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Day 4, Tuesday, January 11, 2004
By Cara Bartolic
Today, Doug’s and JR’s teams had the day off from volleyball and Cory’s team had to get up early to play a match in Vienna. The other two teams would meet them there later. The trip to Vienna, Austria was about 4 hours long for those of us that went on the bus. We had to go through border patrol, which was no big deal, and when we finally reached Vienna, we had about 3 hours to tour the city. We wished we had more time to stay as it was such a gorgeous day. Cory dropped us off near the heart of the city and we were free to tour on our own. They gave us 10 Euros (about $13) for lunch and we were to meet back by the bus. We were able to see a huge church that was really old and gothic (Stefansdom). There were a lot of jewelry shops and souvenirs to buy and a lot of very different people in the city. The day was perfect for walking around and absorbing everything. One of the cool things about the city were the gardens that were planted in cool shapes. There were statues that were very elaborate and detailed set up all over the city. We were sad to leave but we had more fun in store.
We left Austria and headed to Maribor, Slovenia, which was about another 3 hour drive. We went through border patrol again, and no problems there. As we approached Maribor, we could see a large ski slope on a mountain, and that was where we ended up staying. Our hotel is at the base of a ski resort on the Pohorje Mountain. We had to change into warm clothes when we arrived because we took gondolas up to the top of the mountain for dinner. We ate at an outside bar set up just beyond the gondolas and right on the ski run. It was unlike anything we have done before. They served stew and had a fire where they cooked sausages on skewers. They also served hot wine, which was like apple cider with wine in it. It was so good. With our group, everything turns into a party so we had a good time dancing and eating. When the resort shut down their slopes it was time to go. But the only way down was to sled!
They handed out plastic sleds, some people doubled up, and we followed our tour guides on sleds down the mountain. What a rush! It was quite scary at times but thankfully everyone made it down safely. We want to talk Cory and Tim into going down again! By the time we reached the bottom, most people were tired so some went into the sauna while others stayed at the bar for a while. It was an awesome day. We have time to sleep in tomorrow, and everyone plays a match. We will stay in Maribor for a few more days.
Volley Note: Cory’s Team vs. Wien SVS Sokol (1 st Division) 0-4 (Game scores not available). The girls actually put on a pretty good show considering that they had to wake up at 5:30am and drive 4 hours to Vienna for an 11:00am match. Our gas-station-breakfast couldn’t have done for them, and the Vienna team is a perennial powerhouse filled with Austrian, Czech and Slovak National Team players. Many thanks to Coach Kipf, Alex Wagner, and Wolfgang Boehm for their efforts in making this match happen.
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