WorldWideKittyGlassesProject : May 2024

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Ice Hockey Finals CZ vs SUI

The Czech Ice Hockey Team were playing in the FINALS!!!! The last time they won a gold medal was in 2010 and the last time they hosted and won was in 1985. There was a small chance that I could've gone to the Cannes International Film Festival in France, but unfortunately it didn't work out. Since it didn't work out, I told my parents that Czech Republic would win the gold medal. I wanted to celebrate part of history, so I made sure I went to Old Town Square to watch the finals on the large tv. The last time they had a huge tv set up in Old Town Square was 9 years ago. The cool thing is that I got to watch the quarterfinals inside the stadium, the semifinals in the fan zone and the finals in Old Town Square. There were 15,000 people watching the game with me. It was an insane atmosphere. Leoš and I got to the area an hour beforehand and it was a good thing we did because we had a great spot to watch the game. It was a tense game because everyone thought Sweden would win and there weren't any goals until the third period. Finally, Pastrnak made a goal and CZ was winning 1-0. The Swedes tried to play with an empty net, but CZ made another goal to make it 2-0. Everyone was basically holding their breath until the end. The last couple seconds of the game everyone could breathe and celebrate. The celebrations were crazy. Everyone was so happy. It was so amazing to be part of it. And the best part is that two of the top three players for the Czech Team play for the Anaheim Ducks, which is my home team in California. When Leoš and I were in California for Christmas, we got to see Dostal (the goalie) play. I made a sign in Czech when we went to the game and Dostal was happy and smiling when we saw my sign. Great job Team Czech. Congrats on the win and the gold medal!!!!

I had a lady nearby draw a flag on my cheek

fan zone next to O2 arena

I needed to rest my legs because of the day before

Old Town Square was packed!!

people celebrating on Dlouha street

the players in the bus headed for Old Town Square

players celebrating on top of the bus

the crowd that came for the players

Walk Around with Mom

Every time my parents come to the Czech Republic, my mom likes to stay at least a few nights in Prague. I met her at the hotel and we walked all over the city. Its a bit hard to find places that she hasn't seen before, but she still enjoys the walks. The ice hockey world championship gold medal game was happening in the evening, so I had all day to walk with her until then. We saw the set up in Old Town Square and it was pretty impressive. We then walked to Rudolfinum and came across a free exhibition about the destruction of war. Afterwards, we went to a Vegan Vietnamese place which was pretty good. They had a lot of choices which was really nice. We went for some gelato and made our way back to Old Town Square. We watched the first period of the bronze medal game. I wanted to rest a bit before the final, so we went back to the hotel to rest. It rained while we were at the hotel and when it was time to go for dinner, the rained stopped. It was great timing. We met up with Leos for dinner and after dinner my mom went back to the hotel. The final game would be too crowded for her, so it was best she didn't stay for the game.

my mom took a picture of me from the window

setting up for the finals

exhibition in Rudolfinum

looks like bread, but there are stone

hamburger made from stone

Vegan Vietnamese

my mom enjoying gelato

I got unique flavors: rhubarb and Olive Oil with Basil

Bronze medal game

a good amount of people, but you could still sit

my mom wanted to stay out of the sun

Pasta Fresca

I had the same lamp when I was a kid, not the entire structure, just one of them

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Semifinals in the Fan Zone CZ vs SWE

Leoš had an event out of town with his co-workers and my friends were busy for the weekend, so I needed to find some people to watch the semi-finals with me. I posted that I wanted to watch the game and 2 ladies messaged me that they wanted to join. I was happy that I would have some company for the game. I met them in the fan zone and then got messages from 2 others that wanted to join as well. In the end there were 5 of us watching the game. We went to a bunch of different stands to get some free stuff. I went to the Coca Cola stand to get my photo taken with the first two that showed up. I wanted to get a Czech flag temporary tattoo on my face, but they ran out. So, I decided to just get a Coca Cola tattoo for my face. Since I was putting advertisement on my face, I asked one of the attendants if I could get something for doing so and I got a scarf. I was quite happy. Then we went to the Notino stand and a woman was painting flags on people's faces, so in the end I was able to get the Czech flag on my face. We all won a gift bag from the tent and 4 of us made hockey cards from a photo booth. Two of us ended up with male cards and the other had female cards. We watched the game and it was so exciting because there were so many goals. By half of the first period, there were already 4 goals. It was so crazy. Sweden made it 3-2 and we were nervous. However, Czech was able to make it 3-3 and then in the end it was 7-3 for Czech. It was such a crazy game and towards the end it started to rain quite heavily and I wasn't able to put my umbrella up because they people behind me. Luckily, I saw the clouds beforehand and I thought it would be a good idea to stand next to the Notino tent. Once it started to rain, I just hid under the tent and was safe from the rain. I couldn't see the full screen, but at least I was able to see the score and time. It was such an exciting game and I am happy that I had some fun company to join me. After the game, we went to a cafe to chat a bit. Then 3 of us went back to the fan zone to watch the next game. One had to leave quite early on and myself and the other person decided to watch until the end of the first period. It was a nice game, but of course the atmosphere wasn't the same and we didn't have passion to watch it. It was interesting to see the difference in the fan zone and what a difference the atmosphere can make it. It was a great afternoon!