France, c'est pres de fin
Well, it's our last day in France for a while. I woke up at like 5 am this morning and got all nostalgic for Rice for a while, but I think I'm over it for the time being.
My first real Champions' League game Wednesday was pretty great. Our seats, having been bought at the last minute, were almost on top of the field. This is a bad thing in European soccer, especially when your seats are below the advertising boards, so you have to kind of peer up and over the whole time. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, kind of like you're playing in the game. We were close enough that after the whole stadium had used these big rolls of colored paper as flashcards and the time comes to ball them up and throw them toward the field, mine actually made it on the field. Silly French can't throw.
We were in the corner next to the Olympiacos fans, which was pretty crazy. Melissa, you can be proud, the Greeks were loud and boisterous (and drunk) the whole way. Lyonnais scored on a free kick four minutes in, which I capture on video on my camera, and continued to dominate the half, quieting the Olympiacos faithful. But the Greeks played better in the second half. As Lyonnais tried to wrap the game up late, they had a goal disallowed for offside. So the Olympiacos fans started taunting all the others, who responded in kind. A few things got thrown, and the riot police had a little work to do. Then Olympiacos scored to tie the game, a really great chip from 25 yards, and their section went berserk. Ours just went nuts holding up the middle finger. Predictably, however, the thrown stuff (plastic bottles, coins, whatever) increased, and the riot police sent a squadron between the Greek fans and our section. We were sort of preoccupied by the stuff being thrown at us, but I looked up in time to see Lyonnais score the winner right in front of us in almost the last minute. Then we were going crazy, especially antagonizing the Olympiakos fans. Joe and I moved up a couple rows to relative safety to finish out the match. Really a great time.
Yesterday was much more chill. We walked around Old Lyon and saw Roman theater ruins and the Basilica de Notre Dame here. Very gold-plated, ornate, and iconic for a Catholic church. Built beginning in 1871 after the virgin supposedly kept the Prussian forces from routing Lyon. We tried to check out their natural history museum later in the day, but it was incredibly lame. Lunch and dinner were both excellent, as Lyon is known for its food.
Next stop: Saturday, Florence, Italy (with Megan Batchelor)
Next game: Sunday, Serie A, Fiorentina v. Parma
My first real Champions' League game Wednesday was pretty great. Our seats, having been bought at the last minute, were almost on top of the field. This is a bad thing in European soccer, especially when your seats are below the advertising boards, so you have to kind of peer up and over the whole time. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, kind of like you're playing in the game. We were close enough that after the whole stadium had used these big rolls of colored paper as flashcards and the time comes to ball them up and throw them toward the field, mine actually made it on the field. Silly French can't throw.
We were in the corner next to the Olympiacos fans, which was pretty crazy. Melissa, you can be proud, the Greeks were loud and boisterous (and drunk) the whole way. Lyonnais scored on a free kick four minutes in, which I capture on video on my camera, and continued to dominate the half, quieting the Olympiacos faithful. But the Greeks played better in the second half. As Lyonnais tried to wrap the game up late, they had a goal disallowed for offside. So the Olympiacos fans started taunting all the others, who responded in kind. A few things got thrown, and the riot police had a little work to do. Then Olympiacos scored to tie the game, a really great chip from 25 yards, and their section went berserk. Ours just went nuts holding up the middle finger. Predictably, however, the thrown stuff (plastic bottles, coins, whatever) increased, and the riot police sent a squadron between the Greek fans and our section. We were sort of preoccupied by the stuff being thrown at us, but I looked up in time to see Lyonnais score the winner right in front of us in almost the last minute. Then we were going crazy, especially antagonizing the Olympiakos fans. Joe and I moved up a couple rows to relative safety to finish out the match. Really a great time.
Yesterday was much more chill. We walked around Old Lyon and saw Roman theater ruins and the Basilica de Notre Dame here. Very gold-plated, ornate, and iconic for a Catholic church. Built beginning in 1871 after the virgin supposedly kept the Prussian forces from routing Lyon. We tried to check out their natural history museum later in the day, but it was incredibly lame. Lunch and dinner were both excellent, as Lyon is known for its food.
Next stop: Saturday, Florence, Italy (with Megan Batchelor)
Next game: Sunday, Serie A, Fiorentina v. Parma
posted by Jon at
05:08
2 Comments:
Ah...the real football!
Dad
By
Anonymous, at 5:48 AM
looks as if you went to a cheering match and a soccer game broke out! Lots of fun. I presume you are proud of the Astros! Love Mom
By
Anonymous, at 8:25 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home