Late Milan Game Action

I know this is a week late but I thought you might want to see a couple of pictures from our Milan game courtesy of the Milan Rhinos' website.

Catania WR Matt Epperson, #7 in white, "punishing" a DB.

The Pride of Willamette Valley, Catania's Brandon Bennett,

white #54, "sprinting" to Matt's aide 

Catania QB, #11, Jason Johnson had a great opening game

A big thanks to Christie Johnson who served as the Elefanti's emergency camera woman in Milano and did a great job video taping the action!

Also a shout out to Jason Johnson who edited Christie's video into the highlight tape below complete with Gregorian Chant musical accompaniment.

The Fiat 500 and the Italian Driving Experience

The sexy, new Fiat 500 overlooking Italy's Amalfi Coast

The not so sexy, old George overlooking Italy's original Fiat 500

Special thanks go out to David Lassen for sending me a New York Times article on the new 2008 version of the Italian car classic Fiat 500. Fiat has started to produce the 500 after a 33 year absence from the marketplace. The article explains a lot about how Italian driving techniques evolved which, from what I have seen, are uniquely different from any other country in the known universe!

If I can scrape together the $16,000 asking price , who knows, I may be the owner of one, Mt. Etna molten lava red of course. On the negative side, this purchase may require me to buy large quantities of extra virgin olive oil to get in and out of my new chariot!

To read the full article, click HERE.

IFL Week #2 Results

Catania Elephants'  RB Enrico Lombardo, in white,

toting the pigskin vs. the Milan Rhinos

Game Results of IFL Week #2

Palermo Corsari 30 - Palermo Sharks 21

Parma 28 - Ancona 6

BYES: Bergamo, Bologna, Bolzano, Catania and Milan

IFL Standings

1-0   Catania

1-0   Bergamo

1-0   Bologna

1-1    Palermo Corsari

1-1    Parma

0-0  Bolzano

0-1   Ancona

0-1   Milan

0-1   Palermo Sharks

NOTE: The top four teams at the end of the season make the playoffs

IFL Games Week #3

Saturday, April 12, Parma (1-1) at Bolzano (0-0)

Saturday, April 12, Palermo Sharks (0-1) at Bologna (1-0)

Sunday, April 13, Catania (1-0) at Bergamo (1-0)

Sunday, April 13, Palermo Corsari (1-1) at Ancona (0-1)

BYE: Milan (0-1) 

The Internet

Malibu's Newly Established Internet Cafe'

Life is now REALLY Good in Malibu

After 95 days, the internet has finally arrived in Malibu!!!

Yes, Saturday, April 5, 2008, will go down as one of the most significant moments in Sicilian history. Imagine the joy in my heart when Gustavo broke the news to me at the airport! I think I she a small tear.

Sadly, the beautiful and friendly Baia Verde Hotel will probably have to layoff some workers and there is a concern that they may go bankrupt now that we are no longer frequenting their internet services at 3 euros per hour.

Also in jeopardy are the gas stations in the area as we do not have to make late night runs to Davide's office to use his internet connection.

The Bergamo game is next week and they are for real! We had a solid practice today but have a lot of work to do in a short time to be ready for the game with the Lions.

The Flight Home to Catania

The real reason that the Wright brothers invented the airplane was that so 100+ years later the four most beautiful girls in Germany could work together as stewardesses on an Air Berlin flight from Vienna to Rome…QUADRUPLE WOW! Dr. Mengele would have been very proud!

Since leaving Los Angeles on January 2^nd, I have flown on British Air, Air Malta, Wind Jet, Meridiana, Easy Jet and now Air Berlin. . . Germany's new Luftwaffe! Besides the great ladies who work for Air Berlin, I also like the fact that they served us food and drinks at no extra cost. Since getting off of British Air in London three months ago that is the first time that this has happened.

Speaking of British Air, they have been THE story in Europe the last two days. To recap an earlier blog, our friend Susan D’Antuono at a UCLA football game last fall warned me strongly about how British Air has a nasty reputation for losing luggage in London’s Heathrow Airport. I checked the internet, and sure enough they had indeed been losing luggage at an alarming rate for about three years.

