Gary bids farewell to Euro08

A partial shot of the majestic St Stephen’s Cathedral at Stephanplatz, Vienna

Iain, seen here, sharing with his girlfriend the good news after the final. He would be stripping down to his boxers and canter across a bridge in downtown Vienna.

Hello, chicken rice. Bye bye, Wiener schnitzels and kebabs.

And so, it finally came to an end. It seemed so long ago, especially when you think about the amount of bah kut tehs and fishball noodles I have been missing out.

But in football-speak, it all went past me in the blink of an eye. Didn’t seem too long ago when Switzerland took on Czech Republic in the opening Euro08 match.

Over the past month or so, I have moved from city to city, starting from Basel, then to Berne, Zurich and finally Vienna. The work has been tough, but the experience invaluable. Hope you guys enjoyed reading my reports.

Now, I can’t wait for the English Premier League to start.

Gone with the wind – Gary’s version

Above left:Talk about taking street football to new heights. The Dutch fans kicking the ball pratically everywhere, even on a crowded street here in Basel. If you look hard enough, you can see the football just under the second canvas.

Above right: Photo taken in a Vienna toilet. Surely Luca Toni can score from here.

As the temperatures start to soar, the organisers decided to spray water into the air to cool the fans down. This is a scene outside St Jakob-Park.

How I miss the Dutch fans. They brought plenty of noise and colour – literally – to Basel where Holland played Russia in the quarter-finals. Just check out the colour of the water in the fountain that these Dutch fans are basking in.

Hi all of you back home,

And so, we are almost down to the last two. At the time of writing this, the match between Spain and Russia have yet to be played and Germany had just beaten “comeback kids” Turkey.

What a spectacular tournament we have so far, with the usual ups and downs, but only more dramatic than recent ones. Not just for the footballers, but the journalists, too. There was plenty to write about the Turkey-Germany game. There was drama, exciting football and plenty of goals. And there was also a black-out and a mass evacuation. Television coverage was interrupted several times because of technical problems.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, the journalists at the media centre in Vienna had to evacuate as there was a storm going on, and officials were worried that winds would exceed the 120km/h that the building can withstand up to. And at the fan zone, fans had to leave the place as gale-force winds and lightning hit the city.

Anyway, during the past few days that I haven’t been sending over my diary entries, I have been filing my stories at Internet cafes and coin-operated PCs. I thought it was bad enough that the Internet connection at my hotel wasn’t ideal. Then, I began to appreciate life a little bit more after my laptop went kaput. Scary, really. I was contemplating if I should buy a typewriter and fax machine until my company swiftly sent a replacement laptop over to Vienna.

Made my day. Just to make up for lost time, see the few photos I took recently before the storm clouds gathered over Vienna.

Cheers,

Gary Lim,

“Wet” Man on the Run, The New Paper

Double trouble, ready to rumble

Our Euro Kaki, Iain Macintosh, will join TNP’s Euro Man on the Run Gary Lim from the semi-finals onwards.

Together with our Coach on the Run Tohari Paijan, they will bring you the latest thrills and spills from Austria and Switzerland, so catch their latest reports in the noon editions of The New Paper, and personal insights at tnppostman.com.

Gary’s Interlaken Diaries

Hi all,

THEY are everywhere. At train stations, city centres, tram stops and football stadiums.

All 5,000 of them.

They are the Euro08 volunteers, conspicuous by the sky-blue windbreakers they are wearing. Among other things, they help out with the logistics of running such a huge event and offer directions to football fans either confused by the maps or tipsy from too much to drink.

According to Uefa, the two main venues have 1,000 volunteers each, while the remaining six hosting cities have the help of 500 volunteers each. Amazingly, a total of 17,644 people actually applied, only for the figure to be whittled down to 5,000 in the end. And they come from all over the world, 150 countries to be exact.

Needless to say, the prettier ones are usually busier.

Gary Lim’s Interlaken Diaries

Dear Diary,

(Top: Picture of the interior of Zurich train station;

Middle: Picture of me beside a car, whose owner I guess is a Dutch fan;

Above: ZURICH – The Italian training session was conducted behind closed doors, out of public scrutiny. But that did not stop the Italian fans, numbering about 500, from gathering outside the stadium to show their support for the team.)

THERE’S everything to like about Interlaken. Situated in the heart of the Swiss Alps, sandwiched between the lakes of Thun and Brienz. Swiss cottages nestle at the foot of the mountains, man-made architecture against a backdrop of nature’s wonders..

The New Paper’s Man and Coach on the Run…

top: Tohari and I are on the balcony of the Interlaken hotel we are staying in.

above: This was taken on the train when I was on my way to Zurich to catch the France-Romania game.

Gary Lim’s Euro Man on the Run Diary

Dear Readers, just a quick update from on how things have been over here in Switzerland.

It has been a crazy days so far, what with the workload, jet lag and travelling.

Basel is a nice picturesque town, just at the edge of where France, Germany and Switzerland intersect. It’s a place where a colleague suggested will help your lengthen your life span. And maybe he’s right.