by Michelle D
So basically it was our last night in Helsinki, we started at the hotel bar, moved to a different bar, I ended up riding our tour guide back to the hotel and then had to be carried to my room by a pair of Bolianaz's.
It all started by MB Inferno winning second place in the Lion's Cup a few hours earlier and recieving a little silver cup trophy. In celebration we took turns drinking beer from our winnings on the patio of the hotel bar. Our handy tour guide, Jaakko, took us of a wonderful place aprrox. 550 meters (never trust a boy who he deals in meters) away from the hotel, where the drink were cheaper. The pub was a good time for all and expect one random women who kept yelling at us. "One by one, outside." She was just upset because her friend had to be carried out of the bar, (much like myself a few hour later, but under different circumstances).
At the end of the night I discovered that alcohol does not ease pain as much as I had anticipated it to do so. I determined that I was not going to survive Jaakko's "550 meter" hike back to the hotel, but as it turns out I didn't need too, because in Helsinki the tour guides are always there for you! The next thing I knew I was on the back of our friendly Finnish tour guide as a gaggle of giggling girls followed close behind.
Once back at the hotel I spent some quality time with a bag of ice and three other intoxicated people before finally making it up to my floor. Unfortunately my good momentum stopped there. The freezing from the ice went away and walking just wasn't an option any more. Thanks to a pair of Bolianaz's (finally someone who could give me an accurate measurement of distance, 20 steps) I finally made it to my room where my umimpressed mother was awaken. Possibly the most entertaining and painful night of my trip!
Current time: 2-3am Sunday Aug 1
Current Location: Helsinki, Finland
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany
By Taylor #93
Tuesday Aug 3, 2010
Current time 12:00 noon
WOW! That's the first thing you'll say when you see the Allianz Arena. It's huge. It seats up to 69,000 people. Its so new & modern looking compared to everywhere else we've seen- I guess that's because it's only 5 years old. The outer dome lights up at night and glows red, white or blue. They used to have light shows but they caused so many accidents on the highway so now they only shine those 3 colors at intervals of 15 (or was it 50) minutes each.
The dome doesn't close because the grass is real and the arena is for football (soccer) only- not for concerts. They made us cheer so we could hear our echo. It was cool. There are 2 HUGE TV screens that the tour guide said are the size of a 4 room house. The FC Beyern Munich team and the Munich 1860 team both play here. If you have box seats you get to see every game played. There are 106 private boxes & they cost between 100,000-250,000 Euros per year to rent- holy crap!
They have cool dressing rooms that have a massage area or a hot tub attached to them.
Audi is a big sponsor of the arena so all players on the Bayern Munich team get a new Audi every year. I wouldn't drive to the games though- they have the biggest parking lot in Europe (10,000 cars) and it takes 2 hours to get out of the lot after games.
Tuesday Aug 3, 2010
Current time 12:00 noon
WOW! That's the first thing you'll say when you see the Allianz Arena. It's huge. It seats up to 69,000 people. Its so new & modern looking compared to everywhere else we've seen- I guess that's because it's only 5 years old. The outer dome lights up at night and glows red, white or blue. They used to have light shows but they caused so many accidents on the highway so now they only shine those 3 colors at intervals of 15 (or was it 50) minutes each.
The dome doesn't close because the grass is real and the arena is for football (soccer) only- not for concerts. They made us cheer so we could hear our echo. It was cool. There are 2 HUGE TV screens that the tour guide said are the size of a 4 room house. The FC Beyern Munich team and the Munich 1860 team both play here. If you have box seats you get to see every game played. There are 106 private boxes & they cost between 100,000-250,000 Euros per year to rent- holy crap!
They have cool dressing rooms that have a massage area or a hot tub attached to them.
Audi is a big sponsor of the arena so all players on the Bayern Munich team get a new Audi every year. I wouldn't drive to the games though- they have the biggest parking lot in Europe (10,000 cars) and it takes 2 hours to get out of the lot after games.
July 31 – Inferno vs. Turku White
By Jen M
Earlier this evening we played our third and last game for the day. We were all pretty tired but we were pumped to play! We had a quick warm up then got dressed to play.
