Michael Shelby's blog

Day 6 - In Cologne

Went to art museum south of rathplaza and hung out at hotel bar bc it was raining.

Day 5 - no bag and figuring out my weekend destination

Friday morning rolled around and they still hadn’t delivered the bag, it was stuck in Frankfurt.  The rain and 30 mph winds in Luxembourg had basically shut down the LUX airport soon after I landed and had continued into Friday.  So I went to my meetings wearing the same clothes – jeans and button down white shirt – that I had worn on the flight the night before.  I kept checking with the front counter during my meeting and they were telling me that the morning flight was still stuck in Frankfurt at 1 or 2 in the afternoon.  I was heading out of town for the weekend and was now worried that I might have to have the bag follow me where I was going to go. 

I sat around the lobby working for a while and finally at about 3pm the front desk guy said that my bag should arrive at the hotel at 5.  Yes!  I would have clean clothes.  Now I needed to figure out where I was going to spend the next 48 hours.  Somewhere in France – Lyon maybe?  Germany?    I couldn’t decide so I finally asked the one people who had been helping me all day, the front desk guys.  After a little while of listening they had convinced me to go to Cologne, Germany.  Now I just had to book my lodging and wait on my bag. 

By about 6 I was done working, my bag had arrived so I changed shirts and hopped in a cab to hit the train station.   English speaking train ticket sellers are cool.  I bought my roundtrip ticket to Cologne and headed to my platform.  After a short wait my train arrived, I hopped on, put my bag in the overhead above my seat and took off.  No security, no one even checking your ticket until after you were already on the train.  The advantages of traveling by train, already brought up in my blog back in 2010, can’t be oversold – no wait, fast, and drops you off in the middle of lots of towns.  Stupid non-train-having America!  It was a little confusing though.  I had to switch trains three times but the wait between trains was less than 10 minutes each time so it wasn’t so bad.  A mere 3.5 hours after I got out of the cab in Luxembourg I was walking out of the station in Cologne.  And my hotel was only 3 blocks away so no cab needed.  By the time I got into my hotel and settled it was about 12:30 so no checking out the city, it was off to bed for me. 

Day 5

I was a little slow getting out of bed on Saturday but I wanted to be a part of the 10:30 tour of the Koln Dom (Cologne Cathedral) in English (1 of the 2 daily) so I was out the door by 9:45.  The Dom is right next to the train station but I didn’t get a very good look at it when I walked out the night before because it was dark and a bit rainy and I was on a mission to find my hotel.  This place is freakin sweet, probably the second coolest church I have seen next to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and maybe the Vatican so maybe this one is third.  And unlike the Sagrada Familila, this one is completely roofed in!

I was a little early for the tour so I made a quick loop around the church taking in what I could before I met up with the tour guide.  It’s a lot to take in 15 stories high, lots of stained glass (useless in a climate where the sun shines about 10 hours a month), and some tombs.  I did the loop and then made it back to the meeting point for my guided tour.  The lady that gave the tour was part of the church somehow but I couldn’t hear it clearly.  The church was part of some sort of religious complex dating back to the 10^th century and had been expanded over the years until finally the current structure was built in 1248.  It had become the fourth most visited pilgrimage in Catholicism because of a cool gold box (show here)

This box supposedly contains the bones of the three magi.  This is not three magicians, you may know them as the three wise men that visited the baby Jesus in the manager ~2012 years ago.  There are also…. (see Wikipedia for more facts).   Talk about the choir area and the walls with the paintings and show that picture here.

After the tour was over I headed over to the Roman something museum to see artifacts that were found in the city.  Cologne was originally a Roman settlement named after SSSS who named it after a chick – Colonia Appelonia….We bastardized it to Cologne, I suppose it could be called Colony?  This museum was ok.  It had some old stones, a few mosaic floors that were found in the city, and lots of knick knacks like spearheads, glass bottles, pottery, etc.  That was kind of boring so I got out of there. 

