World Cup...

So I'm sure you can probably imagine that the World Cup is HUGE in Germany.  The Germans finished third in the last tournament (2006 - which was IN Germany) and have historically finished near the top in each World Cup.  In Germany they have what are called "public viewings" - which is basically a large tv screen set up and lots of picnic tables, beer vendors, and tons of people.  We went to the USA/England game tonight and were lucky enough to be in the "VIP" lounge - which was for the Americans (through the German-American Institute).  So - we decided that since we're Americans, we'd check it out (and its RIGHT down the street from our hotel - so its not even a 5 minute walk to get there.

Here's a few photos from the night.  Tomorrow is the big Deutschland/Australia game - and I plan on going to that as well.  I'm sure the crowd tomorrow night will be NUTS - so luckily we bought our tickets in our hotel lobby so that we won't have to wait in any lines tomorrow. 

Flags on the way into the "public viewing" area.

The big screen with all the tables.  It wasn't even half full tonight (apparently no one in Germany cares about the USA/England) I can only imagine how FULL it will be tomorrow night. 

American flags on the tables in the "VIP" lounge.  The VIP area is on a platform at the very back of the public viewing area.  It was nice - we got free beer and hot dogs...

This was the free beer and hot dogs.  Apparently the Germans just cut a hole in a bun and stuff the hot dog in it - I did end up cutting my bun open long-ways and eating it...but I thought it was pretty hilarious the way they gave it to me.  I was slightly confused as to why they couldn't cut the bun open and just put the hot dog on it that way.  HAHA.  Crazy Germans!

There are a lot of American students studying at the University of Tubingen for the summer - so they came out to watch the match as well.  It was nice to see an American flag there!

We tied with England!  (Which is almost as good as winning - in terms of the pool play and points system.)  We play Slovenia and Algeria - and hopefully we won't choke and we'll move on to the next round.  In the next round we could possibly meet.....Germany. 

Tomorrow night we'll head to the Germany/Australia game - and hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of what I expect to be a crazy night!