The game started off with two pretty quick goals back to back. First Turku white scored then very shortly after Rayanne scored. Within the first minute the score read 1-1. The game continued to be very evenly matched. Turku White scored near the end of the period then again we scored right after, thanks to Megan. By the end of the first period the score was 2-2.
Going into the second we were ready to score more goals. Megan scored early in the period then Turku White scored soon after. Coming near the end o0f the period we were in need of a goal. Steph scored and then Nic R. scored right after to secure the win!!
GO INFERNO!! let's do it again tomorrow!!
Current city：Turku, Finland
Current time: 8pm Saturday July 31
By Jen M
Earlier this evening we played our third and last game for the day. We were all pretty tired but we were pumped to play! We had a quick warm up then got dressed to play.
The game started off with two pretty quick goals back to back. First Turku white scored then very shortly after Rayanne scored. Within the first minute the score read 1-1. The game continued to be very evenly matched. Turku White scored near the end of the period then again we scored right after, thanks to Megan. By the end of the first period the score was 2-2.
Going into the second we were ready to score more goals. Megan scored early in the period then Turku White scored soon after. Coming near the end o0f the period we were in need of a goal. Steph scored and then Nic R. scored right after to secure the win!!
GO INFERNO!! let's do it again tomorrow!!
Current city：Turku, Finland
Current time: 8pm Saturday July 31
Game #4- July 30th
Game #4 – July 30
by ?
At 7:45am this morning we left the hotel to go to the arena for our 9am game. We had a solid warm up in preparation for our game vs Turku Blue. Turku Blue was the youngest team in the tournament. We started off with heavy feet and didn't have our usual jump. Once we finally started playing our game we scored the first goal. The refs were not the greatest and gave us the dumbest penalties ever. We played the first half of the game with three players most of the time. Although they managed to to score only one goal off their many 3 on 2's. Throughout the 2nd half we finally got to start playing with five players again. Thankfully we ended up winning the game with a final score of 4-2. The goal scorers were Steph, Nicole M, and Danielle scored twice. We didn't quite have our top game but we managed to recover and mark another win down on the chart. After the game we all found something to eat and rested at the arena. We stayed at the rink until we played our next game at 1pm.
Current City：Turku, Finland
Current time: 11am, Aug 1
by ?
At 7:45am this morning we left the hotel to go to the arena for our 9am game. We had a solid warm up in preparation for our game vs Turku Blue. Turku Blue was the youngest team in the tournament. We started off with heavy feet and didn't have our usual jump. Once we finally started playing our game we scored the first goal. The refs were not the greatest and gave us the dumbest penalties ever. We played the first half of the game with three players most of the time. Although they managed to to score only one goal off their many 3 on 2's. Throughout the 2nd half we finally got to start playing with five players again. Thankfully we ended up winning the game with a final score of 4-2. The goal scorers were Steph, Nicole M, and Danielle scored twice. We didn't quite have our top game but we managed to recover and mark another win down on the chart. After the game we all found something to eat and rested at the arena. We stayed at the rink until we played our next game at 1pm.
Current City：Turku, Finland
Current time: 11am, Aug 1
Turku Sights
Turku sights – July 30 (friday)
by Laura E
driving to turku went swiftly. arriving in Turku, we picked up our (in my opinion) much better tour guide (she had a less annoying voice) and zoomed off around the sunny streets of Turku. She toured us around the river Aura, and explained how when turku was first settled, the river was the lifeline of the community, and named as such.
Next was the Turku cathedral, majestic and old. Our guide has an extensive knowledge of Turku's history, detailing about how a fire ravaged most of the city, and how the new city plan was different than past plans.
After that, we headed to Turku castle, an enormous castle that first started as merely a battle fortress. our tour guide was SUPER cute. Would have stayed longer just to look at him (and his english was excellent as well, but that's less important)
Bussed to Wirhuri Arena for our exhibition game.
After a quick communal shower in the rink, we hurriedly did our hair and makeup and raced on the bus to the Kupittaa Paviljonki (sp??) a beautiful wood building that held the opening banquet. The food was pretty good and apparently the dessert was SUPER good (I was too full). We were split up into groups of 2-4 and told to mingle with girls from the other teams. Who you sat with seemed to dictate how much communication happened. At my table with Kelsey we said about four sentences to these girls and got one word replies. Beth, Jaz and Nicole's table however were super rowdy behind us! Talk about feeling inadequate! Anyways, it was a nice time, with a group picture at then end.
