Eurocup 2008

So, for those of you who follow soccer, Vienna hosted the 2008 European Football Championship in June. Yeah, I know it's almost August....give me a break. I've been busy swooning Ruth Bader Ginsburg (don't worry, Linz is totally cool with it....and if you don't get the joke, then you need to read our blog more often). Anyway, as I was saying/writing/composing, Vienna just finished hosting the Eurocup. It was pretty incredible...especially since I'm one of like three Americans who loves soccer (which from here on out will be referred to as football....cause I am like sooo totally European now.....and apparently a valley girl). I have lots of pics and a few videos...and they all pretty much speak for themselves. But....since I speak more better, I be translating for them. And I shall use the motif of "awesome."

So....let the awesomeness commence!



Inside the Fanzone is pure craziness. It is (or I guess I should say was) always jam-packed. Here, we have a picture of the awesome jam-packiness to which I refer....
Here's a good picture of the Rathaus during the Eurocup. This is the building we live beside...so yeah, we were right in the thick of things. So when the game was over (any game), whoever won would come right past our building yelling and screaming...sometimes till 2 in the morning. We got to the point where we really really despised the Turks....they kept pulling out these amazing victories (but I think they paid off the refs) and they would go CRAZY. Personally, I think the team was full of dirty players.....and their fans were dirty too (in more ways than one). They were NOT awesome.

And here we have a gentleman wearing lederhosen....pure Austrian awesomeness.

This guy right here /\ Seriously....leather shorts?

Ok, now this thing was WICKED awesome (or wicked hardcore for you Bostonians)...it was a life-size fussball table. They used these giant bears, and one person would control each line of men/bears with a giant wheel. It was quite a workout, but a lot of fun.

And this....well this is just pretty....














Anyway, our first night in the Fanzone was for the Germany-Poland game. I was rooting for Poland...for no other reason than to tick off our friend Carolyn, who is German. Here we are.
and check out Cory on the right...not sure what's going on there. He's probably dumbfounded by the awesomeness of our fuzzy hats.


Well, during halftime of this game, we (Linz, Carolyn, Jeff, and I) decided to check out the Fanzone store. We were in there for maybe 10 minutes and it started to rain. And not like a little drizzle....no, it was like a hurricane coming through Vienna. We tried to wait it out, but it got to be about 2230. And as it was a Sunday night, we had to get home cause we had to work the next day. So we decided to suck it up and sprint home. Well, I ran for about 10 seconds before I realized that 1) we were too far away from home, 2) the rain was coming down too hard, and 3) I was WAY too out of shape to run. And luckily I was able to convince everyone else of the first two points, thus successfully covering up my wussiness. So we kinda just jogged home. And here's the end result....rain-soaked awesomeness.







Oh yeah, and here's a pic from within the Fanzone store. This is Linz and Carolyn posing with the 2008 Eurocup mascots. I don't know if they had names, but I call them Hot Rod and Cool Todd, members of Team Awesome!!


And I'm not ashamed to admit that it took me a while to realize that their jersey numbers represent the year of the tournament....20 & 08. Yeah, I'm not very perceptive.


For those who know me, you know that when it comes to football (remember, we're taking European football here) there's really only one team I route for....Italy. I have been obsessed with Italy for years. And my love of Italy became complete when I went to Rome in 2005 for my first TDY (that stands for Temporary Duty...in case you don't know). So being able to watch Italy in this tournament surrounded by other fans (who actually were Italian....I didn't really blend too well) was....well, you might say it was awesome. Unfortunately, Italy didn't make it too far....not even to the quarterfinals. They were knocked out by Spain (who actually won the whole thing...so at least we lost to the champions). Anyway, here's a couple of pics/vids of us sporting our Italian gear (Linz had to borrow one of my jerseys).

Blond Italian Beauty

Linz, Andrew, and I. Andrew actually is Italian......but whatever, my jersey is cooler.

Well, this post is ridiculously long, and I'm getting tired of working on it. So here are some other pics. These are all from the Austria-Germany game. Yeah, that was a big one. Austria REALLY doesn't like Germany for some reason. It may have something to do with that whole annexation thing....who knows. Anyway, as I said above, our friend Carolyn is German, and we were rooting for Austria (cause hey, we live here now)....so there was some MAD trash talk going on. You might even say it was awesome. Actually I don't know if you'd say that...I mean, I'd say that, but I don't know if you would. I guess you wouldn't...cause you're not awesome like me.

And one last video to show you what happens during the celebrations. As I say in the video, this is what happened when Austria TIED a game...they didn't even win. Yeah, they were the underdogs of the tournament....so it was a big deal. But you see, in real life, the underdog doesn't win. That's right kids, if someone is bigger, faster, and stronger than you, throw in the towel...cause you have no hope. Forget what you see in the movies...life doesn't work like that.

