I usually just wait until the end of the day to blog, but I have a 4 hour train ride to Vienna today and I chugged 2 cups of coffee before I left, so I thought I would spend a few minutes doing some mid-day writing. Right now, I am riding through the Czech countryside. Right now it's fairly flat, and we are right beside what looks like cornfields. I might be a total idiot, but that's what it looks like. Looks like I am driving up I-35 in the middle of Kansas or Nebraska. Makes me miss good ol' midwest, USA... but that's another blog altogether.
Anyway, today is going to be a great day for a few reasons. First of all, it started off great with a hearty breakfast at our last hours in Sir Toby's Hostel. They have the best breakfast I have encountered so far. It cost 100 Crowns which right now is about $6.50 USD. They had organic, fair trade coffee, fresh pancakes, scrambled eggs, homemade granola, and all sorts of breads and cereal. It was really a great breakfast, and it's all you can eat. I had a pancake, some eggs, granola w/ yogurt, and 2 cups of coffee. Josh had a similar spread, but chose hot tea.
The other reason it's going to be a great day is because today is the Euro 2008 final in Vienna, and that's exactly where we are headed. In a matter of hours, we are going to be right in the middle of the chaos. I can't wait to watch the game with hundreds of thousands of people. It is going to be so fun! Can't wait! Alright, well that's about it for now. I will write more later tonight after the game...
... I am writing again from the train. This time we are on the way to Budapest. I would have finished the blog at the end of the night last night, but it ended up being a little later than I thought, and I was also pretty tired. Alright, so we got in to Vienna, and were pleasantly surprised to see a sign for our hostel right outside the train station. We stayed at Westend City Hostel, which was very centrally located between the train station and FanZone, where we headed to watch the game. After a quick check-in, it was about 4:30pm or so and time to start heading toward the main area where everyone was hanging out and getting ready to watch the game. By getting ready to watch the game I mean people were drinking lots of beer. We decided that it would be a good idea to just grab a few beers at the mini-market before we headed in to the FanZone, and drink them on the streets (We weren't breaking any laws because it's legal to do this in Austria). It was a good idea too, because in the mini-market they are about 1.50 Euro. In the FanZone, they are 4.50 Euro. So, we grabbed a quick bite (McDonalds for me and Pizza for Josh), had a couple of drinks, and headed in to the craziness. The place was getting full hours before the game, and they had everything from games to music to food and drink. It was a great scene with all the Spanish and German fans being cordial for the most part.
The game started around 8:45 and lasted about 2 hours. I really loved just being in the middle of all the fans and experiencing true passion for sports. You don't see it as much in the States, and I can't really put my finger on why. It might just be the fact that it's so many people with so much passion for their country, paired with so much passion for the sport. Anyway, it was really a cool event. If you didn't watch, Spain won 1-0. Josh and I then had to do the walk of shame back to the hostel, as we had decided before the game to buy German flags and wear them around as we rooted for Germany. Bad decision I guess.
After a quick stop for pizza (yes, that's 2 times for Josh in about 6 hours if you are keeping score at home) we headed back the the hostel, and found that our room was about 100 degrees. So, we went down to the lobby, grabbed a fan, and made the best of it. Just for the record, falling asleep sweating is not the greatest feeling in the world.
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