First Day of Games

Today the tournament officially started.  This morning we had a quick skate to help get the legs loose.  While on the ice we had a little relay race - the referee's vs the linesman.  I'm happy to report that the linesman won this round!  After our skate we had breakfast prior to our meeting.  I was pretty psyched to see they had hard boiled eggs - it makes me feel like I'm at home.  After breakfast we had our meeting where we reviewed some of the rules as well as went over the schedule.  During the meeting we also received some of our equipment.  At the higher level tournaments, the IIHF supplies you with equipment and clothing.  At this tournament we received a helmet and visor as well as a jersey. We are also supposed to be getting a track suit and coat but apparently all of that stuff is being held up at customs in Prague. This may sound great but unfortunately none of the equipment fits!  The jersey I got looks like a dress on me and the helmet doesn't fit my head well.  I brought all of my own stuff, however because of sponsorship rules I have to wear the helmet they provided (CCM is the sponsor and I have a Bauer).  I was able at least cover the logo on my own jersey and wear that - if I had to wear the jersey they provided I would have looked ridiculous!  I also had to cover the logo on my pants (Bauer) since they aren't one of the sponsors.  Apparently the same rules apply for the teams and they can be fined huge amounts if they wear any unapproved logos.  Who would have thought they would be so strict on that stuff!

The other thing that happened at the meeting was we got our money for the week.  At these tournaments you are supposed to get half of the money in Swiss Francs and the other half in the local currency, however here they gave us everything in Swiss Francs.  This presents a little bit of a problem because all of the banks are closed because of the holidays and I have no Czech Koruna.  I'm hoping the banks are open on Monday so I can get some cash!  Most places take credit card but I definitely could use some cash so I can buy little things like Diet Coke - I think I'm going through withdraw right now!

There were 4 games today - two in Zlin and two in Prerov.  I was assigned the first game in Prerov, Canada vs. Switzerland with Malin from Sweden and Michaela from the Czech Republic (I'll do a post on all of the officials later).  I was expecting a blow out so I was really surprised when the first period ended and the score was 2-1.  I think the Canadians were a bit surprised as well with how much of a fight the Swiss put up because after the 1st period they came out flying.  The final score ended up being 13-1 and the shots were 72-26.  It is sometimes tough to stay focused in a game like that but I think as a crew did a good job overall.  It certainly helped that we were in front of a big, animated crowd.  The arena in Prerov holds approximately 3000 people.  The official attendance on the scoresheet was 1400 but I think there was probably closer to 1800 people - the building was definitely more than half full. 

After the game Malin and I showered and came back to the hotel to have a late (4:30) lunch. Michaela had to stay in Prerov because she was the standby linesman for the next game.  The arena here in Zlin is only a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel so we decided to head over and watch the USA vs Russia game at 5:00.  The US dominated that game as well, winning 8-0.  That said, the Russians came in to the tournament as the lowest ranked team and they looked a lot better than I expected.

Now we are relaxing back at the hotel until dinner at 9:00.  I'm not sure if we will do anything for New Years Eve or not - and quite honestly I don't know if I'll even be able to stay up until midnight!  I'm definitely still feeling the jet lag!  Tomorrow we don't have to skate in the morning, the first thing we have is a meeting at 10:00 so I'm hopeful I can get a good nights sleep and get all caught up.  Tomorrow afternoon I'm working here in Zlin - Russia vs Czech.  These two teams should be very evenly match and are both coming off of losses so I'm sure they will play desperate hockey.  I'm working with the two Finns during that game, Anu and Anna.   I'm also the standby linesman for the later game, USA vs Sweden in Zlin so I will be spending my entire day at the rink.

Have a happy and safe New Years!

Hello from Czech!

We made it!  It was a long travel day.  My first flight from Philly to DC was only about 40 minutes but I'm happy it was short given the screaming child sitting two rows away from me.  Once in Washington I met up with Dina and we grabbed a quick bite to eat prior to boarding our Austrian Air flight to Vienna.  I was lucky to have an aisle seat, however the person sitting next to me had his arm in a sling and basically took over the shared armrest.  I was nervous the whole time that I was going to bump him and hurt his arm!  I slept for a little bit but the seats were really uncomfortable so I ended up reading most of the time.  When we finally landed in Vienna, we went through customs and gathered our luggage and met the person who was driving us to Zlin, which was about 2 1/2 hours away.

Our driver was a local referee who actually worked sled hockey at the Paraolympics in Vancouver.  My company, The Hartford, is one of the founding partners of the US Paraolympic team.  We often sponsor different events for people with disabilities and I recently took a client the Ski Spectacular event in Breckinridge, Colorado. There they taught over 800 wounded warriors and other people with disabilities how to ski.  We had different Paraolympians acting as our guides and every single one of their stories was absolutely amazing.  So I found it really cool to hear about the Paraolympics from his perspective after spending time with the athletes so recently.

It snowed the entire way from Vienna to Zlin.  The highways were fine, but when we had to drive through some smaller towns it got a bit interesting.  Their plowing capabilities were about on par with those in the City of Philadelphia, meaning that the smaller roads were not treated at all.  We had a few close calls but in the end we made it here safe and sound.

When we arrived our host was waiting for us and helped us get checked in.  Dina and I are roommates which is nice.  After getting showered and unpacked, we had lunch.  At that point the jet lag and lack of sleep was really starting to kick in so we decided to take a nap.  We set an alarm for 3 hours later, just in case we slept that long but neither of us expected to.  Well 3 hours later when that alarm went off both of us woke up from a really deep sleep.  I'm still tired and am sure I will sleep well tonight but I feel much better after the nap.

Some of the other officials have started to arrive so we went to meet everyone and took a little walk down to the local market.  Dinner is at 8:30 and we have a meeting afterwards to have formal introductions, go over schedules and get the first round of game assignments.  I can't believe games start tomorrow!

Ready to go!

One would think that after all the traveling I've done over the years I'd have the packing routine down.   Unfortunately, not so much.  After running around like a crazy woman the last few days shopping, doing laundry and cleaning I finally started to pack around 9:30 last night.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute!  Every trip I say I'm going to pack less, but it never seems to happen!  In my defense, packing for hockey trips is tough.  Not only do I need to bring all my referee gear, but I also need to bring dress clothes to wear to the rink, exercise clothes and regular clothes for just hanging out. I made it my goal to try to fit all of this stuff in my giant "mother load" wheeled referee bag and a small suitcase.  Fail.  I ended up having to use the big suitcase in addition to the ref bag, but at least I didn't have to extend it all the way!  And at least this time around I had a scale to weigh my bags to make sure they weren't overweight!  When I went to China I had to borrow a friend's scale at midnight the night before I was leaving to make sure I was good to go!  So after taking a quick break to run over to my friends Vinny and Sarah's house to watch 24/7, I came home and finished packing around 2:30am!  At least I could sleep in a little bit this morning!

Speaking of 24/7, the one thing I am slightly disappointed about is I will be away for the Winter Classic.  However, I was over it in about 10 seconds when I thought about the fact that I will be in Czech Republic at the World Championships!  For those non-hockey people, the Winter Classic is the annual NHL outdoor game.  This year it is taking place in Philly at Citizens Bank Park - the Flyers are playing the Rangers.  24/7 is the HBO special where they are giving you a behind the scenes look at the teams leading up to the Winter Classic.  Even if you aren't a huge hockey fan, it is a pretty cool show.  I highly recommend it!  The game itself is on January 2 so I'm hoping I can catch a little of it while I am overseas either on tv or via the web.  My friend and mentor, Ian Walsh, is refereeing the game so I'm excited to watch him.  He is #29 so keep an eye out for him!  Also, if you are looking for some other hockey on TV, the IIHF Men's World Junior Championships is on the NHL network all this week and next.  It is some great hockey and several Americans are there working as well.  I have watched for a bit the last few nights, it was a good reminder of IIHF rules and procedures!

On the topic of mentors, I'd be remiss if I didn't say a few quick thank yous before I left.  Obviously big thanks goes out to USA Hockey for helping me get selected for this opportunity.  There are so many people involved with USA Hockey who have helped me along the way.  All of my camp instructors, supervisors, assignors and evaluators who have helped me learn and develop.  Thanks to my fellow officials for the friendship and support - it means the world to me.  Thanks to everyone at the gym for kicking my butt and helping me be physically ready.  And finally thanks to my friends and family for your support.

I'm sitting at the airport now waiting to board my first flight to Washington.  It is going to be a long travel day but I'm excited.  Next post will be from Czech Republic!

My Travel Plans

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!  I know I did!  Now that the craziness of the holidays is over I can start to focus on getting ready to leave.  The IIHF takes care of all of our travel arrangements, however I've come to learn that they don't tend to book things until the last minute.  I didn't even know what day I was leaving until I was sent my plane tickets on 12/13!  My flight leaves Philadelphia on Thursday, December 29 at 2:55 in the afternoon.  I take a quick, one hour flight down to Washington Dulles on United Airlines. Once in Washington, I've got a two and a half hour layover until I hop on an Austrian Airlines flight that goes direct to Vienna.  The flight to Vienna is about 9 hours, then when you add in the 6 hour time change I don't end up landing until Friday morning at 8:35am.  Apparently Vienna is a better airport and a little closer to the cities of Zlin and Prerov than Prague so that's where we are all flying into.  It looks like it is then about a two and a half hour ride from Vienna to Zlin so I'm sure by the time I get to the hotel I'm going to be absolutely exhausted!  Once everyone arrives we'll have a group meeting to go over the rules, logistics, schedules and other important tournament details.  Games start on Saturday so it doesn't leave much time to get adjusted!  I just hope my equipment makes it, layovers always make me nervous!

