-courtesy of Chris Tischler

Our next match was in Sete. Bordeaux is on the west coast of France, and Sete is on the southeastern Mediterranean coast, so we had a long drive. We got to Sete and drove around to see the city a bit. It's really a small, coastal town with little commercialism. Later we picked up the latest member of our team from the train station. Donny Harris was training in Vienna, but was joining The A-Team for the second half of our tour. We got to the gym, and ended up having an inter-squad scrimmage for the coach and presidents of this club. The scrimmage went pretty well, and afterwards we had some pizza while sitting at the marina and enjoyed the view. Since not too much was going on in Sete, we decided to get a head start on our drive, and start towards Lyon, France.

We got to the outskirts of Paris, and Tim and Devin needed to do some more work so we dropped them off at the same hotel as before, and the rest of us headed into Paris. A group wanted to see the other museums, and afterwards we went back to get Tim and Devin.

We headed to the gym for the match with Plessis Robinson, and warmed up with some soccer, and a good game of Knock-Out. This team had a few guys that looked like they could hit the ball pretty well, but then again, all these Euro-teams appear that way. They've all come out swinging absolutely as hard as they can in warm-ups, but then in the games you'll find one guys every so often that really thumps the ball. Anyway, we ended up beating this team for the first legitimate victory for the A-Team. Fisher afterwards was trying to convince Tim that we were now 5-1, counting Bordeaux as a win, and all our inter-squad scrimmages as a win. But again, Tim wasn't buying it.

We hung out with the team for a bit, and then headed to good old McDonald's for dinner. Mike Kurz had been talking about eating 40 chicken nuggets for some time and before we knew it, we had a full blown contest on our hands; Mike Kurz (6'9", 260 lbs.), Donny Harris (about 6'7", 220-230 lbs.), and then Devin Poolman (6'4", 190-200 lbs.). 40 nuggets and a beer in the fastest time. The winner was Kurz with a time of 10 minutes, and then he went and got a Big Mac!!! Devin finished second only because Donny was unaware that he had to finish his beer and didn't do so until he was in the van.

We finally left France, and headed towards Switzerland where we had a few matches. We rolled into Gelterkinden, a relatively small town, but quite beautiful. We played in a nice facility with a bomb shelter, which we'd be staying in that night. We played 5 or 6 sets and beat them in all but 1, and then went to dinner with the team at a nice little restaurant. The meal was excellent, and then we sat and talked and drank for a while.

We decided we were going back to the gym/bomb shelter for some late night soccer. We made the teams Easties vs. Westies and after many goals, and numerous spills, the Westies prevailed. We were all pretty beat at this point, so it was back down to the bomb shelter for some shut-eye.

We left Gelterkinden and headed for Neuchatel, a beautiful city on a lake. We spent the day walking around the city and hanging out by the water, and that night we drove to our match with Val de Ruz, the team Devin played with last year. We notched another win against Val de Ruz, who was obviously missing Devin's presence. The crowd even broke into chants of "Dev-in, Dev-in" throughout the match.

Afterwards, the team treated us to dinner in Neuchatel. We got to meet some of the guys on the team, and Devin got to hang out with some old teammates. At the end of the meal, it was late so we decided to head back to the bomb shelter at Val de Ruz, and call it a night. The next day we were in Lausanne, and we knew we'd find some trouble to get into there.

7/1 We headed for Lausanne, but we left our stuff in the bomb shelter because we were staying in the same bomb shelter that night. When we got to Lausanne, we were on a mission to find a Laundromat. We found one and spent the day doing laundry. We headed to the gym, and played the Lausanne University Club, and managed to notch another win moving the A-Team's record to 7-1 according to D-Fish (or 5-3 according to Tim).

We had dinner, and after a few drinks at the restaurant, we headed down town. A few guys went into an expensive club ahead of a group that didn't really want to pay to get in. While we were sitting there weighing our options, Kurz and Popper (Jude Popp) went around back. Kurz then comes running around front telling us he found a way in. He managed to break some barb-wire with his hands, and we slipped in the back unnoticed.

This club was packed, and there were a ton of beautiful women there. We hung out there until after 4 am, I believe. One of the A-Teamers almost went home with a girl from the club, but he'd then of had to rely on her to get him back to Val de Ruz (about 1 hour away), and he didn't want to take that chance. So we all made the drive to Val de Ruz, and got in around 5:30 or so.

