May 13, 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.
This morning at 8:15 we head into town on a team run. Dodging cars and mopeds, we make our way down to the boardwalk area on the beach. We ran for about 20 minutes and got back to the hotel to get some breakfast before we left Nice for Monte Carlo.
It was only about a half hour drive along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. We spent just about three and a half hours in Monte Carlo, touring the Cathedral where Princess Grace Kelly is buried, the Palace where the Monegasque (native of Monaco) royal family lives, and the famous Monte Carlo Casino. We saw the Changing of the Guard in front of the palace, and even Prince Albert of Monaco rode by us in the back of a Lexus. We had lunch by the harbor where unbelievable yachts were sitting. Our tour guide said the yachts ranged anywhere from 50 to 250 million dollars in price. They were huge and beautiful. When we finally made our way to the famous Casino, many of us sat in front, as we were not allowed to get in because many of us are not 21, watching the Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Mercedes, and Ferraris drive in front of the building.
We spent the next five hours on our bus, driving to our hotel in Lake Como. When we came out of a tunnel on the highway, Lake Como appeared. It has to be one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Between the mountains sat an amazing number of villas set in the mountainside. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the daylight! Our evening plans include a very relaxing night at our hotel and perhaps even by the poolside.
Tomorrow we are taking a boat tour on Lake Como and will hopefully see a villa that belongs to George Clooney 🙂 … as well as play our second game against an Italian club team from just outside of Milan.
Talk to you tomorrow!! GO IRISH!