Speaking of everyone else, I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces at this tournament!  Dina Allen, from Buffalo, NY is the other American official going.  We are meeting up in Washington then are on the same flight to Austria.  Dina and I have worked a number of college games together over the years and I have stayed at "Hotel Allen" whenever I've had games up in Buffalo.  It is always so comforting to have another American at these tournaments!  That said, I'm also excited because I'm also going to see some other officials that I have worked with at previous tournaments.  Malin, a referee from Sweden, was at the World University Games in China with me and Anu, a referee from Finland, was in France with me last season.  Also, my roommate from last year, Jana, is from Slovakia so she may try to come and visit during the tournament.  Lastly, Matt Leaf, who is the head of USA Hockey officiating, is coming as one of the supervisors.  Again, it is very comforting knowing that one of the supervisor's native language is English!

The tournament itself runs from December 31 - January 7.  While we will have 2 off days during the week where I'm sure we will be do some sightseeing, the focus is hockey and the majority of our time is spent at the rink.  However, one of the great things about working these tournaments is you have the option to stay after the tournament to do some sightseeing.  Last year Kristin, my roommate from college, came over and met me and we spent a week touring Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.  Unfortunately, this year's trip falls during her year end (she's an accountant) so she was unable to get the time off of work.  However, Dina's husband Kyle, who also happens to be an official, is coming over and so the 3 of us will be staying until Thursday, January 12 and touring.  I think we are going to go to Prague, Budapest and Vienna but the plan is to come up with a plan once we get there!  I am usually a planner so this is stressing me out a little bit but I'm sure it will turn out great.

December has been a crazy month for me.  I feel like it was just Thanksgiving a week ago!  I spent a weekend in Vegas, a week in Colorado for work and have been running around like a crazy woman during the holidays.  I have a ton of things I need to take care of before I leave and now that I leave in 2 1/2 days I'm starting to stress a bit!  Hopefully it all gets done!  Off to go put a dent in my laundry!

The IIHF and Tournament Details

Merry Christmas Eve!  At the Connolly family dinner tonight I was asked a lot of questions about my trip, the IIHF and the tournament itself so I figured another blog post was in order!  The IIHF is the governing body of ice hockey internationally.  There are 68 member nations, and of those countries 38 sponsor women's hockey.  The IIHF ranks the countries each year then, based on the rankings, splits them into 5 different divisions with each division hosting a World Championship tournament.  The winner of each tournament moves up a division and the last place team moves down to a lower division.  Each Olympic year, the top 6 teams ranked teams get an automatic birth into the Olympics and the teams in the lower divisions have to play qualifiers for the last two Olympic spots.  Last spring I worked the Division 2 World Championship, so the winner of my tournament moved up to Division 1 and the loser dropped to Division 3.  Historically, the US and Canada have dominated the competition, however the IIHF is investing a lot of money in women's hockey to try to improve the competitive balance.  One thing they have done to help is added a U18 Championship Series for women.  The first U18 World Championship took place in 2008 and since then they have added a 2nd division. This year they added a qualification tournament for that 2nd division because so many nations have started to sponsor teams.  It is great to see the sport growing and hopefully, as the other nations start to develop their younger players, they will begin to close the gap between the US and Canada.

So that said, I'm going to the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in Zlin & Prerov, Czech Republic.  This is the top division U18 Women's tournament.  The countries participating are the USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland and Russia.  Those countries are divided into two divisions for the preliminary rounds.  Group A games are taking place in Zlin and include the USA, Czech, Sweden and Russia.  Group B, which includes Canada, Finland, Germany and Switzerland are playing their preliminary round games in Prerov.  The teams were grouped based on the world rankings from the last several tournaments.  The winner of each group will receive a bye to the semifinals.  2nd place from pool A will play 3rd place from pool B and vice versa for the other spot in the semifinals.  The 4th place teams from each pool will move to the relegation round.  Here they play a best of 3 series, with the winner staying in the top division and the loser dropping from the top division.  The US and Canada are expected to dominate, however rest of the teams are all very close so those games should be very competitive.  More information on the tournament, including schedules, articles, pictures and stats can be found on the following websites:

IIHF Tournament Page - http://www.iihf.com/channels1112/ww18/statistics.html
Official Tournament Site - http://www.u18wwc2012.com/eng/index.asp

Time for me to go to bed, I need to go to sleep so Santa can visit! :-) Next entry I'll talk about my travel plans and other tournament details.  Goodnight and Merry Christmas!

Round 3!

Well, not as long of a gap between posts this time!  At the end of September, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) assignments for the 2012 season were announced.  I was fortunate enough to be selected to work the 2012 World Women's U18 Championship in Zlin and Prerov, Czech Republic.  The tournament begins on December 31 and ends on January 7th.

For those who may be new to following my adventures, I'll give a little bit of background on how all this came to be.  During my senior year at Penn State, I decided to start reffing to make a little extra cash.  I didn't work much but when I did I generally enjoyed myself - it didn't really seem like work.  After graduating and starting my "real job" I thought about not bothering to renew my certification for the next season.  However, I started playing on a women's team and for the first time in my life I had to pay out of my own pocket to play hockey.  While I knew hockey was an expensive sport, I guess I never realized just how expensive it was!  After writing the check for my dues I decided it couldn't hurt to renew my certification, maybe I could work a few games to help pay for my team.  To renew your certification every year, you must attend a one day seminar, take a rules test as well as an open book test online.  The day of my seminar I wasn't feeling well and almost skipped it but in the end I dragged myself to the rink.  I started working a few games locally and befriended some of the other officials.  One of them recommended me for the local playoffs and there I was observed by USA Hockey evaluators.  I must have done an ok job because not long after playoffs, I received an invite to referee the Chicago Showcase tournament.  Again, I almost didn't go but after talking to another female referee who had been I decided to give it a shot.  This was my first experience working higher level hockey as well as my first experience with the USA Hockey National Officiating Staff and boy was I in over my head!  I'll never forget my first game, I was absolutely lost out there!  However, after a long week of training and supervisions, I was selected to work the championship game and actually felt like I sort of knew what I was doing!  Shortly after I returned home, I got another call from USA Hockey inviting me to attend the 2006 Women's Regional Officiating Camp.  Again, I remember thinking "really, a whole week of ref camp?  Are they serious?" But I had such a great experience in Chicago I figured why not give it a try.  So for a week in July I, along with 9 other girls from around the country, headed up to Rochester for what was one of the most intense, hard fun weeks of my life.  It was there that I realized a couple of things:

1) There was so much to learn about officiating.  Working a hockey game is so much more than calling penalties and awarding goals.
2) There are a lot of opportunities out there for female officials if you are willing to learn and put in the work.
3) The officiating community is awesome.  These were some of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met.

After a successful week in Rochester I decided to take officiating a lot more seriously than I had in the past.  After graduating I had become a little lazy with my workouts - I wasn't nearly as intense or consistent as I had been when I had been playing in college.  I got myself in much better shape, worked on my skating and studied my rulebooks.  I started working NCAA hockey as well as higher level boys hockey locally and gaining more experience.  I was invited to my first national championship tournament at the end of the season as well as a Select Camp the following summer.  After select camp I was asked to attend the Elite Experience in Lake Placid.  It was there that I had my first opportunity to referee the US National team and earn my international license.  USA Hockey gets a limited number of "licenses" from the IIHF every season and I was fortunate enough to be selected to have one.  Since earning my license in 2007 I have had the opportunity to work numerous international competitions.  I can't imagine how my life would be different had I not dragged myself to that seminar that Saturday morning!

In 2009 I was selected to work my first tournament abroad, the World University Games in Harbin, China.  I started this blog then to keep everyone at home updated since I wouldn't have a phone.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it so last season, when I was selected to work the Women's World Championships Division 2 in France I decided to blog again.  So here we go again, as I get ready for my next adventure I've decided to start up the blog again.  I'll update a few times before I leave as well as daily while I am away, but don't worry, most entries won't be this long!  Hope you enjoy it!

Finally Home

Yesterday was a long day but at least I made it home safe and sound.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Kristin, who ended up stuck in Toronto for the night!  After a late night on Saturday we didn't get much sleep and had to be out of the apartment by 7:45 to head to the train station.  We caught an 8:15 train to the airport and were there by about 8:30.  My flight was supposed to leave at 10:50 and Kristin was supposed to leave at 2:00 so we decided to both to check in and meet back at this little cafe in the airport when we were done.  I got to the US Airways counter and line was HUGE!  I got in line and didn't move for a good 15 minutes when finally a US Airways rep walked up the line and asked for all preferred status members to come to a new line they just opened.  Lucky for me the flight over to Paris put me over the 25k miles mark so I skipped right to the front of the line.  When I got called up to the counter I found out why the line was so long...my flight was delayed for 2 hours so everyone had to rebook connections.  When I was checking in the woman behind the desk asked me if I would like an exit row seat.  Obviously I took her up on that offer!  Thank you preferred status!

