As Far As The Eye Could See

Wow. That's all I can really say.
Berlin's Fan Fest - rumored to feature roughly 500,000 people each time Germany plays - lived up to all it's hype. It was a sea of people with black, red and yelow flags waving proudly in the air. In some ways, the atmosphere in this shutdown city boulevard was better than what I witnessed while attending the U.S. match against the Czech Republic. National pride oozed among this massive collection of Germans, who cheered throughout their team's 3-0 win Tuesday over Ecuador, which also advanced to the round of 16.
We managed to get up to the front portion of the gathering and, by the time the match started, a look behind me showed nothing but people and flags. Considering it took a good 20 minutes to walk through the venue a night earlier when the crowd was depleted, the look back assured me that the speculation of how many people attended was pretty close.
I stood out wearing a U.S. shirt and flag over my back - fans of other countries also sported their flags but mine was the only U.S. one I saw for a good five hours to open the day - to the point that a German police officer stopped me to have his picture taken. I'm now one of the few people to have a snapshot with the cops without doing something wrong.
Although my friend was a litle skeptical of me wearing the flag, I found no ill-will from the crowd. In fact, a lot of people seemed to like that I was suporting my country and I think every American to saw me made a point of coming over to talk. One German guy stopped me, kissed me hello on each cheek and asked his friend to get a picture with me. Although I didn't get the same greeting, people from England and Canada also asked for pictures.
I was almost as popular as the beautiful blond girl from Sweden who couldn't walk through the crowd without getting multiple photo requests - which she granted - or the two topless girls who had the German and Ecuadorian flags painted on them, respectively.
Although the match proved to be lopsided - not nearly as exciting as the nigthcap we stayed for to see Henrik Larsson prove he still has some magic left in helping Sweden to a 2-2 tie with England - the party lasted half the day as many started arriving around noon for the 4 p.m. start and dancing lasted until closing time at 1 a.m. The size of the event was unlike anything I think I'll ever see again and made our two-night stay in Berlin a worthwhile journey.
You also got a sense of how big each match is to the people by walking the streets that afternoon. The closer we got to kickoff the less people I saw outside. You got the feeling everything just shuts down when the Germans play.
We're now about two hours from taking a train to Nuremberg, where the U.S. plays Ghana tomorrow. It will be a bittersweet moment since the match figures to be high on excitement with so much at stake - a U.S. win plus Italy victory against the Czechs puts the Americans into Round 2 - but it also signals our trip's end. We have to catch a train to Cologne that departs less than two hours after the match is through and we'll have landed back at Newark by around 1:30 Friday afternoon. But now is not the time to look at the end because some of the best memories are still to be made.
The one regret I have upon leaving Germany is we never managed to get to what's left of the Berlin Wall. But this was a trip all about soccer and that type of history will be there if I return. What we saw at the Fan Fest is probably once in a lifetime.
A quick random thought that has been developing before I sign off. After dealing with tons of waiters, bartenders, hotel receptionists and other people in the service industry this is trip, I've noticed that anyone in these positions has to be more skilled, in some ways, than their American counterparts. I've yet to interact with anyone holding one of these posts who didn't speak at least two languages if not more. I'd imagine the treatment I've received as an outsider is better than what travelers get when coming to the States.
That's it for now but I hope to find another Internet Cafe in Nuremberg so I can make at least one more posting before I return home. If not, a full report will be delivered Friday.