Return to homeland and right into the Euro madness

We landed in Warsaw on Friday morning. Immediately we found ourselves, with all our luggage including Zofia and all that accompanies a one year old on an intercontinental trip, in the middle of a joyous, colorful, slightly crazy and loud Euro championship madness. Mixed with traditional Polish hospitality, and Warsaw's constantly growing and increasingly glassy and sophisticated architecture, this was a sight to see and enjoy. Our hotel stood just steps from the Warszawa Fan Zone, which was all one can expect and more. It surrounded the infamous Palace of Arts and Science (infamous in its majestic monstrosity), with banners, security gates, large screens and the overall feeling of something important taking place. It was like nothing I have ever seen, with something akin to a 24-hour party going on the entire time. I could only imagine what it was like when the Polish team played its matches, be it only a few, bless them. The organizers estimated that almost 1 million people visited the Fan Zone! Difficult to imagine a million people. We were there one day after a semifinal game, and the place seemed empty, all the fans no doubt sleeping off their previous night's exertions. Our hotel was also emptying, we were told by a very matter-of-fact receptionist. But we saw reporters from around 10 different countries, including Al Jazeera, and also Italian, German, and British television crews. A very proud Italian football official passed us in the hall, wearing his badge like a gold medal. That was before they lost to Espana 0:4, poor suckers. Polish television, and in particular my favorite breakfast show 'Pytanie na Sniadanie' (cheeky word play which means literally - a question for breakfast) were full of excited reports of the goings-on over the past two weeks. Smiling faces painted white and red beamed from the screen accompanied by comments about what great time people were having. Someone mentioned that socker fans from around 110 countries visited Poland, cheering various national teams. How amazingly infantile, in the light of the crises looming all around, to get excited about a ball game. Something else occurred to me while watching the show, however. It was very clear that, if only for those short two weeks, Poland lost this quite large chip it normally wears on its shoulder. There was no need to prove to anyone that we were a great, hospitable, exciting country - most people saw that for themselves. And even though most of us Poles were surprised to the most that we actually pulled this off with no significant glitches, pride is the word that comes to mind right now. I do hope that the chip is gone for good, but perhaps that would be too much to expect.