After I checked in I went back to the cafe to meet Kristin.  She couldn't check in yet so she wasn't going to be able to go past security.  We sat and ate breakfast then I headed to my gate.  The airport security in Amsterdam was strange.  I went through customs first, which made sense but then I headed straight to the gate area without going through security.  Instead of one big line for everyone they actually make you go through security to get to the seating area right by your gate.  It was kind of annoying because they only had 2 lines for a huge plane worth of people, plus once you were in you couldn't leave.  We boarded the flight and ended up leaving a little bit after 1:00.  I got in to Philly around 3:30 and was at home on my couch by 5:00.  All in all it was pretty painless.  Kristin on the other hand had a much tougher time.  She had to fly from Amsterdam to Iceland, Iceland to Toronto then Toronto to Philly.  Unfortunately, her Iceland to Toronto flight was delayed so she missed her connection and got stuck in Toronto for the night.  She didn't get home until 3:00 today, but on the bright side she got another day off from work!

This trip as a whole was absolutely amazing.  When I was in China, by the end of the 2 weeks I was ready to come home.  This time around I was definitely not ready, I easily could have spent another week in Europe!  The tournament itself was such a great experience.  I met so many great people and we all had such a good time together.  On the ice I feel like I had a really good tournament and I'm proud of my work.  All of the hard work I put in throughout the year to get ready for this paid off and that is really rewarding.  Hopefully I have set myself up for future opportunities - if they come my way great, if not I have no regrets, I left everything on the ice.  The vacation part of the trip was also great.  Kristin and I had so much fun and got to experience so many cool things!  She has already said that if I get to go somewhere cool next year she is going to follow me again!  I'm so thankful to have been given these opportunities.  Thanks to everyone who helped me get there, I couldn't have done it without your help. Until next time...

Last Day of Vacation

Today was the last full day of our trip!  I can't believe it is almost over!  Since we had such a busy day yesterday we decided to sleep in for a little bit this morning.  We got up around 9, showered and packed up a little bit then headed out for the day.  Our first stop this morning was the Sex Museum.  Believe it or not, Amsterdam has a Sex Museum, an Erotic Museum, a Condom Museum and a Weed and Hash Museum.  We felt like we had to go to at least one of these museums to complete our Amsterdam experience and since the Sex Museum was listed in the Europe on a Shoestring book we decided to give that one a try!  It was interesting...they had displays of famous sexual art, a "history of sex" exhibit, famous sexual photos and some wild outfits!  We definitely had a good laugh there!  

After the Sex Museum, we walked around for a bit and did a little shopping. With the current exchange rate being pretty bad, we didn't buy a whole lot but we did each want a few little souvenirs to take home.  We then stopped at a cute little pizza shop for lunch and finished off our lunch with a stop at what we were told was the best fry stand (big thing in Amsterdam), Manekin Pis.  Doesn't that name sound familiar, haha?!?  The fries were really good and we got a spicy mayo type sauce with them that was delicious!  After our lunch, we decided to stop in the Royal Palace located in Dam Square.  Kim from our Red Light tour last night recommended we visit and were we ever glad we took her advice!  A lot of the outside is currently under construction but the inside is phenomenal!  The Palace was built in the 1700s and Napoleon lived there for a short time. Nobody currently lives at the palace but the King and Queen still use it to house and hold meetings with dignitaries, as well as for other royal functions.  As you can imagine, the decorations, painting and sculptures were all amazing!  This museum gave you a free audio tour with your ticket that was great.  It gave the history of each of the rooms as well as discussed some of the art and sculptures, making the whole experience that much more interesting.  Kristin and I both said that we wished we had done the audio tour at the Lourve and Van Gogh museums as I think we would have gotten more out of the visit.

After the Palace we headed to the other side of town for Mike's Bike Tour.  Mike's was recommended to us by one of Kristin's friends as well as Kim from the Red Light Tour.  I don't remember how much I wrote about it but EVERYONE in Amsterdam rides bikes.  We were told there were over 2 million bikes in the city and I definitely believe it.  At Central Station they even have an entire 3 story parking deck just for bikes!  Apparently bike theft is a huge problem in Amsterdam so everyone rides crappy beach cruisers - they say people spend more money on their bike lock than they do the actual bike!  Mike's takes you on a 3 hour bike ride all around the city to show you the sights as well as some of the history.  First let me just say riding one of their bikes was just a tad different than riding my nice road bike!  While the seats were very comfortable, the gears were rough (I was surprised they even worked!) and I totally missed my clip in pedals!  Also, the brakes were on opposite sides as they are on my bike at home so that took some getting used to!  That said, the tour itself was a ton of fun.  It was great to ride all over the city, I felt like a true citizen of Amsterdam weaving in and out of crowds and ringing the bell on my bike at people who were in the way!  During the tour saw some new areas we hadn't come across yet and the history lessons were very interesting.  Our guide Pete was really knowledgeable and funny and the rest of the people in our tour were really nice as well so it made for a great afternoon.  

The Straats of Amsterdam - So Much To Do and See!

Today was our first day full day in Amsterdam.  Last night we sat down and tried to strategically map out everything we wanted to do while here.  We had big plans today that involved running all over the city.  Needless to say while we had a great day, things didn't necessarily go exactly as planned.  We started the day out at the Anne Frank House.  We were told to go there first thing because the lines can get really long.  Since it is only 5 minutes down the street from our apartment, we slept in a bit and made it there by about 9:30.  Even though it only opened at 9, the line was already around the block!  Once we got inside, I understood exactly why.  The house included a museum with many items from when Anne Frank and her family were in hiding, actual manuscripts from her diary and a full tour of the hiding place.  They first take you in the front of the house where they have some exhibits on the Nazi's invading the Netherlands as well as some information about the Frank family.  You then proceed to the back of the house where the actual hiding place was.  It was bigger than I imagined, however when you think that 8 people lived there without seeing the sunlight for over 9 months it is amazing.  The rooms are no longer furnished - when the family was finally discovered the Nazi's removed all of the furniture.  Otto Frank (Anne's father), the only surviving member of the 8 who were in hiding, requested that it remain unfurnished.  After going through the hiding place, they take you to another museum that contains the actual manuscripts from the diary, as well as videos of people that knew the Franks.  Kristin and I both remembered reading the Diary of Anne Frank while we were in school and experiencing this makes me want to re-read it!  The whole experience was very emotional and the museum was really well done.

We spent way more time at the Anne Frank house than we had originally anticipated so we were getting a later start than planned on our next activity, a canal boat cruise.  Amsterdam is shaped like a horseshoe with canals acting as the outer rings as well as some running down the middle.  There are tons of boat cruises and canal taxis that run throughout the city.  We decided to do the "100 Highlights" tour - this was an hour long and it highlighted 100 different things about the city.  It was really cool, we learned a bit more about the history of the canals and got to see some parts of the city that we had not yet explored.  The canals are just one of the things that makes this city so beautiful and you appreciate it that much more from the water as you drive by all of the cute brownstones and houseboats (over 2000 in the city!).

After the cruise, we bought metro tickets and took the tram out to the Heineken Brewery.  This was a totally different experience from the brewery we toured in Brussels.  Where the Brussels tour was a small, local, homey tour the Heineken experience was big, glamourous and high tech.  When you first arrive you are given your entrance bracelet, which is like a livestrong band, and it contained two buttons for free drinks at the end.  After walking though an exhibit highlighting the Heineken family and their history in the Netherlands, you then move on to where they explain how the beer is made.  Did you know that Heineken and a lot of other beers are 92% water?!?  I couldn't believe that!  They allowed you to touch and smell the barley and hops as well as see how it was being mixed together and "cooked."  They even had samples of the wort (water + barley heated and filtered) to try (it wasn't very good)!  After moving through this portion we then entered this small movie theater.  There was a sign outside like you see when you ride a roller coster that warned of motion sickness so we weren't really sure what to expect.  We stood on this platform and were told to hold on tight.  They showed a movie that made it feel like we were being brewed, bottled and shipped.  The pad we were standing on rocked back and forth as the hops and barley were being mixed.  When the water was added we got squirted from the ceiling and when the barley and hops were being heated they shined bright heat lamps.  It was pretty wild, kind of like a disney ride in a beer factory!  After the movie was over they took us into another room where we were able to "sample ourselves."  The bartenders taught us about how the head on the beer protects the flavor and how you can drink the beer in different manners and achieve different tastes. After a small tasting we moved to a section where you could see the beer actually being bottled, capped and inspected.  Here you could create your own label if you choose, so at the end you would receive a Heineken bottle with your name listed where it normally says "brewed by Heineken."  After that there was an interactive exhibit where you could watch different Heineken commercials, do a virtual pour from the tap and even create a Heineken music video!  It was crazy!  Finally, you made it to the end where you could turn in the buttons on your bracelet for 2 free Heineken beers.  As you can imagine, Kristin and I spent way longer here than we had intended and by the time we left we had missed the bike tour by over an hour!  It was well worth it though, I would go to the Heineken factory again in a heartbeat.

