On June 7, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. Central European Time, the Swiss and Czech national soccer teams started Europe’s big productivity killer, “Euro2008“. Since that night I watched soccer for 14 consecutive nights, sometimes two games per night, sometimes just one. Last night there was finally a breather as they prepare for the first semi-final match Wednesday night (Germany v Turkey).
Normally I use my after-work hours to do “continuing education” such as brushing up on Django, which has been my big goal for the last few months. But for two straight weeks I have done absolutely nothing useful during the evenings. Because of the soccer fever here (Austria is co-host of the Euro2008 tournament), I’ve also done a lot more “partying” than usual, which has further reduced my productivity.
On the other hand I have really enjoyed the atmosphere here in Vienna during the last few weeks. Many back home in the States won’t realize what a big deal this is, particularly here because Vienna is a host city. It’s huge here. The FanZone has been packed on some nights, to the point where they had to stop letting people in. Austria v Germany was a big attraction (for obvious reasons here in Vienna), as was Croatia v Turkey (Vienna has very large Turkish and Croatian communities.) I’ve only been in the FanZone once. The big screens there are great, but there is only one choice of beer (Carlsberg got the big contract); it is overpriced at EUR 4.50 per 1/2 liter and it really is not so tasty. I prefer partying outside the FanZone and drinking beers of my choosing, such as Stiegl.
[flickr align=”left” style=”padding-right:10px; padding-bottom:10px;”]photo:2584843326[/flickr]We’ve enjoyed several of the games at my brother-in-law’s garden, plus several at a local microbrewery (a fairly rare thing in Austria) called Eipeltauer, two at an outdoor cafe/bar called Summerstage and one — the big one, Austria v Germany — at a fairly large private venue, Stiegl-Ambulanz (see photo here, as well as video at YouTube). Â The rest I’ve enjoyed from the comfort of my living room.
Tonight, being an off-night, means getting my Django house in order again.
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