Woke up to an early breakfast with cereal, eggs, potatoes, bread, fruit, of course meats and cheeses and the leftover cheese and broccoli from last night. Tried a number of things before but never had cheese and broccoli for breakfast before. Kept my streak alive because I didn't think it looked too good.
Right after breakfast we headed to our morning shoot around. I don't think it could have been any worse. Flat, no energy, just horrible. We didn't have a good feeling after that one.
We headed home and had a short time to relax before our video session. We watched some of our stuff and then some of what Czech did to us last night. After that session I sat with 2 players and reviewed their clips from last night. We then headed to lunch.
Lunch was pasta, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, fish, a veggie type soup (not so good) and some pork stuffed with scrambled eggs and peppers. Can't say it looked intriguing at first but with the little bit of sauce it had it was actually not bad.
After lunch I had 2 more film sessions with the girls until about 2pm. Once I finished those I went with Shawnee on a walk down the street from our hotel. All kinds of neat little shops and at the end was a pedestrian only street lined with little booths. All kinds of unique things and different foods. The smells were awesome. We roamed around for a little while and I bough a few things. It started to rain just before I had to head back. It was neat to see all the different people and the different parts of Czech culture on the street this afternoon.
On the way I stopped to watch the police tow a car. Not like in Canada. Here the truck operator rotated a device over the car and put 4 straps around the wheels. He then proceeded to lift the car off the ground, spin it around and drop it on his flatbed. Quite impressive.
I got home around 3:30 with a departure time set for 4:30. Time for a nice hot shower except the cleaning ladies haven't been in here in 2 days so we have no clean towels. I went down to the front desk and was nice as I could be when I explained our predicament. The cleaning staff had gone home for the day so there was no access to the towels. Eventually they showed up with 2 hand towels. That was an adventure in itself after I finished the shower.
Dressed in time to hit the bus for 4:30 and off to the game. We got to the gym and learned that it was on National TV and there would be some presentations which was neat. We get to game time and we started the first few minutes OK then got a bit sloppy. We fought back after a bad first quarter but were still down at half. We were down as much as 17 at one point. We talked at half about our toughness and how we want to play and we came out playing harder in the 2nd half. Eventually we took the lead and then made a big 3 point shot with 4 seconds left to seal the victory for us. A nice way to end day 2 on the court. The girls showed lots of good signs but we still have a long way to go.
We hopped on the bus and headed for the hotel and our dinner. Pork Tenderloin and mashed potatoes. YUMMY. We had a quick dinner and then everybody scrambled. The bus driver told us that he would drive the team down to the main square in the city with a huge castle. It was a nice drive and the bus driver pointed out some sights along the way, When he dropped us off in the square I was in awe. Absolutely beautiful. Huge Castle, Wonderful architecture. Cobblestone streets, little cafe's and restaurants. Just an awesome environment. We walked around for about an hour exploring and then we went to a little restaurant to sit and relax. There were 7 of us there. A few had wine, the others had beer and I had fresh made cherry juice. YUMMY. Throw in an order of traditional Czech Cheese Dumplings and we could call it a night. We headed home to the hotel and now it is time to pack for our next phase. Tomorrow we fly to Munich, Germany and then on to Belgrade. Having been to Serbia with the university games team a number of years ago I am intrigued to go back and see what I remember and experience the country once again. Oh yeah, the basketball is fun too.
So what can I say about Prague. The people are very friendly. the basketball was good, the food was great and the city is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. So happy I made this journey to see another part of the world. It has been a great first phase and now the second one begins. I must head off to pack my bags. An early breakfast and departure to the airport await.
Until Serbia........
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