Tips, Notes, Whatever

This is to inform you that I will posting some more pics from the final, some tips that I found out and will make you popular at your hotels where ever you go and notes of best and worst when I come back.

I suggest you keep checking the blog for a week or two.

See U all home......

Last Day in Berlin

Can't he;lp to feel so sad. I really do not want to leave this place. I love Berlin. The atmosphere here is great. The German organization made sure that regardless of tickets for the games every one has a month of party. Aimee and I are really glad to be back in Berlin. Berlin has many faces, the east side (the old communist part) is very hippy like; sort of like Austin. The west side is incredible, big businesses, old historical buildings and a lot of history. For right now, the whole city has the face of football. Last night, while having dinner at the "Hard Rock Cafe Berlin" we watched the Germans win the third place. The city went crazy right after the final second. They celebrated like they have won the championship. It was beautiful to be here and see them yelled, jumped, sang, etc. I am glad that the Germans have over come the common guilt they seemed to have before the world cup and have come together as a proud nation.

This is by far the best world cup I have been to. This has been a long month party of celebration, football, singing and making friends. I am going to miss this so much when I have to come back to my daily life.

Anyway, the final is tonight and I do not I believe I will strength to report later so, I will see you guys when I come back .

Back To Germany

we have come back to Germany and our first stop was Munich due that here was one of the games that would play for the semi-final. We came to the surprise that Germany was eliminated from the world cup. It was really sad to see all the Germans get sad when the second goal from Italian went into the net. The pics below belong to my time in Munich. We are now in Frankfurt. The city is very like New York. It is very busy and business oriented. Here I have seen one of the most impressive Fanfests. There is a huge TV set up in the middle of the river, and you can rent a boat to watch the games. Unfortunally for me and Aimee, there are no more games here.

The athmosphere in Frankfurt is almost gone since there is no mre games here. One does not see the singing and thousands of fans cheering for a particular team. The city here has gone back to the normal tourism. I cant not help feel a little sad that this is all coming to and end. Aimee and I are looking forward to go to Berlin where hopefully there is a much better athmosphere, and where we will be watching the final.

All and all, this has been a wonderfull experience. We have literally travel close to 70% of Germany and it is an incredible country. :(.

Thanks everyone for your comments and I hope the blog brought a little insight from what Aimee and I went trhough in this 2006 trip.

I will see you all back at home and lets enjoy the final.....

Brujas, Belgica

Brujas, Belgica

The same day we visisted Brussels, we visited Brujas. It was suppose to be the Venecia of Belgium, but not quite there. It is very pretty, but a little boring. It is a place to relax and you can see it all in one day. The coolest item there, is Michael Angelo's "Madonna and the Child".located at the cathedral of the city. Anyway, it is worth visiting if you want to relax for a few days.

Pics from Brussels Belgium

Bruselas, Belgica

Here are a few pics of Brussels Belgium. I have to say that even though it is the capital of Europe, I was really not that impress.

Allez Le Bleu!

What can I say? Brazil lost and now all Europeans team are in the final. Aimee and I can not help to feel dissapointed that our last remainding American team is out. Yet, I suppose we should feel fortunate to be in the city of the winning team. Below you will find some of the pictures that show the celebration of the French people right after the win at the "Arc of Triumph". French people went to this impressive monument to celebrate in the thousands. Even though we were angry and dissapointed, we did not wanted to miss on the opportunity to see the celbration.

This is our last week in Europe. We have decided to go to Belgium tomorrow, then come back to Paris to finally head back to Munich, Germany. We will be watching the semi-finals at the fan fest in Munich and then the final in Berlin.

Paris is an incredible city and the people have been nothing but nice to us. I really recomend to anyone to come here and see all the incredible things that this city has to offer.

I will logged off now and try to post something from Belgium in a day or two. Until then, bye bye.....

Gerarod and Aimee....

Notes from Paris

Hello All,

Yes Jodi we have seen the Monalisa! :) It is small and beautifull. The museum is amazing and it would probably take us 2 months to see the whole thing. Aimee and I only look at the items that we consider popular (I guess) such as the Monalisa, the Venus of Nilo, etc. Paris is so beautiful and to my surprise this is the only place in that I have found people talking nice about America.