Went to the document house – the prison of the SS

Killing time in Berlin on my way to LUX

Day 3 was going to be a short one in Berlin because of my 230 flight to Luxembourg.  I wandered the city again, checking out the holocaust memorial, the Branderberg Gate, the Reichstag and just taking in whatever was lining the streets I was walking down.  I made it back to the hotel in the cold, misty rain and jumped in a cab to the airport. 

The Berlin Tegel airport where I flew in and out of is right next to the city but is pretty small and unfortunately will be closing in March 2012.  They are consolidating their three airports into one to make it more of a hub in Germany. It is the capital of the country and yet the two biggest airports are in Frankfurt and Munich. 

In Berlin we had another stupid bus we had to ride to the plane.  It was packed and the heat was blasting, just like Paris.   Maybe American airports aren’t so bad.  This Lufthansa flight was delayed by 20 or 25 minutes and was totally packed and I had a fat dude next to me and he was taking up some of my space.  Stupid fatties.  After the short trip to Frankfurt I had to change planes onto Luxebourg’s national airline (Luxair!) to finish my trip to Luxembourg. 

We got to Frankfurt in what seemed like plenty of time to make my next flight.  I should not have assumed that.  I started walking down the concourse, and kept walking, and walked some more.  I was in Terminal A and my flight was in Terminal B.  After walking about 2 miles I finally got to the transfer point to get to Terminals B, C, D, E, and Z.  I go down the 4 flights of steps into an underground labyrinth that connects all the terminals.  It was approximately 22 miles of moving sidewalks to get me to Terminal B.  By the time I get up the 4 flights of steps to the terminal I am about 20 minutes before take-off.  I am starving because I haven’t eaten in hours (seeing a trend here?) so I grab a sandwich and go through the gate, afraid that if it took me this long to get to my gate my bags had no chance.   And guess what I see on the other side of the gate – a bus!  We have to take another bus to get to this Luxair plane.  And this one is so small I think it took off from a cow field next to the airport. 

I got my seat next to the wing/propeller and luckily had no one sitting next to me.  It was like a 30 minute puddle jump to Luxembourg and into the tiny baggage claim.  After the 15 bags came off the plane and onto the carousel I was chagrined to see that I was right as always – my bag did not make it.  As I walked to the missing luggage desk a dude wearing what looked like a civil war rain coat ran in front of me at the last second and then took forever once he made it to the agent.  I finally talked to the guy and he said it would get to my hotel at 10pm that night.  I went to dinner and a drink with a guy from UBS then back to the hotel for bed.  It was past 10pm by this time and there was no bag.    I went to sleep hoping the bag would arrive early the next morning. 

Lots go to the Symphony!

We had meetings on Wednesday at a Berlin (Tegel) airport hotel that took until midday.  After the fun meeting I went back to the hotel to do some work.  It was windy and pouring rain so I had limited desire to wander the streets.  By the time it was about 6 the rain had turned into a drizzle, I was done with working, and it was time for me to go to my next appointment -- the Berlin Symphony at the Berliner Harmoniker.  Playing that night was a baritone performer, conductor, and venue that came highly recommended by a coworker/symphony choir performer that has played at the same Philharmoniker.  I was running late so I wasn’t able to eat before I went to the performance so I made due with a brew and a brie/pretzel sandwich before going to my seat. 

Went into the venue and was impressed – strange shapes poking out all around the 360 degree seating layout, the symphony was going to be in the pit below the crowd.  Interesting performance, I suppose – a baritone dude, a high singing lady and a middle of the road dude.  But the sound was good, adequate energy, and a gesticulating conductor.  I did doze off a few times but this is the symphony so I get a pass.   I knew when I was seeing myself at the beach that I was not wide awake. 

The show was over and I went back to the hotel for some food – pasta, the old standby – then it was off to sleep. 

Day 8 -- Meet me at the Grund

Day 8 was the day I was able to enjoy a fallback destination, Luxembourg.  I had low expectations of this tiny city in a tiny country.  I was here for a day back in 2005 and remember a city with interesting topography – a city center surrounded by a deep river gorge on three sides and a small airport – but that’s about it.  So when I walked out of the hotel on a cold, drizzly morning I was ready to be bored for the day. 