We bussed to our hotel, checked in, and hit the hay.
Current City: Turku, Finland
Current time: 9pm, July 30
by Laura E
driving to turku went swiftly. arriving in Turku, we picked up our (in my opinion) much better tour guide (she had a less annoying voice) and zoomed off around the sunny streets of Turku. She toured us around the river Aura, and explained how when turku was first settled, the river was the lifeline of the community, and named as such.
Next was the Turku cathedral, majestic and old. Our guide has an extensive knowledge of Turku's history, detailing about how a fire ravaged most of the city, and how the new city plan was different than past plans.
After that, we headed to Turku castle, an enormous castle that first started as merely a battle fortress. our tour guide was SUPER cute. Would have stayed longer just to look at him (and his english was excellent as well, but that's less important)
Bussed to Wirhuri Arena for our exhibition game.
After a quick communal shower in the rink, we hurriedly did our hair and makeup and raced on the bus to the Kupittaa Paviljonki (sp??) a beautiful wood building that held the opening banquet. The food was pretty good and apparently the dessert was SUPER good (I was too full). We were split up into groups of 2-4 and told to mingle with girls from the other teams. Who you sat with seemed to dictate how much communication happened. At my table with Kelsey we said about four sentences to these girls and got one word replies. Beth, Jaz and Nicole's table however were super rowdy behind us! Talk about feeling inadequate! Anyways, it was a nice time, with a group picture at then end.
We bussed to our hotel, checked in, and hit the hay.
Current City: Turku, Finland
Current time: 9pm, July 30
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Greetings from Austria!
By Rayanne
This morning we went to Hohenwerfen castle which was about an hour away from our hotel, and was on top of a mountain! When we arrived we took a funicular (cable car) to the top. The scenery was gorgeous! We were shocked to see that people used to LIVE all the way up there!
During pur tour we were shown the castle's torture chamber (nic r loved it!) along with the bell tower. It was amazing to have been lucky enough to have seen such an old monumental part of Austrian history.
They also had a bird show, and one of the birds escaped and flew away into the trees.
All in all, the castle was a lot of fun, and a great way to start our very long day!
We're all missing our friends and families and can't wait to see everyone back home. Until Sunday, G'day mate! (yes I know that's austrailian and not Austrian... Whatever!)
Current time: 12pm aug 4
Current city: Salzburg, austria
This morning we went to Hohenwerfen castle which was about an hour away from our hotel, and was on top of a mountain! When we arrived we took a funicular (cable car) to the top. The scenery was gorgeous! We were shocked to see that people used to LIVE all the way up there!
During pur tour we were shown the castle's torture chamber (nic r loved it!) along with the bell tower. It was amazing to have been lucky enough to have seen such an old monumental part of Austrian history.
They also had a bird show, and one of the birds escaped and flew away into the trees.
All in all, the castle was a lot of fun, and a great way to start our very long day!
We're all missing our friends and families and can't wait to see everyone back home. Until Sunday, G'day mate! (yes I know that's austrailian and not Austrian... Whatever!)
Current time: 12pm aug 4
Current city: Salzburg, austria
Greetings from Austria!
By Rayanne
This morning we went to Hohenwerfen castle which was about an hour away from our hotel, and was on top of a mountain! When we arrived we took a funicular (cable car) to the top. The scenery was gorgeous! We were shocked to see that people used to LIVE all the way up there!
During pur tour we were shown the castle's torture chamber (nic r loved it!) along with the bell tower. It was amazing to have been lucky enough to have seen such an old monumental part of Austrian history.
They also had a bird show, and one of the birds escaped and flew away into the trees.
All in all, the castle was a lot of u
fun, and a great way to start our very long day!
We're all missing our friends and families and can't wait to see everyone back home. Until Sunday, G'day mate! (yes I know that's austrailian and not Austrian... Whatever!)
Current time: 12pm aug 4
Current city: Salzburg, austria
This morning we went to Hohenwerfen castle which was about an hour away from our hotel, and was on top of a mountain! When we arrived we took a funicular (cable car) to the top. The scenery was gorgeous! We were shocked to see that people used to LIVE all the way up there!
