May 12, 2009
Editor’s note: During the Notre Dame women’s basketball team’s 10-day foreign tour of Europe, sophomore forward Kellie Watson is filing a daily diary with Michael Rothstein of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. Following are Watson’s thoughts on the trip with a link to her entry also available on the Journal-Gazette’s web site.
NICE, France – We leave our hotel in Paris at 6 a.m. Most of us fell asleep on the way to the train station after our croissant and yogurt breakfast. As we make our way into the train station, which was open and had no walls, I think we all became a little more grateful of the health code in the U.S. There were birds flying around everywhere inside and cats roaming around looking for food…
Yuck.
Thankfully we boarded the train at 7:30 a.m and did not have to be around the craziness of the station. Our train was very cozy and very spacious. There was ample room to sleep, which was the main priority for many of us on the six-hour train ride.
We finally reach Nice, refreshed and ready to go. We head right to downtown to get some lunch as we made our way to the beach, only about a ten-minute walk from our hotel. We were very anxious to get to the beach and lay out in the Mediterranean sun. Naturally, however, as soon as we get there, the sun hides behind the clouds and we decide to go for a swim instead. I swear the water was no warmer than 65 degrees. It was freezing. Coach Potthoff, Erica Williamson, Brittany Mallory, Lech, Natalie Novosel, and I all decided to head out anyway. The water was a beautiful shade of turquoise and was very clear. We remembered very quickly that it was salt water as we were pounded with waves as we made our way further out into the Mediterranean Sea. After your body got used to the temperature of the water it wasn’t bad at all. We were all very glad that we decided to go for a dip.
After we dried off, some of us decided to walk up 488 steps to get to an over-look above town. The first 100 steps or so were brutal, but it was all very worth it in the end. We could see for miles and miles out of the city. We could even see the snow-capped mountain peaks of the Alps. It was absolutely gorgeous.
Thankfully we were able to get some much needed free time this evening as well, just to relax and recoup from the long day. Tomorrow we are traveling to Lake Como, but not before we make a pit stop for some fun in Monte Carlo!!
GO IRISH!!!