Throughout the men’s basketball program’s tour of Italy, GoStanford.com chronicles the experience with several posts during their 17-day journey to Washington, D.C., Rome, Florence, Pesaro, Venice, Verona, and Lake Como.
The experience was one that this Stanford team will cherish forever. The past 17 days flew by and now the Cardinal is on its way back in the United States, expected to arrive in San Francisco late Friday evening.
The last four days of the journey saw Stanford play exhibitions in Mantova and Verona, while enjoying some sightseeing in Verona, Lake Como and Bellagio.
The Cardinal played a series of scrimmages with the Mantova Stings on Tuesday night in Mantova, before playing an exhibition contest against Tezenis Verona Wednesday night in Verona to close the basketball portion of its tour of Italy.
Prior to Wednesday’s contest, the travel party got a chance to explore the city of Verona, including the
Arena di Verona, a Roman amphitheater in Piazza Bra built in first century. A traditional Italian lunch downtown served as pre-game meal for the Cardinal’s final exhibition that evening.
Following the game, the team headed about two hours on the bus over to Lake Como.
The Cardinal spent all day Thursday touring Lake Como on a boat, viewing the different towns from the water and stopping in Bellagio for a couple hours to explore.
Thursday evening, the entire travel party gathered for a farewell dinner, which consisted of an Italian feast. From different types of pizza, to pasta, grilled vegetables and different kinds of grilled meats it didn’t leave anyone hungry. Coach Dawkins thanked each of the organizers of the tour and the staff who worked to make this an incredible experience for everyone involved. He handed out gifts to the various hosts throughout the Cardinal’s journey across Italy. With dinner concluded, it was back to the hotel for some much-needed rest before the two flights back home to the Bay Area on Friday.
An early wake-up call had everyone on the bus around 7:30 a.m. Friday, where the Cardinal headed to the international airport in Milan. Around 11 a.m. in Italy, it was wheels up back to the United States.
GoStanford.com will continue to recap the trip in the coming days with each team member’s favorite experiences.
