Day 1 – Paris – June 15

Well I can confirm that Paris is not flooded! And the metro is running on time! As is the 101 bus out to Paris Camping Est in Champigny-sur-Marne. Two metros and one bus later, we arrived at our campsite base mid afternoon without any delays. And along the way we met some very friendly Parisians who were happy to point us in the right direction on the metro. No sign of armed police or heightened security during our commute; the locals went about their business as normal.

The long wait at campsite reception was an opportunity to spot the many nationalities also based here at least temporarily…Swiss, German, Romanian, Polish, Swedish, Austrian as well as Welsh, English, Northern Irish and Irish. The Welsh we spoke to seem confident enough of their chances against England. The two Swiss lads I chatted to were on their way to Parc des Princes for the Romania match, and believed neither Irish team would be in the competition by the end of the weekend. What would they know! The campsite is based on the Seine, and while I’ll admit that we didn’t actually walk to the river yet there’s plenty chance for that next week when we return back to base on Sunday. A few things in the campsite really brought me back to family camping holidays in France in the late 80s…the outdoor communal area for washing dishes being one, and memories of doing the dishes with mum or dad and chatting to other campers beside us doing the same! Our chalet is kitted out with kitchen and sink so no need for that this year.

The football today was pretty dull it has to be said. The French in the bar didn’t mind leaving it late to win, Griezmann’s late goal kicking off a big celebration and a French conga outside the bar. The celebrations went on for a while with car horns tooting around the campsite. A bit early to be celebrating so joyously perhaps?

All in all a  very relaxed and enjoyable first day in France…the calm before the storm!

 

Day 2 – Lyon – June 16

After a 460km car journey through central France and a €33.70 toll we reached Lyon in sweltering mid afternoon heat. Temperatures here cranked up a lot from Paris. Somehow when booking last week, I managed to find an apartment on Bookings.com on the narrowest street in the city with no parking! A crazy half hour ensued chasing car park signs which didn’t materialise into actual buildings, and going around in circles. Thankfully one sign eventually led to an actual car park and up we went. Fair play to Mark’s patience at the wheel. Slight delay to the plan of watching the England v Wales match in the fanzone but we still made it in there before half time and caught the Bale free kick ‘live’.  I can confirm that the fanzones have alchohol! Well this one does anyway, despite the supposed ban in all fanzones. True lies! There were a good few Welsh and English in the fanzone so it made for an interesting watch! Shame we were getting pre match burgers as Sturridge hit the winner, so missed how gracious the English fans would have been towards their Welsh cousins. Plenty other nations were in the fanzone too and I got my wish of meeting Icelandic fans. We chatted about the Portugal match and belittled Ronaldo together!

Lyon was a city of extremes weather wise yesterday. Blazing sun during the Wales match, thankfully a bit of sun cream had been quickly thrown on at the apartment. On route to the Northern Ireland match the heavens opened, rain drops the size of hailstones! Maybe they were actually hailstones but we were on a bus looking out so thankfully avoided them. The shower that stopped the match for a few minutes in the second half didn’t seem as heavy. The Northern fans were class, chanting and singing throughout though getting more tense as the second half went on. They deserved the win and the second goal in injury time sent them into raptures in the stands. A well deserved win. Little did we know that a man in his sixties had suffered a heart attack late in the second half in the stadium and died. A real tragedy. The Northern fans we met were sound and nothing was asked of my accent and why I was there. In fact, more than one of them when they heard my accent mentioned the applause in the Ireland v Sweden match for the young Northern Ireland fan who died and that it meant a lot to them. That made me proud of my own country and fans, and made me respect these NI lads more. That’s what these tournaments should be about. We queued up for the trams outside the stadium as a lightning storm lit up the distance. The clouds overhead were fully loaded and promised a potential downpour that thankfully never happened.

Back to the fanzone then for the very dull Germany v Poland match. It’s still so hard to see a potential winner in this tournament as none of the favourites who have played twice have convinced over both games. I think Spain and Italy might change that view over the next few days. We caught up with Mark’s colleagues Johnny and Tom in fanzone and went on to another bar with them. NI fans were scattered in every bar off the place Bellecour and in full voice. And rightly so. There’s a huge chance they’ll be in the second round now after a win.

And now attention turns to Bordeaux and Ireland v Belgium. We have a 550km drive ahead of us today before we can even consider the pre-match activities. Cut it short around 1am last night to keep some in reserve…tonight will be the big one! Haven’t read much of the pre-match hype at home or on the Belgian side yet. So hard to know which Belgium will turn up, but if we play like the first fifty minutes against Sweden then a great result can happen. What we wouldn’t give for the NI scenario yesterday as it played out…a goal early in the second half and an insurance goal in injury time to seal it. Bordeaux would be off the charts and most likely run out of beer! And the whole country back home would lose the run of itself…bring it on!