One day to go

It's raining this morning. My alarm has about 15' until it goes off, and with the weather as it is there's no real sense in going out to paddle around in the cold and damp. It's a good sign to be this awake this early, especially with jet lag still telling my body it's ??? O'clock (I'd rather not know exactly and let myself adjust psychologically without any reminders of a different time zone) and yesterday's all-day rigging session.

Last night Shane, his girlfriend and my good friend Riverside coxswain Katie, we three escaped dinner with the team to find our own Italian restaurant... There's just something about eating Chinese food in Torino we weren't really feeling. Our head coach was well-aware of what he was doing taking the high school guys there... After some had moaned about eating yet ANOTHER meal at the delicious local pizza and pasta place... Ok, Chinese it is!

I can't wait to hear the stories, but our meal was just great. We crossed the bridge into a more central part of town and wandered until we found somewhere well-lit, unpretentious, poorly signaged from the street, and with old people inside. Would older Italians have any patience for bad Italian food? No. Good signs. Also look for- handwritten photocopied menus, limited menus, and a crowded dining room at about 9:30. Check, check, check. Shane and I had seafood linguini while Katie had salmon risotto. The gelateria on the walk home provided me with a fix of cioccolata calda, my first in years and years... And WHAM time warp to fall 2005 my semester of language study in Rome when I used to get the best hot chocolate around at a bookstore within walking distance of the Dartmouth Italian building near Trastevere, in Rome. Italian hot chocolate, for the uninitiated, is a steaming sludge of what appears to be melted chocolate, sugar, and milk, mahogany in color and syrup in consistency. Balancing the hot with the cold, we also snacked on nocciola (hazelnut) and stracciattella (chocolate chips w vanilla) gelati on the walk home.

Looking forward to today, as it doesn't really matter if I row or not, as far as race preparation goes. Best wishes and best speed to all my friends racing Fall Speed Orders in the States, (Not Slow Orders) and I look forward to seeing some good results from them! Good morning from Italia, In Boca Al Lupo Tutti!