Saturday, July 18, 2015

Day 12 Return to the USA

Day 12 Return to the USA
 After 12 days of touring Europe, sightseeing, playing volleyball, eating WAY TOO much great food.... It is time for us to return to the USA.
Our group was divided into an early departure group and a later departure group depending upon the departure of their flights. 
The first group departed the hotel at 8am and the 2nd departed the hotel at about 8:30am.

Everyone was on time for the departure.. as this is a VERY IMPORTANT day... our return to the USA....

This will seem like the longest day of the year because everyone now realizes that the tour is now done and are eager to be home.... Nothing can speed this up and the more we want to be home.... the longer it seems to take...

Getting 60+ people from across the USA to Europe.... across Europe... through some of the largest cities in the world... (even during an unprecedented METRO strike in London).... We are bringing back the same number of people that we brought.... (smile...)

It was a good group of players, parents and coaches...


We thank you for taking part in our tour... and hope to see you on one of our future tours to Italy next summer or to Rio de Janeiero during our Spring Break beach play and training tour. 



Friday, July 17, 2015

Day 11 Barcelona Tournament

2015 Volleyball Tour Blog  – Day 11 Barcelona Games           
This afternoon and evening are our friendly volleyball games in Barcelona.  The games started about 5pm so we had the morning to do additional sightseeing or to go to the beach.  Most of the individual girls and a few families decided to go to the beach and play some beach volleyball.  Other families continued to do sightseeing and shopping.   
At 3:30 pm we traveled by metro to our gym.  The metro here in Barcelona is easy to use and is much cleaner and newer than that of London or Paris.  I think it is because of the Olympic Games that were held here in 1992.
In no time we had arrived to the volleyball gym in Val de Hebron.  The gym was huge…. It was one of the venues from the Olympics… where they played volleyball … as we warmed up we had moments of what it would be like to play in the Olympics… and we were here at the former site of the Olympic games…  
We played in 3 separate age groups.  The U14 team play 6 sets winning 4 losing 2,  The U15-16 Blue and Red teams  played 5-7 games and the Older U17-18 team played 5 games.  The venue had 3 full sized separate courts.  
All of the teams in the tournament were from Barcelona or around Barcelona.  The weather outside was about 90+ degrees and the gym was not air conditioned and it did not take long to “get warmed up”. The level of the competitions were just the right level as most of the teams split sets and played the tie breaker games…   The girls here were much more friendly … and it was fun to talk with them in our Spangenglish…. We finished our games at about 8:30pm… We had our group departure meeting before we entered into the Metro... making sure everyone knew when their flights were departing and which Airport Motor coach they needed to take and at what time.
In about 30 minutes time we made our way back to the hotel.   We showered and went to dinner…. Most of us were really tired from the hot day and the volleyball play…. and had dinner near the hotel
Tomorrow is our Return to the USA day



Thursday, July 16, 2015

Day 10 Barcelona Free Day

2015 Volleyball Tour Blog Day 10 Barcelona Free day           
This morning everyone was excited to have a free day to revisit some sites or to visit to some they had not visited or to go to the beach for relaxing day after 10 days of travel. The day was a hot one…. John reminded us to put on sunblock and to keep re-applying it as we would be outside all day… and to drink lots of water…. Most of the individual players went with the coaches to the beach to play some friendly games and to play in the water.  John reminded us that we were to go into the water near the lifeguard and only go out to armpit deep water.  
In the 85 degree temperature with the sun setting, it gave us a moment to reflect back on our trip…. we all said we would love to stay here a few more days…. But at the same time we were eager to go home.
Tomorrow we will play our final mini tournament starting at about 4:30pm.  We will have a brief meeting with the group to discuss the return morning transfers to the airport (we will have 2 transfers…one for the people who had early flights … and one later for the people who had  later flights).

Tomorrow..... Tournament day





   

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Day 9 Barcelona Hop on Hop off Tour



