Euro Cup comes to Poland

Poland (and Ukraine) was selected to host the Euro-Cup in 2012.  Being here while the Euro-cup was going on was unbelievable and speechless.  I loved it when the Olympics came to Salt Lake City in 2002.  Everyone comes together and cheers for their country and it provides so much unity and chances for people to reach out to others and show good sportsmanship.

Poland really took the Euro-cup seriously and decked out the city with different posters and banners to make everyone feel welcome.

Notice all the flags on the car in the parking lot of people supporting their team! 

 These two posters are massive and were found at the main train station in Warsaw.  Every country which participated in the Euro-Cup is represented with their flags painted on their faces (with the exception of Poland & Ukraine since they were the home countries).  

Up top (right to left): England, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Denmark.

Bottom picture: Greece, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, France (again), Croatia, Russia, & Italy.

Note: Portugal is not pictured above, but in the picture below

They also had these cool posters hanging up in a lot of stores all over Warsaw.  Most were in the stores at the central train station.  After the Euro-Cup - I went into one of these stores and totally played the foreign card.  Told them that I was from America and it was my first time to Warsaw (which technically is) and that I was here for the Euro-Cup (which was also true) and that I LOVED the Euro-Cup and going to the fan-zone and that the Poles are such wonderful and incredible people.  Then - I asked them if they knew where I could buy a poster like the one that was hanging on their window (they had two different ones), because I would love to take it home to America as a souvenir to show all my friends.  They then told me that I could have one of their posters.  I hugged and thanked them and told them that they were the best and that I absolutely loved people from Poland.   Trust me, I'm going to frame this exact poster - and hang it in my home one day.  I love this poster.  And even better, I love the story behind it (my Euro-Cup experiences), and the story about how I obtained this poster.

I really do have to say that Warsaw went to great lengths to really try to make people feel welcome. They hired lots of different language speakers and put them all over Warsaw so that tourists could go to them if they needed help.  They were easily recognizable in their bright green or yellow shirts.

They also changed all of their announcements in the train stations and metro to English.  This has been a HUGE blessing.  When a train is late, or a platform is changed, I have no idea and often run at the last minute (if Michal's not around) to catch my train - because I didn't understand the announcement.  After the Euro-Cup was here and the feedback that Warsaw received for not making the train station multi-lingual for people to get around - they took the criticism seriously and decided to make the changes.  Thank you Warsaw Train Station, it is so nice finally hearing English again!

 Everyone took advantage of the Euro-Cup being here.  REAL- is a grocery store in Poland.  What a clever way to advertise!  

Many people came from all over to get in on the action.  One day while walking around I saw campers from Spain - and the Al Jeezera news van decked out ready to report on the soccer extravaganza!

 The Palace of Culture even put up these great signs.

 I do think it's a little odd how they "incorporated" famous Polish monuments to "cheer" for the Polish team.  On the Palace of Science & Culture, you can see Chopin with soccer cleats hanging around his neck.  And the mermaid statue (in the Old Town Rynek) is sporting a vuvu-zela.

In front of the fan zone they have little "floaty" guys facing off against each other.  They have the flags of each of the countries that are playing that day.  This particular day that I took this picture it was Russia (left) vs. Poland (right).

 I went into town early to scope out the fan-zone (because I knew we'd be coming there later that night) and there were already people lining up at 9:00 am to get into the Fan-Zone, once it opened, so that they got seats instead of being forced to stand for 3 hours.

Poland really did a phenomenal job at making everyone feel welcome.  They had posters and signs everywhere, and replica copies of the mermaid all over Warsaw - one for every country participating.  I only found two of them... but I know that there were 16 of them out there!

 But Poland wasn't the only one to advertise and make people feel welcome.  A lot of businesses took advantage of the Euro-Cup and plastered advertisements and banners all over downtown Warsaw.  Here are some of my favorites:

I absolutely adored the fact that the advertisement (crappy picture sorry) was decked out cheering for Poland.  It made me want to go see this cute movie (even though all children's movies are dubbed over into Polish). I mean - with the red & white stripes - the zebra is adorable!  GO POLAND!

