I just got back from an extended weekend in the Tampa Bay area to attend a wedding, and I got to say I had a wonderful time while I was away, and I am not talking about the warm weather. This is going to be a bit of a mishmash blog with my collection of thoughts I had during my time on the west coast of Florida where I feel like I am going to touch on everything. I feel like my mind is being more active, and I am bursting to get these thoughts on this blog post, so let us do this.
First things first, this wedding I was going to attend was a bit of bad timing on my part, as this wedding was going on during the World Cup. To further elaborate on this, Canada's first World Cup match against Belgium occurred on the day I was supposed to fly to Tampa. Canada's second World Cup match occurred on the day I flew back to Toronto from Tampa. Thankfully, I was able to watch both matches mostly in full. My flight to Tampa was in the morning so I was able to get to my hotel and park myself at the hotel bar to watch the match. I unfortunately missed Canada's only goal while going through airport security at the Tampa airport but I got to the airport bar in time to watch Croatia slice open Canada's defense four times in a 4-1 rout which ended Canada's chances of progressing to the knockout stage. I have some quick Canada thoughts about their World Cup experience.
I was not expecting much from Canada at the World Cup let alone trying to get past teams like Croatia and Belgium. I was just happy that they made it this far, and whatever the results were, it was just good to see the Men's team at this tournament. This Canada team gave Belgium everything it could handle, and even though Belgium won the match, it was a sensational Canada performance that would make the whole country proud. The match against Croatia was a harsh, but necessary lesson for the Canadian team. Even though Alphonso Davies nabbed Canada's first ever World Cup goal, Croatia once again proved why they were one of the top teams in the tournament, regularly pulling apart Canada's defence with scissoring runs and quality passing. The match against Croatia served Canada a new goal to achieve in their footballing development, and that is to get to a point where the Canada Men's team can be as good as a team such as Croatia.
There is one last thing I want to mention with Canada (and I cannot believe I am going to talk about this). This whole situation about John Herdman saying 'we are going to fuck Croatia' in a passionate speech is the dumbest 'drama' at this World Cup so far. The Croatian media who picked up on this and made this a story are a bunch of losers.
Okay, World Cup stuff is now out of the way. Let us talk about the actual Tampa trip. I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay during my time (which was where the wedding and reception was) and the hotel is quite beautiful with a modern touch. The hotel itself was busy during Thanksgiving and the following weekend, with many groups of people staying at the hotel. I also did not expect to have Norwich City Football Club stay at the same hotel during this World Cup. I got to talking with some of the players and other members of the club and they are conducting a warm-weather training camp in Tampa to keep themselves fit (as there is no league football during the World Cup). It was an interesting experience getting up close and personal with a football club at the most unexpected time and circumstances.
Other things about the hotel: I went swimming in the pool and it was freezing. The breakfast buffet was adequate but not all that amazing. My room was big and offered a view of the city of Tampa. There were boardwalks around the hotel that took you to the bay with even more views. All of that said, I enjoyed my stay at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and I would stay there again at a discounted rate.
I also spent some time walking around downtown Tampa on the morning of the wedding reception, and it was a pleasant city that felt wide open (compared to the concrete jungle of Toronto). I have some pictures that I took of the city that I will include at the end of the blog post.
So, lets talk about the main event of my trip. The wedding that I went to was quite amazing. I enjoyed myself with some extended family I have not seen in decades, and I was able to really let myself loose where I could not do that with the family I regularly see. The wedding itself was beautiful, the reception food was great, and everyone had fun on the dance floor. My only problem was that the party ended at 11:30pm and that was early for me. Luckily, I still had a bottle of Captain Morgan black spiced rum so I brought that down to the reception hall and poured shots for the groom and I. Just happy times all around.
Also, maybe it was the alcohol talking, but I felt like I saw so many beautiful women during the wedding and reception and I felt like I had to settle down. I almost felt like I was in college where I would walk past about 30 gorgeous girls before getting to class and seeing 30 more gorgeous girls while in class. In addition, I have not gotten so much attention from girls during the wedding reception in a while. I would be on the dance floor dancing with girls and having all kinds of fun. I will leave it there because I do not kiss and tell. The night ended with me polishing off the rest of the Captain Morgan sitting poolside while staring at the big 'Grand Hyatt' sign above contemplating life (like I always seem to do). This was a great weekend, and the whole vibe made me feel content.
Anyways, here are the rest of my pictures and some videos:
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