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Our schedule today follows the same pattern as yesterday. Team breakfast was scheduled for 8:00 am in the Hotel Park (the hotel connected to the Hotel Eger). The buffet had most of the same items, but it was fun to discover any new or different items. One of the best finds was the selection of fruit jams & marmalades. If you bypassed this collection, you would have missed the one pot that contained Nutella.
After breakfast, the boys watched film with the coaches for about an hour. At 9:30, the team met in the hotel lobby for the day's first adventure. Instead of a morning workout, our destination was the Spekula Observatory located in the middle of the city - a short walk away.
After breakfast, the boys watched film with the coaches for about an hour. At 9:30, the team met in the hotel lobby for the day's first adventure. Instead of a morning workout, our destination was the Spekula Observatory located in the middle of the city - a short walk away.
Once we arrived at the building, we climbed many stairs up to a tower on the roof. Most of the was up the tower was an observation deck which provided incredible views of the city.
Further up the tower was a unique feature of the observatory - a 'camera obscura' - one of only two in the world and the oldest of its kind (built in 1779). The best way to describe how this worked is by illustration.
The boys enjoyed a tour of this device as the guide rotated the mirror around giving us a nearly 360 degree view of the city. Quite an interesting device and quite remarkable considering how long ago it was designed and constructed. Here is what it looked like viewing the city on the screen:
After the tour, we headed back to the pool. As with the day before, the team's first scrimmage was against the local club's younger players (let's say 16 & unders). And as the day before, the game went Newport's way quite decisively.
After the scrimmage, we returned to the restaurant from yesterday for lunch. The boys were somewhat skeptical of what they might be eating, so back-up plans were made involving a local pizzeria. Lunch started with our first taste of goulash (a meat soup) followed by a heaping plate of spaghetti. Now you might this spaghetti would be the perfect meal, and in most cases it is. Today, however, we did not find a typical red sauce covering the noodles. Instead, the spaghetti was covered with sour cream and grated cheese. Hunger, however, ruled over the lack of familiarity and the boys polished off large portions of meal. The immediate need for pizza was adverted.
Our next stop was the Eger Sports Museum. This museum is dedicated to the Olympic athletes of Eger and boy are there a lot of them. We were greeted at the door by our tour guide, who with Linda translating Hungarian to English, would explain all we would see.
The top floor of the museum is dedicated to swimming and water polo and was filled with trophies and medals. We learned about the establishment of the modern Olympic games and the role played by Dr. Ferenc Kemény from Eger, the significance of the 1956 Melbourne games (which took place during the Hungarian uprising against the communists), and how Hungary has dominated in the sport of water polo. The museum had all the boys sign a book recording their visit to the museum, which will include a team photo.
With a couple hours rest, we regrouped in the lobby of the hotel with the team before heading out for the next scrimmage. Again, we were playing the big boys from the Eger Club Team (four of the players were 19 or 20). The scrimmage was structured the same as yesterday, with both clubs split into two groups, alternating for the first four quarters, then each line playing 2 consecutive quarters each (for a total of 8 quarters). And as the night before, the scrimmage demanded everything our boys had to offer. With the new found perspective of the deep history of water polo here in Hungary (from the Eger Sports Museum), the team knew it was facing an incredibly talented, conditioned and disciplined foe. This is why the team is training in Hungary. The level of play is higher than anything the team has faced before and they are improving physically, mentally, emotionally and drawing together as a team.
Back at the hotel for dinner, the boys found another array of meats, vegetables, salads and desserts. After a brief recap of the games with Coach, the boys were off to bed (and for some, catching up on-line with the internet kiosks in the lobby of the hotel).