British Air freely admitted their failings and their long-range solution was to build a brand new terminal (#5) at Heathrow for British Air only with the most cutting age technology in airport baggage handling. The terminal opened for business on Tuesday which WAS April Fool’s Day. In the first two days of operation it is estimated that they have lost between 30,000 and 50,000 pieces of luggage, so much for their long-range solution.

Even better, because all this lost luggage is now classified as “unclaimed” it has to undergo a painstaking inspection before being allowed back on a plane. What was British Air’s answer? Ship it all as they find it to Milan, Italy by ground only carriers thus bypassing the inspection. Then further land-based carriers will be in charge of getting your bags to you at some point of your European adventure. Bottom line, obviously, when you fly to visit us in Sicily, avoid British Air like the plague unless you have carry-on only. I’m not making this stuff up.

Warning sign in British Air's new Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 baggage handling area

Susan D'Antuono, last summer, after 3 weeks in Europe with no luggage due to British Air's crackerjack baggage handling system.

In both Prague and Vienna I found people and their lives to be low key and orderly, everything worked very smoothly overall. Then I got into the Wind Jet line at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport Terminal AA to get my boarding pass. Instantly a woman is yelling at the man running the ticket counter. Another man farther back in line, who I don’t think knew the lady, took her side. He joined in and yelled at the Wind Jet employee and used the appropriate Italian hand gestures for proper emphasis.

The trip from Rome to Catania is about a 1 hour and 10 minute flight. It, of course, departed Rome 3 hours and 30 minutes late.

It’s good to be home.

Final Viennese Thoughts

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MICHAEL CONTRERAS!!!

TRAVEL BY TRAIN: The four hour train trip from Prague to Vienna, only the second train I’ve ever ridden, was very relaxing and took me through some very beautiful Czech and Austrian country side villages. It was much less of a stressful than flying and with the lead time needed to check-in at an airport, probably just as fast. The cost of the train trip was only $30!

VIENNA: Once I arrived in Vienna, I proceeded to get lost, in part due to poor preparation on my part and in part due to the German language which I do not understand at all!

After drifting and not rowing for about 30 minutes, I finally found my quaint hotel, the Pension Hargita. I got a very pleasant and basic room with breakfast cooked and served in the Hargita family kitchen. All was good until I got into the shower in the morning. Not only was there no hot water, the cold water that did come out was THE coldest water I’ve ever bathed in! When I went down to breakfast I asked old Grand Ma Hargita about the problem and her simple answer was “Kaput!” Her answer struck me as so funny that I couldn’t get mad.

If Prague was all about intimacy and romance, then Vienna counters with chocolate and pastries! I could do nothing in Prague but I am kicking ass and taking names later in Vienna! This is because the weather here was alternately cold, breezy and drizzling. What else could I do but go indoors into cafes or pastry shops to stay warm and dry? The best two were easily the Sacher Café behind the Opera building, try their rich but dry Sachertorte. Why dry? Because the richness of their whipped cream brings the chocolate back to robust life! My other favorite was Demel where they boast with pride that their desserts are “K. u. K.”, i.e., good enough for the Konig und Kaiser (the king and emperor who were really the same person).

Well actually I did have two other choices, churches and museums. Of course I took full advantage of both. Vienna is a large, sprawling city with an old core filled with the opulence of the Hapsburg Dynasty that ruled for over 600 years until the end of World War I.

The museums here are home to the some of the most opulent pieces of art, jewelry, statues and architecture you could ever see! Vienna’s poor weather took me to take in the Kaisergruft (housing the crypt of 150 Hapsburg rulers and family members). Next it was the Hofburg Palace (the winter home of the Hapsburgs) including the Imperial Apartments, the Treasury, the Palace Garden and the morning workout of the Lipizzaner Stallions at the Spanish Riding School (just for you Laurie).

