Naturelich

It's my second time in Berlin this month. Earlier, I had visited the Waldbühne to enjoy a fabulous Metallica concert. The Waldbühne is adjacent to Berlin's Olympic Stadium - the arena for today's quarter finale match between Germany and Argentina. I went pretty nuts during the game. This was probably the best thriller I have seen so far.
Hope you enjoy some of the images...

Optimists

Der Holländer - A perfect place to drink beer and to chit chat about The Netherlands game against Portugal... I shall say no more...

Berlin Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Rings

Two hours to go before the match

German team warming-up

The fans and a stadium that is starting to get filled

The teams while the National Anthems are played

The teams before the shootout

Celebrating makes taking pictures difficult

Posted by Naturelich at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Friday evening I will be leaving for Munich. Germany is playing Sweden in the Round of 16 and I am very lucky to have a ticket. Flight and hotel have been booked. Now we need a victory... :D

Posted by Naturelich at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 17:50. 10 minutes to go. The fans unroll a big banner.

The players get back onto the field. It's probably the greatest moment in their career so far. We stand for the National Anthems. Die Luft knistert. 60,000 sing the German Anthem. This is loud. Gänsehaut.

Two minutes to go. 17:58. The teams are ready to go. The game has been kicked off. Germany vs. Costa Rica, June 9th 2006 - FIFA World Cup, Germany.

18:00. We are singing: Jetzt gehts los! 2 billion people in front of their TV. The FIFA World Cup 2006 has started. It's been a breath-taking day... So far. Now, let's hope we'll win... :D
We will do anything to support the team. I will be losing my voice. That's for sure.

After six minutes, Lahm scores his first goal. What a great shot, it is simply unbelievable. We are dancing on our seats, partying with each other but also with total strangers. The atmosphere is great. One can feel the relief...

A few minutes later - 1:1. From our position, we clearly see it as being offsides. The guy in the row behind us calls someone in front of a TV set. It's only been passive. A regular goal. We are shocked. It takes about two minutes and we start again: Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland,...

Klose, 2:1. Yeeeees! The best birthday present he probably ever gave to himself. And to Germany. Well done, Miro, we are so happy again. It's going up again. The game is not that good but it's certainly thrilling and intoxicating.

Halftime. We try to get another beer. Any one person can only buy three beers at a time. Can you believe it? The people here are really friendly. The mood is great. The mobile phones are running hot. It is a dream.

Second half. Time flies. After a few more minutes. Klose 3:1. Great goal, directly in front of our eyes. Our mood is getting better and better. Until the second goal. 3:2. Paulo Wanchope, a name to remember. Again, we cannot shake the feeling that this has been offsides. Why don't the referees see it? It's a nightmare. The defense is a nightmare and almost all the attacks go through Schweinsteiger.

Frings eases our minds with a great goal. 4:2. This is it. It's been a great great game and a thrilling opening game. The best I have ever seen. And the first I have seen live.

Posted by Naturelich at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After the opening ceremony, Michael Ballack steps onto the field. His injury got a lot of media attention in the last few days. Although he wanted to play today and said he was fit, Klinsmann did obviously not let him.

Lehmann is the first player on the field. He is followed by the entire German team. We can see Borowski, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Schneider, Lahm, Klose, Metzelder and all the others. The fans are getting all excited. It is 17:14. Only 46 minutes to go before the opening match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Five minutes later, the Costa Rica players came onto the field. The fan block is getting really excited.

At about 17:40 Toni Braxton and another guy give us the honor of a "nice" song. Not my type of music, really, but a nice dress (at least). Although Toni's shoes were not made for a soccer field, I guess :D

Posted by Naturelich at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some impressions from the opening ceremony. And, NO, not all Germans wear these suits!

