WUCC 2014 - Lecco, Italy

The World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) in Lecco was the inspiration and driving force of this trip.  I was invited to play with Ragnarok from Denmark and Cara, of course, played with Showdown.  It was a long but seemingly quick week apart spending time with our teams and playing ultimate.  

The wet weather leading up to the tournament left the fields under water and caused the first day of games to be canceled.  This WUCC will be remembered by most for muddy fields, pasta portions that were too large to finish, and dorms that weren't really even dorms.  I'll remember my teammates, an amazing hotel, the beautiful Lecco mountains and lake, the kindness of Riccardo, experiencing the Italian healthcare system with Cara's broken leg, partying with Jeff, Jerrod, and Kiran after we found out the next day's games were canceled, the never ending pizza and pasta, and reconnecting with many of the friends we met earlier on our trip as well as friends from past trips (Lee and Karen with new baby Tom, Nic, Chevi and Juani to name a few).

Above our hotel on the side of the mountain were two churches.  This was taken near the first church in Vercurago the first day we arrived.

The amazing view of the lake from our hotel on the side of the mountain in Vercurago.  Cara and Showdown were not as lucky with their accommodations and were housed in a futuristic hotel a 45 minute drive away outside of Milan. 

Ragnarok - 14th place

Top Row: Me, Svene*, Andreas*, Jeff, Alex, Faiss, Mads'Alto, Peter, Bjarne, Mads*, Punisher, Jonathan, Esben*, Guijl

Bottom Row: Kristien, Kiran, Jerrod, Lars, Stefan, Elliott, Mads'ito, Daniel, Viunner, Yan, Puck, Sve

Huge thanks again to the team and captains for welcoming us and accepting us into your strong viking culture!

Cara suffered a broken fibula for the second time in her career after a collision during their game against D.C. Scandal.  It was a personally disappointing way to end what could be her last tournament with Showdown, but Showdown continued to perform and ended up going to the semis! Los dos, los dos. 

Sad selfie in the hospital with our guardian angel Riccardo.  Kiran, Jeff, Jerrod, and I met Riccardo the first night we went out to part in Vercurago.  He helped us get home that night, making sure we did not get into Marco Pizza's car, and then came to fields to cheer on Ragnarok and Showdown for the rest of the week.  Mille grazie Riccardo for being so generous with your time, for all the rides (late night and early morning), and for the sideline support.  Riccardo has one more year of nursing school to finish and we hope that your future career can help you find your way to Austin so that we can try to repay the generosity you showed all of us this past week.  You are awesome!

Two hours, one x-ray, one cast, four prescribed syringes with blood thinner, and zero dollars later Cara was on her way to recovery.  Socialist medical care does work!

Thinking back on this trip it's hard to say which were my favorite places or things we experienced.  Mostly, I will take away a rejuvenation of spirit and a reaffirmed belief in the inherent goodness of people.  I was amazed by the kindness new friends showed us along our way.  We have come to expect the frisbee community to accept us with open arms as we are traveling through, and the European communities did not disappoint!  This is why I love Ultimate.  But this kindness, generosity, and acceptance was just as quickly given by the others we met along our way that did not know us through a shared sport.  We are so glad to have met all of you and hope to see you again in the near or far future!

Tomorrow we return to our home in Austin.  The adventure continues...

Slovenia Road Trip - Maribor, Ljubljana, and Lake Bled

After WJUC, we rented a car in Milan for a quick road trip to Slovenia before heading back to Italy for our own Ultimate Champtionships, the WUCC tournament. 

Autogrill is the Italian Buckee's! One stop shop for all things necessary for a good road trip: gas, coffee, clean bathrooms, and tractor tire sized wheels of parmesan cheese. Like the rest stops/gas stations in the Midwest, some of them go over the highway. This is me with my loot from our first stop. 

Our first night we drove all the way to Maribor, a small city in the northeast, to visit with our Slovenian friends from Spinning in Paradise. Jaka invited us to his house for dinner, where we enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal, home-made wine/spirits, and great conversation with his parents, Zen, Sbeila, and Jaka's girlfriend. 

We stayed with Zen in his awesome flat in the middle of the town, and then met up the next day with the crew while Jaka played tour guide. He took us around town and told us interesting things about the history of the city, a cute little riverside college town. 

This statue in the main square commemorates the plague of the 1680s that claimed one third of the city's population. 

Next we went to see the oldest living and producing grape vine in the world! It's over 400 years old, and they continue to make wine out of it today. 

