Day 10 - Treviso at night.

After the match we had to wait a couple of hours for the girls to arrive at Zero Branco on the Train. Roberto's friend, Sandro offered to take us to his home and wait there. Sandro is an old friend from their time during National Service. He is also a sponsor of Zero Branco and was helping Andrea's claim to be number 1 goalkeeper.

Sandro lives in a beautiful apartment in the centre of Zero Branco. It as stunning views of the church, decorated with Christmas lights. At his home we met his wife and daughter. Diana was the same age as Andrea. Plenty of scope to tease Andrea then.

Roberto and Sandro soon left for the station to pick the girls up. That left me with Andrea acting as official translator. It turns out that both Andrea and Diana have over 20 years experience learning English. I had a two day crash course of Italian thanks to my Michel Thomas tapes. Still, I had a go with Italian and some how managed to communicate, mainly with pointing, using Spanish and then for the kids to translate once they had stopped laughing at my Italian.

Andrea ready to drive Diana's mini.

Monica and Antonella arrived and plans were made to go to Treviso for dinner. The driving arrangements were that we would be driven by Sandro whilst Andrea, fresh with 2 day old driving licence, would drive Diana's mini (she had yet to pass the test) with Roberto acting as chaperon. I was thankful not to be in the mini.

Treviso at night.

Treviso looked a wonderful city, even in the cold damp night. I always thought of Treviso as the place that Ryan Air calls Venice. However, on first impressions it is a place that I would like to go back and visit properly. Sandro was acting as the groups tour guide. He was very knowledgeable and clearly proud of Treviso. I learned a few more things about the place. First, it is the home to Benetton. A few other regional shops of note too, although I only recognised "Diesel".

The cafe bar "Signore y Signori" was made famous by the 1960's Italian comedy of the same name. This is set in the charming square Piazza dei Signori. We went for a Spritz in an atmospheric place nearby that is set inside Palazzo dei Trecento. Then it was on the "Da Pino" for Pizza.

Spritz time.

On the English table.

Diana and Andrea, members of the English table.

The Italian table.

Travelling back to Zero Branco, Sandro took us on a driving tour around Treviso. This only confirmed what I thought originally. Treviso is a must see place and I will definitely be returning to spend a day exploring the city further.