Rowdy, Crazy, European

I am back in Vilseck, at least for one more partial day.

Here is the story so far: [warning: long]

I arrived in Frankfurt, which is a sprawling metropolitan city. Most of Germany's major medivel and ancient areas were wrecked during the war, and the country was more or less completely rebuilt over the last 60 years. All I have to say about that is that the marshall plan certainly did work, because modern is the way I would describe it here. That said, there wasn't much to see in Frankfurt, and I headed immediately to Nurenburg. [June 13] There, and quite late at night german time, I somehow contacted my friends and figured out the train to get to Vilseck, which is a small military town. A couple of observations:

-Toliets are very modern here. Many are automatic, and they are built into walls even in homes to hide the plumbing, and are also designed to stay cleaner and hide everything that goes in and out of them. Yes, this is a strange comment but you'd notice this too.

-Trains are unbelievably efficient and on time. They have automatic doors, say how long it is untill they arrive, and all work with the eurail pass. The highspeed trains are quite comfortable even in 2nd class. Now and then there is one with no a/c which causes some sweltering conditions, but this is uncommon. I traveled the equivalent distance of Seattle to portland from house to hotel in about 4 hours.

-Somewhat disturbing is the amount of English used. Its everywhere. McDonalds, you name it. Some of the traditional town squares have been overrun with malls similar to Redmond town center. Germans are quite industrial. The men here also wear crazy hairstyles and cropped pants. Very Metro if you will.

-Its a sort of fend for yourself society. There are railroad stops on the roads, but they are way faster and closer to the rails themselves. So there's less time wasted, but more chance you might run into the train. Also, there are literally no smoking or drinking laws. you can go ahead and booze on the train, in public, nobody cares. Because its more a part of the culture, there seems to be less craziness by college students. [worldcup action is an exception of course]. Any kid can buy cigarettes or beer. I guess its up to his parents to teach them how to be safe and not do stupid things.

-Soccer fans are insane. I mean apple cup at the height of a last minute come behind victory insane the whole time. There were probably 100,000 fans in hannover for Mexico-Angola. All mexicans. 70,000 plus English fans for their game vs trinidad and tobago. Wow. Flags, kids, parents, you name it. Not a whole lot of good looking girls though... Maybe the rowdiness of soccer [football as they call it] is a bit much for girly girls.

-Pictures are coming. I need a computer with access to USB and the internet, which so far has not happened. Don't worry, I have a brand new camera which is quite nice, but its going to take a couple more days. There are some good ones.

Recap of the trip:

Wednesday June 14: We spent the day in Vilseck, a small military town. The US has few western european bases left, but this is one of them. Apparently, there isn't much need for them due to the lack of threat from soviets anymore. But anyway, its like a slice of america here. Subway, grocery store, Bank of America! US cash. All the minorities from the whole community are stationed here. Actually, racism is a bigger problem here than it is in the US. Its a pretty caucasian part of the world. But it was nice to get stuff tax free and extremely reduced. Gallon of water: .41 US. We went to the local swimming pool [schimbah], then to the no name pub to watch Germany take on Poland. There were plenty of Deutch fans here. They have spirited songs for the whole game and sang and yelled the entire time. It was fun to see them, we got some solid pictures too. Basically, we were fighting the jet lag and taking advantage of some simple recoup time before we hit the big scene. It was simple to get a cell phone, all you do is buy a sim card for 20 euro and slide it in to your phone, and boom, 5 minutes later you have a phone. Call me if you want at country [code 49] 015203511069. Omit the zero if calling from the US. Incoming calls are free, and outgoing calls are like .39 a minute, but I have a calling card for calls back home with tons of time. Anyways we [mauricio alex, and myself] hit the sack early and prepared for the next day. I noted that the countryside is somewhat similar to washington style geography, but with german style towns and little squares everywhere. This is like the breadbasket of the nation, and has lots of small farming communities. Also, there are far fewer hills here than at home.

