Baku, Azerbaijan
The trip to Azerbaijan was a long one. The team left Thursday afternoon, and we arrived on Saturday early in the morning. We flew from Denver to Chicago, and from Chicago to London. When we got to London we had a nine hour layover that we took advantage of by going out into the city to see some sights.
London is a great city. There are a lot of historical architecture there and also a lot of tradition. This visit to London was my first one. I have passed through the airport many times, but this was the first time that I made it out into the city. We started off our journey in the city by trying to find Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson. Dan was going to be fighting in the UFC, and Matt was there to corner him. We went to their hotel, but they weren’t there. After that we went and saw the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham palace. After all of that walking around, by the time we got back to the airport I was exhausted. I had no trouble sleeping on the next five hour flight to Baku, Azerbaijan.
We got into Azerbaijan around 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning. Baku is a pretty interesting city. There are a lot of countries from the former Soviet Union that are pretty run down. They are progressing, but slowly. Here in Baku there seems to be a lot of new construction so there is a mix of old Soviet buildings and some new and impressive structures. The hotel where we are staying at is a mix of the two. There are some floors that are very nice with marble tile and beautiful chandeliers, and there are other floors that look like the seventies would like to call them back. Our team is staying on the thirteenth floor, and our floor is one that looks like it is out of the seventies. The carpet is old and worn, and rooms looked like they were finished with just enough effort to get the job done. They were going for functionality here and not aesthetics.
I am used to staying in places like this so it is no let down to me. I am just happy that the food is pretty good here. Their breakfast is typical of other european fare including bread cold cuts, and some vegetables. They also have plenty of juices and cereals here too. Lunch and Dinner are usually rice with some type of stewed meat and vegetables. The dishes seem pretty nutritious, and they are also appetizing. I am very happy about that. I think that I have come to judge a lot of these trips on whether or not the food is good. It is funny how something like that can influence my view of a trip so much.
My sleeping schedule is still off a little bit. I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. I have been trying to stay strong during the day, but I have been napping the last two days. I have been so exhausted, but I know that in a couple of more days I will feel great. We still have another week before we weigh in and wrestle so there is still time to prepare for the competition. I think that after tonight I should be on track as far as sleeping. The big challenge is to just hold out during the day and not to nap.