Actually, my first anal moment of the day was waking up early enough to get to the Schonbrunn Palace, the Hapsburg’s Summer Palace, to buy the day’s first ticket! The payoff was that I didn’t see another museum visitor until I ran into a small Asian tour of about 10 people in room 36 of the 40 rooms the Grand Tour ticket allowed me to visit. Visit Europe in the spring! The Schonbrunn is huge with 1,441 rooms! Today almost 300 civil servants rent many of the remaining rooms

My final stop was to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. I’ve been to major museums in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Rome and Athens but this one might be my favorite. The ornate building itself is about half of the fun. Although every major European artist from the last 1,000 were on display, I came away with two favorite, both from the 1500’s, Pieter Bruegel and Giuseppe Arcimboldo. If you don’t know their work, Google their names, you may enjoy them too.

The only drawback of all this museum visiting was that pictures were strictly VERBOTEN in many exhibits while only non-flash pictures were allowed in others with the usual varying degrees of results. It did force me to buy some small books and postcards to help me recall the better exhibits I saw.

To conclude this great BYE week road trip, I enjoyed visiting two cities, Prague and Vienna, which were much different than the cities I’ve visited in Italy. Mentally it was a good break from the 11 weeks of football practice in Catania. Physically I am little tired from all the walking. Thank God for the Vienna Undergound system which saved me even more miles of strolling!

Now it’s time to go back to Catania to prepare for the VERY difficult task of playing the 2008 IFL favorites and defending 2007 Italian Champion Bergamo Lions in their stadium in one week. They defeated the Parma Panthers last Saturday in a rematch of last year’s Championship game and had a BYE this week as well.

The Schonbrunn Palace, Summer Home of the Hapsburg Dynasty

It is said that this is the only European palace that can rival Versailles.

A porcelain heater in the Schonbrunn Palace

The deal is that the royal family did not want to be bothered by either servants stoking the fire or the smoke from the fire so the walls have space inside big enough to allow servants to take of the fire and never enter or be seen by anyone. 

The Kunsthistorisches Museum

The only thing that rivals the artwork in this museum is the building itself!

Just in case you were wondering what the well dressed Emperor was wearing about 100 years ago.

See what I mean?

RANDOM THOUGHT: After seeing all this art the last two days, I started to wonder. Much of he art I’ve seen is chock full of symbolism.

Now I know that in the statues of famous soldiers on horseback the symbolic rule is that if the horse has all four legs on the ground then the rider died of something other than battle wounds. If the horse has one leg in the air then the rider died due to battle wounds. Finally, if the horse has two legs in he air then the rider died on the battle field.

With this in mind, I started to wonder what symbolism 16^th century painters used in deciding how their female subjects would be dressed? What did having only a single breast exposed mean? Did showing the right breast mean one thing and the left one something entirely different? What does it mean if BOTH breasts are showing? What if she was painted completely naked? What if she was fully clothed? What does it all mean? I’ve seen so much art in Vienna that my head is spinning over these delicate but extremely important issues. Inquiring minds want to know! Can one of you answer these burning questions?

You have to have a mantel to match your jewels don't you?

And every Emperor needs a basic portable wash basin to cleanse his hands from time to time.

You have to show some style when you die too.

Vienna's Statues

The Austrians loved to beat things to death with huge clubs apparently!

The Monument Against War and Facism

A very moving place, this is a symbolic Jew on his knees scrubbing off anti-Nazi graffiti with a toothbrush., something that really happened early on to humiliate Jews. The space between the two slabs of stone represent the entry to a concentration camp. VERY SOBERING!

Is that a land shark he's trying to spear?

Was Abner Doubleday Austrian?

Me and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart hanging out at the Palace Garden.

Looks like Austrian football fans are jumping on the Elephant bandwagon!

The Monument to the Plague

The little fellow has a mean look on his face as he sends the old naked woman, symbolizing the plague into the abyss.

Where the Hell is my club?

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Of the churches I saw, and there were many, St. Stephen’s Cathedral was by far the best. The original roof was made of wood and though not hit directly, it did light on fire during World war II when Allied bombs ignited nearby buildings.

