Unproductive Day

Today was one of the more unproductive days of the trip. We got up at 9 again and we walked to a place where we could get on a bus tour. We rode the bus tour all over town...Twice! We got off a few places to eat, take pictures, and look around. We didn't end up going in any place though. Before we knew it, it was 7 in the evening and we realized that we didn't accomplish much. Well I now know London like the back of my hand as far as the outside of the buildings go and locations of them. Tomorrow we might check out one of the football stadiums than catch the quarterfinal matches on TV.

I've edited some of the Barcelona trip that I forgot about.

Wimbledon!

Yesterday we came to London having no idea that Wimbledon was even going on and today we decided to go and watch. We woke up at 9 am, the earliest start to a day of the trip, and walked to the metro. We went across town planning on just getting tickets for the small side courts and just watch tennis all day and maybe see a few names we recognized.

The trip started out as a mess. We got to Wimbledon only to find the longest line I have ever seen. 3,000-4,000 people wrapped around the city blocks each without a ticket. We decided that we were already there so we would give it a shot. We waited in line and the line went surprisingly fast. After about one hour and 45 minutes of waiting, we got down to about 100 people in front of us when they shut down the gates that were in our sight. The grounds had reached its maximum capacity. They told us that they were going to let us in on a 1 out-1 in basis. So since there were two lines for the whole grounds and we had to sit there and wait for about 200 people to leave. The problem was that it was only about 12:00 and people were just getting started. So we waited and waited. We thought about calling at quits but then decided to continue. Two and a half hours later, we finally got up to the gates. When we got there, the ticket man said that they just got four tickets for the Center Court because those people left. We asked how much they were and they said they were 43 pounds, 26 pounds more than just the ground tickets. Then we asked who was playing on the Center Court and they said that Federer and Henman were playing the final match. That made our decision real easy. So we splurged and took the tickets for the Center Court.

We got inside at about 2:30 and there were courts everywhere. Twenty in total. We went to take our seats in Center Court and Nalbandian was playing some other guy. Nalbandian is ranked top 10 in the world. He finished his opponent in straight sets and then they announced that the next match was going to be forfeited because Kim Clijsters' opponent had a viral infection. So they skipped right to the Roger Federer-Tim Henman match. Henman is a successful player who is also playing in front of his hometown so this was supposed to be a really tough second round opponent for Federer. After a 6-4 first set win, Federer proved that he was by far the best player in the world by winning the next two sets 6-0 and 6-1. He pretty much made Henman look like an eleven year-old girl. Though it was not the most exciting match, it was sweet to see Federer play and watch him get into his unphaseable zone. We also sat only three rows above the families of the players, so we may get some TV time. That would be aight.

After the Federer match, we went around the side courts looking for other notable players. We watched American James Blake win and we also saw Justine Henin-Hardenne dominate her opponent. Overall, this has been one of the best, if not the best days of the trip so far with only one week left to go for me.

I decided to head back a week earlier than Colin and Duncan. I will leave Amsterdam on the 5th and head to Hastings to see my girlfriend on the 6th. I will probably stay there for about a week before I head off the Vegas to join Dave and his poker posse.

Nice, Barcelona, now London

Nice was great. It was on the beach and we met a lot of cool American backpackers. We were also there for their huge June 21st party that was celebrating the beginning of summer. There were live bands all over downtown and they played a lot of great american hits. Colin of course had to go crowd surfing and we just had a great night.

We left Nice for Barcelona and I liked Barcelona but it was no Nice. In Barcelona, we went to the Picasso museum which we all agreed was a little bit of a disappointment. The other days, we spent most of our time wandering around the town and laying on the beach. The last day we were there, I was wearing my swim suit and I am pretty sure my wallet fell out of it when I sat down at waiting for a subway train. I dont think that I was pick pocketed because I had it 2 minutes before and there wasnt really anyone around us in that 2 minutes. Anyway, I lost my debit card, drivers license, my social security card, pictures, and about 180 euro. That was disappointing. Barcelona was still a fun time and I would definitely go back.

We just got into London after a night train from Barcelona to Paris and then an train from Paris to here. Our hostel is pretty cool because there is a bar in it as well as a few computers for the internet. Well thats all for now. Time to watch the Brazil-Ghana game...the game we should be playing in.