During pur tour we were shown the castle's torture chamber (nic r loved it!) along with the bell tower. It was amazing to have been lucky enough to have seen such an old monumental part of Austrian history.
They also had a bird show, and one of the birds escaped and flew away into the trees.
All in all, the castle was a lot of u
fun, and a great way to start our very long day!
We're all missing our friends and families and can't wait to see everyone back home. Until Sunday, G'day mate! (yes I know that's austrailian and not Austrian... Whatever!)
Current time: 12pm aug 4
Current city: Salzburg, austria
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Aug 3 - salt mines at hallein
By Marri
Well it was a bit rainy on the way to the salt mines and Peter (aka Petey) the bus driver took us on a little loop de doop and and we had to turn around once, maybe twice but sure enough we got there!
When we first got to the mines we put on these white suits with pointy hoods. Not going to lie we looked like we belonged to the kkk. Then we took the this dainty little train into the middle of the mine and that thing picked up a lot of speed by the end. After getting off the train we walked down more of the mine which was small, black and a bit frightening at times but we saw some salt samples and a weird machine. Overall we got a good feeling of what it would be like to be a salt miner, and decided that it wouldn't be a chosen career for any of us in the future.
After watching a couple of videos we went on a boat and saw an underwater cavern in the salt mine that they lit up with pretty colours such as blue, red and green. It was probably my favorite part.
My next favourite part was going down the steep wooden slides - altho I felt like I was going to get slivers in my bum and your butt was on fire by the time you got to the bottom - it was still a fun treat! When we got to the bottom of the 2nd slide we were at the deepest, coldest, and might I add the smelliest part of the mountain. There we crossed back into Austria from Germany (we crossed the border underground) kelly b said is was like the tunnel leading to Canada but I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say she was wrong.
After getting back on the train and returning to ground level we went into the souvenir shop and bought a bunch of goodies like steak and chili flavoured salt. Tam tam B even worked her magic and got us a bunch of free different kinds of salt (tam tam is very good at getting free things just like the drinks at the pub in Helsinki, right tam tam?)
Well that's about all I can say about a salt mine ... A very interesting experience overall. Time to sleep. Hi family!
Current time: 5pm aug 3
Current city: Salzburg, Austria
Well it was a bit rainy on the way to the salt mines and Peter (aka Petey) the bus driver took us on a little loop de doop and and we had to turn around once, maybe twice but sure enough we got there!
When we first got to the mines we put on these white suits with pointy hoods. Not going to lie we looked like we belonged to the kkk. Then we took the this dainty little train into the middle of the mine and that thing picked up a lot of speed by the end. After getting off the train we walked down more of the mine which was small, black and a bit frightening at times but we saw some salt samples and a weird machine. Overall we got a good feeling of what it would be like to be a salt miner, and decided that it wouldn't be a chosen career for any of us in the future.
After watching a couple of videos we went on a boat and saw an underwater cavern in the salt mine that they lit up with pretty colours such as blue, red and green. It was probably my favorite part.
My next favourite part was going down the steep wooden slides - altho I felt like I was going to get slivers in my bum and your butt was on fire by the time you got to the bottom - it was still a fun treat! When we got to the bottom of the 2nd slide we were at the deepest, coldest, and might I add the smelliest part of the mountain. There we crossed back into Austria from Germany (we crossed the border underground) kelly b said is was like the tunnel leading to Canada but I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say she was wrong.
After getting back on the train and returning to ground level we went into the souvenir shop and bought a bunch of goodies like steak and chili flavoured salt. Tam tam B even worked her magic and got us a bunch of free different kinds of salt (tam tam is very good at getting free things just like the drinks at the pub in Helsinki, right tam tam?)
Well that's about all I can say about a salt mine ... A very interesting experience overall. Time to sleep. Hi family!
Current time: 5pm aug 3
Current city: Salzburg, Austria
Tournament game #5 vs. Hyvinkaa
In game #5 we met the toughest team in the tourney. They went undefeated in their first 4 games.
After the first period we were tied 2 all. The atmosphere on the bench was intense, you could tell that everyone was giving their all.
About a minute into the second period hyvinkaa scored to take a one goal lead. I think they came into the game thinking it would easy considering our score against Turku blue in game 4. They sure picked it up In the 2nd half.
