The Day After the Night Before

Sometimes it seems like a traveling circus. As the photographers and journals gathered in the lobby of the Hangzhou Sunny Hotel to check out this morning, there was no question that we all needed more sleep, but would have settled for more coffee. The magnitude of equipment and luggage for a relatively limited number of people was truly amazing. The shooters from AP had called a van. Colleen Ross of the CBC Radio and Jim Stevenson of Voice of America and I decided to share a cab. It was a good thing that the train was only a mile from the hotel, given that all three of us were in the back seat and luggage was everywhere else. In spite of sounding like a Super 8, the Sunny Hotel was really great four-star hotel.

Unlike the Shanghai South Station that resembles any modern airport, the Hangzhou station was more like a study in the Zen of fluid dynamics. You become one with the crowd and then try to break free at the area for your train.


Once again the train left right on time. I found out that I was in a first class car. I am not sure what that got me, but the additional cost was only $1.33. At 180 km/hour I could still take in the rural landscape, but even with the distance from either city there was smog along the entire route.

We all parted company at the Shanghai station and I set off on another adventure in taxi riding. After about 20 minutes, my driver stopped at a high-rise building, which was still under construction, turned to me and smiled. With some creative translation and showing my FIFA credentials, I was able to convey that I was near Hong Kou Stadium. Getting from the station to my hotel, not only took longer, it was also more expensive than the train.

Immediately upon returning to my hotel, I headed to Starbucks whose proximity defines the primary benefit of where I am staying.

Mid-afternoon, there was another taxi adventure. I can finally articulate how closely the drivers get to each other; when the side mirrors touch, it’s close enough. Consistent with the day, my driver bumped a woman on a bicycle. This was not a surprise to me, nor do I think it was to her; it has to happen all the time. I am just amazed there isn’t more blood on the street.

Arriving at the Team hotel, I first saw Brianna Scurry. While she was doing ok, her emotions were pretty close to the surface, we talked for a few minutes hugged and parted.

In the lobby others were gathered to meet family members. Cat Whitehill (Reddick) and her sister and parents. Ally Wagner, her mother and finally I got to get a photo with Ally and her husband Adam Eyre who I knew from his days of playing for the Minnesota Thunder.




Julie Foudy stopped by after the Press Conference with Greg Ryan.
With nothing else on tap, I walked over to the Yu Gardens to get some more scenic shots and do a bit of shopping. The first store I went in, I saw Nicole Barnhart and Marci Jobson. Then back on the street, I met Marian Dalmy and her father Adam, who were in search of a Starbucks. Needless to say, I joined them.


Marian had her first game time last night and had an opportunity to get up close and personal with the ball.