Goodbye Dresden, Goodbye Germany

And thus ends my Olympiad coverage. Time to get back on my holiday and back to my travel blogging. I head to Prague, then after a few days there, off to beautiful Paris!

I've done some cool things, but being here has definitely been one of the coolest. Seeing all the guys that I've only ever read or hear about just casually chatting to you, telling stories, pissing drunk, sometimes making a fool of themselves was pretty damn, well, awesome.

But it wasn't just about my foreign heroes, of course. The Australian team have their stories, too, and most I've never heard of. How about the one about GM Johansen being "almost" saved by Chris Depasquale from drowning? Or the one about the young Aussie who had to deliver, right to the front door, the young daughter of a growling Yusupov? Yes, THE Yusupov!

It's sad, of course, that I have to leave so early, long before the event's finish and not being able to say a proper farewell to the fair few whom I've met. But I keep thinking, or at least convince myself, that I'll definitely see these guys again. In another Olympiad.

As I said to the PNG team's Shaun Press during the Irish party, I've definitely gotta get on this Olympiad bandwagon. Become an arbiter, he said. I thought, well, that's too hard. Which leaves me with a second option: become the mercenary, change fed to some Pacific Island nation. I hear Palau is looking for players.

And that's that with that. Thanks to those who read the blog and viewed the photos. Hope you enjoyed them. Goodbye Dresden, goodbye Germany. See you in/from Queenstown.