A Fly-Free Meet in Città di Castello

Yesterday, Florence had a meet in Città di Castello, a town about an hour away from us (at the far north of Umbria). Since it was for fly and free (and IM as well, a favorite of Florence's and ours), Michael and I were all gung-ho to watch. So we rented a car and set off for the north.

We were struck again with culture shock that I thought it would be fun to note:

1. On tap, they offered Coke, beer, and wine.

 2. The "athlete's menu" consists of a primo (pasta), secondo (meat), and contorno (veg). So much for a hamburger, fries, and soda! No mention of dessert, either















3. The sweets are colorful, to say the least.

Standard equipment

4. Concession stand pizza is anything but: they get the dough and put it in a press to make a super-thin crust on the spot. Then they smear it with sauce and cheese, and bung it in the oven with their long-handled spatula. It was actually delicious, and only $1.40 for a huge piece.








5. Cookies are served bakery-style, individually. They looked beautiful.

Warmups were a bit tight

Still warming up

It was also really fun to see Florence so much in her element. She swam a beautiful race for her fly; her IM event cracked us up: she hates breast, and excels in underwater pulls, so she ended up taking long, slow strokes and spending most of her time underwater. Meanwhile, the others were pulling three times for every one of her pulls and barely keeping up with her! Because of the way the heats worked out, she won second for both her events, despite winning both of the heats.

Love,

Alexandra