Italy Day 6 - Beach Day!!

 We had some time to spend before Megan would compete for gold in forms.  Why not spend it in the Mediterranean??

 Breath Taking!!

Look at the mountains in the background.

 No one was going to keep me out of the sea!  It was warmer than the pool at the hotel.

Sid keeping up her training!

 The density of the sea is incredible.  I just floated there for about 20 minutes.  I would drift in with the waves then kick back out.  It was the most amazing part of my trip.

Back at the resort to watch Megan compete and Sid spotted some butterflies.  She spent a lot of time trying to catch them. No luck though.

 Megan competes in the finals.

Amazing job and she earns a bronze for Canada!!

So proud of you Megan, you have worked so hard!

Then back to the room for a quick change into a bathing suit and back in the water.  Sid liked to get dressed in the closet so we didn't have to close the doors to the balcony LOL.

Italy Day 5!

9:00 a.m. continuous fight.  Winner!  Going to the Gold medal round on Saturday.  YAY!!  After the fight we quickly went back to the room, got changed and made it onto a shuttle back to Taranto to sight see and do a bit of shopping.

 This is where the bus dropped us off, it is Taranto city hall

 A view of the Mediterranean.  So blue!

 The girls ready to head for the shops.

 A street artist doing his thing to make a few bucks.  At least he was putting in some effort.

 The shops were filled with amazing things.  So much to see.  Then we found this amazing store - STAGE

 I love these shoes but at 99.00 euro, they needed to stay in Italy.  Oh but the purses!!!

I fell in love with this one.

This one matched Sid's fighting gloves!!!

 Suckers.... we bought the purses we had to have them and we were so happy with the decision.

 Very Happy Shoppers

Sid was so living in the Italian moment.  She was tres chic!

Lots of puppies playing on the Piazza.  So cool that you can bring your dog to work.

Megan got herself a soccer ball.

Sid totally rocks her new leather boots and shorty gloves

Right at home!

 Time for some Gelato!

 

Really old buildings but still very inhabited.

Back at the resort we unpacked our pizza lunch we picked up in Taranto.  Delicious!

Playing around at the venue with Dave and Marin

Karate tag!

Gotcha!



Photo Bomb for Pierre

Lizard friends



The end of the day and time to save a few more snail friends!  Tomorrow will be beach day and finals for Megan in Forms.  Can't wait!

Italy Day 4 - Point Fighting Day!

 

 

Eat!  Eat! Eat!  You've got a fight at 9:00a.m. 

 First event: under 25kg point fighting.  Sid was the second fight against N. Ireland.  A victory would mean moving on to the final for Gold.

 She was nervous but once the fight started she found her groove, kicks, backfists, and moving around she got her points in.

 Although out sized again, she was at least in the her own weight class and .....

 A victory!!!

 

You can watch the point fight here

The victory meant she was to go on to fight another N.Ireland girl in the finals and that would take place on Saturday.


Next was Megan's fight against Megan from England.  What a fight, went to overtime due to a tie and then our Megan won with the two point margin. 

Beth and Megan watch the next fight to see who Megan will be fighting in the finals.

Then it was back to the room for some R&R  what a day!  The housekeeping ladies were having so much fun with Sid's toys and jammies, everyday we would find them set up differently.  It was so fun going to see what they had done!

After a relaxing afternoon we planned an early night, 9:00 a.m was continuous fight for Sid to see if she could make it to the finals.  See you tomorrow!

 

Italy Day 3

Day 3 Breakfast of Champions.  Today is Tuesday and time to eat and take part in the opening ceremonies.

Can-A-Da, Can-A-Da, Can-A-Da!

Getting ready to march down to the tourney venue.  There are a lot of team members!

There they are, our three EFKC members.  Woooot!

Marching, celebrating and a few speeches later and it is time for a wee rest.  Wanda, on Sid's pillow, has the same idea. 

There are tons of Snail Friends around the resort.  The weather is quite humid so the snail stick to outside walls and walkways.  Sid became a snail rescuer.

Day 3 afternoon was elimination round for forms.  Megan qualified in 2nd place to move on to the finals.

 

Unfortunately David was eliminated but check out the moves of the first place guy in his division!

Then it was time to hit the big town of Taranto.  We took the 30 minute shuttle and went exploring!

This is what I have dubbed "Near Death bridge!"  Yes, there is a story behind that...

Banco National - sealed up tight and even has some broken windows on the second floor.  Evidence of economic struggle is lurking behind the greenery and clean piazza.

Super yummy Gelato for the buying.

Ohhhh a Nikon store!  I was a good girl and kept my distance.  I was so tempted to see what "the" lens would cost in Italy but Beth helped keep me on a short leash.

Gelato on a sidewalk so we could watch all the drivers yelling at each other and cutting each other off.  Driving in Italy is a full contact sport.

A very cute music store where we stopping in and bought Daddy some guitar picks.

And behold!  A toy store.  The Valhalla for Sid!

After many blocks and lots of searching for food, we came across this most amazing pizza place.  Two slices and two fresh cookies for $3.60 (euro)

Best PIZZA ever says Sid!

As it got dark, many more people came out and strolled along the piazza.  It was awesome people watching, too bad we had to rush to get back to the shuttle

Dogs come to work with the owners.  Dogs were everywhere.  The woman above stepped out of her shop with her dog and look at those heels!!!

Across the water is Il Castello Aragonese

Us!

The "Near Death Bridge" at night

Back up to the castle to wait for the shuttle.  We did a quick tour but had just a touch of time left.

Back to the resort just in time for bed. Fighting first thing in the morning!