(Apologies to Agatha Christie.) Man, we had a great time in Germany. I'm going through apfelschorle withdrawal since returning home, but I did manage to get some Gerolsteiner at the local grocer. And now I'm finding it difficult to drive less than 90 mph on the interstate. Seriously. All the pre-WC talk about driving in Germany being very difficult was just hype. Actually, I find driving on an urban US interstate to be more of a hassle. Most Germans actually use their turn signals and keep to the right. Imagine that. The Germans were great hosts. Very friendly and helpful when we had questions or asked for directions. (We did run across about a half dozen Scots on a bus who were complete assholes.) The crowds at the matches were outstanding. The Yanks were well represented. I was deflated after the Czech Rep match, but felt a little better after the Italy draw. As we all were walking out of the stadium in Kaiserslautern, I made up a quick song (to "That's Amore") and sang loudly as everyone around listened. "When you fall on the ground and you scream like a clown, that's Azzurri. When you tumble and twirl and you cry like a girl, that's Azzurri." That got a few good laughs. (In fairness to Italy, however, at least they did they're part to help us advance. We, on the other hand, sucked.) I made some notes about my impressions of Germany. I'll post some later. Overall, quite a positive experience...except for the USMNT's performance on the field of course.
We just got back last night and had a blast. I filled up 2gigs worth of pictures, plus 2 tapes from the camcorder. Speaking of gerolstein thats pretty much where our villa was. We had a blast hanging out with different people. For us the most fun was after the gelsenkirchen game hanging out with germans, czecks, and us fans till about 4am in the morning drinking. We had to keep buying new US flags because we were getting requests to exchange flags with other fans. One person wanted to trade my dtom shirt for a czeck jersey but I couldnt part with the shirt. My wife and I did just about everything possible, we saw the sites and did the game partying. My favorite site seeing city was Trier. That is a must see city for anyone. After I get caught up from 2 weeks of not being at work or seeing email Ill try to get the pics up and some video. I have a great video of the national anthem at the us ghana game. We are now planning a trip to october fest down in munchin. Yeah its hard to get use to driving under 160kph, and Im going to miss driving those widing back roads. Id love to take a motorcycle tour through there.
Ah, then you missed out on our version: When your team gets sent down and you lose your league crown taht's azzuri When your team can't be beat 'cause the ref is a cheat that's azzuri When your league is a mess 'cause you paid off the refs that's azzuri
That makes two of us Got home yesterday after two weeks in Germany, and between trying to deal with the jet-lag and edit some 1,500 pictures, I'm doing well to get past the performances of the U.S., and simply enjoying the number of great memories that I hope to start writing down soon. The Magpie
Got back, went to the bar to watch some world cup games...and realized how truly horrid most of the tap beer is here.
No doubt, the beer was great in Germany. But strange as it might seem, I sort of enjoyed having three Bud Lights down at the pool hall last night. I know that saying such a thing can result in being drawn and quartered in some parts, but I missed the watered-down, easy-drinking swill we have here.
funny, i found the german stuff much more "easy-drinking" than bud or even the lite beers here in the usa. i normally just got the local "hellez" beer though, where my wife liked the dunkel, hefeweiss etc.. the thing is, i could have a couple of those huge liter tankards of the hellez beers and feel fine. no feeling bloated, no headaches, no hangover, no effort. it got to the point where i could drink pretty much all day to no ill affect other than a nice buzz. when i drink that much american stuff, i eventually feel pretty horrible....
I'm going through apfelschorle withdrawal since returning home, but I did manage to get some Gerolsteiner at the local grocer. Easily solved. Just mix some fruit juice in with the Gerolsteiner, and you can make it yourself. That is all it is. I have been told they invented it to make fruit juice, which was very expensive, go farther.
Yea, that's what I've been doing. Mixing 50% apple juice with 50% mineral water makes for a good drink. It's not as sweet and the fizz makes it refreshing. I used to water-down my toddler's juice with water. I was onto something.
Exceptional hosts, exceptional country, and they are playing some damn good football too. My brother and I stayed with friends in the Dusseldorf/Koln area which made for an even better world cup. The beer was fabulous and am now hooked on a few. One of the reason for the lack of a hangover from the crap served here is the lack of crap in the beer, no sugars etc.. Magpie, the song is great and wish we would have had that one going in Kaiserslautern. As for driving, I didn't do any as I was driven around the smaller villages and I wouldn't attempt to do any driving here as the roads were small and things moved quickly. But I do have to say that everyone used their signals which I truely wish they did here.
I forget the actual German name, but there are purity laws that go WAY back stating exactly what can be put into a beer, where it must come from, etc. What this means for us is no preservatives, artificial ingredients, etc. which in turn means all the fun of getting hammered without the penalties. Or you can just be Irish and not believe in hangovers!
It's the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot ("purity law") of 1516, which was eventually extended to all of Germany. It basically says that beer may not contain anything but water, malt and hops. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot
i know that the warsteiner sold here in the states has some "purity law" type logo that says it adheres to the purity laws. of course, there are no such laws here so i suppose they can say what they want. i just wonder if there is some FDA requirement that results in additives or preservatives being added to all beers sold inside the united states (including the imported stuff) that causes these stupid headaches and hangovers to occur.
Have to agree, the beer there was fantastic, drank sooooo much with not a hint of a hangover. One night we were drinking with a German who had known my wife from when he was an exchange student. We mentioned how beer is pasturized or boiled over here and he said that would be a felony there--any brewmaster who boiled the beer would go to jail! Due to luke warm refriderators, we had to drink our beer warm way too often, however, it was so good, it really didn't bother me.
Hangovers are generally the result of dehydration but many large US breweries use rice or corn as an extender or filler. That's verboeten in Doucheland. Rice seems to give some (not all) folks a headache. It must almost be like a sort of peanut allergy type thing. It gives me pounding headaches whether I drink two or twenty. That's why I avoid brands like Bud. I'm not a beer snob by any means but I drink cheap Canadian beer (e.g. Labatt's) and I feel better. Now I know Labatt's does use some rice/corn but it doesn't affect me like Bud. Labatt's is also cheaper where I live than Bud. Thanks NAFTA! Check out some microbrews where you live...and Happy Drinking!