I got directions to the city center from the guy at the front desk which took me down a major, busy road (Avenue John F. Kennedy.  USA!  USA!!) that I ended up having to cross due to some construction.  Crossing the street made it so when I crossed this bridge over a little valley that I had a great view down on a narrow valley floor (called “The Grund”) between me and the city center.

I crossed the bridge, made a left and headed past a bunch of passing busses towards the city center. 

What did I do here?  See the city history museum, what else?

After seeing the history museum I decided to check out what I had read was called “the balcony of Europe”.  That was about the only venue that I took in, the rest of the day was just wandering the city.  This was the start of several hours of wandering the hills and dales of Luxembourg. 

This balcony was actually a partial balcony, I think.  There was a building overlooking this valley that had a narrow walkway built into it that you could walk on.  I think this meets the definition of a balcony.  On both sides of this building was a walkway along the valley with a railing on it.  I walked back and forth on this balcony/pathway a couple of times taking in the view.  I was able to see people walking around down below but couldn’t figure out how to get from up here to down there.  I finally saw a little opening on one end and headed that way.  To get down to the neighborhood and river in the valley involved walking down a steep, narrow cobblestone street so that’s where I went.  There were little cafes and expensive restaurants down here but not much else to see other than this cool view of the city center above. 

I walked back up this steep, slippery, cobblestone street back up to the city center to see some more of Luxembourg.  I got over to the other side of the city where there was another valley view to take in.  It was before 4pm and still the sun was setting across the valley from me. 

There was a lot more valley floor to see from here and I had to figure out how to get down there.  This seemed a bit higher here than around the other side where the “Balcony” is and I thought there couldn’t be a staircase to get me down there.  I explored until I found a steep stone staircase winding me down part of the way and then wound around a platform to take a staircase all the way down.  There was no neighborhood down here, just a walking/running path along a small creek/stream.  So I walked way down to the right from where you see me in the church picture.  There was a house down here right on the creek with a little bridge crossing the creek and a BMW was parked right in front of it.  Not sure how this car gets out of here but that’s a pretty cool spot for a house, built right up against the sheer rock cliff that goes up to the city center.  Here’s me on said bridge next to said house:

 I then made a U Turn from this bridge and headed back toward the Grund that I mentioned earlier, meandering around this babbling brook and checking out the steep cliffs on both sides. 

On this walk I was being passed by people on bikes and a few people walking their dogs. Along one section of cliff that wasn’t as high as the rest I saw a tiny church built into the side of the rock.  It was tiny, abandoned, but you could still see inside through a gate on the entrance. 

The inside still had some run down pews in there and a little altar even.  Not sure why it was still open to the elements with these things in there but there you have it.  I walked back down the steps and noticed a little rock in front of the church that had what looked to be a little statue of Jesus but all that was left was his lower legs.  If you look closely, you can see his legs here on top of this rock. 

Right in front of this church were train tracks for a little kiddie train that apparently runs in the summer.  And across the river from that was a putt-putt course that looks like it was last operational in 2002.  I blame 9/11 for it shutting down.    I walked a little further down the path along the brook before taking a left at some steps that took me all the way back up to the top of the cliffs. 

At this point it was getting dark so I decided to head to a place that my cousin Monica used to visit when she lived here on summer.  The place was called Interview (after a magazine).  I gave her a call from the front door then went in.  It was dark, really smokey, and packed.  I had a brew and headed out for some food.  I saw a place on the map where I hadn’t been yet so headed over there to look for a restaurant.  And this was an interesting area – from the top of this cliff I walked down a bridge that slowly sloped down to the valley floor.  There were armaments here along the bridge that provided a great view of the valley floor where the brook was that I described earlier.  Further down I went and eventually made it to the valley floor and made a right along the river.  I saw an Irish pub and went in. 

