The shuttle bus to the terminal led us to the passport control and baggage area. Both of them went relatively quick. The airport seemed to be relatively new though not fancy at all. It took probably a half hour to rent our car from EuroCar. No one seemed in very much of a hurry.

Once all the paper work was done, a new adventure in driving was ready to begin. Almost immediately upon entering the highway, we hit a toll booth where we gave them about $.75. About 2 miles later we came to another tool area. We pulled up and there was nobody there. We kept waiting but nothing happened. Finally after being honked at a couple of times we went on laughing about not paying.

The Autostrada circled around the perimeter of Milan. Milan looked very much like many other western urban cities. There was a definite predominance of red tiled roofs over light brown brick walls with plaster.. This became more apparent as we got out of the city into the country side.

Our agenda called for us to drive about 4 hours from Milan to Bologna. There, we were to play with the local team that night. In the meantime, my travel mate, who was also an architect, and I enjoyed seeing the buildings and country side. It was very flat, that long valley from the Alps hundreds of miles South. Mostly farm land with a few small cities.

After a couple of hours we were coming to Parma. We decided to stop for lunch. When exiting the Autostrada, we were confronted with a guard at the exit toll gate. He didn't speak English and we didn't speak Italian. As it turned out, that toll booth we stooped at near the airport we were to push a button to give us a ticket. Since we didn't have the ticket, he had to charge us the maximum which was about $65. That was the most expensive toll I ever paid.

Parma seemed like a Midwest farm town. There was a small downtown area where we had a sandwich in the cafe. A very salty ham sandwich. Then it was back to the highway.

We tried to follow our map to our hotel and had our first experience of getting lost. Maps and street signage in Italy is somewhat lacking compared to US standards. After getting lost and driving in circles and going the wrong way on one way streets, we ended up on a 2 lane country road headed into the hills away from town. After driving about 2 miles looking for a place to turn around, we came across out hotel. What a surprise.

The Park Hotel is a relatively new hotel of about 5 stories with a couple of restaurants, and a large pool. We checked into our hotel room. It was pretty small. 2 standard size beds in contact with each other just barley allowed enough room to stand up on the sides. It had a small closet and a view of the rolling hills and train tracks behind. The bathroom was very nice and I began to appreciate Italian bathrooms. They all had nice fixtures, much more contemporary and fancy than US facilities usually have.

After a trip to town to get water and supplies, I spent about a half hour looking out my window watching 2 beautiful Italian girls decorating the pool area for a party. Then it was time to depart for the evening game. We found the stadium fairly easily by following the "Stadia" signs. Every city has signs that clearly lead you to the "Centro" and "Stadia" areas.

Almost all major cities in Italy have a baseball team. Bologna was no exception, it was a nice stadium 10-15 years old with several other sports fields adjacent to the ballpark. It was much like a lot of minor league parks with a capacity of around 4-6000 people.

As it turned out, this was the night the "A" team was to play the "B" team. We were allowed to join with the "B" team and take on the professionals. Like other countries we have played in, baseball became a medium for communication. After stretching, I strolled over to the bull pen area where our Italian teammates were. Most were about 18-22 and I motioned to one of the catchers. I warmed up with him with an audience of several other young players. None of them spoke English but they understood a sharp breaking slider, a curve ball and the sound of a fast ball hitting the pocket of the glove.

The kids started the game and about the 4th inning, they began working us into the lineup. By now, it was about 10-0. The "A" team we were playing was pretty good being professional athletes. The Italian league is equivalent to about A or AA baseball in the US. I pitched 3 innings to them and they hit the ball pretty hard. I did manage to strike out a couple. The game went on under the lights for 9 innings. I think our team scored only a couple of runs but we had fun and got a taste of Italian baseball.

Umpiring the game was an American, Rocky ???. Rocky played for the Mets AAA team under Clint Hurdle. I knew Clint from a couple of Dream Week camps so it was like a friend from home for him. Both he and his wife were glad to see and hear Americans speak American.

