It's been a while since the last update, and there are a number of reasons why. The most important being that we hit the Ukraine, where I don't get any data allowance and it would cost me a fortune to update. I've also had technical difficulties with my phone, which is where I've been blogging from, and the third is that we've been out and about far too much to be spending time blogging. However, I am aware of demand, mainly from parents, to get more information out.
So Warsaw! We arrived in good time from Gdansk; our main priority was linking from Kiev back to Warsaw later in the trip, but getting details of this journey, and booking it, had proved difficult. I mean, it's not like the two countries are hosting a major international tournament... oh wait. There was also the difficult Warsaw to L'viv leg that needed booking, and again, details were sketchy! The plan was to get as close to the Ukrainian border as possible; this was to be a town called Przemysl, then hopefully get an onwards bus or train. We ordered our tickets, but as we'd find out later, it wasn't too straight forward. The Kiev to Warsaw was apparently fully booked. If this is the case, we were are in a slight pickle, as once in Kiev, it is a race against time, with enough time to have a party in each city, to reach our flights home from Holland!
We dropped our bags of at the Hostel, had a quick shower, and headed out, in preparation for the England France game. With England taking a decent point from the France game, I was amazed at how poor Steven Gerrard really is. Although he assisted, he was poor afterwards and showed little of his club form. One thing to note on this: There are a lot of video's covering all the players at Euro 2012. The only player to appear in his club colours? Steven Gerrard, with his screamer against West Ham in the FA cup and some other good goals for the red half of Merseyside. If you think why this might be, it's because he's never done anything in an England shirt that warrants being put on the highlight reel.
The game that followed was the Ukraine vs Sweden game, the first game for the co-hosts. If you could write the script for this game, it would probably look like this: Sweden go one up, then the Ukrainian talisman, Andrei Shevchenko would bag a brace to seal a win, then be taken off with a few minutes left to a large standing ovation. Oh, wait...
It was a Monday night in Warsaw and we stumbled across a couple of nice bars, in anticipation of a quietish night. I'd disappeared to the toilet for a couple of minutes, only to come back to Hutch being chatted up by some Polish bloke. He had worked in Ireland for 3 years and the thick Irish/Polish accent was quite funny, however Cordan was our tour guide for the night and led us on a merry dance through some of Warsaw's finer night spots!
The next day in Warsaw started to resemble something from the 1940's... there was a Russian invasion as Warsaw prepared for Poland vs Russia. We ambled through the old town (probably the biggest and most beautiful so far!) through out the day, seeing the number of Russian paraphernalia of flags, shirt and painted faces rise dramatically. As kick of approached, we headed back to the Fan Zone in the centre. Firstly to see the Czech Republic Greece game, but to get a good spot for the biggest derby of the tournament so far: Russia Vs Poland!
After watching the Czech Republic resemble a football team following their 4-1 thrashing by Russia; they beat the weak Greeks in a comfortable 2-1 win, we were suddenly feeling rather compact in the fan zone. About half an hour before kick off, it kicked off. Although I couldn't understand a word, the 100,000+ fans were getting all fired up with national songs and constant pangs of 'Polska!'. The atmosphere was excellent in the build up and was strong in the start of the game. Poland scored a disallowed goal and the place errupted. Flares were lit, people were dancing; then the realisation of the assistants flag.
Russia then took the lead, the excellent Dzagoev turning in Andrey Arshavin's cross. The mood was very sombre in the fan zone. A bunch of maybe 200 russian fans were getting some steely looks from large swaths of the Polish fans.
Half time came and went, and frustration was boiling. Then a stroke of genius, Jakob Blaszczykowski, cut in from the right and riffled a shot past the flailing Malafeev. This time the goal stood and the Polish in the fan zone were going nuts. Flares again, passionate songs for 'Polska' arising.
With the final whistle, optimism rung loud from the crowds tone! The Polish were jubilant with a draw against the more illustious, former occupants Russia.
We trudged to the train station to start an undefined journey to L'viv. We found out platform and got our tickets at the ready. Half an hour to go. Wait... the dates are wrong. A frantic rush followed. Our tickets could be used, but we couldn't get a seat for the unknown journey length... and half of Poland was going to Krakow it seemed. A mad panic ensued and we threw ourselves in a carriage. After a couple of moments we were moved around a bit. Once settled we made friends with a large portion of Poland, picking up a beer in the process from a friendly chap called Peter, then unfortunately Hutch was firmly booted from the carriage. The five hour journey was probably the worst so far. Everytime we pulled into a station, the fans tumbled onto the platform, setting off fireworks in the process. Hutch found a spot in the corridor, and found some tramp around him after he snoozed for a bit. I left my seat for the toilet, only to find someone spread out across it. I decided to watch the world flow by as it was getting light, but fell asleep vertically with the window of the train as my pillow.
Eventually we hit Krakow, but had a mad dash across platforms to get the train to Przemysl. This journey was uneventful and we were able to catch up on some much needed sleep. We awoke near Przemysl and upon jumping off, had a special train that would take us into the Ukraine...
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