Monday, August 3rd - Leipzig

Today was a totally different day for this trip.  We came to Leipzig specifically to watch some friends play field hockey so this was to be our first day doing so.  First we had to find the field.  Once we figured out what tram to take it was pretty simple to get off at the right place and walk to the playing fields.

Once there we knew where Heather was going to be because she had e-mailed us to let us know so we went to field 4.  There are five playing fields in total.  We arrived part way through her game so just found a nice place in the shade and watched the game.  I don't know much about field hockey so it was a bit hard to follow.  I later found out from Heather that it was a pretty lousy game anyway and they were playing on a rough grass field that wasn't level or trimmed so neither team really had any control of the ball.

When her game was finished we headed over to the main tent area where they stored their equipment and where there was some food available.  We had something to eat and visited for a while and then she had to go ref or umpire a game so we went back to the shade to watch that.  Then we had to go watch Liz' game on another field.  The games start on the hour and last about 50 minutes, just long enough for a five minute break in the middle and then time for the one group to get off and the next teams to get ready to go.  There are almost 50 teams registered so it keeps them going all day to get 2 games in for everyone.  There are men's, women's and mixed teams playing and I have to confess that the men's teams are definitely much more entertaining to watch.  17 countries are represented and I think Canada has about 6 teams here.  This is a masters tournament but in field hockey I guess that means anyone over 35 because there is definitely a large age variation on the teams.  However, they are all just out there for the exercise and the fun so it's all good.  It's also very hot and humid so they are definitely working up a sweat.  I'm doing that at times just sitting in the shade.

I think we left about 5 but I'm not sure.  I know we watched Heather's two games, one of Liz's games, and one of the games that Heather ref'd, and I think we had a one hour break as well over lunch so I think that takes us to about 5 p.m.  We then walked back and caught the tram and went to the old town to find a place to have dinner outdoors near a free concert.  Heather and two of her team mates were going to join us around 7 p.m., which was when the concert started, but we were to hold the table in the meantime.

The concert area was already packed well before 6 with no seats available onsite and the restaurants were also all busy or reserved.  We found a place just down the side of the church where we could hear but not see the musicians and decided that would have to do.  We waited for quite a while.  Randy kept getting up and looking for Heather because we weren't sure she would see us and I kept holding the table.  People kept asking if they could join me and I had to keep saying no.  Randy and I ordered appetizers and drinks to hold the place and eventually we decided to order our meals.  We had just done so when Heather appeared at about 7:15.  She ordered right away too.  Her friends didn't arrive for about another half hour but everyone got to hear a bit of the concert and everyone got to eat.

As we came in on the tram we noticed a lot of police cars around and down in the old town in one area we noticed a very strong police presence.  During our meal it suddenly started getting very noisy and we realized there was a protest march happening on the street behind us.  As it got louder people started running from the square as if to join them but in fact they were the counter protesters yelling loudly to drown out the protesters.  It was a noisy few minutes but probably it was all settled own within ten minutes and the police started moving the barricades and going away.  This is a Monday night tradition in Leipzig.  It generally gets quieter in the summer but I guess they had a lot to protest about because there were certainly lots of them out there tonight.

After dinner we slowly wandered back through the old town with Heather and her team mates heading to their hotel and us to our tram to get back to our hotel.

I should note that one of the teams gave us Canada hats to wear as we were cheering for the games.  They were like cowboy hats with a maple leave on the front and made out of light foam so you could just put it on your head or over your hat.  We wore them all day and when we stopped at the tourist booth to book our city tour, the gentleman at the tourist booth wanted to buy a hat so Randy gave him his.  The guy was thrilled and said he would wear it all week so we figured the team would be happy with that.