Rocky was fun and filled us in on a lot of the local baseball activities. Italian teams have a few different rules than American baseball. Each team is allowed to have 2 Americans and 2 Cubans. This one also had a Chinese player.  You could only use an American pitcher if the other team was using one. If one team took out their American pitcher, the other had to do the same.  This adds a different aspect to the strategy of the game.  Rocky told us his job was pretty easy. He gets paid about $40,000 a year tax free, gets a car, a room and his meals paid for. They play once a week and practice every day. It is optional if he wants to practice or not. Sounded pretty good to me. There are apparently a lot of former American minor league and a few ex-major leaguers player in the "Spaghetti League".

Rocky told us of a restaurant to try so he, his wife and our the team went to dinner at a local restaurant near the Central Area. Delicious pizza, calzone and salads. We ended up eating at this place 3-4 times during the week. We were quite a spectacle walking around in our USA uniforms.

San Marino, or Mt. Titano as it is refereed to, consists of three very steep mountains with an old medieval type city winding up to the top of the tallest mountain. It was a pleasant day visiting the various shops, seeing the old fort/city and the surrounding countryside. Afterwards, we drove about 3-5 miles to Remini, where we spent some time on the beach, admiring the multicolored umbrellas and cabanas of the Adriatic Riviera. From there we walked to the commercial strip where we had a light lunch and a tour of the beach community and its many attractively designed small hotels. After that, it was off to the city Centro where we spend about an hour admiring the old Roman ruins and the local female population.

We were to play the Remini team that night. After finally finding the stadium, we arrived to find they were practicing for a tournament beginning the next day and didn't want to play. Like many in Italy, the stadium was very nice. A tall concrete stadium that would hold 5-10 thousand people. We watched them practice for a while, spotting the token 2 American players, one used to play in the bigs for the Reds. I strolled to the bullpen where there was a Cuban coach working with one of the Italian pitchers. Neither of them spoke English, the Italian did not speak spanish and the coach did not speak Italian,  but we both spoke baseball. I began reacting to various pitches and making various jesters to the coach. After a while each time he would try to say something to the pitcher, he would look to me for approval or other input. This went on for about 15 min. until we finally departed for Bologna.

We had dinner that night at a small restaurant outside of Bologna.  We then went a couple of miles towards our hotel on the 2 lane road.  Almost immediately, we noticed there were cars parked on both side of the road a mile from the hotel.  We figured someone must be having a big party.  Turns out they were and it was at our hotel.  The place was packed, they parked us on the lawn in front of the hotel, almost in the dining room. We went to check out the party and found out it was the first night of the disco season and there was free admission so all of central Italy was on hand.  There were several areas for music.  There was an area with jazz, a large disco dance pit and another dance area by the pool.  These were all outdoors and a rock and roll club under the pool indoors.  What a party, thousands of people with hundreds of beautiful and exotic women.  Boy did I fall in love.  Drinks were 10,000 lira, about 6-7 dollars for a beer.  I liked the Techno Rock and modern disco music and had a great time shaking my butt in the midst of crowd. Being dressed in shorts and tennis shoes and being much older than most, we stuck out like a sore thumb but we had a great time anyway.  We did find a few Italian girls who spoke english to talk with. I also saw the 2 girls who were fixing the pool area for a party the day before, they were dancers on the disco DJ stage.  It was a warm night so there were helicopters flying over occasionally to cool things down.  The party went on until 4 am.

After about a couple of hours driving the Autostrada through the mountains, we made it to the city. We gassed up for the first time, at about $90/tank I was glad we had a reasonably economical car to drive. As usual, we got lost following the signs to the center of town, they disappear after a while. After a few blocks of driving around the block, we finally found a parking place near the university.

