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Euros Day 1 – Opening Ceremony
Treviso, Italy - home to Benetton, appliance maker De’Longhi, bicycle make Pinarello and now Wikipedia will have to add another fact to this impressive list, host city to European Touch Championships 2012!
The 200 strong England squad, along with fourteen other nations, descended on the city’s main square. There were whoops, cheers and lots of flag waving as the teams snaked through the cobbled streets in the old town for the opening parade. It may not be the Olympics, but this was our moment: we waved at locals, posed for pictures and tried to explain the game of Touch in pigeon Italian (which concluded in pointing the puzzled stranger to the Italian contingent).
Team Italy lined the square to greet each nation after being officially welcomed by the Mayor of Treviso, Gian Paolo Gobbo.As the sun set, we needed no excuse to tuck into mountains of carbs, pizza, pasta and lots of it. As opera singers belted out a tune, talk turned to the tournament...
Good Luck England!