Semi Finals...

I was invited by a very high ranking member of our company for dinner last night. Lorik was coming back from Croatia and we had plans to catch the Germany Vs. Turkey game as these are the two biggest teams in the eyes of the residents of Germany. Of course I could not turn down an invitation by someone with a Dr. title so I had to accept. My trepidation mounted as I heard something along the lines of him wanting to watch the game at his home and inviting me. So I put in a good word that I wanted to go someplace where it would be crazy...
We ate dinner at the Brauhaus in
Oberhausen. As it was getting closer to game time we were nervous since Lorik had yet to show, but was in the area. Luckily we met him in the parking lot and headed to Mülheim for a public viewing of the game. And that's where the adventure began. When we got to the parking area we had to take the road less travelled to get to the viewing area... Which was Awesome!

The video is from Germany's second goal. People were seriously launching fireworks from that crowd. It was a very wild time. At the half some kids got rowdy and got a clubbing by the massive police force present. Really, they busted out the night sticks and were hitting kids. Fortunately the Turkey fans were grouped together and were surrounded by cops. So danger was averted and we found a top notch viewing establishment thanks to my colleague.

I had to drop off another colleague from the US. Keep in mind this is in the podunk town of Heiligenhaus. After I drop him off I hop on the main road (there is only 1 through town) thinking I'll be back at my hotel in about 5 minutes at 40 km/hr. I managed to get there in 40. These crazy Germans over an hour after the game had the street blocked off and were driving down it waving flags and honking horns. It was a really interesting sight and only mildly scary when random drunks came up and started talking to me. I had my Deutschland shirt and flag, but sadly cannot speak German which is generally frowned upon.