EURO 2008 - FOOTBALL: EUROPEAN STYLE

Many of you might recognize these two characters:

they are
TRIX and FLIX
the official mascots of the U.E.F.A. EURO 2008
European Cup Füssball Tournament!!
(which took place June 7th - 29th when I was traveling in Europe)

Their hair/head-do's are fashioned to mirror
the Alpine peaks so prominent in both host countries,
Austria & Switzerland.
Check out this site for all the pix, stats, shopping and results:
http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/

This one-of many window displays as well as flags flying everywhere
should have been a clue to me that something very
special was about to happen in Switzerland and Austria! It was not until we were in the train station in Vienna
that it dawned on me (duh!) that we were about to be
in the middle of an incredible event!
Oh. My. Goodness. This is the next best thing
to the World Cup!!!

This is a picture of some HUGE inflatable European füssball
players that were huddling in the foyer of the train station.
If you look at the bottom of the picture, you can see
actual people strolling by...just to get an idea of the size
and scope of this spectacle! It was ENORMOUS!!These banners also fueled my suspicions......as well as these soccer hooligans all boarding
the same train, heading off to one of
the first matches...Switzerland vs. Czech Republic in Basel
on Saturday, June 7th....and of course, flags flying out of car windows,
house and apartment windows...
country pride shown everywhere you looked!

Once in Salzburg, we entered the
FANZONE...
just another word for
Beer Garden ;-)

Here is the statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
overlooking the miriad of beer & souvenir
kiosks! Ach!

Even the shops went all out for this event,
especially those in the host cities of:
Salzburg, Vienna, Innsbruck & Klagenfurt (Austria)
and
Basel, Bern, Geneva & Zürich (Switzerland)

Aren't these soccerball Christmas ornaments
just wonderful?And here are 30 painted eggs
to help celebrate the occasion!! This huge saying was painted onto the bank
of the Salzach River running through Salzburg.
At the B&B we were staying at just outside of Salzburg,
we kept seeing people wearing Coca Cola-Red outfits at the
breakfast table. They were representatives that were working
the booths at the Salzburg Stadium during the matches.
It's difficult to see, but in this picture of the B&B
(taken from the cablecar going up the Untersberg)
you can barely make out the red Coca Cola car parked at the pension.

Everybody got into the act:
here is a contest in one of the train stations to
measure how powerfully you can kick!
I could barely get close enough to take these shots!

LOVE the outfit! I hope he was getting paid good €uro!!

Naturally, the FANS are what its all about!!!
Click on this VIDEO to see some German fans trying to
upstage some Russian fans in the middle of Munich...
(they are chanting "Deutschland...Deutschland..." = Germany!!)

...and at the top of the Untersberg,
some CRAZY Swedish fans who sat down and ordered
Lederhosen all around!!
Now here are some REALLY wild and crazy soccer
hooligans rooting Germany on to yet another
UNBELIEVABLE victory!!
Zum Wohl!!!
Of course, miniature versions of
Trix and Flix just happened to find their way
into Grandma's suitcase,

to the delight of Grandsons back home!Here Flix (or is that Trix?)
scores on a header!

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What GREAT fun we had watching the matches each evening
and guessing who would win to go on to the next round!
It was a special bonus added to an already-incredible trip!