Bavarians in formation

It's getting loud

Nice formation

Hay stacks - The rural Germany (100 years ago)

Great atmosphere

Modern Germany: Hip hop

Champions from 1978 and 1998

Champions from 1954, 1974 and 1990

Champions from Brazil: 1958, 1962, , 1970, 1994, 2002

A great moment

Participant flags

Nice dress

Herbert Grönemeyer - Celebrate the Day

The finale

Posted by Naturelich at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The ticket control points did not require us to show our ID cards. They only checked whether the ticket was for the correct game. Now, we are in and we are pretty excited at the same time. After getting some drinks - oh, yes, they did sell Bitburger - a German beer - anything is better than Budweiser.... ;) - we took the chance to inhale the atmosphere.

The police is everywhere. Even in mini format

The arena...

...with a view to downtown Munich

The field is still covered for the opening ceremony

The stadium is still pretty empty (15:21)

while many fans enjoy the atmosphere in the stadium and look for their seats

Working for 2 billion people

Posted by Naturelich at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 9th, 2006. Düsseldorf Airport, about 9:00 hrs. We are enjoying a cup of coffee at the airport and waiting for our plane to leave. Destination: Germany, Munich, FIFA WM Stadium, Germany vs. Costa Rica. I did not sleep at all last night. Well, maybe an hour. I checked my alarm clock for the last time at 5:15 and remember looking at it at 6:30 again. I am so nervous! Can the German team win? The last two years have had their ups and downs. A lot of downs, but a few ups, too. We'll be reading this again all on our flight as we are equipped with Lufthansa's WM Magazin, the latest edition of Kicker and a Rheinische Post.
About 11:00 hrs. Munich, Airport. A lot of VIP guests are being picked up. You can see plenty of Sponsor limousine cars picking up the guests. We have our own transportation. A friend is going to pick us up. After some going back and forth we make our way to the stadium to pick up the tickets. Option tickets in this case. But first we see this - across the Autobahn. How did Jens Lehmann feel upon his arrival?! :D

My heartbeat is getting faster. I am in line at the Stadium Ticket Center. This is where dreams are made. Will I have all the material to get the tickets? I am checking my ID card for the hundreth time. Yes, it's there. Good, all is under control. Now, it's a matter of time, the queue is long. But some very friendly customer service agents wave me forward. Your letter is up. The tickets will be given away by first letter of your last name. We are in Germany!Everything is well organized. All the people here are friendly. I had expected worse but this was a remarkably unpainful experience. In contrast I am grateful and thankful to all these people. Some discussions at the booth next to mine get a little bit louder. The sign reads Trouble Shooting ONLY. After 20 minutes I am ready to go. Hell, I had expected to wait 3 hours or more.

12:30hrs. We rejoin and drive to the Englischer Garten to enjoy lunch. Time does not fly by. My nervousness is increasing. One hour goes by. We then take a detour to check-in to the hotel. From there we take a taxi. It's 13:30 and congestion time. Less than five hours to go. The taxi driver has to drop us off as we didn't have a parking permit. Yes, we are in Germany. Everything is well organized, even the parking space needs to be pre-ordered. Normally, this would really annoy me but today is different. All is going well. It's going to be a party, a real Fußballfest. I ask several fans for their tip. Everyone goes for 3:0. I agree.

We take our way through security. Since we left our bags at the hotel it all goes smoothly. The Costa Rice fans are in a good mood. The German fans are in a good mood. It's peaceful. We wish each other good luck and see this...

And a big sponsoring area with many booths. Here is one of them ;)

It is 15:06. Is this an omen? And for what? Or is it just me... ;)

Posted by Naturelich at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow morning we are heading for the Metallica concert in Berlin. This concert is one of three Metallcia gigs in Germany (the other two are at the Rock am Ring / Rock im Park festival). As a part of the band's Escape From the Studio Tour 2006 we are looking forward to a great concert in a wonderful arena. Berlin's Waldbühne is loacted directly next to the Olympic Stadium. Back in 2003, we had seen Metallica at the Stadion an der Wuhlheide. Metallica had just released their St. Anger album. Three years ago we were able to get to the first row. This year we will prefer a spot in the seated area. Not only are the acoustics superior (we tested this 2 years ago), but with over 30 years, now, I just don't have the energy to compete with the energetic pogo-16-year-olds in row #1.
I hope to get a report up soon after the concert... :)

Posted by Naturelich at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)