I am pretty content this morning as I went to bed around 22:30 and got up at 06:30 having about seven hours sleep! Yeh! It is a cloudy morning at 18 degrees Celsius with a high predicted in the mid-20s and maybe some rain in the early evening. Lana arrives via Air Canada around 11:00 and scored an upgrade for her connecting flight from Toronto to Copenhagen. She has a window pod seat thus will be able to sleep pretty much all the way over the Atlantic. I am pretty excited that she is joining me and she is now beginning her vacation. The plan is for a couple of days together in Copenhagen in our Airbnb apartment and then a Lufthansa flight Monday morning to Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland.
My usual bowl of fruit outside on the balcony enjoying the views, birds singing and the fresh air. I have the sliding doors wide open to get as much cool morning air into the apartment as possible. Earlier this morning I decided to email my soccer buddies and other friends with the tournament and my team's progress so this is a copy for the blog:
It is around 7 am in Copenhagen as I begin to comprise this email. About 18 degrees Celsius and cloudy. I have been here since Sunday late morning. I am staying in an Airbnb apartment in the Østerbro neighbourhood of Copenhagen.
Most of you know I came over to play for a tournament team called West Coast United in the Over70 World Cup. https://worldcup70plus.dk
A player from San Francisco called me many months ago to recruit me to play as one of the under-agers allowed for each team. You can have up to four players that are either 68 or 69 but only two can play on the field at the same time. Given I am 68 there is an advantage of competing against guys in their 70s. There are fourteen teams in the over70 bracket with many from Scandinavia. A team from England, Wales and Deutschland. Five teams from the USA and no teams from Canada.
I decided to come for the competition and match myself against the Europeans. Plus, Lana joining me later today so we can begin our Deutschland vacation on Monday by flying into Frankfurt via Lufthansa.
My summary of my experience and our team:
- we were in a group of four teams and the top two teams make it to the championship single knockout round
- you play all the teams in your group with two games Wednesday and a third game Thursday morning
- three points for a win and one point for a tie just like the real World Cup
- some fields artificial turf and other fields very crappy and grass covered
- regular sized soccer fields and 11 players per side on the field
- I was the only Canadian playing
- regrettably, we had about six players from a Seattle Reign team who were terrible and you can only be as strong as your weak link unless you can somehow get them to elevate their play or cover up for them
- I played centre midfield during the tournament
- weather during the first two days was hot and unrelenting sun
- on day one we beat both teams 1-0 and I had the primary assist on both goals from our lone decent striker from the San Fran Bay Area
- we beat a team from Georgia, USA and second game beat a Danish team on artificial turf
- referees were typically terrible and always Danes
- we played England FC on Thursday morning and lost 0-1 from a goal where our goalie tried to throw it up the field, but didn’t and they kicked the ball over his head into the net
- the English were wearing their usual white uniforms and were very physical and technically gifted
- England were first place in our group and we then finished second
- from a personal view point each of the teams came up after the games to congratulate me on being the best player although I am the younger of all the players and there wasn’t much talent around me on West Coast United (good for the ego though)
- Thursday afternoon we played Connecticut in the quarter finals and eventually lost 3-0, but most of the game it was 1-0
- they were a much more skillful team with four players from the famous Freddy Fund tournament team and one guy who was an ex- Brazilian national player in his youth
- this game played on one of the worst grass fields I have ever encountered
- our tournament team for certain over achieved on Wednesday
- I told our coach after the game I would not play in the Friday games as Lana is flying into Copenhagen later this morning and I wanted to be here when she arrived and I don’t want to play games for 5th to 8th place
- overall, I was impressed with the technical abilities of many of these over 70 players and some of them can still run at a decent pace
- even being over70 most players are still uber competitive
- I got to watch the Deutschland team playing and of course was supporting their efforts and got to converse with a few of them
- I really wanted to play against them, but that did not happen
- got to make friends with some of our West Coast United teammates from the San Fran bay area and Palo Alto area so that was very cool and I am certain we will play together in other tournaments in the future
- for certain it was worth the effort, money and time to be here in Copenhagen for the World Cup
- the tournament was well organized and even got a lot of press in the local newspapers
- pretty good for a bunch of old farts
- the food at the venue was pretty good as well
- the actual tournament was in Roskilde so it was quite a trip from Copenhagen out to Roskilde involving taking the subway to the Copenhagen main train station and then the train out to Roskilde and about a twelve minute walk to the soccer/football fields and in total about 90 minutes each way
- by the way I figure almost every Dane speaks excellent English
- Denmark uses the Kroner, but everyone takes credit cards so need to get their currency
- the Danes are very friendly and considerate and their small country is beautiful
- incredible cycling culture in this country
- the average Dane hates the Swedes
So I made the decision to not play in either of the soccer games today. I will await Lana's arrival to the apartment probably just after 12 noon. I can just take it easy and rest. My right achilles tendon for some reason is really sore. Yup, I am getting older. ;-)
I do have gratitude for the fact that at my age I can still play a competitive team sport that I love.
