Proper food

That was the main order of business today. We’ve survived on fast food and stadium snacks since Sunday so we needed to expand our dietary range. Nadine, our very nice extremely helpful, Indian, apartment concierge recommended the Marsa Malas Kempinski hotel about 10 miles the other side of Doha.

We told Nadine we wanted somewhere a little more upscale. Turns out she took us at our word and sent us to probably the most expensive hotel on the peninsula. $6,000 a night for a room if you felt like it. Dave got all excited when we learned that the US men’s national team was staying here! But not a glimpse. Not surprisingly they are secluded away in their own private wing.

Suddenly the whole “how do you get alcohol in Qatar” thing fell into place. Money talks. Of course! Bring enough $$$ to the right place and you can drink till your little heart’s content. I ordered a beer as big as my head from the generously stocked bar!

Bit of a down day today for football. No match tickets but still a lot to watch on TV. We watched Croatia Morocco at the hotel before heading off to check out one of the other fan zones. The Hayya Fan Fest. Still not quite sure what Hayya is. It’s kind of like a visa that you apply for when you get your World Cup tickets. It acts like an ID to enable you to get into the stadiums or the festivals and gives you free access to the metro. The Hayya fan fest was fancier than the regular FIFA fest. It cost about $15 to get in and concession prices were high ($10 for a coffee. No alcohol). But it was far less crowded and much more comfortable. Even had big comfy bean bags – if you could snag one.

Germany Japan kicked off just as we sat down (sadly not in a comfy bean bag). 4 games a day in these group stages. You can never not be watching if you so choose. Assuming Germany had it under control at one up, we took our eye off the ball and headed to find a metro to the main ticket center hoping to scalp tickets for another game or two. Our bad as it happened. Japan came back to win 2:1 but in our inattention I have no idea how. Except the winning goal was a belter. Gotta love the Japanese though – your team just came back to beat Germany for a major upset but you stay behind to pick up the litter! Great job

As we’re walking to the metro two big Arabic guys approached us. Palestinians as it turned out. I’ve noticed when traveling that people like to take their chance to “make their case” to Americans about the circumstances in their home country. Nice guys. They took their chance. So for 20 mins we received a history lessen from the times of empire through the Balfour declaration to the modern day on the West Bank. While I won’t pretend to understand, I do know the Brits have a lot answer for! (the older I get the more I wish I was much better at history!)

Despite the empty seats in the stadiums no. tickets to be scalped. And none again this morning! We’re trying to decide if this World Cup feels busy compared to Russia and Brazil. Hard to say. Doha itself feels quite busy – a steady buzz. What’s confusing is that at other World Cups there are 7, 8 or more host cities. This one is all crammed into one city so you might expect it to feel more crowded. But not so much. Maybe it’ll fill up more for the second round group stage games. Certainly feels that way with all the Brazilians finally flooding in.

So abandoning our great scalp-a-ticket caper, we spent a few minutes admiring the spangly new Doha skyline and headed back to the apartment. The hectic few days of travel and football finally took its toll. I couldn’t stay awake for the last game of the night and was soon fast asleep.

Football is a culture of peace and respect for human rights. It says so on the subway walls so I guess it must be true.

(p.s. What was the proper food? By far the most expensive burger I ever had anywhere in my life! But at least it was proper 😊)