They popped In a couple more goals and we couldn't manage to rally bAck, with the final score of 9-4. I tried to block that part out of my memory... Although i felt a little better learning that they were the finish champs - that's pretty impressive.
After the game they were awarded the trophy while we had to wait the outcome of the next game to know if we got second or third plaCe.
That game went in our favor and we got second!!!! The 3 captains were called up to get the trophy and i have to say that was one of the proudest moments I've had being a Canadian ringette player - picking up a trophy and bringing it back to our team to celebrate. Our team as a whole had a great tournament and surprised a lot of people over here and I'm glad i had such a great group to share it with :)
After the first period we were tied 2 all. The atmosphere on the bench was intense, you could tell that everyone was giving their all.
About a minute into the second period hyvinkaa scored to take a one goal lead. I think they came into the game thinking it would easy considering our score against Turku blue in game 4. They sure picked it up In the 2nd half.
They popped In a couple more goals and we couldn't manage to rally bAck, with the final score of 9-4. I tried to block that part out of my memory... Although i felt a little better learning that they were the finish champs - that's pretty impressive.
After the game they were awarded the trophy while we had to wait the outcome of the next game to know if we got second or third plaCe.
That game went in our favor and we got second!!!! The 3 captains were called up to get the trophy and i have to say that was one of the proudest moments I've had being a Canadian ringette player - picking up a trophy and bringing it back to our team to celebrate. Our team as a whole had a great tournament and surprised a lot of people over here and I'm glad i had such a great group to share it with :)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Note from coach kel:
Some of these posts are out of order... Not sure why they got jumbled. More to come shortly, but we are bringing home the 2nd place cup!!!!
The pride we're all feeling is indescribable.
... More to come ...
The pride we're all feeling is indescribable.
... More to come ...
July 29 - Grona Lund (amusement park)
By Chelsea K
Last day in Sweden, and it was a good one! While some people went to an outdoor museum, a bunch of us ventured off to an amusement park called Grona Lund. We got there about 1/2 an hour before it opened so we were stuck waiting in the rain! Once 11:00am hit Kelly B and I burst through the gates while everyone else got in trouble for running by the crazy people. We went on many rides including rollercoasters that were extremely jerky (one killed Nik's uterus). There was a nice log ride of love, Jen really enjoyed that one! I think everyone's favourite ride was the "dance party that spun really fast" The whole team had a great bonding moment to "Miami bitch" on this ride. We all pulled out some radical dance moves.
As we were leaving we were destined to go on one last ride, the merry go round. This is where Steph was absolutely mortified that Jaz and I stole her giraffes from her. Fortunately she forgave me, aren't I the luckiest girl in the world.
Overall it ended being a great day a well as an awesome bonding experience for our team!!
Current city: Stockholm, Sweden
Current time: 8pm July 29
Last day in Sweden, and it was a good one! While some people went to an outdoor museum, a bunch of us ventured off to an amusement park called Grona Lund. We got there about 1/2 an hour before it opened so we were stuck waiting in the rain! Once 11:00am hit Kelly B and I burst through the gates while everyone else got in trouble for running by the crazy people. We went on many rides including rollercoasters that were extremely jerky (one killed Nik's uterus). There was a nice log ride of love, Jen really enjoyed that one! I think everyone's favourite ride was the "dance party that spun really fast" The whole team had a great bonding moment to "Miami bitch" on this ride. We all pulled out some radical dance moves.
As we were leaving we were destined to go on one last ride, the merry go round. This is where Steph was absolutely mortified that Jaz and I stole her giraffes from her. Fortunately she forgave me, aren't I the luckiest girl in the world.
Overall it ended being a great day a well as an awesome bonding experience for our team!!
Current city: Stockholm, Sweden
Current time: 8pm July 29
Kelsey H. July 28 - sightseeing in Stockholm
For our second day in Sweden a very full day. We ended up spending the whole day in Sweden because of a scheduling problem with the ferry. This meant we just had more time to do things. We started off the day going to drottingham palace. This palace has been the official home of the royal family since 1981. We explored the rooms from the past. We got to see how royalty lived hundreds of years ago. Although we had a private tour for our group, two Asian girls were tagging along, so we named them 30 and 31 in our group, until Hedy kindly asked them to leave. After some exploring of the palace grounds and a break with ice cream and a cold drink, we headed to the city center.
