Moscow Musings

• I went on a run today and saw a little girl, about nine-years-old, squatting behind a bush and peeing.

• People here are pushy. They don’t like to stand in lines, nor are they afraid to cut. You’d better learn to box out or you’ll be the big loser. It probably has something to do with the population, the more people there are, the bigger the need to push your way to the front.
• We found out from our interpreter that nothing in Russia was allowed to be printed in English until about a year or so ago – menus, hotel phone information, etc. We found that interesting. Our doc told her it could mean the slow decline of the Russian language. They’re going to end up getting swept into the English language wave that’s rounding the earth like a tsunami.
• The meal room has quite possible one of the bottom five buffets I’ve ever had. It is a shock to the system after eating so well in France. BUT, the pickles are AWESOME and the soups have been quite good.
• You must pay cash for just about everything. They don’t like to take credit cards – even for hotel restaurant charges. And you can’t charge things to your room.
• The air is dirty. The traffic is the worst I’ve ever seen anywhere. DC, NYC, Southern Cal and Atlanta have absolutely nothing on Moscow.
• There are a ton of Asian tourists in our hotel. They all smoke. A lot. Is Moscow a huge tourist destination for Asians or do they just flock to this hotel?
• Circulation. Forget about it. There is no air circulation at all. Anywhere. Unless you go outside. I’m serious. This is probably why many people smell. You’re just sitting in the lobby and the air is stagnant and you feel yourself getting damp. Simply put: it’s gross. I nearly puked on our bus heading back from practice yesterday because there was no air on and no windows open. That and we were stop and go and it was making me totally nauseated. Ugh.
• The sign in the meal room for the juice is “cok.” Suffice it to say that we’ve been over abusing all the jokes you can imagine with that! Mmmmm, I love the cok. Ellis & Dave? They LOVE the cok. It’s a scene from Jay & Silent Bob.

I think that’s all I have for now. As an aside, you should take a look at the features page for the team I’m currently with. There are some pretty good photo galleries. Oh yeah, when you view the one from Red Square, I need to point out that I gave props to Rudy and the guy doing hand stands was actually our doc doing round-offs in the square. Good times!

Goodbye France ...

June 25, 2007

NOTE: this is what I used to intro the team's blog today. I figured it was close enough for blogging efforts -- I do have to go out one last time and look for little goodies for birthday girls you know! I also have some lovely musings from this week, but will pull them all together on the flight tomorrow and post from MOSCOW!!!!

Well, it’s sad to have to type this, but by this time tomorrow we’ll all be gone from Antibes and the French Riveria. It’s been a fun trip, very productive on the court and the team is beginning to gel. They didn’t look very crisp when we first arrived, but that’s slowly changing and by the time Friday rolls around, they’ll be a well-oiled machine.

Speaking of Friday, Australia is the first team the U.S. will face. Nothing like being tested right from the start. While there are no ‘gimmes’ at this level, it would be nice to dip the toes in the ocean first. But what the heck, jumping right in has its advantages also. Australia, by the way, likes to name their teams and the U21 squad is called the Sapphires. They’re not the only nation that names their team. Much like in soccer, nations around the world have catchy names for their squads. We’ll report on this later after we arrive in Moscow and find the other nicknames.

Ok, the Sapphires just won a pre-U21 Worlds tournament in Spain, defeating Brazil 94-77 and China 93-52 before taking the hosts 75-68. They will be a good challenge for the USA on Friday.

After the three-game series against the French, the USA squad scrimmaged a local cadet boys team for the team’s final two-a-day. That was Friday night.

On Saturday we hopped in a bus and headed for a nearby town, Juan des Pins, where we all ate a delicious lunch of salmon or lamb (we had our choice), followed by a couple of hours to spend swimming, reading, walking around ... whatever. During that time a man had what appeared to be a heart attack and our team doctor saved the day. The lifeguards, who I’m sure are very capable and able when it comes to a drowning victim, were out of their league when it came to this. So after a few back and forths, he convinced the lifeguards to let him take over while awaiting the ambulance. He’s our hero.

After that bit of excitement we all boarded the bus once again and drove around the coast a little further to Cannes, home of one of the world’s (Sundance being the other) most famous film festivals. We toured around town a bit, with our bus driver pointing out all the pricey shops and the hotels where all the big stars stay when they’re here.