Irish pubs are the best place to go if you are by yourself and want to sit at a stool at the bar because most bars in Europe don’t have this kind of set up.  I sat at the bar and enjoyed a Guinness along with 3 other people scattered around the bar.  The bartender was a friendly Irish lass that had just moved to Luxembourg so I decided to have another Guinness and chat her up some more.  As the beer was consumed, a few more people came in and eventually a big group of people came in and sat all around me.  This led to me celebrating some girl’s birthday along with a bunch of her Amazon.com coworkers.  Ended up being a fun night and I didn’t get home until about 3am.  Luxembourg! 

I am a Berliner

Flight was uneventful but a little strange that they didn’t have lay flat seats on the way to Paris from ATL.  They have them on the flight back in the middle of the day from Frankfurt.  Whatever.  So I didn’t get much sleep, maybe 1+ on the flight to Paris.  The guy sitting next to me was interesting – a student at West Georgia University, also on the basketball team.  He was working to be a CPA so had some questions for me -- I told him to get an MBA.  He was over in France for 3-4 weeks to stay with a friend of his that lives an hour outside of the city and this was his first time out of the US.  Nice way to experience your first taste of international  travel. 

We arrived early in the mornin’ and I moved through passport control quickly and I was off to catch my flight to Berlin.  No worries there, made it to my gate in plenty of time.  They call us and I go through the gate to see a waiting bus that is being loaded with passengers – the plane isn’t at the gate, it’s in another destination.  I duck through the rain and hop onto the bus that's jam packed and about 55 degrees Celsius, it feels like a hair dryer blowing through this bus of people in their winter coats.  The bus finally moves and it’s about a 30 minute ride to our plane, I think the plane was in Normandy.   It finally lets us off and we have to climb up two huge flights of steps.  In an uncovered stairwell.  In a cold rain.  They should tear down the Paris airport and start again.  So I finally get on the plane and it’s a little puddle jumper but luckily no one is sitting next to me.  Got to Berlin and to my hotel pretty quickly. 

After I arrived I made a quick loop around the neighborhood but it was raining so I went back to my hotel to nap and get some work done.   It was pouring rain until about 630 and I was starving after not eating for ~12 hours.  I walked out and went to a restaurant that I went to when I was in Berlin back in March 2010- XII Apostels.  It’s an Italian joint that serves 12 styles of pizza – one named for each of 12 workmen that used to gather in some town over in Naples, I think, where this restaurant was inspired.  The pizza I got this time was even better than last year – the Judas.  Killer spicy salami (not pepperoni, way better), red, yellow, and green peppers topped off with red and green chilies.  Spicy and greasy, delicious.  Go to this place if you are in Berlin.  It’s under the train tracks so you hear it going overhead every few minutes.  Lots of people are in there, lots of energy.  Just don’t be in a rush, the service is slow as all get out. 

After dinner it was kinda late and I was tired so instead of going out for a beer or two I wandered around checking out my favorite sights from the city – Brandenberg Gate and the Reichstag and then back to my hotel for some zzzzzzs. 

Australian Open - Day 5

Last day here.  Oh no!  Went on my normal run today, that's six days straight.  I think I ran a little over 20 miles in that time.  Not great, but not bad for taking the last few weeks off from exercising.  Stupid cold weather. 

Heading to tennis in a bit, here is who I will see:

Caroline Wozniacki (1 seed) v Dominika Cibulkova: Cibulkova looked pretty good against the Woz.  Good power, good passing shots.  But like many of these lower ranked players, she was spraying the ball all over the court which led to unforced errors.  And the 1 seed won 6-4 6-3.

Justine Henin v Svetlana Kuznetsova: Henin was the 11 seed, Kuznet 23 seed.  But Henin just didn't seem on.  Her powerful backhand was going into the net or out too often and Kuznetsova's power won out for a straight sets victory.

Roger Federer v Xavier Malisse (I saw him at the Atlanta tournament): Malisse looked pretty good in the latter part of the 1st set and the whole second set but it Federer got on a roll and won it 6-3 6-3 6-1.  Another in a long string of straight setters. 

