I Love Munich

Who knew? The town was never really on my radar simply because of other European attractions but it is fantastic. A Baroque gem. Wonderful gardens everywhere and quite nice residents. The Brazilian and Aussie contingents were out in force. But I need to back up. Pat and I arrived pretty early and ditched our bags at the hotel before settling into some sausages at a local historic brewhouse. Very nice. Then back to the hotel whdere our room were made available to us at 9:45 AM = wonderful. We crashed out for a few hours and then hit the town. The Marienplatz was Nutsboro with all the Brazil and Aussie crazies in fine form. When Rudi Voller appeared on a balcony to do a TV report everyone went wild. Pat and I had just arrived and felt special - Rudi had come out just for us.

After a stunning lunch of beers and tuna salad with olives (Pat went for the special cheese) I set off for the match. The train was justifiably packed and it was a bit of a ride out to the Arena. Thank God this is being held in Germany. Train too full? German cops come up and get everyone out of the way so it can leave and the next one can get into the station. Constant updates that you can actually understand over the intercom in German and English. Everything on time. Order, order, order. And that is what an event of this magnitiude needs to be enjoyable. At least for someone like me...

But to the Arena. It looks like a smushed tire of marshmallow. I felt like some sort of alien being walking up to it. It´s out in the middle of a field with blooming flowers. Since it was a day match it was not lit up, which was a bummer. But it was impressive. Very impressive. More on the match later.