In less than 24 hours, the draw for the EURO 2012 will take place. There will be 4 groups and it has already been decided that Poland and Ukraine are the top seeds in Group A and D. Spain and Holland are the other top seeds. Whoever gets the top seed in Group B will play all their first round games in Gdansk. The other will play in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
I am sure that fans from Spain and Holland are praying for their team to get in Group B. Gdansk is a very attractive city on the Baltic Sea.
I went to Gdansk last weekend to inspect the new stadium. When I arrived at the little airport on Friday, I was impressed to see people working to build a new terminal - it was after midnight.
under construction
The next day, I walked around this charming town - lovely architecture. One of my favorite buildings was this one:
the oldest KFC in the world?
But I had to look hard for any sign that the EURO is coming. It was almost like Gdansk wanted to keep this a secret.
old town in Gdansk
The stadium in Gdansk was brand new. It was in a run-down industrial area and I took a tram to get there. Along the way, I saw people working on laying down new tracks for more tram lines. It was Saturday!
This stadium reminded me of Soccer City in Joburg. The orange-yellow color represented amber for which Gdansk is famous.
Lechia Gdansk had a home match last weekend but the Polish League decided (only a few weeks before) to play this game on Monday night. My return flight was in the afternoon.
So I checked the schedule and saw that there was a match in Poznan on late Sunday afternoon. Poznan is another Polish host city for the EURO and it is about 300 km south of Gdansk. According to UEFA guide to the EURO, a train between these 2 cities would take 4 hours.
When I got to the Gdansk train station, I found out that the fastest Polish train would take 6.5 hours. I bought a first class ticket to go on Sunday morning. It was cheap and the train was old. But first class was not crowded and there was also a dining cart.
Much to my delight, the train arrived in Poznan 6 minutes ahead of schedule. Poznan has a nice big square in the old town. I went there for a nice lunch before the match.
pierogi lunch
I found out that Aida was being performed that night and as my return train was at 2.30 AM, I decided to go both to the soccer match and to the opera.
After lunch, I walked around the city a bit more and like Gdansk, I saw no signs about the EURO.
Later in the afternoon, I went to the opera house to buy a ticket. From there, I took a bus to the stadium and arrived 30 minutes before kick-off.
There was a long line of people at the ticket window (Kasa) but after several minutes, I noticed that it was moving very slowly. Then I saw another window with less people but the word above it was 'Karta Kibica.' I wondered if this meant credit card?
I asked a friendly polish fan in line 'what is karta kibica?'
He pulled what looked like a credit card out of his jacket and said to me 'it is a fan card. you need one to buy a ticket. do you have one?'
I told him I came from Vietnam to see this game so he took pity and he went to ask an official what I could do. When he came back, he told me I had to go first to the 'karta kibica' window to apply a fan card and I would get a temporary card and with that, I could go back to the 'kasa' window and buy a match ticket.
At that moment, I could hear the stadium announcement of the players. It was 5 minutes to kick-off and I estimated that I would not get in until half time. There were still so many fans waiting to buy tickets.
pilka nozna (polish for soccer)
I decided to skip the game and went back to town to relax and enjoy Aida.
Aida 1 Pilka Nozna 0.
The opera was fantastic. The game, I read later, was not so good.
At 2.30 AM, I boarded the train to get back to Gdansk for my 1 PM flight. I managed to sleep and when I woke up at 7AM, the train was not moving. After some time, it moved at the speed of a slow bicyclist. Then it speeded up and then it stopped again.
And I had no idea where in Poland I was. The train was scheduled to arrive at 9 AM. When I found a conductor and asked him for news, he said to me 'we will be about 3 hours late'
300 km in almost 10 hours. should I have walked?
There will be a lot of fans traveling between Gdansk and Poznan as all the group B matches will be played in these 2 cities. I hope there will be faster trains next summer.
I arrived in Gdansk and went to the airport but missed my flight by about 20 minutes. I got another ticket to travel with LOT. First I had to fly from Gdansk to Warsaw and when I saw the old airplane, I wondered if it would be faster to take the slow train.
Luckily, I got to Warsaw on time and there, I really enjoyed waiting at the modern airport terminal. and unlike Gdansk and Poznan, Warsaw had a few EURO signs.
I have a feeling Spain will get Group B and Spanish fans will be happy in Gdansk. Send the Dutch to Kharkiv.
Let the draw begins!
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