Gael Monfils (the most exciting player in the game to watch) v Stanislaus Wawrinka: I saw Monfils here for the first time in the 2009 Aussie Open.  He was sliding all over the court, whipping forehand winners, pumping up the crowd after winning points.  He beat Marcos Baghdatis in a great match and it looked like he was set to climb the rankings.  Unfortunately injuries have kept him from getting to the top, but he was the 12 seed here.  Wawrinka is a countryman of Federer, played doubles with him in the Olympics back in 2008.  And has a great backhand.  Gael hung close in the first set.  He changed his tactics from the time I saw him in 2009 - fewer slides, not as many attempted winners.  His coaches obvisouly said your body can't handle all the sliding around and your game can't handle all your errors on your attempted forehand winners.  But Wawrinka was locked in and beat him in a tiebreaker in the first set which took over an hour.  At this point Gael seemed like he wanted to stop following the strategy he had in the first set and started being more undisciplined.  Wawrinka finished him off pretty easily in the next two sets 7-6 6-2 6-3.

Venus Williams v Andrea Petkovic: By the time the previous match was over it was after 10:30 and we had to leave our hotel at 4am the next morning.  And Venus was playing some terrible tennis so we took off with the plan to watch the game when we got back to the hotel.  So when we got back we turned the tv on in time to see one point and then Venus retire with a groin injury that had occured in her previous match. 

So that's it.  5th trip to Australia over.  Time to wake up at 330am to head out on my 28 hour trip home.  See you in 2 days, Atlanta. 

Australian Open Day 4

Dang.  This is my fifth day here already.  In less than 48 hours I will be gone.  Boooo.  Love being down here this time of year.  After leaving the frozen roads of Atlanta on Friday I have enjoyed living it up in the summer Down Under.  Running every morning along the Yarra River.  Tennis for 10 hours a day.  And it's coming to an end in just 2 days. 

Today started as normal - running down the Yarra, breakfast/catch up on emails then walk to tennis.  Who am I seeing today?

Kim Clijsters v Carla Suarez Navarro: saw CSN beat Venus here a couple of years ago.  But I have seen Kim Clijsters, and she is no Venus Williams.  This went right along with almost every other match this week in that it was a walkover - 6-1, 6-3.  Done in under an hour. 

Rafael Nadal v Ryan Sweeting (USA! USA!): Sweeting showed himself a lot better than I expected.  Rafa crushed the dude here on Tuesday and I expected more of the same out of this qualifier (his nickname, per Wikipedia, is the Hurricane).    But he actually looked ok, won a few games off of Rafa.  But in the end Rafa took it 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.  But it was a competitive butt whooping. 

Nadia Petrova v Alicia Molik (Aussie, a former favorite of mine but she sucks now so that's right out): Molik actually looked ok in the first set and lost by just a break.  But her tendencies popped back up in the second set and she lost it 6-4, 6-1.  She has some good power and hits some nice angles and drop shots but she can also hit the ball 10 feet wide and into the net repeatedly. 

After Molik lost quickly, we had a few hours before the night session so I went and sat at a bar on the river and had a beer.  Good times.

 
I give a huge "thumbs up" to Carlton Draught

Sam Stosur (Aussie!) v Vera Dushevina: Sam made it to the Finals of the French so everyone down here is tasting an Aussie victory here after like 38 years without one.  Dushevina was cute and was semi competitive but the hard hitting Stosur won 6-3, 6-2.