Plenty of art and architecture to admire in Florence. Il Duomo is the famous church in downtown. The bridge over the river, and of course the statue of David. David was closed that day because of the scare of the bomb earlier that morning. We cruised the outdoor flee mart, various downtown shops and had lunch in a street cafe while we again admired the local female population. This became a continuous pastime in every place we went.

By late afternoon it was time to find the stadium and get ready for the night game against the locals. It was less than 2 miles from where we parked but took over an hour of frustrating driving in circles trying to follow the map to the stadium.

Once there, we saw a large park with 2 stadiums, one for soccer and the other for baseball. Both seemed relatively new and were relatively new facilities. There were kids soccer matches going on one side of the stadium and on the other was a little league game. There were also some batting cages with curved glass roofs next to the field. We changed in the locker rooms but found out the game was postponed for about an hour waiting for the other team to show up.  I took a nap in the infield grass watching the sun go down.

Again, we played the minor league team "B" team. I was the starting pitcher again and pitched reasonably well. Our defense was pretty shaky, the third baseman made 2 errors in the first inning, the left fielder dropped 2 balls in one inning and the shortstop was never in the right position. As usual, we recruited their catcher for our team. He didn't speak English but we got along fine communicating via baseball.  It was a see-saw game with the lead changing hands a few times.  One of the high lights was Little Home Run Harry Rapf hitting an in side the park home run.  By the 7th inning, they brought in a new young 18 year old left handed pitcher. I was the first one up. His first pitch was a wild fast ball that hit me in the left ankle. It hurt a lot. As it turned out, it cracked my ankle bone. I've been hit before so I didn't pay it much mind. I pitched the eighth inning and finally they turned out the lights of the stadium.. After 8 innings it was tied 8-8. Like all the places we played it was very warm and somewhat humid so we went through a lot of water bottles during the game.  It had been a hard fought game and the 15-20 fans that watched the game from the stadium stood up and shouted. Bravo, bravo, bravo.... This was the closest we came to winning a game.

We drove the 2 hours back to Bologna and had a take out dinner at a small traveling food stand near the city center.

After taking a boat back to the parking lot, we returned to Bologna for dinner and back to the hotel. Since it was Friday, it was disco time once again. The place was packed again with many of the same people from a couple of nights before.. We parked on the front lawn and spent the rest of the evening shaking our behinds to Techno rock, drinking beer and admiring the many beautiful women.

As usual, we arrived just as all the restaurants were closing. We did find one in the Piazza and chatted with a couple of American tourists. The square consisted of beautiful architecture and the churches were pure art and craftsmanship. After a couple of ours of being tourists, we hit the road again for our evening destination. lake Montefiascone. It took about 2 hours of driving through foothills and valleys. It reminded me a lot of the Alexander Valley north of the Santa Rosa, CA area. There were a few cities we passed that were classic feudal fortresses on top of hills, overlooking all their fiefdom and and the valleys below. The most impressive was the town of Orvieto.  Defiantly a medieval setting in a beautiful valley.  We got lost there trying to follow the signs, we spent a good half hour trying to find the right road out of town? After finally locating it, we made our way up a windy road and out of the valley. I was punching it as fast as my little rental car would go around those windy roads only to be yelled at and honked at by those obnoxious Italian drivers. It was getting a little irritating.

By the time we reached the town of Montefiascone, my nerves were pushed to the limit. There were of course little to no signs in town. Our directions led me to a one way road and driveway that ended inside the lobby of a building, I thought it was just another arch to a small street. After realizing we drove into the inside of a building, we searched again and found our hotel. Much to the chagrin of the 2 honking and screaming drivers behind me on a one lane road.  I stopped in front of the hotel to check in. After a couple of more screams from them, I took my baseball bat out of the trunk and yelled at them with a very angry look on my face. Suddenly they stopped and cooled down. I asked to see the rooms first, then I moved my luggage into the room then went to go find a parking space and release the 2 guys I was holding hostage.