The Fan Zone was even more intense and insane than I can describe.  That night Michal & I (and a few friends) went to the fan zone and there were over 150,000 people who came to cheer on Poland.  There were over 8 large screen TVs for people to watch the action.  Plus a lot of cheering, cussing, dancing, and drinking.  I'm telling you, BYU football games don't even compare to how crazy fans get here!

(Pictures below courtesy of Dorotka Musial.  They wouldn't let you take cameras into the Fan-Zone, but those that had cameras on their phone made it past the security.  Therefore, we had to rely on some others for our pictures of this fun night!)

Getting there and back was absolutely crazy.  They had a metro come ever 20 seconds to try to help clear people out of there as fast as possible.  It was insane.  I think everyone needs to experience a fan-zone euro-cup soccer game at least once in their life.

That being said.... once was enough for me!  So even though Michal and I LOVE Poland (and as much as he LOVES soccer)... we opted to cheer at a friends house for the last game that Poland played in.

The Staples invited us over to watch the game at their house (on a much larger screen than at our apartment).  Michal couldn't talk the whole game - he was too focused on the game.  We were shocked that Poland didn't pull it off.  We wish they could have at least made it to the next rounds.  Regardless - it was so much fun cheering the Polish team on.  It was fun seeing Michal get so excited over goals.  And it was even more thrilling to be a part of all the excitement and madness in Warsaw.  Just because Poland was eliminated didn't mean that games stopped.  We still hosted several games (including the Semi-Final Germany vs. Italy), so we were able to see a lot of tourists and jam packed restaurants and side-walks.  I'm so grateful that we were able to get a job in Poland and have the right timing to be able to watch the Euro-Cup in the host country.

Books Read: May & June

Robbie King, Robbie King, Robbie King

Our train ride home from Berlin was anything but ordinary.  I remember saying to Michal & Mom, "I sure hope those fans aren't on our train ride back to Poland."  Well, I forgot to knock on wood.  When we arrived at the platform for the train from Berlin-Warsaw there were so many fans that we couldn't even get off the escalators.  The whole platform was packed.  Normally a train stops for about 5-10 minutes to let everyone jump on... but there were SO many people that this train was at the station for about 35 minutes.  The train was packed - and I'm pretty sure most of these fans didn't have tickets.  But for every person that doesn't have a ticket, they need to stop the train and have the police come and escort the person off. With how many people were on my train, it was just easier to let these fans get to where they needed to go.  Every train car seats about 300 people - but there were about double that in each car. It was packed with cheering, drinking, crazy Euro-Cup fans. 

When we found our seats - we were smack dab in the middle of the Croatian fans and the Irish fans.  While the Croatians were lots more lively and full of spirit... the Irish were more gentlemanly and considerate and well-mannered.  The Croatians didn't stop singing.  At one point they all started to get tired and lay down and Michal stood up and said, "C'mon guys - that's not the spirit." And they jumped right back up and started singing again.  I don't know how you can enjoy jumping up and down screaming cheers for 3 hours - but these Croatians managed.  The ironic thing was, they were singing in honor of the Irish guests that they were sharing the car with.  Their chant went as follows: Robbie King, Robbie King, Robbie King... Robbie King, Robbie King, Robbie King... Robbie King, Robbie King, Robbie King. (If you want to know the tune - just ask my mom - She's an expert after listening to it for 3 hours).  Their chant got boring after about an hour so they decided to switch it up a little and the remainder of the train ride this was their chant: "Robbie King, Robbie King, Robbie King, "F" (the real word) the Queen, "F" the Queen, "F" the Queen, Robbie King, Robbie King, Robbie King, etc. etc. etc.  For obvious reasons, I wasn't able to get an ACTUAL video of them chanting Robbie King (which I later found out was Robbie Keen - but it sure sounded a lot like King and seemed to go well with "Queen").  The only clean video I got of them singing was the following one shown below.

