World Hockey Championships

This tuesday, the two of us were lucky enough to score a pair of tickets to the Canada - Slovakia game at the World Hockey Championships in Zürich. While most of the best players in the world are still playing for the Stanley Cup, each team was still stacked with NHL players, including some big stars like Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Martin St. Louis.

We weren't quite sure what to expect for the game. Sometimes you see these games on TV and the arena is half empty, and seems really quiet. Happily, this wasn't the case for this game. The arena was sold out (about 6,500 people), and it seemed like at least 5,000 of those people were crazy Slovakian hockey fans.

Canadians were definitely outnumbered by Slovakians in the crowd, by a margin of at least 10-to-1. We ourselves were surrounded by a sea of Slovakian jerseys. Being totally outnumbered like that made it a little sweeter when Canada jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first period, led 6-1 after 2, and made it 7-1 in the third before Slovakia got a couple of late goals for a 7-3 final score. The Slovakians seemed like they were having a good time anyways, and were in good spirits even with the loss.

As an added bonus, decked out in our Team Canada jerseys and paper hockey helmets, we stood out in the crowd after Canada scored and made it on the TV broadcast. We got home to an email from our mother in Prince George that she saw us after one of Canada's goals, and over the next couple of days, we got a few messages from friends back home saying that they saw us in the Sportsnet highlight package of the games. We're huge celebrities now.

Unfortunately, Sportsnet's videos aren't available on their website here in Germany, but after searching Youtube, we were able to find a clip with us at the very end, celebrating after a Canada goal. Check out the last two seconds of this Youtube clip:

And for our next big news, tomorrow is a big day as we head off to Portugal for a 10-day vacation. We fly into Porto, have a few days there, then head down to the small beach town of Porto Covo for a few days before finishing our trip off with three days in Lisbon. We're really looking forward to it, and are sure to be back with an update when we return.

Easter and Erin's Birthday in Paris

This past weekend we went to Paris to celebrate Erin's 30th birthday in style. Thursday morning we hopped on a train to Strasbourg (one of our favourite cities), hung out there for a couple of hours, and then transferred to the TGV train to Paris in time for dinner.

After a nice dinner at a little Egyptian restaurant on Rue de Lappe that we'd stumbled upon on our first trip to Paris, we decided to take it easy for the rest of the night and save up our energy for a full weekend of touring the city.

Since it was Keri's first time in Paris, we took some time to see some of Paris' big sites over the weekend. The three of us saw Notre Dame Cathedral, the Latin Quarter, Le Marais, Montmartre, and of course the Eiffel Tower. We spent most of our time just exploring the different neighbourhoods, experiencing Paris.

One of the highlights was Saturday night. In honour of Erin's birthday (which was actually on Sunday), we went out for a nice dinner at a Moroccan restaurant, followed up with a show at the Moulin Rouge. The show was pretty cool, and had something for everyone (dancing for the women, breasts for the men). It was definitely a fun experience.

Sunday morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had found us in her hotel, and Erin opened her birthday presents before we headed out for the day. We lucked out pretty much all weekend with the weather. The forecast called for doses of rain throughout the weekend, and while there were a few quick showers, they were all while we were inside, so we were able to walk around and enjoy the city in summer clothes pretty much the whole time.

This was our 4th time going to Paris together, and every time we go we love it a little more. Here's hoping that we get back there soon.

Cruisin'

Weekend #2 of Keri's visit was more of a relaxed weekend for us. Instead of running ourselves ragged trying to see Europe by train, we decided to spend the weekend in Konstanz and the surrounding area. We'll get back to living on trains this coming weekend.

Keri returned from a quick Italian trip to Milan and Venice early Thursday afternoon and was understandbly tired. Her overnight train from Venice to Münich arrived in Münich late, and because of that, she missed her connection to Konstanz, and what was supposed to be an already long 10 or so hour trip turned into a 12+ hour trip. But she was a trooper, and after a couple of hours to refresh her self, we went out to enjoy the sun, see some more or the town, and partake in a quintessential German experience, the biergarten.

Friday and Saturday were more of the same. The weather was great, and we spent lots of time touring the town, enjoying the sites and some local beer, ice cream, and on Saturday night, a nice dinner at a local Turkish restaurant that we really enjoy.

Sunday we decided to take a cruise down the Rhine River from Konstanz to Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The boat ride was about 3.5 hours long, and just slowly bounced between the shores on either side of the river between Germany and Switzerland. The scenery was gorgeous; small village after small village among the rolling green hills and vineyards of the area. The sun was shining and we enjoyed a couple of beers during the ride, as well as the company of a beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog named Carlo. After we departed in Schaffhausen, we took some time to check out the town before catching a train back to Konstanz. All in all a nice, relaxing weekend.

Early on Monday morning, Keri hopped on a train to Amsterdam and is there as we type this. She'll be back on Wednesday, and on Thursday, the three of us are heading out to Paris for Easter weekend, not to mention Erin's 30th birthday. If this weather holds up, not only will we have a great time, but great tans to start the summer as well.