Pre-game report: Arrival in Munich
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... ;)