Netherlands, NOT DUTCH or HOLLAND

Do you think you are open minded and liberal? Do you really think you live in a FREE country? Come to Holland and find out, it will be quite a shock what you discover about your country and yourself.

I believe that should be the slogan of Holland. In Holland, almost everything goes and it is a little of a shock experience at first, but then it all seems so normal.

Since this is a football blog, I will say that the Deuth are defenetly passionate about their team and it was cool to be there when their national team played. Amsterdam dresses orange when their national team plays and people just stop working and got the bars and watch the game.

Here are a few notes of Aimee's and I experience with this country...

1) Way to expensive
2) Drugs, prostitution Yet Crime lower than America per capita
3) Bicycle rides everywhere plus healthy
4) Heineken museum rocks
5) Anna Frank museum rocks
6) Gorgeous city with beautiful canals
7) Yes! marihuana is very much anywhere
8) NO! We did not smoke
9) Orange is the color of the football team because the monarchs were called the orange monarchs
10) It is definitely worth visiting.
11) The official name is Netherlands. Holland because there is a part of the country called North Holland and another called South Holland so people just call it Holland, and Deuth because the British call them that for some reason.
12) Aimee won 50 euros playing with five in a gambling casino.
13) It rained and it was cold our entired trip
14) Mexicans are everwhere. There was a lot of Mexicans here partying and going nuts.

Brazil less than expected.

OK, it has been almost three or four days since the last post, but I feel that at least I should say something about the Brazil vs Croatia game which is the first game I attended, what the heck is wrong with Ronaldo? Brazil played way under my expectations and Ronaldo literally walked through the whole game.

The positive about the experience is the fact that Aimee and I were at the stadium. The Olympic stadium is just magnificent. I could not believe I was sitting at the place where Jesse Owens won four gold medals and imposed a record of longest jump right in front of Hitler's eyes . The stadium is beautifull and it is quite an experience to be there.

The atmosphere of the game could not have been any better. Croatians never stop singing. They sing from about two hours before the game, then they sing at the game, then they sing at the end of the game, and then they sing some more at the train on its way to the hotel and then some more all the way till' 3 or 4 in morning. THEY NEVER SHUT UP! It was really cool to be there. Aimee and I sat in the "international section" but Croatians were really next to us. The fans were exchanging shirts with each other and sharing beer through out the the game. I have to say that even though Croatia lost vs Brazil they deserved a tight on the game.

Aimee and I found out where Brazil was staying prior to the game and went to look for them. We found the hotel in the hearth of Berlin and waited for about two hours for them to come out, but at the moment they were going to leave the hotel, security pushed us way back and we could only see them from far away. It is just impressive to see how pop;ular these guys are and what following they have.

Anyway, I will post later on Holland and Cologne. Hope you having a good time....

Booties?

Coming to a Post Near you....

Gotta Run to Amesterdam... Woke up Late

Sorry America!

OK, America lost to an embarrassing 3:0 yesterday to a no very good team. Yet the defeat of the game did not defeat the the moral of the few American attending fan fest. They made themselves hear yelling out "USA, USA, USA" to the would audience that it was even bigger than the day before. I could only hope that they bring more to the game than what they show yesterday due that Italy (one of their next two matches) is very though based on what I saw last night.

As far as Aimee and I, we did the tourist thing yesterday. We visited historical buildings such as the parliament, and many other I can not pronounce. Also, we went to the shopping streets of Berlin, and believe when I tell there is nothing there I can afford. These Germans must have a flea market somewhere but I do not know where the heck it is.

Brazil plays tonight against Croatia. The number of Brazilian in the street is estimated around 45000 and believe when I say they are everywhere. You can only hear SAMBA on the streets wherever you go, and see tons of girls shaking their Brazilian booty all the time. I love Brazil.

The pics are just couple of sample of the Americans dressing up for the game, and couple of how Germans dress up the city for this event.

The TV tower was dress up with T-Mobil soccer ball that stand way tall and can be seen through out the city.

Vic, I have taken some pics in regards with pics of people fighting and dying while trying to cross the wall when it was there. It is pretty sad.

I also took some pics of Charles Marx for you and Joe. They are cool.

One more thing, for all the people that complain about sales tax being high in the USA, here the sale tax is 16% and is in euros. It is crazy, whatever you are buying you have to add around 6 dollars to the price average.

The pricess are not that bad, gifts, food etc is not that bad, but the sale tax is a killer. Yet, that is not going to stop me of getting me and some of you some cool things that I have seen, but defenetly this is something to think about when making a decision.

Anyway, I will post game pics tomorrow and good luck to the American next game.

First Day in Berlin

What a dat the first day was... We got here at 7 AM in the morning on Sunday, which means that we wasted a whole day Saturday in the plane. (Note to myself, NEVER FLY CONTINENTAL. This is probably the cheapest airline with the most reduce space ever).

Im in Berlin right now, and it has been great so far. The city is not how I imagine it would be like, there is really not that many people in the streets and in that regards it reminded of my first experience when I got to Texas. Yet, where the World Cup is going on is just incredible. There are tons of thousands of people from all over partying like crazy. Brazilians are on the street playing SAMBA and dancing until late at night. Oh Yeah! that is another thing, the sun does not go down like until 10:30 p.m. and it rises at 5 in the morning. Days here are long. People are cool and they go out of their way to help you out. The city itself is beautifull. My hostel is in east side of the city(where communist Berlin used to be). You can tell that there's still work to do on this area. For example the subways stations are not as nice as the ones on the west but this area has a nice Austin like feeling of open minded people with tons of little restaurants and coffee shops where "alternative" people hang out all day.

Anyway, Mexico 3 Iran 1.... We watched the game at fan fest,where Berlin has set up about 2 miles of street in downtown with hughes tv's and shops, etc (sort of like ACL but larger).


Also, first day and I saw the president of Ghanda and Ruthy Voller (World Champion of 1990). He is the one on the pic where I am staying right behind him.

Anyways, I will post sometime this week with pics from the game Brazil vs Croatia.

Thanks for checking us out and enjoy the games. GO MEXICO!

Here We Go!

The Adventure Begins

WOW! four years have passed since Aimee and I were in Japan celebrating the WC-02 with a disappointing Mexico-USA game that left us out of the world cup, but still well-worth it since Brazil won its fifth championship.

As far as I can tell we got everything ready, plane tickets---checked, train tickets---checked, hotels---checked, spending money (very little)---checked, match games---NOT checked but I hope this week or next I get them.

Either Aimee and I will post on this blog as events happen before our trip, but definitely we will try to keep this going during the WC.

Anyway, for now this is a "Hasta Luego...."