Day 7
Alright, so I'm a day late with this one...
So yesterday (Wednesday) was a pretty lazy day. I think I really needed it. I've been pretty tired after the days of travel and not sleeping well at night. Woke up pretty late, and Ricardo went to the store and got some rolls for breakfast. After eating a bite, I settled in for a long session of catching up with as much news and email as possible as well as catching yesterday's soccer matches. Spent most of the day in the apartment, which was nice to just kinda relax for the day and not have to worry about where we had to be at what time, and what city we are supposed to be in.
Last night, we decided to go out "with the locals" to watch the Germany-Poland match. There is a big-screen TV set up downtown where everyone is supposed to be allowed to congregate to watch all the World Cup matches. It was my understanding that it was open to everyone, but I guess since Germany was playing, there were so many people that they were turning everyone but "students" (so they said) away to find a place to watch the match elsewhere. We got there almost an hour before the match started, and the entire fenced-in area was already pretty packed. So, we decided to find another local pub or something to catch the match. We ended up at a local historical spot that has been turned into a tough-guy bar/techno-rave danceclub. In the round tower portion of what I think was a castle, you walk down some dark, dingy stairs into a round room with stones forming all sides walls and ceiling. A large screen is hung from the ceiling, which is sloped upwards to a point in the center of the room. They have a projector in the middle of the room to project the match onto the screen. The problem was that nearly every single person in the entire place smoked, so the picture quality (or air quality for that matter) was pretty poor, but nonetheless, we were enjoying taking in the match with the locals.
I said it was a "tough-guy" bar because the guys tending the bar had cut-off sleeves trying to show off their muscles, and they had a poster for a UFC-type match this weekend, but they actually pasted GW's face on one of the fighters. Pretty funny. There was also a goth-looking guy that was wearing all black (reminded me of Marilyn Manson, the singer) with a piercing through the bridge of his nose. That was pretty scary. The dance club was up another set of stairs, and there was no light in the stairway, I guess to add the proper ambiance of going to a rave/club.
The match was alot of fun because everyone seemed to stand up/sit down, boo, cheer, and do everything in support of the German team. It was pretty interesting because some of the reports that I read before the game were calling it WWIII because of the sheer hatred between the Germans and the Poles...I'm not sure if it's just in soccer, or if it's in everyday life. I'm just reporting what I read. So it seemed like people from both countries were really looking forward to this match, and the play on the field seemed to reflect just that.
The Germans applied constant pressure the entire match, and finally in extra time, they scored the game's only goal. Everyone in the pub went CRAZY. Some guy sitting behind me even gave me a hug (and no, I'm not much of a hugger, so it was a bit uncomfortable). We then took to the streets where everyone was carrying a German flag and singing and chanting and honking horns until pretty late (about 1-2AM). All of this from a relatively small city. For the opening match of the tournament last week, there were so many people that went to the "Fanfest" in Munich (where the match was being shown on the big-screen, open to the public) that they made an announcement in the stadium for everyone to stay away from the free public viewing area because there were so many thousands of people that it was full and police were turning people away. The Germans sure take their soccer seriously, and it's nice to see the support from everyone in the entire country. Even driving through small towns, nearly all of the houses have a German flag hanging out of their window as if it were put there just for the World Cup!
Everywhere we go, I am amazed at what I see. The towns themselves, how they are laid out, what the buildings look like, the openness between towns, the spacing between towns, everyone's attempt to speak English once they find out that we're from America (even though we have mohawks), everything. I'm just sitting back and watching just to take everything in. It's alot to process, but it's been alot of fun so far, and this is only after one week. We've still got over 3 weeks left!
I don't have a travel log today because we stayed in town the entire day, and we forgot the camera when we went downtown to watch the Germany match. I know, I'm slacking today.
Cheers,
Rocco
So yesterday (Wednesday) was a pretty lazy day. I think I really needed it. I've been pretty tired after the days of travel and not sleeping well at night. Woke up pretty late, and Ricardo went to the store and got some rolls for breakfast. After eating a bite, I settled in for a long session of catching up with as much news and email as possible as well as catching yesterday's soccer matches. Spent most of the day in the apartment, which was nice to just kinda relax for the day and not have to worry about where we had to be at what time, and what city we are supposed to be in.
Last night, we decided to go out "with the locals" to watch the Germany-Poland match. There is a big-screen TV set up downtown where everyone is supposed to be allowed to congregate to watch all the World Cup matches. It was my understanding that it was open to everyone, but I guess since Germany was playing, there were so many people that they were turning everyone but "students" (so they said) away to find a place to watch the match elsewhere. We got there almost an hour before the match started, and the entire fenced-in area was already pretty packed. So, we decided to find another local pub or something to catch the match. We ended up at a local historical spot that has been turned into a tough-guy bar/techno-rave danceclub. In the round tower portion of what I think was a castle, you walk down some dark, dingy stairs into a round room with stones forming all sides walls and ceiling. A large screen is hung from the ceiling, which is sloped upwards to a point in the center of the room. They have a projector in the middle of the room to project the match onto the screen. The problem was that nearly every single person in the entire place smoked, so the picture quality (or air quality for that matter) was pretty poor, but nonetheless, we were enjoying taking in the match with the locals.
I said it was a "tough-guy" bar because the guys tending the bar had cut-off sleeves trying to show off their muscles, and they had a poster for a UFC-type match this weekend, but they actually pasted GW's face on one of the fighters. Pretty funny. There was also a goth-looking guy that was wearing all black (reminded me of Marilyn Manson, the singer) with a piercing through the bridge of his nose. That was pretty scary. The dance club was up another set of stairs, and there was no light in the stairway, I guess to add the proper ambiance of going to a rave/club.
The match was alot of fun because everyone seemed to stand up/sit down, boo, cheer, and do everything in support of the German team. It was pretty interesting because some of the reports that I read before the game were calling it WWIII because of the sheer hatred between the Germans and the Poles...I'm not sure if it's just in soccer, or if it's in everyday life. I'm just reporting what I read. So it seemed like people from both countries were really looking forward to this match, and the play on the field seemed to reflect just that.
The Germans applied constant pressure the entire match, and finally in extra time, they scored the game's only goal. Everyone in the pub went CRAZY. Some guy sitting behind me even gave me a hug (and no, I'm not much of a hugger, so it was a bit uncomfortable). We then took to the streets where everyone was carrying a German flag and singing and chanting and honking horns until pretty late (about 1-2AM). All of this from a relatively small city. For the opening match of the tournament last week, there were so many people that went to the "Fanfest" in Munich (where the match was being shown on the big-screen, open to the public) that they made an announcement in the stadium for everyone to stay away from the free public viewing area because there were so many thousands of people that it was full and police were turning people away. The Germans sure take their soccer seriously, and it's nice to see the support from everyone in the entire country. Even driving through small towns, nearly all of the houses have a German flag hanging out of their window as if it were put there just for the World Cup!
Everywhere we go, I am amazed at what I see. The towns themselves, how they are laid out, what the buildings look like, the openness between towns, the spacing between towns, everyone's attempt to speak English once they find out that we're from America (even though we have mohawks), everything. I'm just sitting back and watching just to take everything in. It's alot to process, but it's been alot of fun so far, and this is only after one week. We've still got over 3 weeks left!
I don't have a travel log today because we stayed in town the entire day, and we forgot the camera when we went downtown to watch the Germany match. I know, I'm slacking today.
Cheers,
Rocco
posted by Rocco at 3:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home