We were able to get out and walk around a bit to explore the town. All the Gucci, Prada, etc., shops were on the main boulevard that lines the water. All the little kitchy places were a block back. Guess where we shopped?

We then ate at one of the best pizza places in the French Riveria, La Pizza (that means The Pizza for those of you who don’t speak French), and it definitely lived up to its name. What a great way to end the day!

That was followed by a post-practice excursion on Sunday to St. Paul, a little old fortress town built up on top of a nearby mountain. It’s very quaint and rumor has it that Marc Chagall is buried there. It’s a very artsy town with a lot of art galleries and other very $$$ shops. But they also had some “normal people” priced shops to peek into.

After a few hours of shopping and walking the hilly cobblestone streets, it was time to board the bus again. It was time for a siesta, actually! We returned to the hotel and had about 90 minutes before it was time to leave for dinner (I smell a theme here ... eat, practice, eat, tour, eat ).

We were met by the French coach and a former player from Philadelphia who came to play when he was 24 or 25, played for the professional team here until he was about 40 and never left. But who can blame him!? He knows all the Philly guys and I believe he said he played for Jack Ramsey at St. Joe’s. For real.

So, they take us to this wonderful little Italian restaurant that is frequented by all the big stars who come through. Magic Johnson was just there two nights before us and rumor has it that Beyonce and Jay-Z were there the night before us. The restaurant’s name is Michaelangelo and the food and decor would surely have pleased one of the world’s most famous artists.

In a nutshell, we’ve been enjoying the calming sea breezes, the blue sky, warm weather, French cuisine, touring some of the sights, while at the same time getting ready for why we’re really here: the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championship (that and to eat, drink and be merry when not working).

Travel Day Blues ... June 16 & 17

Ahhh, the travel day. Nothing like getting about five hours of sleep, hopping on Flight No. 1 from Colorado Springs and disembarking from Flight No. 4 in Nice, France.

Traveling alone has its advantages: no herding cats. It also has its disadvantages: nobody to joke with. But I managed to enjoy myself all the same.

I watched Shooter with Marky-Mark from Denver to Dulles and knew in the first 15 minutes why it was in the theaters for a blink of an eye. It was awful! However, it helped pass the time. My first movie over the pond was Breach, about the FBI spy and his capture - that was pretty good – then I saw the final 15 minutes of Zodiac and during the remainder of the flight I caught 10 minutes here and there. I also watched Catch and Release featuring Kevin Smith. Ok, so Jennifer Garner was the lead, but Kevin Smith rocked. Yeah, boring stuff.

Early on – we’re talking during the boarding process – I managed to get irritated by and summarily piss of some Eastern Euro who was as loud as can be. Traveling with his wife and two kids, he was probably miffed when he boarded since two of the seats were 19E & F (777, 2-5-2 configuration), while his wife and other child were in 20D&E. I was in 19G. He spent about five minutes trying to figure out what to do with his luggage (and wasn’t quiet about it in his native tongue).

Then he sent his younger son through row 20, up one row to 19 and across me to get into seat 19F. Mind you, at this point there is not one other soul in Row 19 OR 20. Why he couldn’t scoot across 19 and not climb over me was a mystery. Then he got his wife and other son settled, scootched his butt across 20, made a lot of noise and commotion trying to get their two large roller bags into the bins, smashing my laptop bag in the process. I stood up and asked him to be careful for other people’s stuff. He then proceeded to climb over me and his son to get into 19E. I’m still confused about all the commotion when he leans over to me and tells me that the bins are for ALL passengers, not just me and my bag was taking up the whole bin (clearly not the case since he got his bag, bigger than mine, in there). I told him with my face that he was an a**hole, but my voice simply said,”all I was saying was that you should be more careful of other people’s belongings.”

So I think we’re all settled, right? Wrong.

Somehow, while I had my eyes closed trying to ignore the remainder of the boarding process in my happy place, he managed to talk several people in 19 to move back to 20 – including someone on the other 19 aisle. Then he woke me up and asked me to switch aisle seats with his wife, who was in the left side of my five-seat row.

Huh?

Yeah, he wanted to be near his luggage, which was in the compartment above my head and the one directly behind me.