Our next match was back in Germany. We headed to the southern most city in Germany, Sonthoven. We rolled into town, and checked into a nice hotel. We made our way to the gym, and started play. Part way through the match, Tim found out that two teams (Sonthoven and another) were looking for an outside. At this point, Tim writes a note to Danny Pollock (the setter for that set), and told him to set Kosty and Kurz. The note passing continued throughout the match. At one point, Tim passed me a note telling me I should have tipped the last set I got. As we served, I tried to stuff the note in my pockets only find I didn't have any, so I stuffed it in my mouth just in time to get a touch on the block. Tim then passed me a note that said "Tisch; Warning! You have no pockets!"

Anyway, we dropped the first 2 sets, but pulled out another win for the A-Team. Afterwards there was a "mandatory team drink" at a pub on the way back to the hotel. Now I usually don't drink, (editor's note: Big Tisch and Chris Kosty were the designated tour drivers- sober every night and always there for the squad- many thanks to both of them for their unending service), but after some convincing I had a beer with the team. Then Serge ordered up Jagermeister shots, which I wasn't going to do, so Tim then calls my mother, who he has never spoken to before, to ask what she thinks. It was pretty funny and in the end, I ended up doing the shot with the team.

We went back to the restaurant and ate with the team. After the meal, a few of us sat around the table and they ordered a drink we would end up drinking all night; "Gleisse Moss." It's Beer, Cola, and Cherry Liqueur. As I said, I don't drink much, but this stuff is good! One time when they ordered it, it came in a huge glass boot. You pass it around, and when it gets to the bottom, if you don't drink it just right, it spills out all over you. Well, we finished it, but nobody took a Gleiss Moss bath. At this point, it was late, and I was feeling pretty happy, so we called it a night.

We left beloved Sonthoven, and headed for Innsbruck, Austria. Some of the scenery on the drive was absolutely incredible. Some of the most gorgeous mountains and lakes I've ever seen. At one point, we stopped and some guys jumped in an alpine lake to cool off. We got to Innsbruck, and had another inter-squad scrimmage with the club's coach.

Afterwards, we headed to the hotel we were staying at, grabbed dinner, and then hit the town. Some guys headed for the casino, but eventually we ended up in this huge beer garden that only goes on during the weekend. It was packed, and chock-full of women, many of whom were American exchange students that had just arrived. So some guys just hung out, and some met up with some ladies. All in all it was a great time, and one group left around 3:30 or 4:00 am. Another group left much later.

We headed back to Germany for our last match of the tour. We drove to Munich, with the intent of playing some ball, and then heading to the HaufBrauHaus for some of their world famous liter beers. Well, we played the team from Munich, and beat them in 4 sets.

We then went out to dinner with them, and talked volleyball at the restaurant. By the time we were finished, it was around mid-night and seeing as how it was a Sunday, the HaufBrauHaus was closed So we hung out at the restaurant some more, and then decided to hop in the vans, and drive through the night back to Munster and Tim's place.

After a little dispute about who was riding in what van and such, we hit the road, with a 6 hour drive ahead. The drive, like all the others, was a good time. Playing cards, and talking it up makes the time go by quickly. We rolled into Munster at about 6:30 am.

Most of us slept in until about 2:00 after the long drive. When we got up, we watched Jerry Maguire (one of only two videos that Tim had at his place at the time) for about the 3rd or 4th time, because it's either that or German TV, and it is a pretty good flick.

We pretty much lounged around for the day, and got ready for one last night out. We went to a Bar/Restaurant that Caroline works at called the Kulisse. We got dinner and started drinking afterwards. We played some drinking games, hung out one last night, and just had a good time. We then called it a night because a bunch of us were going to Amsterdam early in the morning to catch flights or spend our last days there.

We got up at 6:00 am. My flight was at 11:30, Serge and Danny had a flight later that afternoon, and Devin, Dan Fisher, Kurz, Popper, and Damian were going to hang out in Amsterdam until their flights left the next day.

So we drove to Amsterdam, said our good-byes, and Serge, Danny and I went into the airport. After we checked our bags in, I said good-bye to Danny and Serge, and headed for my gate.

While I was excited about going home, about seeing my family and friends, I would have gladly continued traveling on this tour. I would definitely do it again, and I hope to in the summers to come. I had a great time, and I can't think of a better way to see some of Europe.

Thanks Tim, and thanks A-Team.