Monday, June 28, 2010

more WM craziness


So, I am sure you all know by now as well that Germany won against England...but a feeling for the CRAZINESS here is hard to get from abroad. haha, I am standing amongst it and it's hard to describe. EVERY café and bar with a flatscreen TV (and there are increasingly more of them) gathers a CROWD during games. No seating room anywhere, you have to stand if you get anywhere late. Below you can see people right before the game, spilling out into the streets.
Lots of places not only have flatscreen TVs but also screens set up with projectors.

We happened to be walking through the Sternschanze in Hamburg as the national anthems were being sung...a district which is known for being really leftist/alternative, and usually not the kind of extreme soccer fan...But all bars and cafes were full. Below, however, is the evidence that we were in the Schanze...across the street from the bars full of soccer fans we saw a guy burning the German flag. We also heard that during the game (4 pm German time) there was a protest against "Fußball-Nationalism" at the University. You have to remember that waving the German flag, and such blatant displays of patriotism are still kinda extraordinary in Germany. (Not so much since the last WM, and soccer will stay an exception.)
Other examples of the craziness are countless. here is one at the train station. In addition to the normal display of departure time/train number you have the score!

And this picture below is SO typsich deutsch... NO supermarkets are open on Sundays except the one at the central train station (Hauptbahnhof). So look at the line after the game, of people loading up on more food, beer, etc to keep celebrating! Ha! We decided to go out and grab a pizza instead of grabbing groceries...

1 comment:

  1. Since the US is no longer in the race for the Cup...I guess we will also now cheer for Deutschland!!

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