After our "Heineken experience" we moved onward to the Van Gogh museum.  Kristin and I both like his "starry night" painting, so we thought it would be nice to see this piece "live" and some of his other works.  Only a few minutes walk from the Heineken brewery, we found the museum district of Amsterdam.  There was a large square/park in the middle of several museums.  We took a quick break to get some ice cream (with chocolate sauce) at the stand right outside of the Van Gogh museum and then headed in!  The museum had a modern vibe to it with a band playing in the lobby and modern lighting.....we wandered around and saw a couple famous paintings by Van Gogh.  We learned that he killed himself (like most painters did in that time) at the young age of 35.  He had spent some time in a mental institution and went through some tough periods of illness, but if he only knew that he would be this famous someday - maybe he would have stuck around a little longer!  To our dismay, the "starry night" painting was not in the permanent collection at this museum!  In fact, it is on exhibit in the museum in NYC!  I guess we will have to go see it when we get back in the states.  We did find our way through a short exhibit on Picasso's works and then decided it was time to take the tram back home and relax for a little bit before heading out for the evening.  We didn't have a good all-inclusive tram map, so we tried to navigate using our big map and the street names of the different stops. We got off on the wrong stop and go turned around once, but we eventually found our way home!  It is always an adventure when we are trying to navigate through Amsterdam!  Definitely easy to get a little lost and turned around here!  Back at our magnificent apartment on the Prinsenstraat canal, we took a little break, looked up some info on tours/excursions for tomorrow and tried to figure out how we would get to the airport on Sunday.  We made a plan and ventured out to "Oud Holland Cafe"for dinner.  Kristin found this restaurant in our "Holland Pass" book.  It had authentic Dutch cuisine and we were able to get a 10% discount with our Holland Pass, so we decided to try it!  It was a cute restaurant with a very typical Dutch atmosphere.  We both had the chicken cordon bleu with a variety of sides including potatoes, salad, carrots and beets.  And of course we had some Heineken beer!  We enjoyed our dinner and it was nice to sit and relax after our very busy day!  After dinner, we decided to go on a Red Light District walking tour with Randy Roy's Red Light District tours.  We got the info in the "Europe on a ShoeString" book that I borrowed from Kirstin.  We met the tour guide in front of Victoria Hotel (accross from Central Station) and turns out, we were the only ones that showed up for the 10 pm tour!  Lucky us, a private tour!  Kim, our tour guide was American so her English was perfect!  She was originally from Wisconsin but moved to Amsterdam because she married a Dutch guy and has now been living in Amsterdam for nearly 25 years!  Kim told us a lot about the area.  She showed us the Stock Exchange, the Old Church, and the main strip of bars/restaurants in Amsterdam (Warmoestraat).  Then we turned the corner and entered the Red Light District.  It was really crowded tonight, lots of people were out and about and drinking in the bars.....and of course, "the girls in the windows" were working as well.  Kim told us that there is currently 380 active windows in Red Light District. There are several different sections - the African quarter, the expensive secret canal, and a transvestite section as well!  We walked through all of these and again, it was very overwhelming!  It was exciting, shocking, scary, sexy, cool and crazy all at the same time!  Kim told us that the most girls make between EUR 500 - 1,000 per week!  They usually spend 15 minutes with their customers and charge EUR 35 to 50!  If the guys want to stay and chat, they should go to the brothels, also legal in Amsterdam, where they can usually pay more to spend more time.  Kim pointed out an Asian brothel....which, ironically enough, is located right next to a Christian youth hostel!  She also took us into one of the costume shops and we wandered around a little more.  It was really cool to have a personalized tour and Kim shared a lot of cool and interesting facts about Amsterdam with us!  We got lucky on this one and had a really great time!  Kim bought us one free drink, so we sat with her and her two friends for a few minutes and then decided to do some "research" about the whole "girls in the window" business.  We sat in a corner bar right across the canal from the girls in the window.  We watched as the men passed by and look in the windows....some would stop for a couple of minutes to flirt with the girls and some actually looked like they were thinking about going in, but then turned around.  Within 1 hour, one of the girls got 3 clients!  She was having a very good night!  We had fun and we think that the tour and our "research" has helped us understand a little bit more about the sex culture in Amsterdam.  It is definitely crazy and foreign to us, but maybe we have a better appreciation for it now!!

Today was a very long and busy day for us.  We are excited to sleep in a little bit tomorrow and see a few sites before our 4 pm bike tour.  It is our last day in Amsterdam (and on our European tour), so we definitely want to make the most of it!

Country #3

This morning our goal was to see the Royal Palace and the Brussels Arc de Triomphe in the morning and catch an 11:50 train to Amsterdam.  We got up early and after some debate we decided to shower at the hostel.  While we had a private room, we did not have a private bathroom.  At first we thought about waiting until we got to our apartment in Amsterdam (more on that later) but we smelled like smoke from the bar so we did the public showers.  I don't know why I hesitated since I shower at the rink all the time but there is something about being in another country in hostel that made me nervous, even though these showers were probably way cleaner than most rinks, including the rink in Caen!  After showering we checked out, stored our luggage and caught the metro to the Brussels Arc de Triomphe.  This is located in the outskirts of town but Kristin's friend Jen said we had to see it - she actually liked it better than the Paris version.  This Arc is actually 3 large arches that have these large, old buildings on each side.  It had a nice little park on both sides that I imagine on a nice day in the summer would be a great place to hang out.  Since we went to the top of the Paris Arc, we decided to explore to see if we could go to the top of the Brussels Arc.  We went into this little office attached to it and found out that not only could we go to the top for free but we also had access to the Belgian military museum located in the buildings attached to the Arc.  We didn't intend to spend a lot of time in the museum, our goal was to go to the top of the Arc to compare it to the Paris view but unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, the stairs were not well marked so we ended up walking all around the museum.  It was actually really cool, they had artifacts going way back to medieval times, including uniforms, guns, armor and cannon balls.  They also had a room on aviation history that had a whole bunch of WW2 planes.  After we walked through the entire museum, we eventually found the elevator so we went to the top. The view was nice, you could see most of the city but we both agreed the view from the Paris Arc couldn't be topped.

Since we spent so much time in the museum, we knew we would be cutting it close to catch our train if we went to the Royal Palace, however since it is one of the big tourist spots in Brussels we felt like we would be missing something if we didn't go at least take a few pictures.  We were glad we did, because it was beautiful.  Similar to the buildings in Grand Place, it was huge and very ornate.  It had a park attached to it as well that was beautiful - I love that these European cities have these parks smack in the middle of the old buildings.  After we were finished, we were going to take the metro back to the hostel but since there was a train station close we figured we would walk there and buy our tickets to Amsterdam to save time.  Unfortunately we did not read the map right and ended up walking in a big loop around the city and eventually were back at the hostel.  We wasted a lot of time, although I wouldn't call it a complete waste because we got to see a lot of the city.  We quick grabbed our luggage and hustled to the metro to head to the train station.  We had a similar situation here as we did in Paris - we probably got there in time but it took us too long to get to the ticket off and wait in line to make the 11:50 train. While we were disappointed, it actually worked out for the better.  We ended up taking a local train which was significantly cheaper and even though it took 35 minutes longer the train itself was much more comfortable.  We actually had a little room - it had 3 seats on each side facing each other, a sliding glass door, 2 outlets and our own thermostat!  It was great, we were able to bring all our bags in with us and still had plenty of room.  We ended up arriving in Amsterdam at 3:00 instead 2:00 which really wasn't that bad.

When we go off at Amsterdam Central Station we immediately followed the signs for the "i" Information Center.  Unlike our experiences in Paris and Brussels, the Amsterdam tourist information office was really easy to find!  We got a detailed city map and a couple brochures and headed out to find a taxi to take us to the apartment at Prinsenstraat 27.  I found this apartment on citymundo.com and the owner  Gilles (pronounced Jiles in English) said that he would meet us in front to give us keys.  We went over to the taxi pickup area and the "taxi driver" said that he would take us there.  Well, actually it turns out that it was quicker to walk, so he walked us there (never had a walking taxi before)!  He only charged us EUR 7, but we didn't have change, so it was the walking taxi guy's lucky day - he got EUR 20!  We met Gilles and he was a very tall young, attractive Dutch guy.  The apartment is on the 3rd level with a cafe on the ground floor.  We climbed stairs for 3 levels with all of our bags (not sure how we are getting down yet) and opened the door to find a very beautiful, charming, and spacious apartment!  Our apartment has light wooden floors with a nice size kitchen and living area.  You need to climb some ladder/stairs to get to the bedroom (which can be a little tricky), but then there is a large queen bed, closet, tv, and laundry up in the loft!  We were so excited about this place!  It was so nice and the best part.....the view!  Simply beautiful as you look out from the picture window in the dining room......we are overlooking the Prinsenstraat canal where there are several boats and lots of activity with people walking and biking down the red brick Amsterdam streets.  We are so lucky to find this place!  Once we settled everything with Gilles, he left and we sat the table to take a look at the brochures and attempt to make a plan of what to do next!  We decided to walk over to Dam Square (the main square in the center of Amsterdam).  Dam Square was huge with lots of people and traffic.....you definitely couldn't miss it!  From there, we ventured over to the Red Light District and took a stroll around there during the day.  We say the girls in the windows and as soon as Kristin took her camera out, the one girl started banging on the windows and yelling....guess photos are not allowed here!  There were several sex shops and bars down the street...and overall, it was very shocking to see for the first time.  There is a whole culture of public sex that is completely accepted and normal in this part of the world.....something that the USA definitely doesn't have!  We wandered around some more to get our bearings and then we tried to look for a spot to have some dinner and do some more Amsterdam excursion planning!  We found a cute restaurant called Cafe Van Zhulen.  Kristin had a Hollandish cheeseburger and I had a really awesome cheese and pesto tortellini!  We didn't have dessert because were so full, but this was possibly the best dinner we have had so far on our trip!  We also got some time to organize ourselves and make a plan.  Next we found our way to the Torture Museum.  This was a small museum that had a collection of medieval torture/punishment weapons and write-ups (all in English) about them!   We both enjoyed it and found it to be pretty interesting.  After the torture museum, we went back through the Red Light District at night......at this point it was a lot more crowded and flashier as all the prostitutes in the windows had neon outfits with black back-lighting.  Definitely eye-catching!  We stopped at a coffee shop and relaxed before heading home.  It was a really long day and we definitely were in need of some rest!  Tomorrow we have big plans that include the Anne Frank House, the Heineken brewery, a canal boat tour and bike tour around Amsterdam!  Lots of fun ahead!  This city is beautiful!!!

