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!