Alllllllllllrighty then!

At least it gave me a little bit of amusement for a few of the 20ish hours I was traveling.


NOTE: These pictures have nothing whatsoever to do with this post. However, the top one is me at the beach by the town of John the Pin Head, locally known as Juan de Pins. The next one is of the waiter we had by the outdoor cafe. We got a kick out of him -- total rocker clothes (80's) in th 80' heat. Hmmm, 80's in the 80's!! The final one you will see the wonderful man-bag. Murse. Whatever you want to call it. It's very functional. The guy got too far away before I could yank out my camera, but there's a Betty Boopish sketch on his bag. The Euros are famous for the man-capris, man-bag and man-sandles. They're all starting to creep their way to LA and probably NYC, which means that by the time it hits Colorado Springs ... WHAT AM I THINKING!?!?!? It'll never fly there.

Off to do whatever it is I do.

Memorial Day at Moab

Ok, so I'm a little delayed. I've decided NOT to go back to Italy and rehash that trip. Instead, we'll forward to Memorial Day Weekend with good friends Chris, Janice & their 8-month-old Charlie, as well as Don and Leah. All of us met way back in another life at Fat Tuesday's and in the last year and a half I've reconnected with them.

Chris and Janice arrived on Wednesday so that Thursday morning they could go scout out camping sites and found a GREAT one right on the river. I arrived at 6 pm that night and cracked open an ICB while setting up my tent. Don & Leah, coming from San Diego, were overnighting past Vegas and we'd see them tomorrow.

I brought my road bike (yes, I know, it's Moab) and Friday morning we all struck out at the same time for the end of the road at Arches. I realized on my 10-day trip around the Four Corners in '05 that riding through National Parks is an amazing way to really see the landscape. They went for a hike and we met at the end of a looooooong uphilll climb. Let's just say that of the 20-mile road in the park about 1.5 of it was downhill. I kid you not.

Because of the time of day, heat (not a cloud in sight) and dry air, I took my time and stopped at nearly every pull-out or overlook in the park. When you're driving in, you miss out on some of the views and it really does get tiresome to get in and out of your car constantly, walk over, read, view, etc. SO much more peaceful and enjoyable in the saddle.

That night, after D&L arrived and set up their tent while sipping on an ICB, I pulled out steaks from Ranch Foods Direct and we all had ourselves a great meal (heck, ALL meals that weekend were delightful), great conversation and then sat around the fire until the wee hour of probably midnight.

We hit Arches again the next day and did a few hikes around there and then Canyonlands Island in the Sky District the following day. It was hot, we didn't get started early (11:30 at the trail head) and went on a 6-mile hike. Janice is a MACHINE!!! She carried the baby on her back in a pack the entire time. After the hike, where we saw an arch, several garden oasis, beautiful desert wildflowers, geckos, canyonlands and sky as the eye could see.

We did Arches one final time -- Delicate Arch and a few other small hikes -- before it was time for our last night of camping.

C,J & C are in the process of moving to Sedona. That was the plan since moving out to Arizona from NoVa and they've finally done it. We saw some pictures of their new place and I can't wait to see it! I'll see Don, who brought his guitar and serenaded the group at night, & Leah probably before next Memorial Day if I'm able to go to San Diego again. We brunched with them in March before Dave headed overseas and I'm looking forward to it again.

Sadly we had to head home and back to reality after five nights in the camp ground, but it was a good time. We're going to look into renting a house boat on Lake Powell and then exploring some of the canyons that are reappearing in Glen Canyon these days. We'll have to bring kayaks along to do some of the exploring, but it should be a good time!

I think we probably ate better during the camping trip (I usually do) than during a regular week. We were totally gourmet! Peet's coffee, steaks, brats, salad, you name it, we ate it. After all, if you're going to pull your car into a spot, you're not roughing it and should definitely reward your afternoon hikes with some good food / beer / wine / margs :-)

I have to say that Charlie was an amazing camper. He didn't cry much at all, was mostly giggly and totally into the outdoors scene: eating dirt, watching geckos run around, taking camp showers, going on hikes, etc. Nothing fazed this little guy. Watch for him in about 20 years in some amazing adventure race. He's getting primed for it now!

Ciao!