The Irish Fans, on the other hand - were so much more bearable.  They didn't smoke in the cars, or drink (excessively) or jump up and down the whole way - and they tried to carry on small talk with the other passengers there.  They were really a gem to talk to and get to know better.  There songs had a lot more class and a point.  It wasn't the same song over - and over - and over - again!

Here were our favorite two video's of the Irish singing their various songs.

Before they got off (at Poznan), Michal made sure to get his pictures taken with both of the fans that we were sitting right in between. 

The Croatians (with their lovely flag they waved the whole 3 hours to Poznan - in fact, one of the Croatians was sticking his lovely body out of the window for the majority of the trip and almost got clipped by an oncoming train).

 And the Irish... who didn't win a single game in the Euro Cup, but they still had a lot of class and spirit.

 When we pulled up to Poznan.  It took another 30 minutes for the train to unload.  It was full of fans singing and cheering and jumping and swearing and drinking.

 After they left we went around to go assess the damage that had been done to the train.  Well, there were Beer Bottles EVERYWHERE.  As we walked around they already had people cleaning up the bottles.  They decided to stash all the bags into the compartments and they filled up about 4 compartments (that we saw) just with trash that had been left over.  As we walked through the 14 cars there were only about 2-3 people per car.  That's how many people got off at Poznan.

But my favorite was that about after an hour, the train made another stop and several Croatians got off.  They were so drunk (or passed out) that they had missed their stop in Poznan.  When I yelled out the window what they were going to do, they just shrugged their shoulders and said, "We'll walk back. We have all night."

I don't think that I've ever experienced anything like that train ride in my life.  It was crazy and crowded and out of control - but that's the Euro-Cup for you.  After going through that train ride it sure made Michal & I excited for the upcoming matches and supporting Poland in their Euro-Cup Quest.

Germany: Fulfilling A Dream

 Since Corpus Christi gave Michal a 3 day weekend - we headed off to site-see Germany.  I think that it's always been on my mom's bucket list to visit the place where my great-grandmother (who is 102 and still kickin' it) grew up.  Therefore, we planned our trip around seeing this city.

Wuppertal

Thanks to Michal's great knowledge of Germany & German trains, and excellent detective skills by my mom - we were able to find Nana's (aka Great-Grandma Gretchen) house in no time.

While we were there, we decided to document this "special monument in Europe" through our infamous JUMPING PICTURES!

 I was so proud that we even got Mom to take a jumping picture!  She looks great and I wish we could have convinced her to participate in this activity more during her tenure in Europe.

The next "site" that we had to visit in Wuppertal was 'Platz der Republik.'  This is an important site because when she was a little girl (4 years old) WWI started and this square was where they gathered up the horses.  She remembers always wanting to play with the horses, but her mother never letting her.

 The remaining must-see site was standing in front of this stair case in which Nana had her picture taken decades ago.  It was super hard to find this staircase, but thanks to the little half circle window on the building in the background, which hasn't changed over the years, it made us certain that this was the staircase that we often heard Nana tell stories about.  She told us stories about heading down this staircase on the way to school and church.  It looks way different today than it did almost 100 years ago, but it was cool to say that we had walked the same stairs that she had one day. 

Afterwards, we decided to just wander throughout Wuppertal until our train left.  Here are some cool pictures of the city.

We then decided to take the local train in Wuppertal.  This train is memorable because it is so different from "regular" public transportation (anywhere) in Europe.  This train is suspended from a track that follows the river.  As you rock back and forth, you have a breathtaking view of both the river below and the city out both sides of the car.  I mean, seriously, you can't go to Wuppertal and not take a ride in this train.  As Michal says, "It would be a crime not to."

Cologne

Upon exiting the train station in Cologne, you are BLOWN AWAY by the enormity of the Cologne Cathedral.  It is massive and nothing about what you expected.  It looms over the train station and makes the Salt Lake Temple look like a doll-house in comparison to the volume and height of this building.  Michal says it is the largest Cathedral in the world.  (Facts yet to be verified). If you ever get the chance to just stop in this city for an hour to see this cathedral it would be worth it.

