The Sprayberries

A Human Mile and a 60 ft Pink Inflatible Bunny

A direct quote from this article at The Times online. And they were NOT kidding. It was crazy.

The party extends from the Brandenburg Gate all the way to the Victory Column. That area has a lot crazy German history and it was amazing to see such a happy nationalistic-yet-inviting crowd gathered there.

There were around 800,000 people gathered to watch the game on big screens and it was just one huge German party. To my wife's credit she reveled in the experience despite the amazing concentration of crowds, noise, smoke, and drunken idiocy. Three things she generally avoids. :)

This was certainly one of the things that we had in the back of our minds when we planned on being in Berlin for the World Cup but I can't honestly say that I expected it to be quite what it was. The press of humanity as everyone held arms during the penalty kicks. The grim, tight lips after Argentina scored. The hugs I got afterward because I was wearing a Klose shirt (he scored the equalizer in the 80th minute). The fights. The songs. The weird feeling of smiling and grinning through the German national anthem because we don't know the words.

Americans certainly love their sports but there's no ONE sport. If you took the fan base from Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Baseball and rolled them all into one, and then made it the national team you might have something close. Maybe. It was amazing.

Anyway, the pics to come later include: the topless painted chicks, JD and her new friend, Sor drinks a beer, and the video of the equalizer goal. Stay tuned.

We head out for Brussells tomorrow to find the birthplace of Jean Claude VanDamme and compare their fries with those of the Mews in Wakefield. England beats the pus out of Portugal tonight (sorry Mom, cage pashtoda) and France upsets Brazil. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.