Here we did some shopping and sightseeing. We then had a boat tour around stockholm. We watched the scnery and beautiful architecture. However the rocking of the boat did put some of us to sleep. This gave some of the girls an opportunity to take pictures of jaz with crackers in her mouth. It was quite funny but she wasn't happy when she woke up. Because we had an extra night in Stockholm, Jaakko our tour guide found us some more ice to practice. We did some drills, practiced some of our plays and had a little scrimmage against each other. After our practice we went back to the hotel for dinner then off to bed.
Current city: Stockholm, Sweden
Current time: 9pm July 28
Here we did some shopping and sightseeing. We then had a boat tour around stockholm. We watched the scnery and beautiful architecture. However the rocking of the boat did put some of us to sleep. This gave some of the girls an opportunity to take pictures of jaz with crackers in her mouth. It was quite funny but she wasn't happy when she woke up. Because we had an extra night in Stockholm, Jaakko our tour guide found us some more ice to practice. We did some drills, practiced some of our plays and had a little scrimmage against each other. After our practice we went back to the hotel for dinner then off to bed.
Current city: Stockholm, Sweden
Current time: 9pm July 28
kelly b post - game 2 vs. VG-62 July 31
post by Kelly B.
A big hello from Turku Finland! We have had a very busy day, I'm happily writting this from the comfort of my hotel bed after three games today. It is my duty to fill you in on game two of the day, which was our 3pm game (7am Wpg time) against VG-62. Unfortunately we weren't able to pull out the win, but we definitely put up a good fight loosing 4-3 with goals by Nicole R., Kelly, and Dani. Our team played very well , we kept up our inferno spirt and managed to have some fun! Just a quick hello to the fam back home!
Current city: Turku, Finland
Current time: 9pm July 31
A big hello from Turku Finland! We have had a very busy day, I'm happily writting this from the comfort of my hotel bed after three games today. It is my duty to fill you in on game two of the day, which was our 3pm game (7am Wpg time) against VG-62. Unfortunately we weren't able to pull out the win, but we definitely put up a good fight loosing 4-3 with goals by Nicole R., Kelly, and Dani. Our team played very well , we kept up our inferno spirt and managed to have some fun! Just a quick hello to the fam back home!
Current city: Turku, Finland
Current time: 9pm July 31
Game 1 NoU Ringette vs. Inferno! July 31st
By Nicole M
Well the day has finally arrived! The reason why we came to Europe...not just to sightsee, drink and party the whole time. Game one finally came here.
Waking up at 7:45 was death! Marri and I were very tired in the morning. I Practically had to pull her out of bed as our alarm clock (my phone) was going off forever! Anyways back to the game!
So it was neat that at the beginning of the game the national anthem played! Once the game got started I think NoU was pretty shocked that we kind of have a different syle of play. If we put two on the girl with the ring they would panic and give it up most of the time. That was a great advantage for us.
Nicole R scored the first goal of the game! Then Beth scored now it was 2-0, we thought we had good possession and everything but guess what they scored twice in the second period to tie it up! :O
The periods are only 15 minutes long but with the ice it was the same tiredness we get at home.
In the second half with ten secods left i scored the worst goal ever, HAHA but the main reason is that we won! Wish everyone was there to celebrate our first game against the Europeans.
Well the day has finally arrived! The reason why we came to Europe...not just to sightsee, drink and party the whole time. Game one finally came here.
Waking up at 7:45 was death! Marri and I were very tired in the morning. I Practically had to pull her out of bed as our alarm clock (my phone) was going off forever! Anyways back to the game!
So it was neat that at the beginning of the game the national anthem played! Once the game got started I think NoU was pretty shocked that we kind of have a different syle of play. If we put two on the girl with the ring they would panic and give it up most of the time. That was a great advantage for us.
Nicole R scored the first goal of the game! Then Beth scored now it was 2-0, we thought we had good possession and everything but guess what they scored twice in the second period to tie it up! :O
The periods are only 15 minutes long but with the ice it was the same tiredness we get at home.
In the second half with ten secods left i scored the worst goal ever, HAHA but the main reason is that we won! Wish everyone was there to celebrate our first game against the Europeans.
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