the euro venues

inspired by the good people of Some People Are On The Pitch here is Football Overdose's take on the venues for the European championship. AS I've been busy with other stuff and it has been my birthday weekend I have taken an age to write this and it still is not finished, but yeah, here is part of it-

It is all to easy to be dismissive of 'boring' Austria and Switzerland. But to do so is to ignore the strategic importance of these european states, that has seen them smelt together french, Germanic, Slavic, and Italian cultures, among others- and give them a peculiar Alpine twist. It also overlooks the bare facts that these countries between them boast some of the most picturesque landscapes anywhere in the world.

So here goes, what to make of...

Innsbruck

Pronounced Inchhhbruck by the natives who speak a demi-peculiar German dialect, and a lot of Italian too, Inchhhbruck has apparently been populated since the stone age. By the time the bronze age came along the ancients had tribed themselves together and and had their own special identity and become a people that inhabited the Tyrol, of which Inchhbruck is now the capital. Even now the residents of the Tyrol, have a distinct sense of cultural autonomy, in fact some of them, especially in the north of Italy, want there own state.

Inchhhbruck is located in a really handy geographical point to cross the Alps, as such it became very rich with all the trade channeled through there. These days tourism is huge, as are winter sports. These two points are clearly connected. Skiers are given alpha privileges across town and venerated somewhat- the town has hosted the winter Olympics twice. It also has a huge population of students- the density of tourists and students probably means it is a good place to get laid.

More lately the first world war saw some horrid battles fought among the mountain peaks surrounding the area, as the two sides bedded down among the snow and ice. And there was a concentration camp built nearby too around WW2, a sad testimony to fascism.

Interestingly many residents of Innsbruck, to revert to classical spelling, have as strong a traditional hatred of the Germans as the British, if not more so.

Vienna

The history of Vienna is redolent with conflict, culture, and intrigue. The Celts, Barbarians, Romans, and Ottomans have all fought it out for this central European hotbed. Even the mongols had their eyes on it at one time and had plans to sweep through on horses to do a bit of raping and pillaging.

More recently the city's back streets and swanky hotels saw the shady goings on of the Cold War and James Bond-style espionage. Throughout history, therefore, Vienna has been a western stronghold, a bastion of the west against the rest.

No wonder, then, that culture, or what we think of as western high culture - the opera and all that - has become so integral to its identity. All the intellectual and cultural highbrow activity mark it out as a place of importance: a place worth preserving in the western mind set.

Loads of composers have lived and produced there, the classical big guns of Strauss and Mozart among them, attracted like artistic types always are to throbbing and diverse cities.

Statues and busts of the great and good dot Stadtpark in the middle of town. More recently a youthful Adolf Hitler would stalk the Viennese streets, inspired by its triumphal Aryan heritage.

Vienna is really a living museum of the west, stately and mysterious. An historic venue for that comparatively small matter of the European Cup, it also has the world's oldest zoo. Oh, and the Viennans make a delicious apple strudel.