The following coffee didn’t taste great but it had the desired effect. After washing my face and having a bit of stretch, I started to feel more alive. The small fact I was about to land in Europe also helped get the blood pumping! The seat belt light came on before 8am as we hit a bit of turbulence just before commencing the decent. As I was in the middle block of seats I moved to the window and raised the shade to look out. The patchwork of local fields of various shades of green farmed below made wonderful patterns so far below. As we descended below the clouds the snow capped Alps dominated the horizon and I stared out at their expanse with open mouthed awe. My eyes followed the mountains down and at the base they meet an expansive lake. I had heard about Lake Geneva – or Lake Léman but I had not realized how massive it was. I have since read that measuring at 582 km² it’s the largest natural freshwater lake Western Europe. The mountains coupled with the colossal lake made a beautiful welcoming scene for my arrival into Europe on a cloudy Wednesday morning.
As we continued our decent into Geneva the screens on the plane all flicked into life and a video started playing. It was a video aimed at inspiring the players called Sky Cartoon. It showed hundred of school children painting a giant mural on the ground and ask the camera was trained on each group they would offer messages of support and encouragement. At the end of the video the camera was lifted off the ground via a large balloon to unveil the finish product which was a cartoon of a Japanese player dynamically kicking the ball. This all happened with motivational music and I could help wondering what the players at the front of the plane were thinking as they were just about to step off the flight to begin their 2010 football world cup campaign. For some it may be the first, for some it may be the last, but for all it must be both a daunting and hugely exciting event in their lives.
We had a private entry in Geneva airport and lined up behind the players to clear immigration. I had a few raised eyebrows as I gave my passport at immigration based on my origin, which I found a little strange. I just smiled and gave a nervous “I have no idea what you are saying half-laugh” before the stern looking officer stamped my passport and let me proceed. As we had arrived on a chartered flight our luggage came out directly on trolleys from the tarmac. As each of these trolleys rolled in the arrivals hall it soon became very apparent to anyone watching on that nothing was being left to chance for the Japanese football team training camp. Trolley after trolley piled with boxes of all shapes and sizes, training supplies and the general luggage of the team as well as their substantial support staff just kept on coming through the doors. I was pretty weary and wished I had the perk-up Mark had as we waited. He had called home to say hello and to wish his little boy a happy first birthday. He was more than chuffed that his little birthday boy did his very best to have a conversation with him and the grin he wore after finishing that call was infectious. After around an hour the luggage belonging to the back of the plane brigade finally came out. We cleared customs and I followed the other members of the travelling group as I didn’t understand one word of the instructions given in Japanese.
We boarded the two waiting coaches and were soon on the road to Saas-Fee. To be honest with you all I didn’t have too much control of this trip for various reasons and therefore may not have paid the level of attention deserved to a few details of the itinerary. If I had done a little more research on Saas-Fee I wouldn’t have thought it was a “suburb” of Geneva and therefore would not been surprised when I overheard the driver saying it was approximately 3 hours away!! As we swiftly headed away from Geneva on the motorway I watched the completely new landscape skip by with interest. It didn’t take long until we were travelling with the magnificent Lake Geneva on our right hand side. The view from above as we descended was merely a different viewpoint on a majestic site. The scene passing by as I again found myself staring wide-eyed out the window was magic. The towns looking over the lake to the mountains beyond had a magnificent view which I’m sure many residents no longer even notice its grandeur.
These towns were soon left behind as we made a stop after around one and half hours for lunch. The mountains were now surrounding us with their sheer size filling the field of vision. We were at the foot of the Alps and after the 30 minute stop we moved on slowly up the valley until we started to climb. The scenery passing by was a like a fairytale story from a place far away from where I grew-up, and I was now seeing it first-hand.
We keep climbing the steep slopes with a huge drop-away road edges that seemed even closer due to the high viewpoint of my seat on the bus. I shook my head in amazement and in wonder of the surrounds we passed through and at we climbed higher and further into the Alps my anticipation of the end destination fed a great excitement within me. I could tell we must be heading for somewhere special.
We arrived in Saas-Fee around 3pm and even through the drizzle you could feel this small village had a nice vibe. The buses stopped at the top of the town and unloaded our bags. Saas-Fee has been a car free zone since 1956 so we had to walk down the high to our hotel. Our bags were loaded on electric buggies as we started the short walk to the Metropol hotel. The air was crisp and it felt “light” leaving me a little breathless even on the easy walk down the hill. I hadn’t experienced this type of altitude previously so I thought it must have either been to do with the thinner air or it may have just been my heady excitement to be settling into this small village nestled in the Swiss Alps. The two busloads of Japanese media and myself walking down the street must have looked quite funny to the locals.
Check-in was interesting with a whole lot of Japanese being spoken and not any understanding by me. I got my own personal run-through of what seemed long winded but in fact was in a nutshell, breakfast is included with the timings being 7 to 10am, you need to keep your swipe key on you and that Japan training was at 5pm up the road about a 5 to 10 minute walk. I grabbed the room key for 106 and waited in line for the two small lifts. To be fair they are not the most “usual” lifts but our contingent made hard work of their operation!
The views although shrouded in misty cloud filled the complete skyline surrounding the village but the hotel only had one side that faced an unobstructed view. As I waited I wondered to myself if there could possibly icing on this already elaborate cake – could I have a view facing the mountain? I found my room and was just touch disappointed to find I was on the other side of the hotel. The room was sound and I had a bit of view. I was happy and started settling in before training at 5pm.
The training ground was at the end of the town centre at the base of what I can imagine would be an extremely large and busy ski field in winter. It only took around 10m minutes to walk to their and again I found myself a little puffed even though I wasn’t exerting myself. Walking through the town you had the feeling that this was a very busy little village that was really enjoying some time off. Many of the largely winter sport shops were all closed and the hotels which I’m sure would have been filled to the brim with winter skiers seemed quiet and uninhabited. It was a nice feeling and the absence of cars made the buzzing whine of the few electric vehicles seem more grating than I would normal even notice.
Training came and went and the players were more than likely happy to get out for a run around to blow away some cobwebs of travel. There was a great deal of water around with small streams running from the melting snow higher up the mountains into the fast flowing Saaser Vispa river that runs through town. There was a little bit of light rain and the temperature was a great deal cooler than I had expected. Looking at the panorama that surrounded me which much of was covered in snow, I worked out why! Even though I had slept heaps on the flight I was still starting to feel the pinch and was keen to have dinner and get to bed.
I joined a group of five Japanese photographers at the pizza restaurant directly across the road. The pizza and beer, from my point of view, were much better than the conversation. That was largely due the fact that small grasp the guys I was dining with had of the English language was hugely better than my grasp (complete lack of any knowledge) of Japanese. The pizza was also very good! I was happy to get to my room around 10:30pm and finally get some sleep. It had been a long three days!
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