This is what these pubs look like when the Canadians are there to raise a pint or three! A quick walk through the rain, (which was the only rain we had at the Cup) and we were at the stadium. We had great seats about 6 rows up from the field. Strangely enough Dwayne's cousin Marilyn was one row down and six seats away from us across the aisle. Now let's talk about a small world. I looked up a few minutes before the game and there was a guy walking in front of me. I looked at him and thought he looked a lot like someone I knew from Calgary but I blew it off as I thought why would George be here? They were announcing the Canadian team and one name stuck out. Turns out that guy I saw was George Hassler from Calgary as his son plays for the Canadian team! George and his wife were sitting in the same row as us but across the aisle, small world! George's son Jeff won "Man of the Match" but sadly that was the only thing we won as we lost to the Romanians by one
point! AAGGHH!
If anyone in Canada was watching this game they would have seen us as the camera was on the guys in front of us a lot. These guys were dressed in maple leaf pants, shirts, large leaf sunglasses and you can see their hats. So, if you thought it was us, it was.!
The next day we did a walking tour of the town with a guide our friends the Gumm's put us in contact with. We sat for half an hour and lamented Canada's loss to Romania and explained to our guide that our coats smelt like beer because a nice Romanian fan had thrown it on us after they had won. We explained to him that Canadians do not waste their beer! We sat for an hour or so while he explained the famous battle that had taken place close to Leicester. This was the last big battle in the War of the Roses. For those of you watching Game of Thrones, you will understand that the War of the Roses was not much different. There are no dragons though...sigh. The War of the roses was about who was going to rule England and its signalled the end of the reign of the Plantagenet's and the start of the reign of the Tudors. Henry the eighth is likely the Tudor that everyone knows. Richard the third
was the King of England at the time, he is not a well liked historical figure as he may or may not have
killed his two small nephews to get the thrown. So he went into battle against the Tudors who had been hiding out in France for awhile and he lost. If you want a full history lessons read a book including one written by Shakespeare called Richard the third. According to "history" his body was thrown into a river and thus ended the story, ok not really. Some thought after his body was brought back to Leicester and put on display that it was buried in the Grey Friars cemetery. After some research about where this used to be and some support from government they went digging in a parking lot and yes they found him. Now how did they know it was him? They traced his maternal descendants down, took DNA and compared it. The skeleton had a crooked spine, battle wounds and the DNA proved it, it was Richard the third. He was re-interred in the Leicester cathedral this year.
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