Juan Martin Del Potro v Carlos Baghdatis (JMDP won the US Open in 2009 but was hurt all of last year.  Baghdatis is a crowd favorite having lost in the finals here to Federer back in 2006): this was a let down.  Del Potro looked awful in the first set which may have had something to do with the wrist injury he had worked on several times during the match.  Lots of unforced errors and it looked like he isn't fit.  He lost 6-1 in the first then 6-3 in the second.  But in the third he came out reinvigorated, like a Phoenix rising from Arizona.  Powerful forehand, good serves, forcing Marcos into errors.  He won the 4th 6-4.  But the 4th set opened up similar to the first and he was broken and was down 0-3 before he knew it.  There were some good games the rest of the way with each getting the crowd riled up but in the end Baghdatis held serve the rest of the way and won 6-3 in the fourth.  You could see hints of his major-winning talent here and there but it just wasn't there consistenly and Marcos was returning his good shots and hitting winners of his own. I am interested to see what was wrong with him during the match.  Hopefully he can get his game back as we move along to Wimbledon and the French.

Here's Del Potro hitting a forehanded shot

 
Del Ptro in action

One funny storyline of the match was the Cypriot crowd that was there cheering on their countryman, Marcos.  Before the match, between every point, change over, constantly, they were chanting various things about Marcos Baghdatis.  It was like we went to a tennis match and a soccer game broke out.   Pretty early in the match the Aussie crowd turned on these guys and were trying to shush them as they were singing. Guys in the crowd were yelling at them to shut up.  People were shouting while the players were tossing their balls up for a serve. Security eventually kind of surrounded them and kept people away from them.  It was pretty weird to see.   This constant chanting has to throw some players off their game.  They are used to playing in quiet surroundings but when Marcos plays this crowd is ALWAYS there, chanting and just being annoying.  It's hard to get your thoughts together with all the noise.  Or maybe tennis players just need to man up and get over themselves.  It's not a library. 

I went back to the hotel, watched the end of the replay of the Andy Murray match and shut my eyes.  Last day of tennis is almost here.  So sad. 

Australia Open Day 3

After a day of little resistance put up against the favorites in the first four matches on Rod Laver Arena on Day 2, I was looking for a little more competition on Day 3. 

Justine Henin v Elena Baltacha: 6-1 6-3 Henin.  Not much competition here.  Henin looked good and Elena didn't have much of an answer for her. 

Andy Roddick v Igor Kunitsyn: 7-6 6-2 6-3 Roddick.  Igor put up a good fight in the first set. Roddick had almost no answer against his hard serve in the first set.  But Igor slipped up once or twice in the tie breaker and lost 9-7.  Then, as so often happens against lesser opponents that almost win the first set, Roddick went on to win the next two sets pretty easily.  I have probably seen this same scenario play itself out 20 times in the 5 years I have been here.  I guess this is what separates the top players from the journeymen - consistency.

Before the Venus match I wanted to wander around a little because the sun had just come out for the first time since we had been here.  It was 80 degrees and sunny, I had to go look around while catching some rays.  Check me out next to Margaret Court with some of the outer courts behind me.

 
Sunshining, tennis being played, taking my own picture with my iPhone

Venus Williams (and her pie crust dress) v Sandra Zahlavova: 6-7 6-0 6-4 Venus.  A competitve match!  Venus came out in a dress that was almost as ridiculous as the one she wore on Monday.   A yellow tank top with a criss cross pattern over her body then a funky little skirt.  This would have been the only story if she had cruised to victory.  But she lost the first set, pulling a muscle in her abdomen at the end of the first set.  She then recovered to win a close match in three.  But really.  Check out this dress. 

 

The Venus match was boring us to tears so we left after the first set.  The sun had just come out for the first time since we had been here and I wanted to go catch some rays.  I went to a little pub along the river and had a beer and a brat.  Here's me enjoying some January sun. 

 

Jelena Dokic (Aussie!) v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova: 7-6 6-1 to BZS.  Dokic is a headcase.  We saw her win here two years ago in the first round.  She is European but became Aussie later in life and the locals love her.  But she apparently changes coaches all the time, has drama with her family, is just plain crazy.  She played ok in the first set but she just makes too many errors.  And BZS let her beat herself in the second set.  So long, Jelena.