Waffles, Frites, and Beers!!!

This morning we got an early start and had the typical Parisian breakfast on the way to the Louvre.  The Louvre opens at 9am so we were sure to be there right when it opened to avoid the long lines.  Since we had our tickets we moved through security really fast and were able to get in right away.  Kristin and I admittedly don't know a ton about art and since we were limited on time we only went to look at the most famous pieces.  The first of these was obviously the Mona Lisa.  It is funny, as soon as everyone enters the Louvre they head straight for the Italian paintings.  You literally don't even need to read the signs, just follow the crowds and you will end up at the Mona Lisa.  It was way smaller than you picture it to be, but it is amazing that it is in such pristine condition.  After the Mona Lisa, we also were sure to find the Winged Victory Statue, the Venus de Milo, several Michelangelo statutes and the Egyptian exhibits. It was all amazing, but we both said that if we were to go back and had more time we would take a guided tour.  That would help put some of the history behind the pieces in the Louvre because there is just so much there.

After visiting the Louvre, we took the metro back to our hotel to get our bags and check out.   Our goal was to catch an 11:25 train to Brussels but we knew we were going to be cutting it close. We took the metro to the Eurorail station but by the time we found the ticket window and waited in line it was too late to get on that train so we waited for a 12:02 train.  The Eurorail trains remind me of Amtrak trains back at home - the only difference is you have assigned seats vs sitting wherever you want.  Of course we were on the very last car but we did end up in seats with a little table which was a huge bonus.  During the 1:23 train ride we pulled all of our Paris pictures off of our cameras and put them on my computer.  They will be uploaded to soon!

We finally arrived in Brussels 1:30.  It took us some time to figure out where to go and how to pick up the metro here in Brussels but it was much easier than Paris!  Also, everyone was very nice, we had several people help us with our bags as well as a few people even ask us if we needed directions!  We eventually made it to our hostel and stored our luggage since check in wasn't until 4:00.  After storing our luggage, we decided to go explore for a bit.  First we went to Grand Place, which is the main square of Brussels.  It was certainly grand - both of us were speechless when we arrived.  There is a tourist center in one of the buildings right there so we decided to check it out.  Both of us laughed when we found the Brussels tourist center with absolutely no issues!  The guy there was very helpful and gave us a good idea of what we needed to do in the 24 hours we were spending in Brussels.  One of the first things on the list was to get Belgian waffles and fries.  We were starving at that point so we set out to find the first waffle stand we could.  Let me just say, when we said the mousse in Paris was life changing, these waffles had to be a close second.  For whatever reason, the waffle itself tasted way better than it does at home, then when you add whipped creme, chocolate and fruit it is to die for!  After enjoying our waffles we also had to partake in one of the frite (french fry) stands.  While I'm not about to say these were the best fries I have ever had, I will admit they were pretty good!

After the waffles and frites, it was our mission to find the museum for the Brewery de la Gueuze, which brews the Belgian beer "Cattilon."  We took the metro and found the Lemmonier stop easily and navigated our way down a few small side streets just outside the metro to find the museum with two big wooden doors.  We entered and the only paid EUR 6 for the grand tour!  The museum was cool.....we went on a self-guided tour with a handy pamphlet that described the process for brewing the Lambic beer from beginning to end!  There is a whole mixing of the wheat, barley, hops process under particular temperatures and conditions (brewing season is only from October until April each year) with considerable timing for cooling and storing so that the beer can ferment.  Lambic beers require the least amount of fermentation and after our tour, we got to try a couple samples from this brewery.  We sat down at the beer barrel table and tried the Gueuze beer plus the raspberry/cherry flavored varieties.  They definitely had a unique taste and neither Kristin or I prefer Lambic beers, but it was a cool experience to taste them and learn about the brewery.  After the tour, we took the metro back to our hotel, checked in, and made a plan for what we wanted to see for the rest of the day.  The metro was really easy to follow (since we had become pros from our experience in Paris and Brussels was much smaller), so we followed the station stops to the Palais de Justice.  At one time, this building was one of the largest in all of Europe, but now it is just a governmental building and it is currently under construction.  We could not go inside because of the construction, but we walked around and ended up finding some pretty awesome views of Brussels!  We took some pictures and headed back to the metro so that we could find the Mannequin de Pis (a small statue of a little boy peeing, which has also become the national symbol of Brussels).  A few metro stops later and couple walking detours, we finally found the mannekin de pis!  It was a lot smaller than we had imagined, but it was cool and all the toursists were there down the small alley-way snapping away photos!  Right near by, there was quite a few chocolate shops, so we browsed the windows and finally found some chocolate souvenirs to bring home with us!  We then headed toward the Grand Place to find a nice restaurant for dinner.  We walked along the small streets that bordered the Grand Palace and Kristin said it was just like South Beach, Miami.  The restaurants were all lined up next to each other and all the owners were outside marketing and offering discounts/free drinks for you to come to their restaurant and/or to view their menu.  We ended up going to one of them that offered free beers and a prixe fix menu for EUR 12.  Kristin had the fish and I had the chicken....overall, not one of the best meals, but we enjoyed our beers and it was definitely what we needed!  After dinner, we headed to the Delirium Cafe.  Kristin's co-worker who lived in Brussels for two years recommended that we check this out.  It was only a 2 minute walk from the place we had dinner.  Right in front of the Delirium Cafe was the Jeanneke-Pis....this is the sister statue of the Mannekin pis.  It was built as more of tourist attraction, but it was still interesting to see and of course we took pictures (although her water was not running)!  We then ventured into the Delirium Cafe.  This bar is well-known around the world because it won the Guiness Book of World Records for having 2500 bottled beers available at one time.  They have 14 beers available on draft daily and continually rotate.  Kristin and I were not too thrilled about the smoke in the bar, but we made our way to the back where the smoke subsided and settled down with our booklet of beers.  The menu was really great because it listed a description of each of the beers.  We each tried 3 different kinds (and sampled each others) and had a really great time.  The bar had a really nice relaxed vibe and we really got a chance to sit and relax with our belgian beers.  We met J (an Indian who lives in Brussels) and he offered to cook us some dinner at his place, but we told him no because we need to get some rest for our day tomorrow as we were planning to travel to Amsterdam!  As we were walking back the Grand Place (the center square), we were in awe of the buildings lit up at night.  It is such a beautiful square with towering buildings on each side......even more breathe-taking at night.  We actually ran into a group of Italians and took some photos for them.  They were very friendly...in fact...one of the Italians said "I am Luciano and I am a latic lover!"  Well, it was very nice to meet him!  In fact, the Italians were lovely and we talked them for quite awhile!  The older lady in the group was so happy to meet us, in fact, she asked us to write down our names so that we could become facebook friends!  Kristin and I really enjoyed meeting our Italian friends and we hope to see them on facebook!  After the wonderful evening in Brussels, we were ready to head back to the hostel and call it a night.  It was such a wonderful day in Brussels.  We really like this city....the people are so friendly and they speak a lot of English!   The city has such a laid-back, be-yourself atmosphere and we really appreciate that.  We are planning to see a couple more sights in Brussels tomorrow morning before getting on the EuroRail to Amsterdam!

Paris in a Day!

Because of Kristin's flight delay, today was our only full day in Paris so we were determined to make the most of it.  We got up early and treated ourself to the standard French breakfast of a croissant and juice/coffee.  After breakfast we took the metro right to the Eiffel Tower.  We were told if we got there early the lines would be much shorter.  The lines for the elevators were relatively long but the line for the stairs was pretty short so we decided to go for it since neither of us is exercising this week. 670 steps later we made it to the second level of the tower. The views were gorgeous.  We tried to get tickets to ride the elevator all the way to the top but they weren't selling tickets for at least another hour because the line was so long already so we decided to skip it.  After heading down we took the metro over to the Louvre.  Unfortunately, when we got there we found out that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays so the plan now is to go there first thing tomorrow morning.

We were told there was a tourism office near the Opera and the Louvre so we decided to check that out.  We figured we could at least buy our Louvre tickets for tomorrow and maybe find out about going out to Versailles.  Finding this tourism office was definitely more challenging than we anticipated and we ended up walking all around that area of the city for at least an hour trying to find it!  It was a good use of our time though because we got to see a number of cool things including the Opera, the Madeleine, and Palace Vendome.  There will be plenty of pictures posted when I eventually get them off of my camera!  We finally found the tourism office but at that point it was way too late to go out to Versailles.  At least we have a moral victory that we actually found the thing!