Joe, the pic were taking from the Eiffel tower.

I like this city and its way of living. You can always find a table with wine, cherries, sorbetto, cheese and bread. It can not get any more French than that. I enjoy every moment here and tomorrow, we plan to see the Notre Dame Cathedral, and some famous gardens (Aimee knows the name). Also, later on tomorrow we plan to buy wine, cheese, and fruit and go see the Eiffel tower light up at night. There is a park where young French gather to talk and hang out and it looks so cool. Thus, we have to do it before we leave.

At the moment we are in a bar waiting to see the Brazil vs France game.

Please cheer for Brazil since it is the only team from America left.

Ok the game is about to start so I will log off and will post later.

GO BRAZIL!GO BRAZIL!GO BRAZIL!GO BRAZIL!GO BRAZIL!GO BRAZIL!GO BRAZIL!

Pics from Paris

Pics Brazil vs Ghana

Pictures

Dortmund
Brazil vs Ghana




Paris France

Bonjour Mon Ami! from Paris

Paris, France
We got to Paris from Essen (Dortmund last game) on a first class train. We bought it that way because we were force to it U the site that sold us the Euro pass (The first class in Germany does not make any difference, but in France they give you really good treatment and two lunches in a four hour ride with wine, coffee and desert). My hotel in Paris is located close to the Molin Roudge and our closest train station is 10 min away. The city is alive and full of lights, which is probably why they call it "The city of lights". So far, I have not complains about the French. I have to be honest, I came here with a mind set that these people are Ass......(U know what) but so far it is not true. We were lost yesterday looking for our hotel and a very nice 30 something French lady stop and asked us if we were lost. She looked at our address and directed us to where we wanted to go. I was really surprised and all my ideas about these people disappear at that moment. I am sure I will find one or two, but so far, they are really nice or I should really say they are like any people from any big city.

We went to the Eiffel Tower yesterday, I pretended to Aimee that it was not a big deal and it was just a whole bunch of metal put together.The truth of the matter is that it is an spectacular piece of architecture. It really is beautiful and when it lights up at night is it is even better. It is truth romantic to be under its shadow. A few steps of the tower, there is a park where young people gather to talk, eat, play soccer, drink wine, hang out, etc, about 1000 of them I calculate. It is really cool because that is something that in a smaller scale it happens in Austin. I plan to buy a bottle of red wine and go to the park tonight to look at the tower light up. It should be fun.

Anyway, we have more French stuff to see before the games come back on Friday. So for now, I will say "merci beaucop" for reading this blog.

Brazil Ghana in Dortmund

Dortmund
Brazil vs Ghana

This is the first time that I am in a stadium where Brazil is playing and the public is not rooting for them. I have to say that Ghana was the people's choice to root for on that game. There were a lot of us that like Brazil and logic said that Brazil should win the game but in soccer as in life unpredictability is part of the recipe.

Aimee and I got to Dortmund about 11 A.M. from Essen because we could not got a hotel in the that city. The day from Essen to Dortmund started really bad. I lost my camera and had to buy a new one ---I could not have let all my blog viewers without pics... :)---It got cold all of a sudden and Aimee had to run to H&M to buy a jacket because of the cold weather and it started to rain too. Then, we got on the train to go to Dortmund and it was packed with Brazilians and a few drunken Germans which made the train smell like alcohol the whole one hour train ride. We get to Dortmund and I called the people that suppose to deliver my last game tickets "Brazil vs Ghana" and he says they do not have me on the list. After some intense fighting with the head quarters they agree to give me the tickets I paid for. From here on, everything else went sort of smooth. Well! At the end of the day I lost a 1 gb USB drive, 1 gb memory card, my Mexico hat (not the one that you bought me Vic), plus my Mexico jacket (65 euros) got full of coca cola and I needed to find a cleaners so they can take care of it. I almost forgot, our train from the stadium to central stadium got stock in the middle of no where and pack with a lot of Ghanies, Brazilians, one or two drunken Mexicans and a lot of Germans, so it was really hot and the smell was not pleasant.

