As the goalie coach for the Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team, Coach Steve Carroll had the wonderful opportunity to visit Switzerland, Austria and Italy over the holiday break.
We flew into Zurich, Switzerland and spent the day touring downtown. From there we headed by bus to Bolzano, Italy. On the next day, we were off to the resort town of Kitzbuhel, Austria. Even though it was early January, they did not have any snow on the ground. The ski hills were open thanks to snowmaking machines.
On day three, we visited downtown Bolzano and all the Christmas markets that were still open and very festive. Then we were off to Milan, Italy, the financial and fashion hub of the country. There were tons of people there and that place was something else.
After that, we moved on to Como, Italy. More Christmas markets were open and they also had an outdoor skating rink nearby that was filled with locals. We returned later that night for a New Year’s eve celebration. Many of the buildings in the courtyard area had colorful winter scenes projected on the walls, which made for a spectacular setting. At midnight, there was a huge fireworks show over Lake Como.
On our last full day, we journeyed to Lugano, Switzerland and toured that wonderful city on a lake. Besides all the spectacular places we visited, the squad posted a 3-0 record in the exhibition games. Overall, it was an awesome and memorable trip.