After our tourism office adventure we then took the bus over to Notre Dame and had lunch in a cute little cafe.  We then visited the Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was huge!  To imagine what it was like to build this church without modern equipment is crazy!  We also walked by Saint Chapelle, another beautiful church right by Notre Dame but the line was really long to go in so we skipped it.  We then headed back towards the Champs des Elysees to see the Arc De Triomphe.  When we got there we found out you can pay to go to the top of it.  Since we hadn't gone all the way up the Eiffel Tower we decided to try this and that was definitely the right decision.  After climbing another 250 stairs we made it to the top.  The views of the city were breathtaking - you could see just about all of the sites we saw today!  We took plenty of pictures then headed back down the stairs and back to the hotel to relax for a bit.  We had been on the go for about 9 hours and climbed over 1000 stairs so we needed some time to put our feet up, as well as figure out how we are getting to Belgium tomorrow!

After mapping out our plans for our trip to Brussels (EuroRail stops, metro, directions to hostel once we get there, etc.), we decided to head out for dinner and drinks in the Saint-Germain area of the city.  One of Kristin's friends and a random elderly Parisian lady in the Philly airport that she met had recommended Cafe de Flore on Boulevard de Saint Germain, so we stopped in to check out the menu!  There was probably some excellent choices on there, but unfortunately it was all in French and they did not offer a copy with English translations...overall, this was not very accomodating for us American tourists so we decided to move on!  We found a cute cafe with a nice prixe fix menu and a good bottle of wine (Bordeaux) and we were set!  We both had the chicken dish and really enjoyed it.  Overall, the first course was better last night and the life-changing chocolate mousse was not on the menu tonight, so we enjoyed our dinner a little more last night, but the dinner tonight was still good!  And the wine was great!  After dinner, we started our search to find the "baby bottle" bar.  L'Urgence was recommended by one of Kristin's friends (American) who lived in Paris for 6 months.  He said that they serve all the drinks in baby bottles....so we had to check this out!  After a little walk in the wrong direction, we finally turned ourselves back around, found our landmarks and made our way successfully to the baby bottle bar (thank you google maps)!  We were very proud that we had successfully found all of the sites that we wanted to see in our "Paris in a Day" adventure!  We walked in and the bar had a very unique vibe.  It was themed with pills/hospital/emergency type pictures and props.  We think the "L'Urgence" means ambulance, but me might need to look that up in French dictionary to verify.  Overall, it was very cool, and we got some yummy liquor drinks in our baby bottles. :-)  We took some pictures and only stayed for one drink because we know we have a jam-packed day in Brussels tomorrow.  We took the metro home which is second nature by now because we are officially Parisian metro experts....and it only took one day!  Now it is time to rest...the Louvre is tomorrow morning and then Belgian waffles in the afternoon!  Good night!

Paris- Day 1

I mentioned before I left that after the tournament I was staying in Europe for a week to do a little touring.  Kristin, one of my best friends and college roommate, was flying over Sunday night and arriving at the airport Monday morning.  I was going to meet her at the airport and we are going to spend a few days in Paris, then take the train to Brussels for a day and finish out the week in Amsterdam.  Unfortunately, Kristin's flight from Philadelphia was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Luckily, she was able to get on a British Airways flight that left Philadelphia late on Sunday but it had a layover in London and didn't get to Paris until 3:00 today instead of her original arrival time of 8 am.  Instead of waiting for her at the airport I decided to take the Air France shuttle into Paris and try to at least check into the hotel.  Charles De Gaulle airport is pretty far outside of Paris so by the time I found the shuttle, caught it and was dropped off at Montparnasse where the hotel was it was about 11:30.   I figured at a minimum I could probably dump my stuff at the hotel so I set off to find it.  I had looked up walking directions on google maps before I left Caen and wrote them down but in reality they were no good.  Anyone who has every been to Paris knows that the roads are very confusing and there are not a ton of street signs.  I had a map that I picked up at the airport and ended up walking around (and lugging my 2 bags and backpack) for almost an hour before I found the hotel.  Thankfully I was able to check in because at that point I was so exhausted I needed to take a little nap.

Kristin's new flight landed in Paris on time so she caught the same Air France shuttle I caught to head out to the hotel.  I don't have a cell phone here but luckily her work blackberry has international coverage so we have been able to email back and forth and I met her at the shuttle drop off location.  After successfully navigating our way back to the hotel we quick got ready and headed out to find the tourist office by the Champs de Elysees.  We successfully navigated the metro and got to the roads where the website said the tourist office was but we couldn't find it.  After walking around in circles for a good 45 minutes and asking several people we finally found out that it is a temporary stand that is only open in the summer!  Opps!  We then decided to walk over to the Eiffel tower and try to get on a river cruise down the Siene.

The Eiffel Tower is just breathtaking.  We saw it for the first time from the Champs de Elysees and as it got closer it got more and more beautiful.  It really hit is us then that we were in Paris and we actually pulled off this trip.  After walking around for a bit we found the dock where you could purchase tickets for the night cruises down the Siene.  We tried to use the electronic machine but for whatever reason it wouldn't read our credit cards so we had to wait in line to purchase tickets.  Being in this line reminded me of China when it came to personal space as in I had none.  They only had one ticket window open so it took forever!  Once we finally got tickets for a 10:30 cruise we decided to go try to find a cafe to have a bite to eat.  Eventually we came upon this cute place called Ribe. Kristin and I bought a bottle of wine and had an awesome dinner.  We had french onion soup directly from the source, followed by steak and the best chocolate mousse either of us has ever had.  In the words of Kristin, it was "a life changing experience." While in the restaurant, we ran into a couple that had also come from Philadelphia sitting right next to us - such a small world!  After dinner we decided that one bottle of wine wasn't enough and we wanted to get one for the cruise.  We found a really nice little cafe that agreed to sell us a bottle to take out.  We asked for cups as well and the waiter asked if we preferred small or large. Knowing that things tend to be smaller here in France I said large.  Well thank god I did because our "large" cups were the size of the tiny bathroom solo cups I use at home!  It didn't matter, we got another fabulous bottle of wine and had an awesome tour of the city on the water.  After the tour it was time to head back to the hotel.  For those of you that don't know Kristin, she is an extremely smart girl but can be a bit challenged when it comes to reading maps so I had to take the role of navigator.  Though it took us a few minutes, we eventually found the metro, navigated through a transfer and made it back even closer to our hotel than when we started.

It was a fantastic start to our trip.  Today we have big plans to try to see as much of Paris as we can.  Ready, Set, Go!

What a game!!!

Good afternoon from Paris! The last 24 hours has been a whirlwind!  We started out Sunday morning with our normal meeting.  During the meeting, one of the French scorekeepers came in carrying a newspaper.  There was a big picture from the previous nights game of me during a face off!  Everyone had already been joking how I'm the only one that shows up in the IIHF website pictures so they were really laughing when it was me in the paper as well. I was sure to grab a few copies, but now I am a French celebrity, haha.  After the meeting, we walked down to this small farmers market in the middle of Caen.  In France, apparently everything is closed on Sundays so this market was crowded!  After exploring for a bit we headed back to the hotel for lunch.  Lunch was beef pieces on a skewer with potatoes.  Now those that know me know I'm not a huge beef fan so when I do eat it it needs to be cooked just right.  Well I cut open my first piece and I swear the thing wasn't even fully cooked.  Everyone else had the same problem, even those who like their meat rare wouldn't eat much of it.  They took them all back to cook more so lunch took forever!  By the time we were finished, it was almost 2:30.  Since the first game started at 5 we didn't have time to go to the WW2 museum which I was a little disappointed about.  

After taking a little pre-game nap and packing, I headed over to the rink with the other girls to watch the first game, Italy vs Great Britain.  Both teams were winless but it turned out to be a really good game with Italy winning 4-2.  After the game ended I started my pre-game prep routine and went out for a run.  While I was running outside past all of these beautiful historic buildings (in shorts I might add) it really hit me about what a great experience this has been.  I know I've mentioned it before here but who would have thought when I started officiating that I would have the opportunity to travel the world and work a game that determined a world champion.  To me, that is just so cool and it makes all of the hard work I have put in the past couple of years worth it.  Katie, Ann Ruth and I were all outside stretching on our own when Maurice came out to talk to us.  He never comes to talk to us pre-game so I knew something was up.  He said apparently there may be a goalie equipment measurement - there had been some talk about it in the directors meeting earlier.  We went over the procedures and all checked our rulebooks about the specifics so we were ready.  