Yet, in between all this bad stuff, Aimee and I watched a really good game. It was really exciting to be there at the stadium rooting for Brazil and Ghana at the same time. Brazil won as logic indicates and Ronaldo scored an amazing first goal. Ghana could have tied up the game but they need more skills as far as defining the goal at the moment is needed. In the stadium there was a lot of African music and one could not distinguish from which side it was coming from, due that both played that sort of music to support their team. We met a lot of usual characters at the stadium with really crazy customers (see the pics) and exchange e-mail addresses to sent to each other. At the end of the game, fans were exchanging jerseys with each other. I exchanged mine with a really big African dude. He was like "Do we exchanged shirts?" I looked up at this 6 feet (1.90 centimeters) really muscular dude so I said "sure"....

Once we got back to central stadium, there was a "batucada"(music from Brazil that it is played at the Carnabal) and the dancing and show started. We watched until late, had dinner in downtown and went back to the Essen at 1 A.M. We had to because then is hard to find a train.

I am sad because I do not have any more games to watch at the stadium but I will go to the fanfest for semifinals and the final.

For now is Good Bye Germany.... Hello France!

Nuremberg...
I did not want to let the opportunity pass without writing about this really nice town. We booked our hotel here because this is where I thought Mexico would play if they had passed as first on the group, but since they were second they went to Leipzig (which I already wrote about the game and the city). Aimee and I stayed here regardless and the day that I got hooked up with the tickets for Mexico vs Argentina we left but came back the next day.

Nerumber is gorgeous. It is about two hour train ride from Munich but there is a train that is being built right now that will reduce the time to an hour. It will cost around 500 euros for local to ride it per month. The city has some amazing buildings, and they have a church that has a cu cu coming out every day at 12:00 PM. They are famous because of its central square full with fruit, and flower vendor. These improvise businesses under a tent paint the city beautifully. As far as food, no one comes to Nuremberg and leaves without eating a roasted wrust in a bun. They are tiny sausages roasted in a piece of bread, really not big deal. Also, they have french fries with mayo (they call it mayo but it really is not mayo). If you come here, you must visit the toy museum. It is really incredible. They have toys dated back from 1500s It is really cool to see how these toys have evolved and how the big companies that produce these toys evolved over time. Finally, you must visit the xmas stores here. Nuremberg produces a lot of xmas art craft. They really have some amazing pieces but I have to say that prices are too much.

Anyway that is my piece in this lovely city. If you ever come to Germany, come to Nuremberg. It is really beautiful.

Thank you

Aimee and I want to post a quick thank you note to all of the people that have been writting to the blog. It is great to see what a great group of friends we have.

Thanks to all..

Joe:
beer gardens are everywhere. You have them from the most traditional to the one that were just created for the world cup.

Vic:
I am sorry about the US, but now I can share your feeling... we are out too.

Everyone:
thanks for reading and posting your notes....

We played like we never had before, we lost like always

The day could have not started better, Aimee and I got hoocked up with tickets to Mexico vs Argentina game in Leipzin, Germany. We traveled from Nuremberg to Leizing (about a 4 hour ride in train) at 630 in the morning to make sure that I was going to really get hooked up with the tickets. I did get the tickets and not just any cheap tickets, but the ones on category one close to the ground and among soccer celebrities and players family.

The city was hot and thousands of Mexicans and Argentinas walked trough main square to party for what was going to be a great match.



There were all sort of unusal chants from both sides but at the end a friendly festive celebration was what we all care about.

We spent all day drinking, singing and walking though the streets of main square. We took many pics and eat a good Argentinian steak, as a methaphor for what I wished for the Argentinian team that night.

There was all sort of unsual characters at the stadium, Mexicans in bycicles, people dress as the characters from TV, and of course the Mexicans who love to dress as King Aztecs.


