I decided last night to not take a sleeping pill with the hope my body and brain were adjusting to the new time zone. In total, I think I got about 2 1/2 hours sleep. Oh well, I should have a great sleep tonight? My usual routine upon getting up in the early morning is to eat my bowl of fruit on the outdoor balcony. Another beautiful blue sky start to the day. Lana and I did FaceTime this morning to catch up and with the fact she would be leaving Thursday morning (Denmark is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver) for the airport and her flights to Toronto and then on to Copenhagen like I did last Saturday.
Got my soccer gear into both bags; backpack and my Bayern Munich bag. I need a separate bag for my soccer boots, soccer socks, shin guards and a fresh shirt to wear between games as my game shirt gets sweaty and stinky. I specifically selected an Airbnb with a washer and dryer for the simple fact I need to wash my soccer stuff each night.
I arrived at Copenhagen main train station earlier as I was hoping to catch the 8:12 am train to Roskilde. No luck as when I got to the platform in plenty of time I learned it was cancelled. Now a little bit of concern that the usual 8:38 am train may be cancelled as well thus I have no way of getting there on time. Yes, my train will be on time and at track #7. I find a great seat on the top deck and it is an uneventful trip to Roskilde. While on the train I had my ticket checked for only the second time. In Copenhagen and surrounding areas it is an honour system when entering the train system. There is no physical barrier to arriving and departing the subway or train system.
As I do today's blog at 20:00 it has been a long day given I left for the train before 08:00. For today my Garmin smart watch shows over 24,000 steps and about 8 kms of running total for both soccer matches. We did not fare very well today in the tournament. We played England FC at 10:00 and lost 0-1 on a goal whereby our goalie made a mistake on distribution and they put the ball in our net. It was pretty cool for me to play against the England team. After the game a number of their players came by to congratulate me on my skill so that was pretty encouraging.
We had a lot of time between our first game and our second game scheduled for 15:00. No problem as it went by fairly quickly. I went for lunch with Bill and he bought me a hot dog and bottle of water given I did his soccer laundry last night. We had a good chat and picked a seat in the stadium to stay out of the direct sun. Then we hooked up with a couple of our teammates; Harold and Brig. I bought a huge piece of chocolate cake to be my treat. Brig then invited the three of us back to his hotel room located in the centre of Roskilde. While it was very warm and long walk to the Zleep Hotel it was worth it. The hotel is located on a pedestrian mall so that was very interesting. He was in a comfortable room and we all shared some insights into our families and children. Good to be out of the sun and the bonding involved in sharing stories. I sure felt much better about my own family situation given these guys were facing challenges with their adult children. I do not face any challenges.
Pedestrian Mall in the middle of Roskilde.
Long walk back to our field which unlike our first three games which were on artificial turf this field was grass and terrible. Bumpy, on a tilt, hard packed and just no good roll on the ball. Plus, you needed to control the ball first before trying to make a play. We played Connecticut in the quarterfinals and lost 0-3 although it was a 0-1 game for most of the affair. They were easily the superior team though. Lots of talent, great passing and ball control. For both games today we were outmatched by superior squads. The fact that we have at least six players on our team that are not very good or in some cases just bad it was difficult to get sustained pressure.
I decided at the conclusion of the game that I would not play either of the games tomorrow. It is meaningless to me finishing between 5th and 8th in the 14 team tournament. Plus, with Lana flying into Copenhagen in the late morning I wanted to be around for her arrival. I explained this to our organizer, Richard Burton, and he was very understanding. Gives more playing time for the weaker players as I have played full games each day. I am tired, but eager to get back to the Airbnb apartment and do the laundry and finally have something to eat. I am certainly hungry!
I did not arrive back at the apartment until around 18:30 so it was a long day. The train back to Copenhagen stopped on a number of occasions. I was riding the train with Bill and Harold. More good conversations and company of course. For dinner I had my buns with a pate, some cold cuts and some of the cheese I bought on day one. Plus, finally opened the bottle of Finca Las Moras Rosado Dulce 2021 from Argentina. Pretty tasty being on the sweeter side of a Rosé. Grapes are Syrah. It actually paired pretty good with what I was eating! I enjoyed my meal outside on the balcony. Again, very quiet out there and food and wine taste better outdoors!
Texting with Lana since I was on the train as she was now at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) getting ready for the first leg of her flight to Toronto and then onto Copenhagen like I did starting Saturday. As I am creating this blog I just notice at 20:40 that my texts are not being sent to Lana's cellphone so it may be that now we cannot connect via text? I did ask her to try email when she arrives tomorrow as our texting may not work anymore. In terms of weather in Copenhagen the clouds have been forming since the afternoon as the forecast for tomorrow is rain.When I got back to the apartment I opened the sliding doors as wide as possible to encourage the cooler night air to do its magic at lowering the temperature in the apartment.
I asked both Bill and Harold which Copenhagen destinations they would recommend given Lana was coming to town and they may seen stuff I have not seen as yet:
I will put them on the list for potential destinations for the two full days Lana is in Copenhagen being Saturday and Sunday. By the time she lands Friday and then makes her way to the apartment and with her jet lag we may not get much done on Friday together. It is closing in on 21:00 and I am super tired which is no surprise given the lack of sleep overlaid with another active day on the soccer fields and walking.
I need to wait for the clothes to dry otherwise the dryer just keeps going. I am super tired and can barely keep my eyes open. I am thinking this is the night I may get a decent sleep. Watching a Norwegian documentary on Netflix Nordfor Sola "North of the Sun" about two young Norwegian guys who find a beach north of the Arctic Circle to surf daily and live on the remote beach. This occurs during a frigid winter and involves some snowboarding and para-gliding. Pretty cool documentary. Clothes are dry and sorted. Time for me to head to bed at 22:30.
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