“Wait, what?” “You’re taking her too?” “Are you crazy?”
In March we found out that we had won the ticket lottery to see the Euro 2016 Opening Game in Paris, on June 10th. We were so excited about it, especially Papa. He is the football fan of the family after all, but more importantly his national team, Romania, would be playing. I was mostly in for the Opening Ceremony. It never occurred to us to leave Bubsi at home, but some of the reactions we got when we told family and friends were daunting. “A toddler at the Opening Game? Are you crazy?” Maybe, maybe not, but here is how it all went down.
Getting to the game
Papa is rather low on vacation days this year, as we are going to celebrate our wedding in Romania in a few weeks and need to be there early for last minute preparations. Thus, we ended up having to drive to Paris on the day of the match. It was a tight plan from the start, as we don’t own a car and had to pick up a rental, drive to the Eurotunnel, take the Eurotunnel train, drive to Paris, check in at the hotel, and get to the game in no less than seven hours. Plus, we have a toddler in tow.
But when there was an “incident in the tunnel” that delayed our train departure to France for two hours, nothing was allowed to go wrong anymore or we would miss the game. Celebrating the Queen’s birthday and playing in the soft play area of the Eurotunnel terminal tired Bubsi out so well that she slept all the way to Paris. A blessing, we made it!
Bubsi wants to be Queen
A toddler at the Euro
The Stade de France is huge, it can seat more than 80,000 people, and we would be there too! In the beginning, Bubsi was mesmerized by all the people and got really excited. The music of the Opening Ceremony was a winner. Whenever someone was clapping (and if you ever attended a football match, there is a lot of clapping), Bubsi would join in. Spotting a football would result in her shouting “ball” and excited pointing. Our seats were great: in the lower ranks where it is not too steep (so I wasn’t scared of Bubsi falling down), and next to the aisle so we could get up and down and in and out easily (toddlers loooove moving around a lot, especially after spending the whole day in a car).
On our way to the Stade de France on June 10th, 2016
Leaving early
Considering that we had traveled all day and Bubsi was experiencing so many new things, she held up pretty well. By the end of the first half, however, we called it a night. The constant shouting and whistling of the fans got too much for her, and being required to stay in the same location within reason without understanding why (“no, you cannot go get the “ball”, honey”) was untenable. We caught up with the second half of the match in our hotel room.
While it was a fun night and our first big event as a family, we would not advise taking a toddler to a football game. The needs of young toddlers are simply at odds with the requirements of viewing a game. We tried, and it was good while it lasted, but if you are a football fan looking to see it through to the end, better go it alone. Still, we have fond memories of the night, and Bubsi loves running around in Papa’s Romanian national team shirt if she gets a chance.
Bubsi wearing the Romania soccer shirt
PS.: Ear protection for babies & toddlers
To protect Bubsi from the noise of the cheering fans, we had purchased her a pair of ear defenders manufactured by a motor racing supply company. And practiced wearing it in advance, of course, as she doesn’t enjoy hats or hairbands too much and we wanted to be sure they would stay on. Babies and toddlers have fragile ears and we didn’t want to be responsible for early hearing loss. The ear defenders were brilliant, and she only took them off about 15 times so we think it was a success 😉 !