Of course we stopped in for a wine tasting of Slovenian wines. 

Jaka and I along the main river, the Drava. 

Mike and Jaka the tour guide in one of the traditional handmade wine barrels that are no longer in use. 

Jaka then drove us to a nearby town (Vurberk) with a castle (grad)

at the top. The view of the surrounding countryside was incredible. The castle was used as many things throughout it's existence, from private residence for nobles, to a Russian Red Cross station during WWI and then a health sanitarium between the wars. It was then take over by the Germans during WWII and used as an officer training camp, until it was bombed out. 

It's also apparently a center of some immense electromagnetic energy, since there are signs everywhere telling people not to sit for more than 15 minutes or fall asleep on the benches because their energy will get all out of whack. 

Next stop was Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Jaka hooked us up with a few Ultimate players as well as his friend Nate, a college student on summer vacation who kindly offered us his flat for two nights. We got in a practice with the Ljublana team and their awesome captain Spooks. 

The next day we explored the adorable city of Ljubljana. At a local market we tried bear sausage for the first time!

There was a pretty excellent Slovenian history museum at the Ljubljana Castle, atop a hill above the city. One of my favorite pieces was this mural called "Dance With Death", which depicts the emerging ideas popularized during the latter Reformation and Renaissance that class didn't protect anyone from death. There is a series of poor peasants and rich royalty all making the march to the casket. 

Dragons are everywhere in Slovenia! Slovenia has a lot of karst topography (Karst was a Slovenian!), which is made up of porous sedimentary limestone. The geology in some places is eerily similar to Austin in fact, and caves are a big tourist draw here as well. Well, similar to the endangered Barton Creek Salamander in Austin, there is a species of pigment free salamander called the olm that lives in the caves of Slovenia. After a heavy rain in the 1600s, olms were seen outside of the cave and people believed them to be (or at least wrote down) that they were the baby dragons. They ran with it and dragon lore is entrenched in their oral and written history. 

Beautiful church in main square of Ljubljana. 

View of the "3 bridges" area of Ljubljana, a stunningly picturesque section of town with beautiful architecture, a waterway, and outdoor cafes. 

Another view down the canal in Ljubljana. 

A view of Ljubljana Castle from below. 

The next day was my 32nd birthday (whoop!), so we drove to Lake Bled on recommendation from our friend Bjorn and every person who has ever been to or heard of this incredible little forested country. 

View from atop the Lake Bled Castle. 

One the way back to Ljubljana we stopped in the adorable small town of Radovljica to visit a museum about apiology, the art/science of beekeeping. Beekeeping was revolutionized in Slovenia, and a few passionate individuals led the field for a while, publishing books on the subject. It was incredibly interesting and informative; the highlight was watching the live bee colonies where you could follow individual bees as they went about their highly structured and role oriented hive business. 

My second favorite part of the exhibit was the collection of decorated hive panels dating back from the Middle Ages to the present. For something that was mostly practical in nature, they sure did expend a lot of energy (and money, often they hired professional artists to do it) painting these intricate scenes depicting religious, historical, or secular scenes. The picture above was in the section on "Mythology". 

I have no idea what in the world this depicts, but the giant snail was awesome. 

World Junior Ultimate Championships - Lecco, Italy

We have officially started the Ultimate portion of our trip.  After our coaching clinic in Croatia, we flew to Milan, Italy to cheer on Brett at the World Junior Ultimate Championships in Lecco.  Brett's parents, Rich and Mary, were kind enough to host us in Como and transport, feed, and clothe us (check out our sweet Gramman gear!) for two awesome days of spectating.

Beautiful mountains surround a wishbone shaped lake.  This was taken from the shores of Como.

The Italian chapter of the Brett fan club!

Enjoying dinner in the Como duomo plaza.  Pizza, pasta, and great conversation.  It was great to hear about Rich and Mary's early adventures of starting a family in Austin and traveling the world on their tandem bike.  Two incredible people that have raised two incredibly smart and hard-working sons.  Thank you for generous support over the years, we are so thankful to have you as friends!

Beautiful mountains in the background at the stadium fields.

Bookends!  Brett had a huge foot block on a huck late in the second half followed by a thrown score to help the USA gain momentum in their comeback effort.  The USA would eventually lose on the final point to Canada 16-17.  It was an amazing game.

Cara and I were so proud to watch Brett play with confidence and spirit, demonstrate how to be a great teammate, and excel at the highest level of youth ultimate.  UMass is lucky to have you next year.  Good luck in the fall!