The World Cup is in motion and there is no better place to be than in Europe for this event. Every bar and cafe has a big screen projector or LCD on a pole in the outdoor area. We had the chance to view the Germany vs Argentina match last night in a tent full of singing, screaming DE fans. Who ever thought soccer could be this exciting... the crowd would boo every time there was a shot of the Argentina coach... why? because when he played for Argentina many years ago, he scored a goal that took Germany out of the cup. Old memories die hard.
Our good friends from Boulder sent Sam and Ben, just fresh out of high school, for their trip of a lifetime to Europe. They made it to Wiesbaden just in time for the match. The night before, we got a call from Sam who said they just arrived in Frankfurt at the train station (hauptbahnhof) and there were no more trains to Wiesbaden. This was about 11:30pm so I said, no problem, I would drive down to pick them up... Frankfurt is only a half hour drive away. I forgot my phone, but no matter, the boys had no cell phone anyway, so all they could do was call our home phone from a pay phone. So... after 3 hours of searching all 4 train stations in Frankfurt, and many calls to Mary at headquarters from both parties trying to triangulate our maps... the boys came to a sudden realization at 4am: we are in Frankfurt a. d. Oder, on the Polish border with Germany. They took the first train from Berlin that said Frankfurt, but not "Au Main." Who knew there are 2 Frankfurt's in Germany!
Saturday, we picked them up at the train station an hour before the big match. They were pumped...in Germany during the world cup to watch their newly-adopted home team (and ours) with other Germans. The place was packed and it was about 95 degrees inside and out. Germany scored early and the place erupted. After each next goal, there was singing, flag waving, hugs and more beer.
After the 4-nill drubbing of Argentina (and repeated booing of their coach), the party spilled into Wilhelmstrasse and the singing continued. Guys with bullhorns would whip the crowd into a frenzy with chants and shout-backs.
The crowd would crouch down low, then spring up and shout! Absolute gibberish to us but we shouted right along with them. After awhile the buses were trapped on the street so that gave a good pulpit for the bullhorn speakers.
We are excited for Wednesday night semifinals ... Germany is pumped! Hans and Franz "want to pump - you - up!!" Down with the WALL.
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