The game finally started in front of another sold out arena and was being televised.  The fans were really loud - it reminded me of when I was in China working the team China games.  Czech scored about 3 minutes into the game and really controlled the play for most of the period.  With about 3 minutes left there was an icing.  Ann Ruth fetched the puck to do the drop and I see the Czech captain skate over to Katie so I go join the meeting.  She told us they were requesting an equipment measurement of the goaltenders glove so the rumors were true.  Per IIHF rules, goaltender equipment measurements must wait until the end of the period so we played out the last few minutes.  As soon as the buzzer sounded I made a beeline towards the French goalie.  I had to get to her before she could go to her bench to prevent any chance any modifications could be made.  She looked at me like I had 4 heads when I told her I needed to take her glove.  I'm not sure if she just didn't understand English, thought I was crazy or a little of both so we headed to her bench to have a manager translate.  I took her glove and we went over to the Czech coach to find out specifically what he wanted measured.  With any equipment measurements you have to specifically name what you think is illegal and that is all we check, nothing else.  If it is deemed legal you serve a 2 minute delay of game penalty; if it is illegal the other team serves a 2 minute penalty and cannot use the equipment.  He said that according to the IIHF rulebook, the wrist protection area of the glove has to be 2 parts, it cannot be 1 piece.  He pulled out a picture he printed and circled and told us he warned them earlier so this was obviously planned. We took the glove to the locker room where Maurice, Frederick (the tournament director) and the 3 of us all took a look at it.  The Czech coach was correct that it was indeed illegal.  We brought the French coach in to explain, and even though Maurice is fluent in French she was struggling to understand because the glove has the NHL approval sticker on it.  I'm no expert in goalie gloves but I would tend to agree with her that if it had that I would think it would be good anywhere.  While we were explaining this we here a loud crash out in the hallway.  Arina, who was the stand-by official for the game, came running in to our room saying the coaches were fighting.  Apparently a French coach went over to the Czech locker room to have a few words and they ended up in a big shoving match.  By the time that was settled and we finished the glove conversation we only had a few minutes to get ourselves together for the next period.  The French started the period a man down and the goaltender was wearing her back-ups glove.  Czech did not score on the powerplay, and all of us admitted after the game we were kind of happy about that.  I completely respect the gamesmanship on the Czech's part but at the same time it would stink to have a world championship decided on a powerplay goal on an equipment technicality.  This whole event really fired the French team up because they definitely had the better of the play during the 2nd period.  The game got really physical and chippy after the whistles.  Ann Ruth and I worked our butts off to make sure nothing exploded.  At one point a Czech girl and a French girl were staring each other down cage to cage so I got right between them.  The Czech girl started to skate towards the French girl after I pushed her back a little so I really stepped in there.  I don't think she was expecting it and fell flat on her back.  The entire crowd started cheering for me after that, it was pretty funny.  At one point about halfway through the period the French goalie made a really nice glove save she skated out towards the Czech bench shaking her glove at them.  I have to admit that made me laugh as well.   The game ended without any further incidents and Czech won 3-0 with an empty net goal.  It was a great game and an absolute blast to work.  We stayed on the ice for the awards ceremony where we were presented with a gift (a polo shirt) from the French federation and the teams were all presented with their medals.  The Czech anthem was then played and I got chills down my back listening to the players sing their hearts out. 

After the game, the whole team of officials had a champagne toast in the locker room locker room to a job well done.  It was a blast working with all of those ladies.  We encountered some challenges along the way all coming from different parts of the world but we came together as a team and did one hell of a job overall.  I'm very proud to be a part of that team!  After packing up we went back to the hotel and had dinner and a few more glasses of champagne, wine and beer.  At about 1am we all realized that our shuttles were coming in only a few hours and we had to finish packing and get some sleep.  Maurice, Meagan and I were assigned to ride the team Denmark bus.  They were picking us up at the hotel at 5:15am so I only got maybe 3 hours of sleep.  Some of the other ladies had a 5am shuttle and a few had a 7am so I think everyone is dragging today!

I attempted to sleep most of the way to the airport but after I woke up I started talking with one of the Denmark players.  It was interesting to hear her perspective on the tournament as a whole and how the Danish hockey association supports them.  Funding is a huge problem for all women's hockey teams, even in the US and Canada.  She said that it was huge that they won the bronze medal because now the Danish federation will provide them with more support and could potentially start an under 18 national team.  We arrived at the airport and we all went our separate ways.  I am really sad the tournament is over, but at the same time I'm also really excited because my vacation has now officially begun!

Busy Day!

Today was another awesome day.  We started off the morning with a quick meeting to go over a few things from the games.  After our meeting, a group of us walked over to the Chateau de Caen (aka the Caen Castle).  The castle was originally built in 1060 by William the Conqueror and expanded throughout the years under different rulers.  The castle itself is huge - it is spread out over 12 acres of land in the center of the city.  Inside, there are a number of different parts that were all built in different times.  For example, there was the original church and meeting area that was built by William the Conqueror, then several hundred years later Henry II and Philip II built additional dungeons and churches inside.  During WW2 parts of the castle were destroyed but it is still largely in tact.  The thing that I found most amazing was just the shear size of it.  To think about how they built this giant castle with these huge walls and a giant moat without modern equipment is crazy.

After walking around the castle (and taking plenty of pictures), we walked across the street to St. Pierre Cathedral.  This is one of the oldest churches in Caen, built in the 1300's.  The inside was gorgeous, huge vaulted ceilings that all had different paintings and sculptures that were unbelievably detailed.  The organ inside the church was one of the biggest I have ever seen. Again, it is amazing to think this was built so long ago and is still in such good condition.

We then headed back to the hotel and had a fantastic lunch out on the patio of the restaurant attached to the hotel.  We couldn't have asked for better weather this week, it has been sunny every day and in the 60's or low 70's.  Who would have thought I could walk around in jeans and a t-shirt at an ice hockey tournament!  After lunch and a quick nap we headed to the rink.  The first game was Denmark vs Czech Republic, with Czech Republic winning 7-0.  I worked the later game, France vs Great Britain.  I was expecting a blow out but the Brits hung on tight and it was 1-1 with 15 minutes left to go in the 3rd.  Eventually France broke through and won 4-1 but it was definitely a much better game than I expected.  The arena was packed again and the crowd was doing a lot of chants so it made it a lot of fun to work!

Tomorrow is the last day of the tournament.  We have a meeting in the morning and if we have time we are going to go to the WW2 museum after.  I'm working France vs Czech Republic tomorrow night, which is actually for the championship and the right to move up to Division 1 next year.  I'm really excited, it should be a great game!  This whole experience has been amazing.  I have met so many great people, seen so many amazing things and got the chance to work some decent international hockey!  I'm so thankful for the opportunity (and I still can't believe I got paid to do this!).

Another Great Day Off

Caen and the French hockey federation has done a great job promoting this tournament.  Attendance at all of games has been decent, but last night the game was played in front of a completely sold out arena (approximately 1400 people) which was very cool.  The game was also being broadcast throughout France which was pretty cool, especially since the French played well and won.  After the game we went to a small pizza and pasta restaurant with the IIHF chairman, Frederick.  It was a lot of fun and the food was a nice change from what we have been eating here at the hotel.  After eating pizza and drinking beer, we were absolutely stuffed and went right to bed.

This morning Katie and I decided we should go for a run since it was an off day.  She is running a marathon the same day I am doing the Broad Street Run (10 miler) and we both have been saying how this tournament has not been the best thing for our training!  While we are definitely working hard physically, we haven't run a whole lot and worse yet, we have been eating a ton!  We left the hotel with the intention of finding this river in town that has a nice running trail along side of it but for the life of us we couldn't find it! We ended up just running around all around different parts of the city looking for the trail for just under an hour.  It was kind of fun to explore that way, although we both said afterwards we couldn't retrace our path if we tried nor did we know just how far we ran!  It felt good though, and hopefully that will help keep me in at least a little better running shape.  

After our run we had breakfast and our daily meeting to review the previous nights games.  We then had the rest of the day off to go do some more touring.  We visited two French tourist cities nearby, Honfleur and Deauville.  Honfleur was a cute little port town with a ton of cafes along the water.  We all walked around for a bit and checked out a few of the shops.  After Honfleur, we headed to Deauville.  Deauville is apparently a town for the rich and famous where a number of movies have been filmed.  It is right along the beach and reminded me of a mix between Atlantic City, Stone Harbor and Cape May.  The city portion had this huge casino hotel that was absolutely gorgeous.  They also had a ton of very high end designer shops.  We were walking around and saw one store that had a big clearance sign so we decided that maybe they might have some items in our price range.  After we saw a handbag that was on sale for 2900 euros (marked down from 9000) we decided this wasn't the right spot for us. :-)  We then walked down along what they consider to be the boardwalk and had some ice cream.  Along this boardwalk there were little storage lockers that had a number of famous actors names on them.  Apparently the rich and famous would rent or purchase these stalls when they were in town filming a movie.  Some of the names we saw included Matt Damon, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholas, and Buzz Aldrin.  Again, the weather was gorgeous so it was the perfect day for a lot of walking outside. 

After spending a few hours in Deauville we headed back to the hotel for dinner.  Coincidentally, on the way back to the hotel we came into town from a different direction and drove right by the river with the running trail, haha.  Today was Anu's birthday so we surprised her at dinner with a birthday cake and a few small gifts.  Tomorrow games start up again but because it is the weekend the first game is at 5 instead of 1:30.  Since we have all morning free we are going to visit some of the famous sites here in Caen, including a huge castle that is in the center of the city.  I'm working the late game tomorrow night with France vs. Great Britain.  Hopefully there will be another big crowd on hand for that one!  Goodnight!

Crazy Dinner and the Next Set of Games!