A nice little hotel, probably 12 to 14 rooms run by a couple who owned it. Marble floors, and modest furnishings but nice bathroom fixtures and accessories. Wasn't much to do in this little town, especially on a saturday night.  There was another ancient church and only one restaurant open. Other than that it was a gelato for desert and off to bed. Kind of a boring Saturday night considering Rome was only an hour away.

Unfortunately, the Pantheon was closed because of fear of terrorist attacks.  We did find a restaurant at the piazza that was open so we had an enjoyable lunch while watching the locals. Afterwards, we tried to find our car. We walked past one square that was guarded by several soldiers with machine guns. The war between the Mafia and the government was still on and I believe we were walking past some important government building. We paid no attention and walked right through the guards like a couple of dumb tourists and eventually found our vehicle.

We made our way to St. Peter's Square and the Vatican.  We arrived shortly after the Sunday morning mass.  There were still a lot of people in the plaza and we took a tour of the inside the Cathedral.  Quite an impressive feat of architecture, history, opulence, craftsmanship and power. The Sistine Chapel was closed by the time we got to it so we decided to approach it the next day.

We made our way to the Coliseum and the old Roman fort.  The coliseum is an impressive sight to see.  Plenty of catacombs and architecture.  After about an hour at he coliseum, we toured the old Roman fort next door.  Plenty of ruins, arches, statues and history.  From high on the hill you can see how the old city was put together and the impressive arches into the city.

By now, we were beat. We decided to stay at a Holiday Inn we found on the way into Rome. It was $220 a night, according to the Swedish clerk,  but sure hit the spot. It was nice to have real American TV, queen sized beds, normal bathroom fixtures and other American type of amenities. We stayed in for the evening to watch TV and rest.

The next day was to be a very long one.  After a hotel breakfast, it was off to the Vatican.  Equally ostentatious as the Vatican was the Cisteen chapel.  This was an endless display of art that seemed to go on for ever.  Touring these facilities seemed to enhance my appreciation for history and certainly realization of the greatness of peoples that have come before my time.  Finding the famous Michael Angelo painting of God touching man was an experience in itself.  A good half hour of following signs through the maze of rooms, chambers and hallways eventually lead to a small room on a lower level.  The painting itself is much smaller than I
expected it to be.   After a little break in the inner gardens, we decided we had enough of the big city and decided to continue on to our next destination, Naples and Pompeii.

After emerging into the country side we cruised along the Appin way south.  We passed Monte Casino, the famous Nazi strong hold during W.W.II and reflected on the many historical sites we were traveling through.  There was a point where the Autostrada ended and merged into a local highway and wouldn't you know it, it was a speed trap.  There was, what looked like, some
antiquated surveying equipment and a speed gun set up and then, about 1/4 beyond that, a few police cars and officers.  They of course pulled me over and began speaking to me in Italian.  I had no idea what he was saying so I created my own conversation in English.  I asked him how he was, what was going on, told him the area was beautiful and after the lady policeman in front of my car gave him the nod, he waved us on.  I had no idea what was going on until after I returned to the US and got a bill from the rental car company for about $120 for a speeding ticket.

Eventually, we arrived in Naples.  It seemed like a modern city as we approached but as we drove along the coast highway southward towards Pompeii, it seemed very old and the whole area seemed like a big slum.  I didn't see much I liked in Naples but saw very little of it.  We made our way south a few miles eventually arriving in time to visit the ancient city of Pompeii at the base of Mt. Vesuvius.  We purchased a few nick nacks from the locals at the entrance.  Some priaptic Pompiieans in various contorted shapes, and some brass phallic symbols and a few other reproductions of Pompiiean culture.  Pompeii itself was quite interesting.  I spent a couple of hours walking the narrow stone streets, looking through the houses, studying the architecture, statures, carvings and many painting still on the walls.  There were many headstones with carved images to represent the owners or the trade of the inhabitants.  There were large open temples, piazza's parade grounds and a very nice coliseum or arena.  This is quite a restoration project that is still on going.  I highly recommend this as a destination site.  It would probably take an entire day to see the entire city, we were there for only a couple of hours before it began getting late with many dark shadows.  We still had
a long drive ahead of us so we departed.

