Day 12
Hamburg, here we come! Last night, we watched the France-S. Korea match, and as Knuckles explained, it was quite a game. We left plenty early to make it up to Hamburg in time for the game.
On our way towards Hamburg, we stopped in the small town where our friends, the Wellas, live...the town is called Bendestorf, and it's located about 20-30 minutes from downtown Hamburg. It's a very small town where the houses are spaced apart quite a bit...enough to have plenty of privacy. There was even a farm with horses grazing just around the corner from the Wella's house. Here is a picture of the hotel we stayed at, the Landhaus Meinsbur:
During our drive through the countryside, Rico was reviewing a couple of my photos that I had taken of some of the small towns we passed and he concluded that EVERY town that we passed MUST be on the side of a mountain:
No, he didn't review the photos while driving, but when we were in the middle of nowhere:
After checking into the hotel, we decided to head to the stadium, even though it was only a 20-minute drive and we still had over 2 hours until kickoff...which was a GREAT idea. We hit some of the worst traffic we have seen to date. I think it took us at least a half-hour to go about 3 blocks once we got right next to the stadium. The parking reminded me of my first visit to Wrigley when dad pulled up to someone selling "parking" near the stadium...you pay your money in view of the stadium, and once they have the money, they tell you to follow the kid on the bike...and the kid must be some BMX champion because they do where vehicles would never dare. This was parking at the AOL Arena. They waive us into the parking lot RIGHT NEXT TO THE STADIUM!!! After waiting over an hour and a half just to get into the parking lot, and to find out the parking lot is less than 100 yards from the entrance to the stadium was quite a relief...then we were pointed to a traffic director at the BACK of the parking lot; when we got to him, he pointed to someone else who was standing at the edge of a forest, and the guy was giving us the come-hither wave (no, not that one). As we approached, he directed us into the forest...and we finally ended up in a practice soccer field that was at the opposite end of the forest...and they still took our money!
We finally parked with about 10 minutes until kickoff. The stadium is on a small hill (but a hill nonetheless), and as we got closer, I took a look at the tickets...row 31! That's going to be alot of stairs. I paid 100 Euros (about $130) for each ticket, so I figured it would just be at the top of the lower level. Then we were directed to the 3-flight staircase. I looked up and laughed...probably a desparative laugh, but I tried to keep a positive attitude! After climbing the stairs, I figured we HAD to be at the top of the stadium, so our seats would be a couple of rows DOWN the steps...we entered the stadium at the BOTTOM of the upper deck. We climbed all the way up to find that the "best seats in the house" were actually only about 2 rows from the top row and on about the 20-yard line. I was completely spent, because I was (or at least it seemed like it) running the entire way from the car.
As it turns out, the match wasn't really all that great. We watched Ukraine-Saudi Arabia. It was quite pathetic watching the Saudis continue to flop and fall as if there were numerous snipes on the roof of the arena. Disappointing at best. Oh well, you take the good, you take them both and there you have...
We were in traffic long enough to endure an entire thunderstorm and still make it to the stadium after the entire front passed.
After the match, we went back to the hotel and crashed. No internet connection and a rock-hard matress don't make for a good night's sleep. Up at 7AM tomorrow morning to get on the way to Hanover.
Cheers,
Rocco
On our way towards Hamburg, we stopped in the small town where our friends, the Wellas, live...the town is called Bendestorf, and it's located about 20-30 minutes from downtown Hamburg. It's a very small town where the houses are spaced apart quite a bit...enough to have plenty of privacy. There was even a farm with horses grazing just around the corner from the Wella's house. Here is a picture of the hotel we stayed at, the Landhaus Meinsbur:
During our drive through the countryside, Rico was reviewing a couple of my photos that I had taken of some of the small towns we passed and he concluded that EVERY town that we passed MUST be on the side of a mountain:
No, he didn't review the photos while driving, but when we were in the middle of nowhere:
After checking into the hotel, we decided to head to the stadium, even though it was only a 20-minute drive and we still had over 2 hours until kickoff...which was a GREAT idea. We hit some of the worst traffic we have seen to date. I think it took us at least a half-hour to go about 3 blocks once we got right next to the stadium. The parking reminded me of my first visit to Wrigley when dad pulled up to someone selling "parking" near the stadium...you pay your money in view of the stadium, and once they have the money, they tell you to follow the kid on the bike...and the kid must be some BMX champion because they do where vehicles would never dare. This was parking at the AOL Arena. They waive us into the parking lot RIGHT NEXT TO THE STADIUM!!! After waiting over an hour and a half just to get into the parking lot, and to find out the parking lot is less than 100 yards from the entrance to the stadium was quite a relief...then we were pointed to a traffic director at the BACK of the parking lot; when we got to him, he pointed to someone else who was standing at the edge of a forest, and the guy was giving us the come-hither wave (no, not that one). As we approached, he directed us into the forest...and we finally ended up in a practice soccer field that was at the opposite end of the forest...and they still took our money!
We finally parked with about 10 minutes until kickoff. The stadium is on a small hill (but a hill nonetheless), and as we got closer, I took a look at the tickets...row 31! That's going to be alot of stairs. I paid 100 Euros (about $130) for each ticket, so I figured it would just be at the top of the lower level. Then we were directed to the 3-flight staircase. I looked up and laughed...probably a desparative laugh, but I tried to keep a positive attitude! After climbing the stairs, I figured we HAD to be at the top of the stadium, so our seats would be a couple of rows DOWN the steps...we entered the stadium at the BOTTOM of the upper deck. We climbed all the way up to find that the "best seats in the house" were actually only about 2 rows from the top row and on about the 20-yard line. I was completely spent, because I was (or at least it seemed like it) running the entire way from the car.
As it turns out, the match wasn't really all that great. We watched Ukraine-Saudi Arabia. It was quite pathetic watching the Saudis continue to flop and fall as if there were numerous snipes on the roof of the arena. Disappointing at best. Oh well, you take the good, you take them both and there you have...
We were in traffic long enough to endure an entire thunderstorm and still make it to the stadium after the entire front passed.
After the match, we went back to the hotel and crashed. No internet connection and a rock-hard matress don't make for a good night's sleep. Up at 7AM tomorrow morning to get on the way to Hanover.
Cheers,
Rocco
posted by Rocco at 3:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home