Today, I learned that:
The world of football is in mourning, the carousel master Johann Cruyff died yesterday. I was fortunate to see him in action on top of his career. My colleague Christer and I decided to test the Interrail pass (see reference # 1 below) during the summer vacations of 1974. We set out from Malmö on June 15, via Copenhagen, Hamburg (where we got involved in a traffic accident) and Amsterdam, and on June 19, there we were in Dortmund in the Ruhr gebiet. It is definitely one of the best beer cities in the whole world, which we could confirm personally, and in the evening we headed for Westfalenstadion, to assist the second round of group 3 in the FIFA World Cup, Sweden vs. the Netherlands.
The Dutch team had defeated Uruguay by 2-0 in the first round, while Sweden and Bulgaria ended in a draw, 0-0. So the Dutch were of course big favorites to win the match, and the only thing they did not do in the game was to score, in spite of all good passes and tricks delivered by their captain Johann Cruyff and his mates. Luckily for Sweden, the Swedish goal keeper was Ronnie Hellström, who was a virtual wall between the goal posts, so the match ended with another 0-0 draw. The match report can be seen in reference # 2 below. Holland ended up as vice champions of the tournament, Sweden were number five and Ronnie Hellström was elected the best goal keeper of the World Cup, which led to that he was hired by the German Bundesliga team Kaiserslautern, which he defended for 10 consecutive years.
Swedish waffles with fresh raspberries and whipped cream. The recipe (in Swedish) can be found on http://www.arla.se/recept/vafflor/
If you live in Sweden, maybe you have had your share of waffles today, since March 25 is nick-named “waffle day”. So why is that? The reason is semantic and has its origin in the following legend: The Feast of the Annunciation, contemporarily the Solemnity of the Annunciation, commemorates the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Swedish, the official name of today is therefore “Jungfru Marie Bebådelsedag”, but since she is also named “Vår Fru” (literally Our Lady), the day is also named “Vårfrudagen”, which easily can be pronounced as “Våffeldagen” (i.e. Waffle Day). More information (in Swedish) can be found in reference # 3 below.
… That’s what I learned in school !
Refs.:
1: Interrail
2: 1974 FIFA World Cup Germany™ – Netherlands-Sweden
What did you learn in School today? 