Following our maps through Naples of course got us lost and spent a fair amount of time driving around slum like residential neighborhoods until we eventually came to the coastal route headed north.  The night sky was appearing as well as a number of black hookers along the highway.  Some pretty strange sites to behold.  We did drive through a small town,  believe it was Cuma, that seemed much like many mid west American towns, this one had it's Christmas lights spanning across the main street for several blocks.  We weren't sure it they stayed up all year or what but it was an interesting site for June.

It was a nice drive along the coast, watching the light disappear into the Mediterranean and the near full moon over the sea.  We stopped in Mondragone for dinner that evening.  This was a small coastal town with a nice restaurant on the water.  The waiter did not speak English and I pointed to what I wanted on the menu. Yet another delicious sea food Italian dinner.  I decided I would be cool and to to order my desert in Italian. I gave my best interpretation of strawberries (fragoli) to the waiter.  He looked puzzled and waved his hand at his nose.  I guess I ordered beans for desert (fraggiol) by mistake.  I went back to pointing and got my strawberries for desert.

Breakfast was the usual pastries with coffee.  We strolled the beaches and made a trip into downtown Anzio during the afternoon.  Anzio is a small town with a very nice town square near the water.  We had a great lunch at a seaside restaurant near the downtown and then returned to the hotel to get ready for the baseball game that evening.

The stadium, just outside of the downtown area, was probably the oldest and least attractive we played in during our tour.  We had batting practice and infield practice with the Anzio team.  I shared shortstop with one of them who it turned out to be from San Diego.  As mentioned previously, American ball players are given living expenses and transportation while playing there.  He apparently did not rate so high as he only drove a moped.  We did make friends with their pitching star, Roberto Espinoza, the brother of Alvaro Espinoza of the Cleveland Indians at that time.  He is a big time superstar pitcher in the Venezuelan leagues and was there playing in the off season.

We were no match for the Anzio team.  I pitched 7 innings and we lost by some large amount of 20 or so to very little.  The Anzio team was much younger than we were and it was difficult for us to hit 80 mph pitching.  About the 6th inning, my ankle began to have terrible pain, I could hardly walk.    I was glad to see the game end as the injury I received a few days earlier in Florence seemed to be flaring up again.  As it turned out, getting hit by a pitch in Florence had cracked my ankle bone and pitching again cracked it even more.  My ankle swelled up considerably.

We did go to dinner that night after the game in the downtown Anzio area.  This was a restaurant recommended to us by the team,.  La Rosa was great entertainment.  We cruised into town amongst heavy street traffic.  I parked only to have a small car with 4 girls stop to yell at me and tell me what a bad driver I was.  I didn't really understand a word they said but it was interesting.  We were still dressed in our USA baseball uniforms so I asked if they knew Tommy Lasorda. My partner kept trying to tell them, in poorly pronounced Italian, how beautiful there were.  After a lot of hand waving they left, one of our other teammates explained to me she was saying I drive like an old man.  Oh well, at least I was approached by some beautiful women.  The restaurant was in the basement of a commercial store and had a great atmosphere.  The owner was the cook, waiter and singer.  He was also a comedian.  He performed all these tasks and provided us with a a great meal and a lot of entertainment.

It was Memorial Day and some of our teammates went to the Memorial Cemetery in Anzio in honor of the American troops who died during the Anzio innovations of W.W.II.  The Italians were there in full plumage regalia creating a very colorful sight.  I spent the next day in bed with ice on my ankle.  Much pain every time I moved. I watched a lot of Italian TV including some Italian westerns, in Italian.  The rest of the team went to play the Neutenno team that evening. The stadium they had was brand new and very nice, but the other team didn't show up.  Our team just took some batting practice and came back to the hotel.

