RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

On the Road With the Hawkeyes




This morning we managed to leave the hotel at around 10 a.m. to travel to the Palace of Versailles. Saying the palace is gorgeous would be an understatement. The palace is the largest in the world and its property covers 25 square miles. I think the most amazing thing about the buildings we see is imagining how they built these massive structures hundreds of years ago. We walked around inside with a tour guide for about an hour and a half and saw centuries of king's bedrooms, famous paintings, and many other ancient artifacts. Almost everything in there is still original and not replicas. 

After we got back from the Palace, we got a few hours to rest before our pre-game meal. I'm pretty sure most of us slept during that time. The combinations of the time change, touring, and playing games is very exhausting. I am still unable to play because of my hand but I am still excited for our second game in Paris tonight. As a team we played really well last night, which is awesome to see in August already. We also got to meet a couple Hawk fans before last night's game and take a picture with them. They were great people, as all Hawk fans are! 

Pre-game meal went well. Overall, I think the food is a lot better in America, but it was still good. The language barrier makes it tough to order sometimes and makes for some pretty funny situations, but the local people are very nice and understanding. In my opinion, we have the funniest team in the nation and it would be impossible to describe all the funny moments that happen, but the moment of the day was Whitey trying to put his plate of spaghetti in a to go box and instead dumping the entire thing on his lap/floor. 

We now have about an hour and a half to relax before we leave to our game tonight to get another W. We are having a great time over here and appreciate all the support you guys continue to give from hundreds of miles away. 

GO HAWKS!
Mike Gesell 

[Iowa basketball player Mike Gesell wrote this blog for hawkeyebasketball.com via Twitter].