2015 Volleyball Tour Blog Day 9 Barcelona Hop on Hop off tour      

This morning everyone was excited to have a free day and to do the Hop on Hop off tour of Barcelona.  We started our tour at about 10:00am with the first of our group boarding the first bus and then 5 minutes later the next group and finally the last group after than…  The day was a hot one…. this is Barcelona in July and it is normal…. John had reminded us to put on sunblock as we would be outside all day… and to drink lots of water…. It did not take long to see why…. The air was about 90 degrees and the hot sun seemed even hotter when you are sitting on the top of the open air bus…. Everyone was free to explore various parts of the city … the hop on hop off bus had 3 separate lines that explored 3 separate areas of Barcelona… and over lapped slightly to allow us to transfer from one line to the other…  We liked the broad streets and the open feeling that 
Barcelona had… There wre so many interesting architectural designs (some were pretty weird)… but also cool at the same time.  Many of us went to the very TOP of the hills behind Barcelona for a breathtaking view over the city and out to the water.  We saw the FC Barcelona stadium, the Olympic stadium and various buildings from the 1992 Olympics…. And some people (the more adventurous ones …) took a hanging gondola ride from the top on the hill down to the marina…   Tomorrow morning  is a free day to re-visit some of the sights that we did not get to yesterday and we are going to the beach in the afternoon for a couple of hours.   



Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Day 8 Paris to Barcelona



The morning was an early one as we needed to take our train at 10am from another train station in Paris.  Most of us had an early breakfast.  At 8:15am we made our way to the train station across the street to take an RER train to Gare du Lyon (the station where we will take our train to Barcelona).  our train arrived and all would have been fine except ... too many people tried to get into the same car door and their was not enough time for them to do that and the train had to leave.  Leaving 10- 12 people waiting to enter that car could not get on. One of our staff and our French guide were there to help them take the next train (a few minutes later).  Once we had everyone at Gare du Lyon we had only about 20 minutes to wait for our train to arrive.   We boarded quickly and were soon on our way to Barcelona.  The train ride was fun we had people in 2 cars of the train and most of us slept fine on the train a few were singing others were quiet reading or doing puzzles. people said they did not sleep too well (but that is the same thing they said when we flew to London) some people can sleep while moving and others cannot.


We arrived into the All Saints train station in Barcelona and were transported to our Hotel by motor coach.  The hotel is the newest one that we have stayed in . It is a Holiday Inn Express and has all the new up to date features it is very similar to any in the USA.  Everyone was hungry after the long train ride.  We walked a short distance from our hotel to one of the main walking streets in Barcelona Rambla del Poblenou and found many good restaurants to eat at even though it was about 8pm.   After dinner everyone went to bed.... travel days are difficult and tiring.

Tomorrow ... the hop on hop off tour of Barcelona 

Day 7 Vollyball Tour Palace fo Versailles

Day 7 Paris 

Today is the Palace of Versailles and free day... 

In the morning we took the metro and train out to the Palace of Versailles …. It was amazing… the Chateau itself is impressive… but the gardens, lakes, statues and fountains behind the Chateau are also beautiful and amazing…. The opulence of the king… no wonder there was a revolution in France. They were renovating some of the rooms inside and we could not go inside today but to make up for it ... the gardens were free for us to just walked through the gardens and grounds of the palace.
It was soon time to return back to Paris and to the Eiffel tower.  We boarded the train and in a few sleepy blinks we were back in Paris…. at the base of the Eiffel tower. 

Some families did other sightseeing besides the hop on hop off... Some families went for the day to Disneyland Paris 
Everyone was very tired after a full day of activity many returned back to the hotel and had dinner...
There were no problems with curfew.
Tomorrow is a travel day to Barcelona.  We need to have an early breakfast and be out the door by 8:15am





Sunday, July 12, 2015

Day 6 Paris Hop on Hop off tour

Day 6 Paris Hop on Hop off tour
We woke this morning to a bright and sunny day, with a few puffy clouds drifting in.  We had breakfast at 8am and were ready for our hop on hop off bus tour of Paris.  Our pick up point was just around the corner from the hotel and everyone was there waiting for the bus to start the first tour.  Everyone was able to find seats on the top of the open air bus.  We traveled about 10 minutes to the point where the blue route and the red route intersected and everyone go on the next bus for the red route that went past more of the attractions that they wanted to see. The day was warm and the sun was shining bright on us as we were sitting on the top of the double Decker bus.  As we made our way through Paris… some of us started falling to sleep in the warm sun.  We decided not to take a group photo because everyone wanted to go their separate ways and see different parts of Paris.  We went to the left bank area to get some food … this is a area filled with restaurants … a perfect place for those who are hungry.  After lunch… Individual groups of people continued on with the hop on hop off tour… while others wanted to go directly to the Eiffel tower.  No matter where people went… It was a day filled with volleyball and sightseeing.

Tomorrow is the Palace of Versailles and our last day in Paris.



 

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Day 5 Paris Games

2015 Day 5 London-Paris-Barcelona Volleyball tour - Paris Tournament

 Day 5 Paris Tournament.