Edit: I forgot that in Barcelona we took a tour of Camp Nou, where FC Barcelona plays. We walked on the field that Ronaldinho plays on. It was a was pretty awesome. I have some good pictures. Thats it.

Summary of Rome, now Nice

Rome was pretty cool. It was a lot like Paris in that it had a lot of famous places to see that I had only heard about and seen pictures of. Those places (Collosium, Vatican, Sistene Chapel, etc.), however, were not the highlights of Rome. One of the highlights was definitely watching the USA-Italy soccer game in a bar full of crazy Italians. My friends and I were going nuts after the Italians scored for us to tie it up and then after the Italian recieved a red card. We thought for sure we were going to walk out of the bar a winner when things started to change. The US proceeded to get two red debateable red cards and we were playing 9 on 10 for most of the second half. After we scored out second goal. My friends and I were jumping up and down screaming because we forgot who was around us. A few seconds later the goal was whiped off because of an off-sides call and all the Italians in the bar jumped up and cheered in our faces. haha serves us right I guess. It was sure a night to remember. After the tie, the Italians let us leave the bar in one piece and I guess that is all we can ask for. I have become such a huge soccer fan since I have been over here with my two friends who have always been huge fans. The World Cup craze is undescribable in Europe right now. That was our first of our two fun nights.

The next night, after touring more of the city. Colin, Duncan, and I went on a pub crawl with 120 other English speaking people. We drank for free from 9-10 and then we went from pub to pub the rest of the night. We recieved a free shot at each of the three pubs we attended as well. It was crazy. We probably drank a little too much but we still found our way back to the hostel. I definitely enjoyed the nights in Rome better than the site seeing, but it was all still cool.

The next morning after the pub crawl, we had to get up after only four hours of sleep and catch our train to Nice, France. The train ride was sweet because we rode on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea for most of it. It was just beautiful. Anyway, we got to Nice and we went to eat, watched the Spain-Tunisia game, and then called it a night.

This morning, we woke up and hit the beach. Colin and I swam in the Mediterranean for a few hours this afternoon and then we came here to the internet cafe to book reservations in Barcelona. We will be here in Nice for the next two nights then off to Spain. It should be a blast.

Munich then Rome

After we saw all this sites in Paris. Duncan, Colin, and I took a night train to Munich. We got there at about 7 in the morning and we decided to go on a free walking tour. The town is amazing. I had no idea that Munich was the home base of Hitler and the Nazis. Hitlers revolution began in this city. Most of the buildings were destroyed in WWII but they are now rebuilt. Since the buildings are only 60 years old, the city is very modern. I just love it here. However, time is up and we will be hopping on a night train to Rome in a few hours. That should be a blast.

Congrats to my mentor, David Anderson, who won the 500 PL Holdem event in Tahoe. I am so glad to see him succeed. Everything I have learned about is a credit to him and I cant thank him enough for it. I am extremely excited to get back to the states and join him and others in Vegas for the World Series of Poker. I will have to be a railbird since I am only 20 but I will learn a tremendous amount hanging with some of the best poker players in the world. Ill update later. Peace.

Eurotrip is coming up...

On Wednesday, a couple friends from Billings and I are going to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Colin, Duncan, and I are headed to Europe for five weeks of who knows what. We are flying out of Denver and landing in Amsterdam. From there we don't have many plans. All we have are our backpacks and our Eurorail passes. We have an idea of what cities we want to hit, but we have no clue when or for how long each stop will be. If we really enjoy one city, we want to be able to stay there for a few days. Hostels will be our home at each stop (no, I haven't seen the movie). We want to make it all the way down to Athens and then back over to Spain and Portugal with many stops along the way, one being a poker player's dream, Monaco. Anyway, I won't be playing much poker, if any, until I return back to the States.

When we get back, I plan on driving back to Nebraska to visit Leah for a few days. After that, I will drive to Vegas to join the Dave and many others in a rental house for the duration of the WSOP. I plan on playing in the cash games in Vegas as well as cheering those guys on in the WSOP events. The next two months maybe the greatest months of my now 20 year old life. I am so pumped, I can't even express it in words.

Well I have no idea when my next post will be, but I will for sure post pictures when I return.