We got to the stadium about 7:30 pm and it is beatifull. It is defenitly one of the most beautifull places I have seen so far. When I got there, I could not believe my eyes for the seats we got. We were among soccer royalty and we saw everything really, really close.

The game was great, but we ended up loosing and we are out of the world cup. It is unfortunate because Mexicans are a few of the people who bring the best athmosphere to the towns where the games are happening.

The best thing of all for me was to see Aimee really into the game. She jumped and yelled when Mexico scored, and sadden along with anger when we lost. It was good to see her so excited and that makes me very happy.



We came back to Nuremberg this morning, but had to spend the night at the train station because there was no trains until 3:45 am this morning. The central stations of Leipzing was full of Mexicans waiting for all sort of destinations and it was quite an spectacle to see them all sleeping on the floor wrapped with the Mexican flag or people sleeping with a bit sombrero on top of them.

I am sad that we are out, but it is what it is and the world cup moves on. I will be watching from Nurember the game Portugal vs Holland and then I will move on to Dortmund to watch Brazil vs Ghana.

We will be posting soon.

Essen, boring -- Gelsenkirchen, Mexican Town

Boring Essen
Essen is one of those cities where it is on the way to everything. It is close to Dortmund, Cologne, and Gelsenkirchen (which is where we are going but because we can not find any hotels there we ended up staying here). It is a nice city but there is really not much to do, plus is only Monday and everything seems to close early. I suppose the most relevant thing we saw here is Wal-Mart inside the mall and couple of girls being arrested for something which I can only assume was shoplifting. The town is not that far from where the Mexico game took place. It is about 45 min by subway or 10 min by DB. Because of its location there are lots of Mexicans Nationals coming to stay at the hotel where I am staying since there are zero hotel disposability at Gersenkirthen.

GelsenKirchen, Mexican Town
The town is full of Mexicans. All you see is green shirts, the "Cielito Lindo" is being sang everywhere. It is sang so much that I getting really tired of it. The estimates on the street is close to 85000 thousand Mexicans in a little town whose organization was really poor.The fanfest placed by the city is definitely the worst I have seen. Yet, local people are very proud of the fanfest taking place at the old stadium since it has a lot of history. The town consist mainly of blue workers who are willing to spend time and tell you about the town, the stadium and its history. For example, a Germany lady at the fan fest started explaining to me the greatest day of the old stadium. "The greatest day was a match between France and vs Germany right after the WW2. The capacity of the stadium is 35,000 and that glorious day the stadium fit 75,000". As I said, people here are proud of the old stadium.

The game
Mexico lost the game against Portugal 2 - 1 as you all know by now. Yet we still made to the next round and we go against Argentina where it will probably be the end of the world cup for us. The game was ours to win, We failed a penalty shot and Omar Bravo had couple of shots that should have been goal if he was much better skilled. Yet, the atmosphere was great. People sang all game, chanted Mexican sayings and never stop supporting. We were definitely the louder in comparison with the Portuguese, Televisa (Mexican TV network, largest Spanish TV network in the world) once again kick ass. They put their own fanfest (which I could not attend because I was working on getting my tickets for the game) where there was couple of huge TV screens, Mexican food, actors, music, games and lots of free gifts. There were a lot of poster like the ones on the pic that basically say "Germany is Mexican town" and or "Mexioo plays local in Germany". The tickets went for close to 1000 euros. I met people who paid 800 euros for one tickets that is worth 63 euros. There are people sleeping at the train station because they could not find any hotels since Mexican took every room in town. All I can say is even if you do not have tickets for the games, it is definitely worth it to come because of the fanfest and party atmosphere that goes on each city where games are played, specially where Mexico, England, and Brazil are playing.

We leave this town today and we are on our way to Nuremberg where I thought I was going to see Mexico play, but as it turns out I will be watching Portugal vs Holland.

Keep Watching because the best is about to come.......

Food anyone?

Cologne, Food and Stuff

Cologne
Cologne is a really small town. It is nice and colorful… If you are more interested to check out the beauties of this city please click here: Cologne and find out for yourself.

