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. . .

Paris under water

As you have probably read in the news, Paris is experiencing its worst flooding in 30 years. France's rainfall levels in May were the highest since 1873 and while the Seine maybe dropping, the forecast for the week is still rain, rain and more rain.

While you can probably find crazier pictures online, I snapped a couple on my way out on Thursday. The first one is square de Vert-Galant on Île de la Cité - or what used to be it. At this time of year people are usually hanging out in this square having picnics and enjoying the traffic on the river. 

The other is where a walkway used to be beside one of the boat companies that normally offers tours down the river. Now the boats can't even pass under the bridges!

With that, I am up to date on the blog. Coming up, but probably delayed, will be the Euro Cup, more of Mexico, and Greece - stay tuned!

Roland-Garros

I am sure no one will be surprised that when the opportunity to buy tickets to something arose, I jumped on the opportunity! This time it was for Roland-Garros or more commonly known as the French Open. Aside from the two and half hour rain delay in the middle of the day, I saw the top ranked male and female players in the world so I would consider it a success!

View from the top - well, second level

While the seats seem far,the view was actually pretty good

First up were the women. While Serena Williams beat French player, Kristina Mladenovic, it wasn't an easy win. 

Getting ready to warm up

Warming up

Game on!

This was the match that was interrupted by biblical proportions of rain.

Roland-Garros is not exactly set up for this many people having to wait out the rain so we basically stood under a little roof to try and not get more soaked than we already were. Then it was time to get the court ready for the next match up . . .

Next up, Novak Djokovic vs Aljaz Bedene. Again, it wasn't a runaway for Djokovic but he still managed to find the time to ham it up for the crowd and cameras. The star of the game was the ref who took quite a ribbing from Djokovic throughout the last set.

Getting ready to begin

Now I have gone through the rite of passage that is Roland-Garros so feeling a little more French than before . . .

The beauty of champagne

May is the month of holidays so despite having been busy for three consecutive weekends, I had to spend the next two travelling :) For the first one I went north to eat and drink, and then do that a little more. The next one I was off to Épernay with five friends for some champagne.

The first time I lived in France I lived in Reims, also in champagne, but unfortunately in those days I didn't have the means to enjoy the beverage as often as I liked. I also, surprisingly, never made it to Épernay even though it was only 30 minutes by train. It's a beautiful town and luckily for us, they make visiting the caves super easy. The main road in town is the Avenue de Champagne where you guessed it, you will find the majority of the caves!

Our first stop was Moët et Chandon.

It was the Journée Particulière fort he LVMH group - this is their version of "open doors". It meant the tour was free but there were no tastings. It also meant that they had tours at the Dom Pérignon Abbey in Hautevillers which is not usually open to the public. We headed off in the pouring rain on Sunday to this quaint village to see the abbey. Sadly they offer no tastings but we found a few other caves to make up for it!

Both tours were very informative and I learnt a lot about champagne - the champagne region has a lot of rules, for one. Champagne is made from three types of grapes - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The fermentation process is slightly more complex for champagne and takes a few years which explains the price. Some of the bottles are even turned by hand - 35,000-50,0000 per day. The more expensive bottles, including Dom, is made from the Grand Cru vines. Moët et Chandon owns 50% of these vineyards. Ok, enough of that, moving on to the pictures . . .

The caves of Moët et Chandon which span 28km. The first thing the tour guide said was, don't stray from the group as it could take a while to get out! 

The Dom Pérignon Abbey

Bottles designed in honour of Andy Warhol's request to drink champagne for the millennium

View from the abbey

View from the abbey

A bit more of Épernay. . .

City Hall

It's always important to take advantage of being in the countryside by breathing the unpolluted air and going for a walk to see green instead of concrete and stone. We decided to take a self guided tour to a lookout point which had some stunning views of the vineyards in the area.

 And then we were done for the day!