Roger Federer v Gilles Simon: 6-2 6-4 4-6 4-6 6-3 Federer.  This is probably the best match I have seen in 3 years (when Tsonga beat Murray?).  Federer came out smoking, hitting lots of good ground strokes, serving up a storm and took the first two sets.  Then it seemed like he got tentative or just forgot how to hit and ended up making tons of unforced errors.  Backheads into the net galore.  And Simon used to be top 10 before an injury last year took him out for most of the year.  The crowd was going crazy.  Federer was losing just enough to let Simon win.  Then the final set came, Federer buckled down and started getting emotional on a few points.  Simon, after playing almost perfect counter punch tennis for the third and fourth sets, finally made a few errors and Federer served out the match 6-3.  Phew, I didn't want to see the Aussies with no Federer for the next 10 days.

Here's a pic of Batty watching Federer warm up

 
Batty thinks Federer can win it all.

 

When the matches were over shortly after midnight we wandered back to the hotel and was asleep a little after 1.  Gotta get up tomorrow at 7 for my 5th run of the week. 

Australia Open Day 2

Tuesday was the same morning ritual followed by a walk to the tennis center to see:

Vera Zvonereva v Sybille Bammer: this match was bo-ring.  Bammer won 2 games and the match was over in under an hour.  Zzzzz

Rafael Nadal v Marcos Daniel: snoozefest 2011 continued here.  Marcos had a hurt knee and put up little more than a hitting partner would and he withdrew in the second set down 6-0, 5-0.

Sam Stosur (Australian) v Lauren Davis (American): I think Lauren is about 12 years old.  And she is under 5' tall.  Stosur is a tall basher.  Not good.  Stosur won 6-1, 6-1 in another match that lasted under an hour.  Wow, today is going to be over fast.  No matches lasting more than an hour. 

Then we had a break because these matches were so quick.  They put on an Aussie (Alicia Molik, an old favorite of mine) but we took off because she tends to lose and is boring.  I went and sat at a new bar that is built on a support of a bridge in the middle of a river right next to our hotel.  Here is a picture of my beer!

 

Dinara Safina v Kim Clijsters: Safina used to be #1 but is coming back from an injury.  And wow did it show.  Unlike the first two matches there were good rallies here but Safina was just delaying the inevitable.  6-0, 6-0 Clijsters.  Felt bad for Dinara. 

David Nalbandian v Lleyton Hewitt (2 of my friend Bianca's favorites): here was the chance to have a match that lasted over an hour.  My guess before the match started was 5 hours, Bandy (my nickname for David used only by me) tends to play marathon matches.  It started out innocently enough with Lleyton winning the first set by a break, 6-3.   Bandy looked awful, lots of errors.  Lleyton was cocky as always, yelling "C'mon!", pumping his fists, lifted by the chants of the Aussies.  Then the second set came and Bandy could do no wrong.  Unforced errors were gone, Lleyton was hitting balls in the net and out.  Set to Bandy.  Third set was same as the first with Bandy back to making errors, getting pissed off and Hewitt taking it 6-3 after Bandy was up 2-1 (I think).  Then the fourth set came and Hewitt had it in the bag.  He was up 0-40 on Bandy's serve at 3-1.  But Bandy came back and sent it to a tiebreaker.  The tiebreaker started and Hewitt had nothing.   7-1 in the tiebreaker to Bandy and we were on to the deciding set.  Bandy was serving for the match at 5-3 but tighetened up and Lleyton brought it back to 5-5.  When it got to 6-6, , we left the tennis center at about 11:45 after 3.5 hours of match time.  We went back to the hotel and watched the end. 

I thought the match would take 5 hours.  I was wrong. It only took 4:48.  This was a good ending to a day when the other four matches were a snoozefest. 

Here are some pictures I took during the Hewitt match! 

 
Batty is a toy that my friend Kate gave me.  She said in exchange for a ride to the airport she asks that I would take pictures of this little dude around Melbourne and send back to her nephew in DC to show where in the world it has been traveling.  Deal!

 
Hewitt serving up a tennis ball.  I watched it from my front row seat.  Not a bad vantage point. 

 See you on Wednesday, Melbourne!