Today is the tournament day…. We woke and had breakfast at 8am and meet our local host at 9am to go by metro to the gym.  Edwin, the local host escorted us to our playing site, just outside Paris.  
This year we had 4 teams divided by age groups.  The tournament originally was scheduled to be a 2 day tournament but we requested only a 1 day event to allow us to see more of Paris. As we are on our tour to more than just play volleyball (sightseeing and tour as well). This would allow us to play volleyball and to see the sights in Paris.  The tournament was  divided into 3 courts with 3 teams each.  It was a mix of ages from U14 to U 18.   Each team played the other teams in their group.  The teams were then divided again based upon their results from the first group... All of the 1st place teams went to the Gold Group, the second place teams into the Silver group and the 3rd place teams into the Bronze group... All the teams then played another round of pool play and the results were your position within your tournament.  All of the teams (both French and American ) were very competitive.  It was not uncommon for the scores to be 25-23 or 28-26.  
Our U17 team won the 2nd pool and should have been the champion having gone undefeated for the day.  But a little confusion and misunderstanding resulted in them finishing 2nd place.  The French team that we had defeated 3 times during the day, wanted to play one final set to 25 points.  We thought they wanted to play for fun while the other teams were finishing up.  But apparently it was for 1st and 2nd place.  Our girls did not play their best and the French team won 25-19. ... and were the tournament champion... Our U15/16 team took 3rd in the gold division
In the Silver division our U14 team was 2nd.  In the Bronze division our mixed U15/16 team was 2nd.
 
A fantastic day of volleyball, everyone had a wonderful time.   and made lasting memories.  Even when the teams were not scheduled to play they mixed with the French teams and played for fun... and that is what is all about...

We departed the gym back to Paris about 6pm ...

Everyone was FAST ASLEEP by curfew


Tomorrow visit to Versailles, and the start of the Hop on Hop off tour

Day 4 Departing to Paris

Volleyball Tour Blog  – Day 4 London to Paris.
Today is a travel day… we are leaving London and going to Paris. 


We had an easy morning and did not have any set time to have breakfast. Most of us slept in until about 9am and went down to breakfast. We pack our bags the night before so we were ready to head out the door after breakfast. We were only about 15 minutes from the St. Pancras International train station we had a chartered motor coach to transfer us to the train station . The coach company sent a smaller coach than we ordered and we needed to divide into 3 departure groups.  The first of our group departed the hotel at 10am the second group departed at 10:45am and the last group departed at about 11:15am.   We arrive to the train station and had some time to wait for our train.  Taking the Eurostar is similar to what we do for an airline flight there is the checkin and then the security check.   We checked in we had our luggage screened, and proceeded to the passport control and got another stamp for our passports, and then went into the secure area to wait for our boarding announcement.  One can tell who the experienced train travlers are and thoes who are not....  I have to admit we were not too smooth in our boarding process… The train car has two entrances to it one on each end of the car…we all lined up at ONE…. thus taking much longer than the expierence Europeans…. It seemed like all of the other cars were already loaded… and we still had people on the boarding platform. After a few minutes time … everyone was on board… and shortly after that the train started to move.. silently and smoothly.
In about 30 - 45 minutes and without and and special announcement… we were UNDER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL…. Traveling at about?? 100 miles per hour…. And in 28 minutes we were back into the sun light and into FRANCE.  Once we entered France… the train went even faster…. Up to 200 miles per hour.. The cars and trucks on the freeway next to us looked like they were standing still…. Really … standing still. In no time at all we were pulling into the Gare du Nord train station, our final stop of our train ride. The train station is one of those big old …scary ones that you see in the old movies…. Our hotel was … right across the street. The check in took only about 5 minutes which was amazing considering the number of people that we had to check in. 
At 6:30pm we walked to the top of Sacre Coure to see Paris from one of the highest points.
We returned to the hotel at about 9pm.  Curfew was 11:30pm everyone was home safe and sound.
Tomorrow starts the tournament.




