Lot of new European experiences for biathlon women

Biathlon

Fri, Sep  25, 2009 - By Viktoria Franke, US Biathlon Association

The European trip of BethAnn Chamberlain, Lanny and Tracy Barnes brought them from Munich to Bormio, Italy up to Altenberg, Germany. Some of their experiences are worth mentioning even if most of them took part not even close to the shooting range.

Getting Used to Italian Language, Food and People

When they think about their Italien experiences, all three of them have to laugh quite often. “I was literally standing there with a ‘Italian for Dummies’ book and trying to talk to them”, explains BethAnn. Lanny actually put this experience down on paper when she drew a cartoon about their three-week-trip. On it there’s also BethAnn’s husband Danny who is being watched by a small Italian kid while doing his workouts. “Actually it wasn’t just watching. The kid was basically staring at him and not saying a word!”, Tracy laughs.

Even if the kid would have said something, the girls are pretty sure that they would not have understood a word. None of the Italians spoke English, only the owner of the private house they were staying in was able to talk to them. “We actually had some great talks with him”, Lanny says. “He was a lot of fun but basically all the others – even the waiters – had real trouble when we tried to talk to them. Even with the ‘Italian for Dummies’ they weren’t able to have big conversations. That’s also how they ended up eating way too much every day. “We tried to tell the waiter that we had enough to eat already. But he was so offended by that, that we ended up eating even the dessert. It was huge … every single night!”

Lost in the mountains

Another thing they are trying to forget is that one hike in the mountains. “We saw that little house in the mountains from our windows and we thought we would just hike there one day”, starts BethAnn. Lanny remembers that day: “We couldn’t train because it was that foggy. So we figured we just go there. We thought we saw the path from our window and that it was easy. But after five hours of hiking we actually weren’t even close to the house!” Her sister just laughs and ends the story: “In the end we found our way back but somehow we were really glad that there was so much fog. We seriously didn’t want to see how deep down it went next to the path!”

Leaving the big mountains behind them and driving to Altenberg, they ended up in a middle-sized German village. “We arrived there and really just wanted to get some pizza because we figured that the normal stores were already closed.”, Tracy remembers After driving around for quite some time they figured: There won’t be any pizza at that night. “After all we ended up eating just some bad pasta and went to bed really unhappy”, they laugh.

Nevertheless. After all they ended up having a great time over in Europe. "But to go back home is always one of the nicest things about a trip like that". That's what all three of them are certain of.