« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »

Free Deco: it's criminal that he won't be on the field for Portugal's next game

Days 5 and 6
It's a wonder that more Americans don't get killed, or at least seriously injured, in Amsterdam. For starters, they're everywhere (Americans, that is). Secondly, a significant percentage of them are stoned. Finally, the traffic patterns in Amsterdam are, at least initially, bewildering. The sidewalks and the streets just kind of blend together. There are practically no cars, but bikes and trams seem to be coming by from every direction. My brother and I spent the first day spinning in circles at every intersection, bewildered as to which way we should be looking to detect on-coming transportation devices. The canals, though, are lovely.

The museums in Amsterdam were somewhat disappointing. Both the Rijksmuseum, with its redoubtable collection of Rembrandts, and the Van Gogh were so crowded that you had to work your way through practically in single file. It's difficult to get too excited about the works when you constantly have to jockey for position. We watched Togo squander a one-goal lead to the Koreans in some British pub and watched Kirsten Dunst endlessly fret about her inability to get pregnant in Marie Antionette. I'm not sure which was more disappointing. The whole city was awash in orange, including my brother.

Days 7 and 8
One of the chief reasons for renting an apartment in Cologne was to do laundry. Our first attempt, however, did not go well. Perhaps that's because we were drinking half-liter bottles of Bitburger and watching Sweden eek out a 1-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago on a seven-inch TV while attempting to operate the laundry machine. The end result: six inches of standing water in the machine, sopping wet clothes, and a flooded bathroom floor. This necessitated a trip to the laundromat the next morning and consequentially we didn't make it in to Heidelberg until roughly 6 p.m. Just in time to meet up with the rest of the Minnesota posse at one of the city's famed university drinking clubs, the Red Ox Inn.

Day 9
The next morning we hiked up to the castle overlooking Heidelberg. It's home to the Heidelberg Tun, which can hold roughly 58,000 gallons of wine. The views of the Rhine and the town below were quite spectacular.

Prior to leaving for the game in Kaiserslautern, Neal attempted to hawk some Bruce t-shirts outside the train station.

The one ecstatic night of football. The U.S. came out with a ferocity and determination that was completely lacking in the first match. The Italians dove and writhed all over the pitch as only they can. The crowd was loud and belligerent and wonderful. My favorite moment came when Kasey Keller, retrieving a ball from the corner, looked up to our section and pumped his fist in air, lifting the U.S. supporters into a frenzy. The last fifteen minutes, with the nine-man American squad utterly spent and Keller heroically thwarting the Italians, was torturously fantastic.

Posted by Paul Demko at June 27, 2006 6:15 PM

« Those dumbass referees are destroying the World Cup with their damn yellow cards | Main | Yesterday I was on The Current talking about the World Cup and stated that I was cheering for anyone but England. But I misspoke: it's anyone but the diving wanker Italians. »