Thursday, July 9, 2015

Day 3 London - Changing of the guard

 Volleyball Tour Blog Tour  – Day 3 London.
Today we had a leisurely morning most of us slept in.  The breakfast in the hotel was really good, it had a large selection of things to eat.  Pork n beans… (yes.. for breakfast) scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, juices, coffee, cereal, fruit, bread and rolls and more.  We ate our fill and went to our meeting at 9:30am. Luckily today was a dry day so we were scheduled to go to the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace.  Because of the Tube strike we walked about 30 minutes to the changing of the guard and then walked across Green Park.  When we arrive we found that there were already thousands of folks lining the route.  We set our meeting point and time and proceeded to find the “best location” available. 
The changing of the guard is not so much about the actual changing but more about the pageantry involved with the new guards arriving, the changing and then the old guards leaving.  The costume, the bands and the horses all were quite special.  The entire changing took about an hour…. And soon we were back to our meeting point to go onto tour walking tour of central London.  We walked to Wesminster Abby, over to see Big Ben, then to the Horse guards, we walked a couple more blocks to get to Trafalgar square and took our team photo of the Lyons.  It was now lunch time and Chris and the coaches gave each group information on how to get to where they wanted to go….. and how to get home…. 
Again because of the tube strike we had to find a different way to get to our gym.  We had to leave a little bit early to make sure we would arrive on time.  The teams were pretty equal with most of the games being won or lost by 3-4 points fortunately we won most of them.
At 9pm it was time to go back to the hotel and to dinner
Everyone made it home for the curfew…
Our group took on London and won... on the court as well as the streets of London during the biggest Tube strike in 13 years... Tomorrow is our departure to Paris



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2015 London Day 2

London Day 2
Today we are doing the Hop on Hop off tour. A few people went on the London Eye…. The big Ferris wheel  that goes around and you can see all of London.   Today the weather was not the best … as it was cool and a few sprinkes off and on for most of the day.  We stayed on the bus listening to the live English speaking guide, until reaching the Tower of London.  Most of us got off the tour and went to the tower of London.


The rest of  the afternoon everyone was on free time… that meant that the individual girls needed to be in groups of 4 or more… but it was not a problem and most of them went with a mom or a dad to explore London and to do shopping.

We met at the hotel at 4pm to go to practice and scrimmage the local teams.  Due to the TUBE strike... there were many more people on the bus and it took twice as long to get the the train to go to the gym.... We arrived to the gym about an hour late.... The U14 team was scheduled to play during that hour we were late.. and the host team had to go home... The U14 team practiced in the little gym while the U18, 16 and 15 teams played
Curfew was 11:30pm and we had no problems
Tomorrow is Changing of the Guard and games at night.



Tuesday, July 7, 2015

2015 Volleyball Tour Blog London-Paris-Barcelona Tour – Day 1 London

2015 Volleyball Tour Blog London-Paris-Barcelona Tour  – Day 1 London.

 We arrived to London Heathrow (one of the worlds largest and busiest airports).  We have 64 people in the group, they are arriving from across the USA into Heathrow on 12 different flights at 12 different times into 4 different terminals.  The first thought in my mind is CRAZYNESS…..  To make matters more crazy…. Several of the departure cities were having weather events that caused the flights to be delayed for up to almost 2 hours.  John was going from terminal to terminal collecting the players as they arrived…  and bringing them to Terminal 3.
Once everyone arrived... our motor coaches  picked us up and transported us to the hotel.  The people who arrived before 11:30 went on the first motor coach the people who arrived after 11:30 went on the 2nd motor coach.  It took about 60 minutes to drive into London.  Most of us slept during the drive into London.   The hotel had everything ready for our group and we quickly got checked into our Hotel. (normal check in was not until 2pm but we were able to check in early) The Hotel is nicer than I expected and is about 50 meters from the TUBE stop (Metro) which will make it easy to get anywhere we want to go…

The first group to arrive had about 3-4 hours before we had to go to our group meeting and to volleyball so we shower and a nap were in order.  The 2nd group had only about 1 hour before we had to go to practice.
At about 4:00pm we met to the gym everyone was eager to get onto the court.  The school gym was a large one court gym. They had a smaller one court "little gym" where we could scrimmage the local team while the others ran drills.

Coach Chris quickly got the group organized and doing some ball handling drills and the players got back into the swing of volleyball.  We were divided into 4 teams of  about 8-9 players (which meant everyone played a lot).  We were divided into teams based upon our ages and by the positions that we played.  It was good to get onto the court and play and as one would expect it took a while for the players to get use to each other.  
Following our practice and games we took the Metro back home … back into the heart of London which did not take nearly as long to get the gym.  We arrived home about 8:30pm had dinner and went to bed… it had been a long day… traveling from the USA to LONDON…. Experiencing the London traffic at rush hour… and playing volleyball … yes indeed … it has been a long day      

Tomorrows schedule will be a walking tour and the hop on hop off city tour…