And the insanity begins. . .

For the few of you that follow my blog regularly, you are aware that nothing new has been posted in months. . .sorry about that but I've been a little busy!

As you saw over a year ago, the reason I moved to Paris was to organize an event. And like all events, the closer you get to it, the more crazy it becomes . . .but first things first - Euro Cup!!!

The Euro Cup began one week before I was leaving for Mexico and a friend of mine dropped in to catch a couple of the matches with me. Since we had been to the World Cup in Brazil together - it seemed apropos! In good news, no flights were missed this time :)

While I was working like crazy, we did manage to squeeze a couple of touristy things including Jardin des Plantes. It's an interesting mix of a garden, greenhouses and a zoo! I would include pictures but my SD card crapped out on me and I lost a few - including these.

And then, the main event! We attended two matches that week - Croatia vs Turkey at Parc des Princes on 12 June and Sweden vs Ireland at Stade de France on 13 June. Thanks to my friend there are some photos of these!

Turkey vs Croatia

The opening weekend games in Marseille sparked a few riots so security was increased at each venue. To get to Parc des Princes from the metro you had to walk about 15min. The entire street was lined with riot police on both sides. My friend noted it was making her a little uncomfortable and I was like, what? It didn't even register with me that it would - not sure what that says about how often I see police, guns etc. these days but I was thinking more along the lines of  - it's better they are here than not!

The weather was not great but in good news we had the cheap seats so we were well protected from the downpour that was happening around us. In sad news, they only had two kinds of beer non-alcoholic and 0.5% so really one kind - non-alcoholic. Was it really worth wasting the calories?!!

Warm up!

All the games started with an "opening ceremony" where a bunch of kids would run and dance with huge team jerseys and flags in tow. It was funny to see the difference in abilities stadium to stadium but unfortunately, the routines and music were pretty much the same across the board!

Overall the game was pretty good to watch. The stadium is a bit smaller than some of the others I have been to so it made the vibe in the place feel more intimate. Thanks to my friend, there are some pictures to share of the game!

Sweden vs Ireland

Getting to this match was an adventure and a half! We literally stood in a metro tunnel surrounded by drunk Irish fans for 40mins not moving. There was body surfing involved in which I got kicked in the head. This was followed by a metro ride where the crowd was jumping but there was literally no space to even breath - needless to say we left this game a bit early to not have to repeat the experience (as did most non-Irish/Swedish fans in the place!). We also spent part of the game wondering if the Irish realized that the beer they were buying was 0.5%. . .

Warm up!

A little deja vu...

This game was all about Ibrahimović and man buns.  Ibrahimović is huge and looks more like a hockey player than a soccer player . . .I mean football. . .but somehow he does it. And this game further reinforced my opinion that the man bun has to go!

Kick Off!

There was a little entertainment at half time, saw them at a few matches actually!

More on the Euro later in my posts. . .