After I posted last night I immediately fell into a really deep sleep because I was so full from dinner.  We went to this BBQ restaurant, but it wasn't BBQ like you think of in America.  This place (and I have no idea what it was called) was all you can eat and drink for 25 euros.  The different thing about it is you cooked your own food.  You would walk into the back of the restaurant, put a bunch of different veggies, peppers, onions, etc. into a bowl and they would season and grill them for you.  Then you take what looks like a skewer with a cage on it and fill it with uncooked meat that is sitting on ice.  They had all different types of beef, pork and chicken all marinated in something different.  You choose the types of meat you wanted and place them in your skewer with tongs.  You then take the skewer over to a big hot grill that was in the middle of the room and cook your own meat.  The food was absolutely fantastic, I had both pork and chicken that were amazing.  This type of place would never last in the US; I can see people burning themselves on the grill or not cooking their meat long enough and suing.   They also had a dessert bar that had all sorts of mouses, cakes and tiramisu.  It was outstanding.  We all were so full that after we got back to the hotel everyone just went to pass out in bed.

Today games started back up again.  We were able to sleep in and had a brief meeting where we got paid the rest of our money.  I still am in shock regarding the amount of money I am getting for being here.  I would do this for free because the experience itself is so cool, but to get paid for it is just an extra bonus!  This afternoon Czech beat Italy in a pretty good game.  Tonight France plays Denmark.  Both teams are undefeated right now (along with Czech) so it is a really important game.  Because the French team is involved, the arena can't provide goal judges (you can't goal judge for your own country).  That being said, myself and Anu got the call tonight to be goal judges.  I figured typing this blog would help warm my thumb up to push that button when the puck crosses the line, haha!

After the game tonight Frederick, the IIHF director for the tournament, is taking us out for dinner and drinks.  We are off again tomorrow so I imagine tonight may be a late night.  Tomorrow we have plans to do some touristy stuff then games start up again on Saturday.  Off to the rink for the game!

Day off!

Last night I worked Italy vs. Denmark.  It was a really exciting, evenly played game that went end to end.  Denmark ended up winning 3-1 with an empty net goal at the end.  My partners and I had a great game, we got a fantastic supervision when it was finished which felt awesome.

Today was our first day off at the tournament.  In the morning we finished our testing.  I'm pretty happy overall with my results - the only test I wish I could have done better on was the pylon skating agility test.  I swear, not matter how much I practice I will never be good at that test.  Either way, we were all happy once the testing was finished.  After a brief meeting we had lunch at the hotel.  Overall the food has been pretty good here, however I have not been a fan of the lunches.  They have served fish every day at lunch and while it looks as though it was prepared nicely, I'm just generally not a fan of fish.  It has been easy to get by though, they have fresh bread with every meal as well as serve dessert.  I really don't know how the French are so skinny because these desserts they give us are huge!

After lunch we went to visit the beaches to see some of the local sites.  Caen is located right near Omaha and Juno Beaches, where D-day and the invasion of Normandy occurred.  Being somewhat of a World War 2 history buff, I was really excited to see these places.  We went to Pointe du Hoc first.  Pointe du Hoc is where US forces had to take out the German weapons posts positioned high up on rock walls.  Some of the guard towers are still there and the area is littered with huge craters where landmines were set off.  The views are gorgeous - you see this beautiful blue water and these stunning rock formations.  It was crazy to think of the soldiers trying to climb these rock walls during the war with the German forces shooting at them.  After walking around that site for awhile we went down to Omaha beach, which is where the boats carrying the Army Ranger troops landed.  There is a big memorial site set up and we all went into the water (which was FREEZING) where the troops landed.  There were a lot of tourists there, including a group of what looked to be WW2 veterans. They were all very emotional and it brought chills down my spine watching them.  After spending some time at Omaha beach we went to the Normandy American Cemetery.  This is where they buried many of the soldiers that died during WW2.  There were rows and rows of crosses commemorating those who passed away, all perfectly lined up.  The area itself is pristine - amazing views of the ocean and the beaches, beautiful landscaping and several beautiful monuments.  You read about how many soldiers died in these battles, but when you see the crosses lined up like that for as far as the eye can see it really hits you hard.  I have to admit, as corney as it sounds, standing there watching the American flag fly I felt really proud to be an American.  Even the Europeans, who weren't near as interested in these sites as the North Americans, said it was pretty amazing and they were glad we went.  We all just kept talking about how you read about these battles in books but it really hits home when you see the sites in person.  Plus, we couldn't believe that in reality these sites aren't that old - D-day happened in 1944, which was only 66 years ago.

After leaving Normandy we were all a little tired so we stopped in a small beach town and went to a creperie.  It was so cute, right on the water near a pier with outdoor seating.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous today (70ish and sunny) so it was the perfect stopping point. We then headed back to Caen for an IIHF reception.  The tournament directors and organizers put together a cocktail hour held at the City Hall in downtown Caen.  The City Hall building is actually an old abbey that was built in 1063.  Yes, that isn't a typo, it was really built almost 1000 years ago.  We were in this beautiful room with huge murals painted on the walls and ceilings.  A number of people spoke about how this event is not only great for hockey but great for women's sports.  The speeches themselves were pretty boring, especially since they were mostly in French but the message was good.

I'm exhausted and am about to pass out in a food coma because our dinner was so good tonight.  I'll talk more about that experience later on.  Games start up again tomorrow so it will be a busy day once again,  Goodnight all!

A little about the other officials

Part of the cool thing about these tournament is getting to know the officials from other areas of the world.  Since I keep referencing all of the people here I thought it might be nice to write a little bit about everyone here so below is a quick guide!

Maurice - he is our supervisor and from Canada.  Really nice guy and shares the same addiction to diet coke as me!  It was really funny, this morning he came down to our meeting and said he had a gift for me.  He then proceeded to pull out a one liter bottle of Coca Cola Light as they call it here!

Katie - She is the other American with me here.  I didn't know her real well before coming so it has been great to get to know her better.  Also, it is so comforting to have another American here!

Arina - She is a referee from Russia.  She actually attended a camp in the US several years ago and has been to a number of international tournaments with other US officials.  She was the one I took the train with to Caen.

Angela - She is a referee from Switzerland.  She has also been to a number of international events and knows several other US officials.  She is very quiet but really nice when you get her to speak up!  She actually speaks English, German and French, which is absolutely amazing to me.

Anu - She is a referee from Finland and referred to herself as the grandma of the group.  She actually worked the very first IIHF women's world championship tournament back in 1997.  She hasn't worked for a few years because she had a baby but is now back.  She is a great person and very funny.

Meagan - She is a linesman from Toronto, Canada.  It is nice to have her here as well because she has the same North American habits and views on things.  She is staying a week after the tournament as well and backpacking in London and France.

Charlotte - She is one of the French linesman.  She speaks excellent English and is hysterical.  Both her and Sueva have been very gracious hosts.  She helps communicate with the hotel staff regarding anything we need.  She also stepped up and volunteered to be our driver.  The rink provided us with a large van but no driver so she has been navigating the tiny streets here in this big huge van!

Sueva - She is the other French linesman.  Again, she is very nice and has been an excellent host!

Anne - She is a Swiss linesman.  Very quiet but seems to be a great person.  I'm looking forward to working with her tonight!

Jana - She is a Slovakian linesman and my roommate.  Coincidentally she has the exact same birthday as my younger brother!  She is really nice and a great roommate.

That's all for now.  I'm going to take a nice little pre-game nap to get ready for Denmark vs Italy tonight!

Gifts Galore!

This morning we had the first round of our fitness/skating tests.  I haven't gotten my times yet but I felt pretty good and everyone said I looked fast!  We have another round tomorrow morning so wish me luck!  After our tests we had breakfast.  Have I mentioned that breakfast is my absolute favorite meal in France?  They have warm croissants and french bread every morning along with yogurt, fruit and orange juice.  Obviously the French haven't heard of the Adkins diet, which is totally ok with me since we all know how I love my carbs!

After breakfast we had a meeting to go over the games from yesterday and watch some game tape.  Unfortunately there were two major injuries yesterday.  In the first game a British girl fell into the boards headfirst really hard.  It was pretty scary because she wasn't moving a ton at first and they had to take her off on a backboard but luckily she just sprained her neck. The second game an Italian girl got hit, fell and broke her wrist.  She started screaming immediately and when they took her off the ice I saw her wrist was already huge and purple.  Apparently she is having surgery this morning.  Both were not called penalties and after reviewing the tape it was determined we made the right calls, which was nice.

During the meeting this morning we also exchanged gifts.  When you go to these events it is customary to bring gifts for all of the other officials.  Katie (the other American) and I went in with all of the other US officials going to tournaments and had skate guards made, along with pins and crests that USA hockey provides.  Everyone seemed to really like our gift. We got all sorts of things from the other officials however the winners for best gift were the French girls for sure.  One of the French girls works for a vineyard so she brought everyone a bottle of wine.  The other French girl gave us a number of things from the French ice hockey association including a coffee table book about France, bag and t-shirt.

This afternoon Britain is playing Czech and I am working Denmark vs. Italy.  I think my game tonight should be competitive again which is great.  Last night's game was very intense which made it a lot of fun to work.  During international events, when each game ends they announce the players of the game and play the national anthem of the winning team.  The French last night were all arm in arm with each other singing at the tops of their lungs.  Even though the hockey isn't the highest level, it is still really cool when you think about what is on the line for these girls and the passion and pride they have representing their country.