I keed, I keed. Anyway, here's the vid, and that's all I have. Peace.

Sun Bathing Beauty

Ahhh...Duchess has such a rough life!

Budapest, Hungary

Here is a blog that is long overdue! Ryan's friend Michael, from college, and his lady friend, Deanna, came to visit us a few weeks ago and we all took a weekend trip to Budapest. Our hotel/apartment was conveniently located by clubs and topless bars...so we got to see an interesting side of Budapest. There are many beautiful things about Budapest, but due to our hotel location, we were not so impressed. You see, living in Vienna has spoiled us. This city is immaculate and all others pale in comparison!

We had some good eats on the Pest side, but the Buda side is where the castle, cave church and famous thermal baths are located. These Europeans sure do love their thermal/mineral baths! The baths are actually called Turkish baths, which are a reminder of the many Turkish invasions in Budapest's history. 

View from one side of the castle

Michael and Deanna

Part of Castle Hill from the river, 

it is now a museum

"I'm not touching you..."

Parliament, one of the most beautiful 

buildings on the Pest side

Silly monkeys

View of the other side of the castle

ROAR!

Szechenyi Chain Bridge, the first permanent

 bridge across the Danube in Hungary

 Cave Church

Sanctuary (it smelled kind of funky in there)

St. Stephan's Basilica, where the Holy Right Hand of the founder of Hungary, King Saint Stephan is on display

Margaret Island is a 2.5km island that is in the middle of the Danube. The island was dominated by nunneries, churches, and monestaries until the 16th century. It gets its name from Margaret, the daughter of Bela IV, who spent her whole life on the island. She is known as Saint Margaret.

The Centennial Memorial, commemorates the hundredth 

anniversary of the city's unification

Ruins and me video taping

13th century ruins of the Franciscan church

Ruins of Convent of Blessed Virgin

Restored Church, it was destroyed and reconstructed using all of the original materials gathered after the blast

Japanese Garden

Heroe's Square

Vajdahunyad Castle

Ryan hugging creepy statue man

Fancy Turkish Bath

Hahahaha, doggie and balloons...

don't fly away

River Cruise at night

Chain Bridge

Buda Castle

Parliament

Mind-Bender Movie Night

so, tonight Linz had a work thing to do and I was stuck at home by my lonesome. it's been raining all day, so going outside for a bike ride or something was out of the question. I was going to use this time to catch up on some much needed video game playing, but I ordered some new movies that arrived today....so it seemed like a good time to check them out. So I watched two mind-bending movies tonight (hence the title of the post). There's no rhyme or reason for this posting...just wanted to share these movies with you.

I'll start with the second movie I watched...The Nines starring Ryan Reynolds (that's right! Van Wilder). I've been curious about this movie ever since I saw the preview for it. It's a movie consisting of three parts, and it shows the relationship between an actor, a writer, and a video game designer. I can't really say much more without giving something away, but it was pretty interesting....especially the more I sit and think about it. Definitely has some religious undertones to it.....and actually, the more I think about it, it may be a reflection of Mormonism. Anyway, I think it's worth a watch. And this leads (back) to......

The first movie I watched tonight....Primer. Have you ever watched a movie that blew your mind? Well, this one blew my mind, pieced it back together, and then made it cave in....9 times. It's all sorts of brain candy. (and for those who have seen it...yes, the last sentence of the previous paragraph was done on purpose. unfortunately, that's the most clever thing I could come up with.....leave me alone). The most I can tell you about this movie is that it's about time travel. It's probably the MOST realistic time travel movie I've ever seen (and that statement, in and of itself, is a paradox). Think "Back to the Future" if written by Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking while on crack. So, yeah....kudos to the writer of the movie....who also produced, directed, edited, did the score for, and was the lead actor in it. (He's a bit of an overachiever.) This is NOT a movie for those with no attention span (yeah, I'm calling you out Kevin Greene). This movie is a thinker. In fact, this one just flat out makes your brain hurt. Let me give you a taste....here are two of my favorite lines...."Are you hungry? I haven't eaten since later this afternoon" and (probably my favorite), "What's worse, thinking you're being paranoid or knowing you should be?" Yeah...chew on that for a little while. And yes, I'm a dork. I don't care......cause you're stupid. But if you watch it, I guarantee you'll ask yourself, "what in the world just happened?" And you should. I got the basic premise of the movie upon first viewing...but in no way did I fully comprehend everything I had just seen. This is definitely one that will require multiple, multiple viewings.

So yeah...that's all I have. Now I'm going to go to bed....or at least lay down until my brain melts.

Aufwiedersehen PYL!

Our friend Pui-Yung left post last week. We are sad that she's gone...no more Pui-Yung nights! Here is a post dedicated to her. We will miss you PYL!