World Champions!

I came back from Switzerland and spent about one day in Vienna before boarding my next flight to Lyon, France. Why Lyon you may ask? I went to see the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals! Soccer would be the one sport that I would say actually holds my interest, not that I follow it at all religiously, but it is the one sport I played the most growing up so I have a natural affinity towards it. I had also never been to a live sports match before so I thought it would be fun. Besides, I knew the odds were good that the US Women's National Team would be in the finals. When I found out that the 2019 World Cup was going to be in France, I knew this was my opportunity. I bought my tickets the day they were released in October. I was able to get tickets for both semi-finals and the actual final match which was so exciting! They also didn't cost an arm and a leg which was great for this budget minded traveler.

After I booked my tickets, I found an Airbnb close to the stadium but farther away from the actual city. That was fine with me because I would rather walk to and from the stadium than fight with the thousands of people taking public transport to get there.

That turned out to be a good decision because the lines and crowds to get on public were ridiculously long and it probably took longer to get back to the city than it took me to walk the 15 minutes. The games were incredible and the energy in the stadium was fantastic. Since the U.S. was the only non-European team left, a lot of European fans were able to come to the games. There were also a ton of American tourists there to support the team. The first semi-final was the US vs. England which was a crazy good game! There were goals, VAR, a saved penalty, a red card! This game was certainly a wild introduction to live sports games. Watch this highlight reel if you don't believe me. The second semi-final was the Netherlands vs. Sweden. That game was good as well but not near as heart stopping as the previous match. It did go into overtime though so that was exciting to see which team would score! Watch the highlight reel and you'll see the differences.

So the stage was set for the final match. It would be the defending world champions vs. the European champions; it was going to be a good match. The stadium was packed for the later afternoon game and energy was high. I was hoping the US would win it again and become the second women's team to win back-to-back World Cup Finals but anything can happen in sports. Spoiler alert, the US won! The first half was alright, but things got more interesting in the second half for sure. Here's the highlight reel if you're interested in watching. I really enjoyed going to the matches and it was so cool to see the US win it again!

In between match days, I had a lot of free time to explore. I didn't really know much about Lyon before arriving but since I spent a week there, I had time to learn more about the city. I bought the Lyon City Card for three days which allowed me to use the public transport and also gave me free or reduced access to different museums or tourist activities. I did a free walking tour one day of the traboules, went to a silk museum, a boat tour, and the Holocaust museum to name a few. Lyon has large historical significance from WW2 because it was in the "free" Vichy zone during the initial occupation of France. French Resistance would use the traboules to avoid getting caught by the Gestapo and were quite adept at using that system.

Also, remember how I mentioned that the longer you go without air conditioning the more your body gets used to the heat? Well, it is true. The whole time I was in France, the temperature was easily into the high 80s and low 90s but it didn't bother me near as much as it did in June. I was just glad that I didn't have to play 90 minutes of soccer in that heat. Thankfully, the two semi-finals were in the evening and the day of the final was the coolest day of the week.

This was a great trip and an amazing experience! I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to go. Now, onto the rest of summer.