RHIAN SOCCER  REPORTS

 

POSTCARD 4 - LETTERS FROM A CANADA FAN.

Tuesday 5th July 2011 - 8th July Dresden and Munich

 

Wednesday  6^th July 2011

 

We spoke to Rhian last night, and again this morning, and she went to bed early and is completely devastated.  She is off today on a three day trip with D and KK and they can try to ease each others’ pain.. They aim to get away from soccer for a few days. For ourselves, we said our goodbyes to the team, to the Mathesons and to the Tancredis in the hotel dining room. We are all slowly wending our ways home.

Jill and I have another day in Dresden, so this morning we ventured north of the Elbe by tram;  then wandered around the narrow streets.

 

We had a coffee on Hauptstrasse and watched the (German) world go by. Then we walked down Albertstrasse to enjoy the view of old Dresden across the river. The sun is out today, so the steam tourist ships are doing a brisk trade. We walked back across the bridge and took lunch at a German restaurant on Altmarket. In the sun and warmth. It is hard to believe that we shall be back in Canada in a few days time.

 

 

We did a tad more shopping and I realize that I have not yet mentioned how impressed I am with German toilets. They are all invariably clean, well-maintained and equipped with soap, hot water and towels. What a difference to Toronto and Montreal.

 

We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon to prepare for another early morning start for the train to Nuremburg and Munich. We  cannot reserve seats so we must be there early to fight for a place. Then we are reserved from Nuremburg to Munchen. We have the afternoon and next morning there, so we are looking forward to staying in the five star Eurostar grand central hotel we have booked. It is the last stop before we fly to Toronto. We want to keep our mind off soccer.

 

Thursday  7^th July 2011

 

We walked into Munich and ate lunch, bratwurst and beer,  at the Augustus Munchen  beer garden.  Wonderful, but it’s not a diet I could maintain for very long.  We walked the pounds off tracing a course through the old city. It was interesting to see a couple of Third Reich buildings. The Americans destroyed most of these, but two remain standing. Off  then to Marionstrasse and through the shopping district. By the time we walked back to the hotel we were exhausted.

 

 

We took advantage of the hotel’s indoor pool and warmed up in the sun on the roof deck. All we could muster was an elevator ride to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

 

Friday 8^th July 2011

 

Mid morning we took the train to the airport ad caught our flights home.

Munich is quite an airport.

 

 

 It was the end of a memorable and enjoyable vacation, marred by the soccer experience of our National Team. They are young enough to bounce back. They climbed quite a pinnacle to reach FIFA top ten status and now they will have to push their way back up to the top. This time though, they need to make sure that they roll the boulder up, and then down the other side. They cannot afford Sisyphus-like to let it roll back over them.