Later that night, there was a TV show being recorded in our hotel lobby and dining room.  Our friend, Roberto Espinoza was having a 1/2 special interview to broadcast back to Venezuela.  He was also in league with our hotel, this is where he received his food.  We had dinner with him and one of the other Italian players.  There was lots of food, wine, beer and BS being exchanged long into the evening.

We returned to the hotel in time to get ready for the evening baseball game.  They again had a great stadium just on the outskirts of town.  We were beaten again by their B team.  I was still hobbling along with my swollen ankle so I didn't play.

After a light lunch, we cruised down out of the coastal mountains into the flat farm lands west of Milan.  Very much like central California. We had no hotel reservations so we stayed at a Hotel 6 looking hotel on the north highway out of Milan.  It did have a 3 hole golf course.

After a couple of hours rest, we were ready for an evening in town.  We drove the side streets into downtown, passing gypsy encampments, lots of pizzas and eventually parking next to La Scala Opera house.  We found a nice restaurant in the Gallaria Vittorio Emanuele and had another great meal.  The Gallaria is the worlds first enclosed shopping mall, centuries old and faces the Piazza del Duomo.   Adjacent is the Duomo, the most flamboyant of all the Italian cathedrals.  After cruising the Gallaria for a while we cruised town, observing the train station built by Mussolini and several feats of beautiful architecture.  After some transvestites and/or cross dressers got into our car and tried to hustle us, we decided to call it an evening.

The next day we toured the Duomo and did some shopping and girl watching at the Gallaria.  No trip would be complete without at least one trip to a local McDonalds to see if it is the same everywhere.  We visited the one near the train station and found the usual consistency.  After enjoying the sights for a while we headed north to the Itilian/Swiss Alps and our next destination, Lugano.

We eventually wound our way around Lake  to the delightful town of Lugano.  Lugono reminded me of Newport Beach in the mountains.  Lots of Rolls Royce, limos, and fancy town and sport cars.  The town on Lago Lugano, a large lake with a parkway between the road and the lake.  Lots of boating, swimming, bicycling and family sports.  This seemed like a popular vacation spots for families.  I could have stayed there several days myself, it was beautiful and lots of nice energy.  We had a nice but small hotel room, $95/night, with a balcony looking into the lake.  I sat there for hours enjoying the feel and view until the sun went down and a huge full moon came over the lake.  It was a beautiful experience.  We ventured down to the piazza for dinner about 10 p.m..  It was Saturday night and the piazza was packed.  A great evening for people watching and good food.

Later, I went to the local casino.  I never did figure out the games.  I spend $10 Swiss on a slot machine that told me I kept winning but never gave me anything.  Most people were playing a different type of roulette game.  This one only had 9 numbers.  The tables were very crowded and smoky so I never did get to play.

We continued our day by driving to our next stop in the Italian Alps in the town of Stresa.  This is a very elegant tourist town on the lake.  There are a number of very nice hotels and an interesting old town area.  We stayed at a lake side hotel in old European style for about $95/night.  The bathroom and fixtures were again elegant and the view to the beach below, Lago Maggiore and the beautiful garden Island of Borromean beyond made for a please stay.  Another wonderful dinner in a local restaurant and it was time to pack for home.

The Italian people we encountered all seemed warm and congenial, except of course when they got into their automobiles.  The food was excellent everywhere.  The hotels were good to very nice for prices ranging from $35-$100/night except for the Holiday Inn in Rome.  The baseball facilities were good to very good.  Sports seems to be an integral influence in the Italians society.  They have better baseball facilities than many American fields.  The Italian players are well versed in the game.  Each game we played,  had an Italian catcher who didn't speak English.  Once again, baseball was the common denominator to allow us to communicate and learn from each other.