Chaos. Mayhem. Madness. Booze. And it was only day two in Koln...
That's pretty much how it went down for the entire three weeks in Germany. Bouncing from one Fan Fest to another in our beat-up Volvo station wagon, we sampled many beers and experienced the unique smells that can only develop when you're camping with three other guys and only showering every few days. Mmm... musky. There's nothing else quite like the world cup experience, though. The way that fans are whipped into a frenzy for their national teams is hard to describe, yet it never really managed to erupt into anything violent. Well, except that one night where we were chased by riot police, and that was mostly because Max and I were curious as to what it's like to be part of a mob of English hooligans. Other than that, all the fans were very civil toward each other, and even when the English eventually lost in Gelsenkirchen the worst thing I saw were some overturned porta-potties.
I'm not sure how participating in the running of the bulls can be a let-down, but that's what happens when you're in Pamplona where nobody gives a crap about soccer and the rest of the world is watching the final between Italy and France. I was told that in Viareggio, my home town and where Italy's manager Lippi is from, there were close to 200,000 people watching the match in the main piazza. I was watching it at the only bar we could find in Pamplona that didn't have its television tuned into a bullfight on a microscopic, static-filled television surrounded by French people. After that, I pretty much had to run with the bulls. I mean, I didn't want to go all the way to Pamplona for nothing. I learned two things from that experience: Bulls are really, really big, and don't count on Max waiting up for you if you're in the middle of a stampede.
Overall, much beer was drunk, many miles were logged, and there were many times when we wanted to kill each other. Other than that, it was great.
Check out the pictures:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2m2TVgLr6sqDmeSu6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wjn64Lq2Spyzk7Fe9
Take 'er easy,
Dave
That's pretty much how it went down for the entire three weeks in Germany. Bouncing from one Fan Fest to another in our beat-up Volvo station wagon, we sampled many beers and experienced the unique smells that can only develop when you're camping with three other guys and only showering every few days. Mmm... musky. There's nothing else quite like the world cup experience, though. The way that fans are whipped into a frenzy for their national teams is hard to describe, yet it never really managed to erupt into anything violent. Well, except that one night where we were chased by riot police, and that was mostly because Max and I were curious as to what it's like to be part of a mob of English hooligans. Other than that, all the fans were very civil toward each other, and even when the English eventually lost in Gelsenkirchen the worst thing I saw were some overturned porta-potties.
I'm not sure how participating in the running of the bulls can be a let-down, but that's what happens when you're in Pamplona where nobody gives a crap about soccer and the rest of the world is watching the final between Italy and France. I was told that in Viareggio, my home town and where Italy's manager Lippi is from, there were close to 200,000 people watching the match in the main piazza. I was watching it at the only bar we could find in Pamplona that didn't have its television tuned into a bullfight on a microscopic, static-filled television surrounded by French people. After that, I pretty much had to run with the bulls. I mean, I didn't want to go all the way to Pamplona for nothing. I learned two things from that experience: Bulls are really, really big, and don't count on Max waiting up for you if you're in the middle of a stampede.
Overall, much beer was drunk, many miles were logged, and there were many times when we wanted to kill each other. Other than that, it was great.
Check out the pictures:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2m2TVgLr6sqDmeSu6
and
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wjn64Lq2Spyzk7Fe9
Take 'er easy,
Dave
