Day 41 - Leaving Europe... again

Ще се видим София ("See you Sofia")

I had excellent WiFi at the Best Western hotel in Sofia so, having had a nice breakfast I used the opportunity to catch up with internet stuff and then it was time to check out and get a taxi to the airport.

It was an unexpected stay in the Bulgarian capital but, in the end, a very pleasant and enlightening one. I am now keen to explore Bulgarian wine much more and I want to sample more Traminer, Mavrud, Melnik, Viognier and blends thereof and I picked up a bottle of a mavrud from the duty free.

I like to enjoy the relaxing feeling of having hours to do nothing at an airport, especially after such a holiday packed with travel and some stress. So it was great just to go on-line and Google and have a bite to eat and a glass or two of wine.

The flight was due to depart at 6:45 pm and the passengers were all gathered at the departure gate with ten minutes to go when I received an e-mail telling me the flight had been delayed by 50 minutes. No announcement had been made yet and the departure time on all the displays remained the same. Then, we were told the plane was ready for boarding and we all got aboard.

It was only then, when the doors were all closed that the captain told everyone about a massive storm that had hit Vienna an hour earlier and although it had now cleared, we had to wait at least half an hour to make sure before we could take off. There was also going to be a back log of flights from Vienna and a lot of passengers were anxious about connections.

After the time had passed the plane was cleared for take off and at about 7:40 pm I finally left Sofia to continue my journey home.

Vienna 

So, it was back to Vienna for a further 3 hours to while away. I am currently here at a bar that has now closed drinking Heineken. It's not great, but it is beer. Sometimes, when I'm hungry I eat MacDonald's and sometimes, when there's nothing better, I drink one of the mega breweries' beers.

The plane to Bangkok is due to leave at 23:30 pm so I'll sign off here. Most of the rest of my trip will be on the plane - two legs, the final one back to Perth, arriving Thursday morning, so I'll use this blog entry as a signing off.

Euro 2016 Summary

This trip has exceeded all expectations for me. It surpasses even Brazil, which I thought was unbeatable. I am so lucky that I had the time and opportunity to do this, and that Leb is so kind to let me go and do these sorts of things.

Final Match Summary

51 games were played in total. I went to 11 and saw all but 7 of them somewhere or other. I watched an estimated 75% of all the football played.

Here's a list of all 51 games in chronological order. Highlighted games are the ones I attended. 27% were drawn after 90 minutes and there was an average of just under 2.1 goals/game - quite a low scoring tournament.

Modal no of goals was 2

There were 5 goalless games, 13 with just one, 16 with two and 12 with three. So over 90% of games had three goals or fewer.

I gave 5 games I saw a 5 star rating.

Here they are in ascending order of my opinion of how good they were.

5th England 2 Wales 1
4th France 5 Iceland 2
3rd Hungary 3 Portugal 3
2nd France 0 Portugal 1
1st Wales 3 Belgium 1

Best 7 Days

1. Sunday, 10th July - Day of the Final

The best day was really the last day of the tournament for me. Leaving the dive of a hotel and going to Anna's to drop my bag off started the day well. Pottering around Paris' famous Eiffel tower was awe inspiring and then going to the Museum of Man gave an intellectual component. After that, I went to a great brewpub, had some nice beers whilst watching Andy Murray win Wimbledon. But the massive slab of icing on a great big juicy cake was getting a category 1 ticket to the final at less than a third of the face value price and watching the closing ceremony before watching a pulsating, dramatic final next to some interesting fans. Then, a couple of beers and back to Anna's. Thje only thing that went wrong that day was the frustration finding an ATM with cash but in a way it just added to the tension and the climax of actually getting in. Wow! What a day!

2. Thursday, 7th July - Semi Final: France 2 Germany 0

The second best day, would have to be day in Marseille I saw the semi-final. Of course watching France beat Germany in such a magnificent stadium with such an atmosphere was great but there were other great things that day too. There was the bike ride to the old port and back. Meeting Keith and Chris again and their mates, David, Graeme and Steve. Let's not underestimate wearing the beret again and walking to the stadium and the great chat I had after the match to the locals about Brexit and how I love Marseille.

=3. Wednesday, 6th July - Day in Marseille and Fan Park with Keith and Chris

There are several days that all come close after the top two, so I'll list a few as joint third. The day of the first semi-final, although disappointing because Wales lost, was full of fun too. It included my first bike ride along the coast, meeting Keith and Chris before the match and the fantastic walk up to the Bascillica to Notre Damme de Garde.

=3. Thursday, 16th June - England beat Wales and then Northern Ireland beat Ukraine

Another great day was the one spent with Gerry and Simon in Lyon. Getting to the stadium early by tram and finding Mr McGoo's cafe to watch the game was an adventure in itself. Watching England win in the last minute was brilliant and then walking to the stadium to watch Northern Ireland beat Ukraine was special.

=3. Wednesday, 22nd June - Hungary 3 Portugal 3 with Jake and Dougie

Another great day in Lyon was spent with Jake and Dougie. We watched one of the games of the tournament and certainly the most dramatic day which left England with the seemingly easy round of 16 draw with Iceland. This was followed by watching Ireland dramatically beat Italy reserves to also get the last 16.

=3. Friday, 1st July - Wales 3 Belgium 1

Another fantastic day soaking up the pre-match atmosphere in Lille followed by a walk to the ground to witness Wales' greatest football triumph, a fantastic quarter final victory against Belgium.

=3. Monday, 13th June - Cave Painting Museum, views of the Rhone, Journey to Lyon

Finally, another day I'd include was when I woke up in the car by one of France's many fantastic walled towns. The views of the valley to and from the cave painting museum were spectacular. The mad drive to Lyon to try to get there in time for the Ireland v Sweden game and then discovering The Wallace pub were all great.

Worst 3 Days

1. Friday, 24th June - UK vote to Leave EU

Despite the day being great in lots of ways - meeting Dary in Bordeaux in the morning before heading off to San Sebastian and settling in there for the first of two nights and having a good look around. The gloomy feeling induced by the UK voting to leave the EU ruined it for me.

2. Monday, 27th June - England Out to Iceland

Again, despite a lot of very nice things happening that day, like the morning in Montpellier and then driving to Nice, swimming in the Med. and seeing Italy beat Spain, the sheer gloom of watching England fail in a major tournament yet again, and especially the manner of their defeat, has to make this a bad day overall even if it was hearty warming seeing how happy the Icelanders were at the end.

3. Wednesday, 8th June - First Day Grief

My last day in Sofia and first in France was also one of the worst, although still good overall. Smoking taxi driver to Sofia airport followed by a very uncomfortable wait on the floor of Sofia airport early in the morning followed by SIM frustrations in France at Beauvais and then the terrible traffic in Paris after the fact that the trophy display was cancelled made it a bad start, but even here there was still a few good things like the wonderful trip to Orleans.

So that's it. This is Aljice, signing off. I'll try to upload more photos/videos later but no more posts.

Aljice

Vienna