After the War, the citizens of Vienna raised money for a new roof for their Cathedral but this time it would be made of ceramic tiles that would make very pleasing designs for people to enjoy.

Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral

The post World War II ceramic tiled roof added after the original wooden one burned in an Allied bombing raid.

The Baptistry

Very awesomely carved pulpit

This modern building on the left caused a furor when it first opened but I like the way it catches the reflection of the Cathedral

Great Things to Eat and See in Vienna

Pastries at Demel

Sacher Cafe Sachertorte

Met this little girl and her Mom on the way to the Museums this morning at the Underground Station.

Vienna's Entries in the Ad-of-the-Day Contest

Possible Winner!

This could take top honors too!

But I picked "The Producers"?

I found this ad VERY funny. That a musical whose signature song is "Spring Time for Hitler" would be doing a production in German in Austria where Hitler was born just strikes me as odd.

This One's for Laurie

I went to this morning's VERY silent workout at The Spanish Riding School here in Vienna to honor my wife Laurie's passion for horses.

This SHOULD equal at least three less weeks in Purgatory for me someday!

Prague Castle Entertainment

This trio was performing some real toe tapping Czech favorites today just outside the main entrance to the Prague Castle.

Did they maybe need more cowbell?

Prague Museums

I have become a fan of Rick Steves, the European travel expert out of Seattle. If he ever writes a guidebook on how to go to Heaven buy it and follow his suggestions WORD FOR WORD! Thank you Jason for agreeing to carve up his books by cities so we both had only the parts we needed just as Rick suggested.

Today I decided to revisit the St. Vitus Cathedral and then take Rick's advice and visit two of Pragues more interesting museums in the afternoon.

Part of why I revisited the Cathedral was that Rick said that if I liked Czech artist Alfons Mucha's 1931 Art Nouveau stained glass window, I would love his museum.

Alfons Mucha's Stained Glass Window in St. Vitus Cathedral

Well I loved it! The theme is the Czech people's nationalism with local Saints Methodius and Cyril at the top and young St. Wenceslas and his grandmother St. Ludmila the middle.

From the Cathedral it was a nice lazy walk to

The Mucha Museum

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed but I broke down and bought a book of his work. He is easily my favorite Czech artist of all time!

Then there was the nearby Museum of Communism

41 years of Soviet domination are chronicled here. Very grim but also a tribute to the human spirit. In their video presentation there was great footage taken by Soviet under cover cops at demonstrations to help identify demonstrators who usually wound up being beaten on tape in the streets.

For homework tonight, Google Jan Palach. His story of commitment was a source of inspiration to the Czech people during these dark times.

Lenin's statue was once very prominent in Prague

NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE!

The Communists loved to use sport as a form of proof of the superiority of their way of life as these vintage posters attest.

Homework assignment #2: What Czech athlete won three gold medals in the 1952 Olympics and in which events? For extra credit name this athlete's wife, also a Czech, and in what event she also won a Gold Medal in that same Olympiad.

Rick Steves did NOT recommend this museum so I DIDN'T go in!

Of Gargoyles and Heraldry

I've always liked gargoyles, those medieval rain gutter spouts that are so common here in Prague. Your choices were crazy looking humans (probably special teams players) or equally crazed animals. Tough choice but I'll take the humans ones.

Suicide human dive bomber?

You can't go wrong with a dragon gargoyle motif!

A more modern twist to gargoyles on the Czech Republic's Parliament Building

Why don't we start doing these in America? Not as cumbersome as the old stone ones but still effective and a good conversation piece. Can someone call the Home Depot for me in Camarillo?

Heraldry has always fascinated me. Maybe it was all those very cool 1950's movies about knights, the Crusades or Prince Valiant. I love the color and boldness of the symbols. What would yours look like and why did you pick the symbols you did?

Found at Police Headquarters near he Old Town Square

No they didn't ask me for my papers.

On a building in the Old Town Square

On the sleeve of an on-duty guard at the Prague Palace

In St. Vitus Cathedral

On a building just outside the entry gates to the Prague Castle