many many years. I believe that one of the cathedrals dated from the 1200′s. We wandered the narrow streets of the old city. Some managed to get to the top of one of the watch towers that were on the wall surrounding the city and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the city. We had a picnic lunch on the streets before hopping on the bus to L’Estartit.
L’Estartit is a seaside resort town with a beautiful beach. We all went for a very refreshing swim. At 4:00 we went for a boat ride on a glass bottom boat. We headed out to sea and cruised out to the Medes islands. The water was incredibly clear and we saw lots of fish. After cruising around the islands for a for a while we moored the boat near one of the islands and dove swam around. We got everybody onboard and headed to shore. From there we loaded onto the bus and headed to our hotel.
After dinner we went to watch the World Cup match between Spain and Germany on a huge screen that they had set up down by the beach. Spain scored and the whole place went nuts. Almost everybody was wearing Spain’s uniform and flying the flag. After the game, cars were zipping down the road with flags flying out the window, horns blowing, etc. Back to the hotel to hang out before going night-night.
Tomorrow we play at 4:00 & 6:00. Boys are all looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and relaxing at the beach before we head to the games.

Day Four – Tourney games and Water World

We started the day with a 9:00 game against a team from Norway. We fell 1- 0 despite having some great scoring opportunities. We played a team from Greece at 11:00 and lost 2 -0. We have played competitively with all of the teams but have not been able to come out ahead on the scoreboard. We returned to the hotel for lunch to fuel up for our next excursion. In the afternoon we went to Water World (“Europe’s Best Water Park”). We had a great time on all of the different slides, water roller coaster, wave pool, etc. The adults were the experts and showed the others their game. We left the water park at closing time and returned to the hotel. After dinner it was time to watch the World Cup match between Holland vs. Uruguay. There are many Dutch in this area and they all were all out proudly wearing their bright orange team colors. Some of the boys had a great time watching the game with their new found friends from Holland. We gathered back at the hotel lounge and were entertained by a couple of eight year old girls dancing. The boys were probably more enthralled with the constant parade of older girls that were passing by. Today’s curfew was extended to midnight as we have no games tomorrow yet it was still difficult to get them to call it a night even after a slight time extension. Tomorrow we have a bus for the day so we will tour the countryside and then come down the coast.

Day Three – Tournament begins

After arriving back at the hotel last night we dined and then Tom, Jim and Brett Eisenhardt (we found him in Barcelona and he has joined our group) had to go off to a meeting for all of the coaches. The rest of the chaperones got to relax back at the hotel with the boys. After a rigorous meeting the coaches returned with a better understanding of the tournament rules, strategies and Flamenco dancing. The players had all been confined to their rooms as their curfew had passed. The coaches thought it would be best to gather the other chaperones to discuss strategy (in case they needed to step in) so they found a place to gather and confer.
Morning came early and several missed the daily early morning walk on the beach. After breakfast at the hotel we headed to the 12:00 opening ceremonies. The teams mingled and then marched onto the main field grouped by country, proudly displayIng their country’s flag. We played Sweden in our first match. After starting slow and giving up an early goal the boys settled down and came on strong. We played a great second half and despite several great scoring opportunities we did not find the back of the net and finished the game down 0- 1.
Back to the hotel for a late lunch and then it was time for the beach. The boys rented several paddleboats and had a good time splashing around in the Mediterranean Sea. Several of the guys made some new friends from Holland.

Day Two – Camp Nou & Monserrat

Last night after a long day of traveling (30 hours with no sleep for some) we watched Spain win their World Cup game it was time to hit the hay. We saw Spain win a thriller and then happily hit the hay.
Sunday morning some of us were up early and ventured down to the beach to watch the sunrise. Most slept in and made it to breakfast which was from 8:30-9:30. 10:00 we loaded on the bus and headed to Barcelona to visit Camp
Nou. Camp Nou is the home stadium for the Barcelona Football Club and seats 100,000 fans. The boys were like kids in a candy store at retail store there with all of the official soccer jerseys.
Then it was onto the bus and off to Montserrat. Montserrat is a “dramatic mountaintop monastery” located 45 minutes outside of Barcelona. It lived up to it’s billing. From the monastery we rode an extremely steep rack railway (like cog railroad but much steeper). We hiked forty minutes back to the monastery. We are now on the Bus and heading back to the hotel and will head to the beach.

Montreal to Barcelona

We departed Montreal at 5:45p.m on Air France and arrived in Paris six hours later at 5:45a.m. (must have been in a time warp). Dined on a fine meal of beef stroganoff in flight. The French may not be able to assemble a World Cup soccer team but they have mastered airline food. We had a smooth flight, cruising at 36,000 feet, 550 miles per hour and the outside air temp of 55 degrees below zero (about Avg temperature for Moville in January).
In Paris most people would go to see the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, or Notre Dame, but we decided to bypass all of the above and head directly to Gate F30 as we had less than an hour to get on our next flight.
Two hour flight to Barcelona and headed into the city to walk around and be tourists. Checked out Barcelona and then headed on bus to our hotel in Blanes (45 minutes away). Checked into hotel and then walked to Beach (100 yds away), beautiful beach, beautiful sites, boys went for swim and scenic walk. Hanging out at hotel now and surrounding area. We eat at 8:30 and then will watch Spain play in World Cup game.

We are on our way !!!!

Loading onto the bus and headed to Montreal.

USA defeats England 1 – 1

Eurotrip players watch as the U.S. Team takes on England in their first game of the 2010 World Cup.