I am checking Copenhagen airport flight arrivals and noted AC828 flight is delayed arrival to 11:24 from 11:00 original expected time. Good news is that today's forecast is now for more sun, less cloud and maybe no rain until later in the night. More good news in that if I leave my data on then I can text back and forth with Lana. I met her at the M3 station Poul Henningsens Plads rear entrance so she avoided the complicated process to get into our Airbnb apartment. When I arrive at the top of the up escalator Lana is almost there. Talk about magical timing! She got some sleep on the plane, plus had breakfast on the plane courtesy of her business class seating.
It is fantastic to see her again and we have a big hug. Up the stairwell to the street and back to our apartment. Drop her luggage and downstairs in the elevator to the grocery store just below us. We bought some carbonated water, fruit, buns and cold cuts. While I made my lunch in the apartment Lana went to the loft bedroom, connected the a/c hose outside and got a well deserved nap.
I bought a couple of pastries here with Lana as it is right across the street from where we are staying.
One pastry I purchased looks like a sand dollar and has an apple cinnamon filling. It was delicious, but I cannot figure out its name? Anyone Danish know what this is called?
Lana is super tired and decides to go upstairs to the loft bedroom and have a nap. In addition, she opens the hatch and puts the air conditioning tube outside. She will need the a/c to run to cool off the loft and we hope the rest of the apartment as it is a muggy day inside and outside. She easily falls asleep and doesn't awake for about 2 1/2 hours! I ate my bun with a paté and cheese plus one of my yummy pastries!
When she awakens around 16:00, we both decide it is time to get in the M3 and head downtown. I realize my five day Metro card pass has expired, but forget to buy a subway ticket. Lana purchased a three day City Small Pass which will cover her until we leave Monday for the airport. We have some maps and I have my earlier walking and bike tours to help navigate. We decide to get out at the Gammel Strand Metro station as that is central to the major tourist destinations. Lana is keen to see the Christiansberg Palace (Danish Parliament building) where the Netflix series Borgen was filmed in so many scenes. Very hot and muggy as the sun is beating down. Plus, the Royal Library garden was filmed many times when the main character was having outdoor meetings with various politicians. It is a beautiful and hidden place regardless. Lana using her Google Maps app on her iPhone to help us navigate with confidence.
Next destination is the Rosenborg Castle. Quite a walk from the gardens, but we find some interesting places and long walking pedestrian streets surrounding this area. The old Castle is surrounded by the Kings Garden. This is a gigantic park with lots of lawns, hedges, walking paths, trees and has a feel like New York's Central Park. There are so many people enjoying the park! Tons of 20 somethings sitting on the grass in large groups. Maybe there is a university near the park? Very serene setting in the middle of the city. We walked towards the castle itself and found a bench in the shade to just relax and enjoy the ambience. Two guys and a girl sitting near us chatting and then got up to throw a small 'device' that had a plastic disc at one end and a rigid straight net. Looked interesting, but they did not know what is was called. Fortunately, there is a good breeze that makes it more tolerable to be outside.
Example of the many different types of bikes in this country.
Lana entered a store and discovered it is like an IKEA one way store! She didn't find what she was looking for.
We now want to find a restaurant nearby for dinner as it is closing on 18:00. Lana goes onto Google to look for "restaurants nearby" and then filter by ratings. Find one place, but it is closed. What the heck - it is Friday night. We head to Pincho Nation as it looks interesting with small appetizer type dishes and many drink choices. The staff wear Circus outfits and the decor is eclectic. We get a table 'outside' which it is, but it is in a courtyard within the building. Better that as it is not outside in what is another super busy pedestrian mall.
Pretty cool business model with the fact the customer must load an app on their cellphone in order to make your food and drink order. When your drink order is ready they text you and you go pick up your drinks. When the food is ready they bring it to your table. Also, at the conclusion you access their app to make your payment via credit card. The seating area was appreciated being outdoors yet away from the busy pedestrian mall.
White Sangria on the left and Lana ordered the Strawberry Rhubarb Mojito. This is by far the smallest Sangria I have ever seen!!! Within about five sips it was finished.
Liquorice gelato. Who knew? We have a Danish friend in Vancouver who loves anything that is licorice and we were thinking of him. At this small place in the mall I ordered a lemon gelato in a waffle cone and it was pretty decent. Again, everything here to be purchased is automatically assumed you are using your credit card.
We find our original M3 subway station and back underground for the quick trip to our apartment. The temperature is perfect now. We both got a lot of steps in today with myself around 12,700 steps and I didn't do much. Our apartment is fairly warm, but we opened all the blinds and that helped cool it down. Around 21:00 the predicted rains came and within about 15 minutes the rain was finished. At the same time we received an email from our real estate agent that we received an offer on our penthouse apartment! Pretty exciting. On the phone with our agent to discuss a counter-offer and initiate that. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it works out for both seller and buyer.
Time to go to bed and we hope we have some good news re our apartment sale when we awake.
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