June 15: Took care of some stuff here in Vilseck and met some locals before embarking on the Train to Nurenburg for England vs Trinidad and Tobago. A short train to Nurenburg, the city of the war crime trials and rallies, but is now a progressive and fun place to go. There are still some churches and castle type buildings there that have been restored, sprinkled into the mall type area I mentioned earlier. No later than a minute off the train we saw thousands of England fans going crazy, a full 4 hours before gametime. Huge flags, beer, and banging and singing was the scene. The game was played here, but since we didn't have tickets we headed to the town square where there was a huge beer tent and big screen for thousands to watch. I tell you, you have NOT seen a sporting event until the worldcup. There's really nothing like it. There is almost no announcement during the game and very little stoppage of play. No loudspeaker, just the sound of fans cheering on their squad. Although those brits didn't score untill the very end [when I was surfing through the crowd looking for the exit and was unexpectedly soaked by flying beer and bratwurst] the atmosphere was really exciting. I met people from all over the UK and they were very friendly, if not a bit crazy. It was long and hot, but it was a blast. I look forward to see how US fans act when we come to Nurenburg next week. The city was my first real "european" feel place, and I liked the traditional approach to the town. Many streets were cut off to traffic, but the people here are really keen to walking, which is good for guys like me! I made sure to wear my money belt, but theft isn't a big problem here it Germany. Better safe than sorry.

June 16: An adventure to North Germany and Hannover. Me and maurico embarked to hannover to see his mexico play. After some train connections we were in hannover in about 4 to 5 hours. No hostels or hotels were left so the tourism place booked us a small room in a local town for 30 euros apiece. We met some mexican people there and it was somewhat of a disaster getting back to town. We ended up hitching a ride with a nice german guy who drove us to the stop. The locals are extremely friendly, and can hack it pretty good with english. I have never seen so many mexicans as we did outside the stadium. Although they were not as exciting to be with as the British, it was fun nonetheless, although the game was marred for them by a tie with Angola. I didn't like hannover as much as nurenburg, it was not as interesting. It was late getting back and I was disturbed to see a bunch of drunk and smoking very young kids. This is a problem that europe is dealing with now. They are progressive on the gay front and with freedom but struggle with racism and smoking. The drinking, as I mentioned earlier isn't as bad as one might think despite the easy access. Also, everybody here drinks 'wasser con gas' which is carbonated water. Drinking fountains are uncommon, but public restrooms are more available than I expected. This town was just destroyed from the massive football party like nurenburg, but the next morning when we left it was cleaned up just fine. I loved the statues and castle looking structures, but am told that nearly all of these are reconstructed.

Today June 17: Came back to Vilseck. Note to my family- we sat on a highspeed train next to a little boy who looked unmistakenly similar to me as I was when I was like 3 or 4. No curly hair, but same color hair and small stature. I would have taken a picture but I thought it might be a strange request, especially since they spoke only german. Played some soccer with the townspeople in vilsck and then I are making plans for the next week. The plan is as follows:

Munich for 2-3 days: See some bavaria and take in the brasil fans as they take over the town. Hitting up a few museums and looking for historical places. This is one of the best large cities in Deutchland.

Rothenburg, an untouched [well as much as possible] walled medival city that was not affected by the war somehow. There is a torture museum here, which I have heard interesting things about. I hope to see some cool local sites.

More friends from home are coming into germany somwhere around here. I think they get in on the 21st.

Nurenburg on June 22: this might be my only chance before I take off for amsterdam, bruge and paris in week that I can actually see the USA play a soccer game, no less so close to home base! I can't thank alex's parents enough for letting us stay here, its a nice way to ease into a foreign land. Using craigslist to score some cheap seats if possible.

Ok that was a long one but theres so much to tell. I am getting those pictures up as soon as I can. I am also reading a ton up on places, and look forward to suggestions. Germany is very advanced, technologically and architecturally. Finally, we are sort of starting slow [its a long trip...$$$....etc.] but I am going on a whirlwind style tour in a week or so, so don't worry that I am missing out or whatever.

Spreikense English?