We are the champions! (Almost)

[Note: Since so much happened while Maribeth was here, I plan one writing about them in episodes, in no particular order...]



[On the "Fan-Mile" in Berlin; a series of big screens, beer stands, etc that stretches from the Brandenburg Gate into the Tiergarten]

The semi-finals of the EM consisted of a game between Germany and Turkey, a pretty big deal for a city of 3 million, 130,000 of whom are of Turkish decent. Maribeth and I decided to go for the cultural experience and join the drunk, excited, potentially rowdy (we were none of the above) on the FanMile. We were joined by Paula and two of her friends.


[Maribeth and I trying to make our way through the crowd]

When we first tried to get on the FanMile, it was closed off by police, who were saying that it was full. Of course, their blocking off tactics didn't work too well since we were in the Tiergarten, a Central Park of Berlin. So as soon as they were distracted, there was a mad rush to jump through the bushes and go around them. So we sneaked past the police and got in anyway.


[Paula and I, Paula decked out in colors]

Once there, it was pretty crazy. First, since the German color are black, red and gold, I thought it would be OK for Maribeth to wear red. It wasn't. That was Turkey's color, and white and black were more acceptable. But, we stole a flag from Paula to make sure no one questioned our loyalty.


[Celebrations... and how far we were away from the screen]

As we worked our way through the crowd, we kept trying to find a good place to stand where we could see over the massive large Germans that always seemed to be in our way. Eventually we did find a place to stand, and remained standing there for over two hours.

Although the FanMile was an experience, in terms of actually watching the game it was pretty bad. We couldn't really see the screen, and I think I only saw one of five goals during the game. But, seeing the goals wasn't really necessary, since the craziness of the crowd afterward was much much more interesting.

The ups and downs of the game also made it fun to be on the FanMile, with Turkey scoring first, Germany then bringing the score to 2-1, and a goal for both Turkey and Germany in the last five minutes of the game.



[Tooooooooooooor!]

Since we were doing more for the experience than our die-hard loyalty to Germany (I actually thought it would have been fun if Turkey, the underdogs, had won), we decided to watch the final game (Germany v. Spain) in a bar. But, since Germany lost there weren't any fireworks or parties on the Ku'damm afterward...