Euro Cup is coming! I won't be in Europe but the occasion calls for a snowglobe. The first dwarf guy is from the Wieliczka Salt Mines outside of Krakow, this stunning, gigantic mine started in the 13th century and still working today, full of caves and tunnels and salt, complete with a full cathedral deep into the ground with an 80-foot tall ceiling, giant chandelier made from salt, and tons of artwork carved into the walls by miners.

The soccer dragon is inspired by the start of the city. A giant dragon was terrorizing the countryside there (this is true) in the first few hundred years of the calendar. Fire, damsels in distress, etc. The King of the town, Krak, said somebody's got to do something, and then marry my daughter. The brave shoemaker Dratewka put a bunch of sulfur, or something that would go boom, inside of a sheep and fed it to the dragon. Boom. Town saved. I also heard it was a sheepherder named Krak who saved the day, and then the town was named after him - Krakow. Who knows, its all charming. The town is written about as a big trade city as far back as 965, and right on the river is a dragon statue that breathes fire today. You just got to catch it at the right time at night. Seriously.