Preparation

This is the day to catch our second wind before heading out again (Gwen, Daniel and I). Ivan and Dean are hanging out in Frankfurt, we’ll see them tomorrow. Phil and Kate are still in Hamburg and head to Hanover tomorrow for the Costa Rica and Poland.
We went to the local public viewing to see the Swiss play Togo. And since we sit on the border with Switzerland, the Swiss were everywhere. This was a cute little Swiss. In general, I like the scrappy Swiss and I’m okay that they won, but Togo really got ripped off by the referees – it was the worse that I’ve seen so far (including the Italy/USA game). We watched the other games at a local pub and then back at the apt. Ukraine manhandled Saudia Arabia and Spain came back well after trailing for a long time to Tunesia.
Idle Minds/Hands. You know how it goes, too much time (a day) without something to do. The young get bored, and well, silly things happen. So, preparation for the next big USA game begins. Wilder, more drastic means to support the team. So the colors come shining through. With the help of a permanent dye, Daniel transforms red and I go blue. Go USA!

Well, now we're down to a single week, a mere 7 days!!! Can you believe it??? Are you ready M6? Time to pack, buy those extra toiletries, snacks for the plane ride and lots of keep-you-busy stuff (for the plane and the train rides across Germany).

Just think, in a week, you'll join us here in Germany for what Munich calls the FOUR WEEK PARTY! Are you ready for it? I know that you'll miss working, same as I, but somehow we'll manage

I went to Stuttgart the other day and saw some of the preparation items. Here's a countdown timer for how long to the first game (Munich had one of these, too). There's WC/WM stuff everywhere - you won't believe it.

For example, here's another pic for you - this is a giant soccer ball that is made out of begonias (flowers). And you thought the Germans weren't creative, huh?

But don't think that the Germans are the only ones excited over here. Every town/country we visit over here has there World Cup stuff. Here's an example from Barcelona when we were in Spain a few weeks ago. This is actually the backside of a large TV screen. I saw it from afar and had to go and check it out.

Of course, all of the European countries think that their team/nation will win. There are plenty of excited people over here. And soon, you'll be one of them!

Well, the end of nearly four years of planning is finally coming to fruition and now the fun part of the adventure begins. Only one month remains before the Magnum consortium embarks on their trip of a lifetime! It’s been painfully fun getting to this point so far. FIFA/Germany OC didn’t make it easy on us with all the rules and regulations for getting tickets. Then again, perhaps they did made it easier (possible?), as we were normalized with the rest of world-wide playing field for ticket acquisition. And via that process, we did after all, get some tickets, even if not all that we had originally hoped for.

Thinking back over the last several months it is almost a blur now - all the various planning sessions, ticket attempts in different phases, re-planning meetings, all the emails (easily over 500, might be in the 1000s), hotel plans, cities to visit, etc. Can you even remember the feelings before the announcement of first ticket phase? We were going to plan our cities and pick the games blinding (not knowing the teams) – we thought that we’d be the only ones to try something so bold/crazy. But it wasn't bold at all, not even close, as the tickets available then all sold out and we didn’t even manage to get a single ticket.

But like I said, all that is behind us now and we’re ready for opening day – exactly one month from today. We’ll all meet in Munich for the opening game, June 9th, 2006, Germany vs. Costa Rica in Munich. That’s sure to be a party!!!