If this is Sunday, it must be Germany....

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Following a slightly disconcerting 2 day stop in London, it was definitely time to temporarily put the spanish language skills to sleep and insert the German CD ROM into our heads.

I do love Germany. We'd arranged, instead of paying an exorbitant World Cup hotel rate, to stay with a local German family in Stuttgart for our trip to the game between Spain and Tunisia.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with an offer of a cold drink (beer, natuerlich) and a nice seat in the sun on the balcony. Our hosts, it turns out, were offering their room during the World Cup for a bit of craic, not for any financial gain. We spent that first afternoon drinking beer, Sekt (cheap Germany fizzy wine), and stuffing our faces for free. Much better than any hotel, and certainly a good reason for learning foreign languages!

The next day, following a fantastic cold platter German breakfast, we set off for the town centre to see what this World Cup Fan Fest was all about. Having met up with our mate Paul, fresh off the train from Zuerich, we settled in to an afternoon of beer and pre-match warm up at the Fan Fest in the park. The Derry City top was quickly spotted and Laura cursed herself for not having remembered in time to ask her parents to send over a Forfar Athletic one for the occasion.

As the afternoon match that day was Ukraine v Saudi Arabia, the collection of fans was somewhat more subdued than might otherwise have been the case..nonetheless, the Spanish and Tunisian fans there for the match later that night made the best of the opportunity to make some noise.

The game itself that night was one of the better matches of the World Cup (i.e. there was some good football on display, and the favourites didn't have it all their own way). Tunisia led for most of the game, and the Spanish fans were surprisingly subdued for the most part, until that is they finally scored, and went on to win 3-1. "You only sing when you're winning" could be the new Spanish team motto.

That evening was spent sitting in the beer garden of a kebab house beside a group of young Irish guys who were there for the weekend from Ireland. It was very amusing to watch the youngest among them pass out on his chair having just ordered a big round of Jaegermeister for everyone!

The next day, we encountered a very convincing 'FIFA official' who bought us drinks and hinted that he had some tickets for the forthcoming match in Munich (which was to be the Germany-Sweden match, it turned out). Naturally we were sceptical, but having seen him in action at the Fan Fest with other security staff, we were taken in (as much by the fact that he only wanted €50 pp from us - the rest to be paid at the stadium - and that he'd invested so much time in the venture for so little gain). We also WANTED to believe that it could work out....hope is such a powerful thing!

So...on to Munich and the game (via a short visit to some friends in Zuerich).

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