 After admiring the cathedral, we decided to go explore some other parts of Cologne.

 Michal loves train stations, and even more - Trains.  Our trip wouldn't be complete without him acting like a 'maly chlopczyk' (little boy) and getting so excited over all the trains.

Mom found a lock with Fatima's name on it... and Michal found a lock with M+K on it.  We decided that we'll just go ahead and claim that it's ours.

We had a lot of fun just wandering around and exploring Cologne.  During our travels we saw lots of classic German small-town architecture - and found out that Cologne used to be inhabited by the Romans.  It was the northernmost colony that was settled by the Romans over 2000 years ago.  This arch was from that time period and still stands as the entry way into Cologne. 

Berlin

 Thumbs up was the "theme" of lots of the pictures in Berlin (see if you can find them below).  Mostly because of our "thumbs up" experience in Warsaw at the Krasinski Palace.

 The Berlin tower has a restaurant inside of it.  So I've decided that someday Michal & I will go there for dinner.  I love heights and city'scapes' and being able to feel like I can see forever.  Maybe I'll make a list of places I want to eat one day - and this will make the bucket list for those places!

 

So, while we were there some pick-pockets got caught and even better than watching cops bust these guys, was watching them get busted by the media as well.  I wouldn't say the were pick-pockets 'per se' but they were playing "cups."  Where you pay them $ and they put a ball under 6 cups and mix them up real good and if you can tell what cup the ball is under you win your $ back, plus some... but NO ONE ever won their money back because these guys cheated... and got caught.  Maybe it was some dramatic reality show.  I sure hope so - that's the closest I've ever gotten to being on reality TV!

Checkpoint Charlie (and the lovely McDonald's in the background).  We came here and checked out the history while Michal scoped out a place for us to watch the Euro-cup Poland vs. Greece game.  Who can say that they watched the Poland vs. Greece Euro-cup opening match at Checkpoint Charlie?

 The best part about this match was that all the Germans (or those at this little beach like bar place) were  cheering on Poland.  They booed the refs when the Poles didn't get their way, and went silent when Greece scored.  After watching this game, I realized that bad relations may still exist between Germany & Poland - but, for the most part, they are being mended quickly and new relationships are being formed and the past not being held against one another.  What an amazing thing sports can do to bring people together.  (Bring on the Olympics next!)

Checkpoint Charlie is super close to the Berlin wall, but we were so tired after the game (and from all the traveling we had been doing)... that we decided to go ahead and call it a day and head in that direction tomorrow.

The Berlin Wall is really a site that can't be missed if you visit Berlin.  It's my 3rd time here and every time I come, I feel like I learn something new.  The pictures are so expressive (don't take offense at any posted here) and full of meaning and it really draws so much more emotion out of the viewer.

Berlin is full of so many things to see and things to do.  It is definitely a 4 day city.  We were only there 2 days and felt like we didn't get to see nearly enough. 

Okay, the boat in the background of this photo is a Hostel.  What an ingenious idea... sorta.  You only have to pay like $11 if you want to sleep up on the top (with no shelter) but get the benefits of a shower in the morning.  If I was a little more adventurous, maybe I would consider this.

 Here is our best attempt at trying to capture the Berlin Tower.  Michal's idea turned out much better than mine.

We walked around Tiergarten Park.  It was beautiful, shady, and refreshing to wind down our stay in Berlin.  We did decide to hike to the top of the Nike Statue to see a view of the city.  On the way down I counted the number of steps (and have since forgotten).  Regardless, every step was worth it once we saw the view from above!

 Warsaw (and Wroclaw) was decked out with Fan-Zones before we left Poland, so we were pleasantly surprised to see a Fan-Zone in Berlin.  Michal went Crazy and wished we could have been here for one more day to go to the Fan-Zone to Watch Germany play Portugal.

More Thumbs-up Pictures!

 Michal was sad when it came time to go home.  Really sad.  But on the way to the train station he said, "Berlin is to Warsaw as St. George/Las Vegas is to Salt Lake."  Which is so true.  Only 5 hours away and a lot of things to see.