Wigs and Beer... Nice.

Our last week in Copenhagen was relaxing. Jerome, a friend of mine showed Jeff and I around the city. It was great to catch up with him and we had some great views from the top of the Round Tower. On Thursday, I cooked breakfast for the family we stayed with and some teammates because the Danes don't really have pancakes and French toast like we do. I used to make my teammates breakfast before school sometimes last year. The last time I made them pancakes from scratch they tasted like biscuits (not that they knew the difference), but I was glad to redeem my cooking rep! Jeff and I then made dinner for my assistant coach's family and chocolate chip cookies to go along with Galliano shots, another tradition.



Last year we had a pink wig that got passed around on nights out, which is now in pretty ratty condition. Since we were planning on going out on Friday night, we made it mandatory to bring a new wig (or pirate hat in Jeff's case). Christian, a Danish friend from UO met up with us too. It was a crazy night that resulted in 110 pictures, so I will be sure to post some pictures when we get computer access!



On our way to Prague, just before our train got to the Hamburg stop, a man started crying hysterically and yelling "God help me!" and that someone had put something in his coffee. Then he got off without any luggage. We were a bit sketched out and thought he might have been trying to bomb the train so we figured we'd rather be safe than sorry and get off the train. We even told the police about the incident. As far as I know, there weren't any bombings that day, but it turned out to be a great decision! We were in Hamburg for Germany's 4-0 blowout of Argentina! The streets went crazy and we went out with some Brits and Australians that night. The game ended in the late afternoon, but they were honking their horns and yelling the whole night!



Every once in a while the streets would go quiet and then one person would blare their horn and they would fire back up for another hour!

We moved on to Prague, which was the first place new to me on our trip! As I wrote on a friends's postcard today, it's awesome for three reasons: 1) beautiful archictecture, 2) interesting history, and MOST IMPORTANTLY 3) cheap beer. The Wallenstein Garden in Prague had an unusual collection of stalactites in an open courtyard; I have never seen them outside of a cave. There is also an extremely old astronomical clock that does a heck of a lot more than tell time. It gives the astrological time of year, how long it's been since sunset, the sun's position in the sky, and all sorts of other things. The locals say that it's Europe's most disappointing tourist attraction (the clock's movements are underwhelming), but we actually thought it was quite interesting. Still, all the parts were confusing... I think I'll stick with digital.




Also, when Russia tried to invade Prague they planned to do it at midnight, when all the Czechs turn off their radios. Well, Russia was on daylight savings time and it was actually only 11pm in Prague so they had not gone to sleep yet. Word spread that the Russians were coming and all the Czechs removed all the street signs besides the ones directing the Russians back to Moscow! Apparently the Russians got quite confused and it at least delayed their attack til morning. I thought it showed a pretty good sense of humor in stressful times.

We got caught in the rain on our walking tour and the guide was offering umbrellas... I felt that as an Oregonian, I should defer them to the less-adapted Europeans. I also happened to run into a friend from USF, which was crazy.



Our first day here, we went to watch a friend from home play in the World Ultimate Frisbee Club Clampionships... yes, they exist. I had no idea it had such a big following and the tournament was in a stadium built for communist military parades/rallies.



Next, we are moving on to Heidelberg for our first couch surfing experience and then visiting a few friends from graduate school (one who is interning at Adidas and also a German girl who is also named Lisa)!