So here we are !

This is it. Spain vs Germany in the final. Come on Germany ! If it was not for the fact that I have 10 pounds that I will lose if Spain wins, I would have supported them.
I managed to get over to Salzburg last weekend. What an absolutely stunning town. Small easy to walk around and loads and loads of history. The Museum of Modern art is perched up on a hill at one end of Salzburg and so it makes having a drink on the terrance of the museum a quite special moment. Photos are below.

Above is the view from the museum.


On the right is a meditative Buddha.

More pics to come

Peace and love

The Cup

The European Cup came home yesterday !!! Alright maybe it was not the real one but it was an exact replica. Very heavy indeed. We used it to take a picture of the whole of the ITV team that are based in the IBC.

Of course I could not resist getting one of me holding the cup up ;)
Peace and Love

No Brainer

Have just finished watching the Netherlands vs France game...... errrrrr I think we watched the champions. The Dutch were absolutely amazing and played the game in such a way that it was such a pleasure to watch. They were immaculate. If anybody out there reading this thinks that another team will take the title and is willing to put money on it .... let me know !!!

Peace and Love

It is Beautiful....

Vienna is quite a place. The buildings are beautiful. Anywhere you look there are examples of constructions that date back hundreds of years and yet they stand out amongst the modern day architecture, holding their own in a proud and secure manner knowing that they can never again be replicated.

Peace and Love

Found it....

At last. I was looking in the wrong place by going to the museum quarter but have now found where the footballing atmosphere is to be had. I was outside St. Stephens church right in the heart of the city. As Austria are playing Poland in Vienna tonight there was a large presence of supporters and I am happy to say virtually no police !! The Poles definitely outnumbered the Austrians and were very vocal indeed. Everyone was having a great time and the opposing supporters were all shaking hands with each other and having friendly banter. Now thats what it is all about. The photos below were taken earlier when I was there. I particulary like the one with Dath Vadar holding an Ausrian flag, me, a couple of Polish fans in front of the church. Just a bit of contrast all in one photo ;) I also went to the world famous Sacher cafe to have some of their world famous torte.... Delicious :)

Peace and Love

Postcard

It is quite difficult to come to Vienna and not get a good photo. Here is an example of one I took just walking around. I quite like the tram. Looks like you are in a different era.
The photo is of a place called the Volkstheatre. I have the good fortune of having to walk past it everyday to get to the station to get to work. I believe opera is the order of the day there..... every day !


Peace and Love

Atmosphere ..... ?

Si asked what nthe atmosphere is like in Vienna. ? Well.... it does seem a little subdued. Of course there are a lot of Croatians about singing all the time but I have not seen that from supporters of any other teams.

At the match yesterday... the Austria vs Croatia game, in the stadium the atmosphere was fantastic. Clapping and chanting in unison, a whole lot of noise being generated and no waning in that for the whole match.

I went down to the museum quarter today and to be honest apart from a few posters and giant football boots you would not know that there was a tournament on !!
I managed to get to the Kunts historisches museum today. What an overwhelming place. The inside of the building takes your breath away. You certainly know that the Austrians once had a great big empire when you see that kind of thing. Did not spend long there ( had to get to work !! I am working honest :)) but saw some paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens. Rubins certainly painted them big... I mean really big !

The artist that made me smile though, was a chap called Arcimboldo. He painted still life. Mainly of vegetables and fruit in bowls and stuff like that. What's so good about it ???.... why did it make me smile.. ??? Well as nice as still life is it is pretty boring.... well in my books anyway. What Arcimboldo did was paint it in a way that if you turned your head upside down (or the painting of course !!)you would see a kind of portrait of an unusual looking person. Very clever ! Below is an example try it.
Cool Huh. This guy was painting these in the 1500's !!

Peace and Love

My First Football Match...:)

Wow.... Today I had the opportunity to go and watch my first footy match. Austria vs Croatia at the Euros in Vienna !! The very nice people at ITV gave me one of their observer tickets which means that I got to sit amongst commentators and other footballing luminaries. The atmosphere was ..... loud !! I took a few photos. I am posting 3 of them. The photos of the chap sleeping by a tree is of an Austrian supporter who was there before the game ..... asleep !! He was also there after the game..... asleep. Except after the game we noticed he had put his shoes back on..... must have got a bit chilly..... bless :))) He was probably the only Austrian supporter who enjoyed the game as he would have been blissfully unaware that his team lost 1 - 0. That too right outside the ground. Hehehee. Classic !!! The other photo is of me with the highly rated BBC presenter called Adrian Chiles.

































Peace and Love :))