There is really not much to do here except to check out the Cathedral, very Gothich impressive piece of architectural structure, and the Chocolate factory, which we visited.

I am proud to say that the world owes Chocolate to Mexico big time since it was there where it was manufactured as to what is known today among many other uses such as medicinal and energetic drink by the Aztecs. Chocolate is one more thing to add to our list of great things. According to the Chocolate factory, Chocolate was taken to Europe with Ernan Cortez (Mexican Conquistador) and once it was introduce to royalty its popularity was widespread to all Europan countries and thus, the world as it was known at that time.


Food
As far as food, we are eating a lot of sausage. There is pizza everywhere, Cold Sandwiches, a lot of fruit, pasta but mainly different kinds of sausages. It drives me nuts the lack of ice here. Drinks are room temperature and even beer is not ice cold like in the USA. I think it has to with the fact that their winter is really long and they only have a few months of hot weather so they do not see the difference between really cold drink and/or room temperature drink.

I can not enough of the sausages here. They are great and the smell of them is so inviting that I barely resist every time. Also, I like the fact that most of their deserts are fruit oriented. It seems healthy. Ice Cream in another big one here desert here and you can find it everywhere.

Surprise, Surprise: Dunkin Donuts is everywhere in Germany. They love those donuts. You can also find a lot of bakeries, with focus on sweet bread.

Finally, Argentinan Cafes are popular here and they are everywhere. I rarely eat there due that they are expensive. It cost about 25 euros to eat a steak and then you have to add the sides and then the drinks.

I have to say that even though cost us a lot of money, we had a great lunch at a Spaniard (not the same as Mexican, or TEXMEX) restaurant. We had the best paella and the best Spanish (from Spain) beer in Holland.

Stuff
We are leaving Cologne today and moving to the Mexico VS Portugal game in Gelsenkirchen.

We will C U there....

Mexico, Same as Usual -- USA, Still a chance -- Cologne, Ghana town -- Brazil, slowly but surely

Mexico, Same as Usual
The last game was not all that. Mexico seemed to play two games: One that should be forgotten on the first half and the second one where they played better. Yet I am comfident the national team will make it to next round.

We still have not got the tickets for Mexico vs Portugal (which should be great) but they still have couple of days to deliver.

A little insight on what is going on here with the Mexican team… Televisa (Mexican TV Network and part of owner of UNIVISION in the USA) has brought music bands that play before the game at the stadiums where Mexico is playing such as Banda el Recodo. People are going to stadium just to party with us and dance. Also, Corona has set up stands of games and typical Mexican food for the enjoyment.

I have to say if the Atlantic was the same as size as the Rio Bravo, Mexicans probably would come here instead of US because Europeans loveeeee the Mexican Culture. Whenever you wear your Mexican jersey they cheer “Mexico, Mexico” and they start singing “Cielito Lindo”. It is really gratifying to see how much they like the Mexican Culture and its people. (P.S. I do not Mexicans can swim this far... hehhehe)

USA, Still a Chance
What a game the Americans put two nights ago. I do not care they tied, they showed courage and will of winning. I will be cheering for them when they play Ghana. GO USA

Cologne, Ghana Town
We got here two days ago and this town is beautiful. My only purpose here is to buy my hurracain glass from the Hard Rock Cafe. Ghana played here VS CR and after their win, the town never went quite. It was loud all night, well at least until 3 A.M. when I went to bed. They played African music all night, and there seemed to be a loud singing competition between Ghana and the ZCheks.

Brazil, slowly but surely

Brazil won and they are now on the next part of the WC. That is all it counts….

Girls Anyone?

If you look at left of the blog ---- under links--- you will see a new link called "Girls!, Girls!, Girls!" Thanks to TV Azteca, you will be able to enjoy the beauties of the World Cup.

Note: I can not really take pics of girls because 1) I would look like a pervert and 2) Aimee is right next to me...

Anyway, the link makes enough justice of what is here.....

Here is a pic of me with some
gorgeous British "GIRLS"

Somebody has to teach him how to play! That is, the little german teaching G! hehehhe