Trieste Airport, Trieste, Italy

The Super Senior World Team Championships started today; since I finished my tournament on Thursday, I’ve been biking around Umag and taking photos of the players practicing and helping take team photos and photos of the opening ceremonies. Today and yesterday I biked into old Umag which is a real mixture of old and new…a very old building with a satellite dish and air conditioner; laundry hanging between streets above restaurants; clear water filled with small fish not far from t-shirt hawkers.

Yesterday the opening ceremonies took place after all the captains’ meetings, where draws were made. (These can be found here, along with photos). The players all walked into the stadium to music and four flag bearers remained as the rest of the countries paraded in. It made for a colorful picture when all the players in their nations’ tracksuits walked in. Players from countries from A (Argentina) to Z (Zimbabwe) walked in before host country Croatia arrived to cheers.

And that’s a wrap for this European trip…I’m on my way to home via Munich…thanks for reading.