Two weeks and counting
- 24 May 06, 04:35 PM
OK, OK, so the tournament actually starts in 16 days but our journey begins in two weeks.
We sail to Calais and will then head to our first destination 鈥 .
From Dortmund we plan to travel to Munich, via Frankfurt and Stuttgart, and then up to Nuremberg towards the end of the group stage.
We have a pretty loose schedule and are keen to read your suggestions as to where we should go and what we should do.
If you hear of anything interesting that sounds worth checking out 鈥 or even if you just want us to find out whether a certain type of beer tastes as good as you remember it from a holiday in Germany - let us know.
Ricco is a budding Scorsese and we鈥檒l be looking to put plenty of video on the blog to try to give you an even better idea of what it is like in Germany during the World Cup.
In preparation for life in confined quarters I have been reading , the story of life on a German U-Boat.
What comes across the most is how smells really take hold in confined spaces. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine he regaled a gruesome tale of travelling around Italy for the 1990 World Cup in a transit van. Apparently gas masks were mandatory by the end.
For anyone visiting our mobile home in the latter stretches of our trip it could a World Cup experience they had not expected.
I鈥檇 like to say that everything is ready but I can guarantee that if I am sitting around doing nothing, which I do very well, half a dozen items for the things-to-do list will pop suddenly into my head.
Last week I got a call from the firm hiring us our mobile home informing us that they wanted to accept an offer that had come in for the one we are scheduled to take. Tense negotiations followed with the manager parting with the ominous words 鈥淚鈥檒l sort something out鈥.
I hope this means that we have three beds on board because 大象传媒 Sport Interactive journalist Mandeep Sanghera., will be returning back to Britain with us.
If not poor old Mandeep could find himself engaged in some top and tale manoeuvres, with a good old pong thrown in for good measure.
As a recently married man I don鈥檛 think this is to Mandeep鈥檚 liking at all.
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I have a request - could you pop into the hypermarket in Calais on the way back and pick up some beers for the rest of us?!
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An entry on the delights of Weiss Bier in Munich wouldn't go amis :)
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You are missing out on . I鈥檓 certainly not objective since I have been born and raised in Hamburg, but either way it is a great place to visit. Forget the castles, although Hamburg itself is due to a castle, and jump into the city with the second largest port in Europe and more bridges than Venice and Amsterdam combined (鈥淰enice of the North鈥). You find city parks on almost every second corner which are open to the public. The lake Alster, which starts as a river north outside of Hamburg, sits right in the downtown area, is the perfect place to have a nice locally brewed beer, (Go ).
I hear you people yelling already, what about the Reeperbahn? And you are right. Great bars, dance clubs, and more鈥ou define more for yourself.
Another not so common place is the quarter called Ottensen. There you find a great diversity of people, food and bars including one of my favorites, the .
Enjoy and let me know for more insights
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Let the World Cup begin.
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Doesn't matter if you top and tale or both lie the same end....either way the naughty bits are always in the middle!
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Please go and find Didi and the world's largest bicycle, with wheels made out of footballs. He's often found in the mountains watching the Tour de France dressed as the Devil, but is also visiting the World Cup in his native Germany this year.
Depsite what he looks like he really doesn't smell that bad close up.
Short video here:-
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Have a good trip people, I'll be catching up with your blog from here in Sydney Australia. I knew a beautiful girl in Frankfurt in the early 80's.
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I have visited the area around Munich and the city itself and it is much underrated in my opinion.
Be sure to check out one of the local Bavarian dark beer called Starkbier from giant stoneware mugs.
You'll be right near the Alps as well so check out some of the German mountain villages.
Despite what you may have heard the people of Bavaria are very welcoming and friendly. Enjoy!
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Hmm, I remember a small town in Bavaria that I visited in the 80's named Oberammergau in the Bavarian alps. I don't think it's too far away from Munich, but well worth a visit.. Beers superb as well !!!!
Have a 'gud un' and shout for the rest of us who can't get to Germany. I'll be in South America for the games so at least I'll get some good atmosphere - though not the same as you guys who'll be where the action is.
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Any chance of you guys dropping in on the first Socceroo match at Kaiserslautern on June 12th? I'm sure there's many people watching this page from Down Under, and 大象传媒 angle would be very much appreciated, particularly compared with low-quality stuff coming out of Japanese media that are likely to be flooding the town for that match.
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Thanks for your nice descriptio. Are the Germans excited like us (Asian people) about the world cup? In the coffee shop are they describing about Football? We Asians are passionate suporters of Brazil and Argentina. What about Germans?
A review has been written about 大象传媒 blog with the title, 大象传媒 Blog:
. It would be nice if you could
take a look.
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Well, there's a bit of spare room in my camper van . It's a teensy bit older than the one your scheduled to take, and it seems to have spent most of it's life with me at the mechanics, but it will be going to the world cup, and Berlin on July 9, even if I have to push it there, so some pushing assistance might come in handy. It will make an appearance on my blog if and when it returns from the garage.
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in canada i spend time explaining to people what the fuss is all about and i really don`t try too hard. i mention owen and gerrard and rooney and lampard and they give me blank looks.
in germany you won`t have such a problem. the mention of such names will strike fear into the hearts of all but the english.
COME ON ENGLAND..............
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First of all a message for Janis Gosner. The route I've outlined in the entry above covers the group stage.
During the knockout phase we definitely plan to try to travel to the north of Germany. Ricco, I believe, has family from up that way and is more than keen to call in on a few relatives.
Razib Ahmed - thanks for the link. Nice to see that we are finding our way across the globe.
For all those of you stuck in the small and slightly strange corners of the globe where the World Cup means nothing, we'll try to bring you the flavour of the tournament.
And a big thanks for all those who have written in to suggest various types of beer to sample. We'll do our best.
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Now then... I suggest seeing what top speed you can get out of your camper van on the autobhan. When in Rome (or Germany) and all that.. Video footage will obviously be require to verify any claims of going above 50mph. This suggestion is actually doing you a favour because with any luck you'll pass every single German Service station without stopping. Dont ask for a sausage sandwhich. Think Spam on stale cardboard and your half way there.
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Now then... I suggest seeing what top speed you can get out of your camper van on the autobhan. When in Rome (or Germany) and all that.. Video footage will obviously be require to verify any claims of going above 50mph. This suggestion is actually doing you a favour because with any luck you'll pass every single German Service station without stopping. Dont ask for a sausage sandwich - Think Spam on stale cardboard and your half way there.
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I wasnt aware about the group route.
All left to say from my side is, enjoy the "Fussball", the great "Bier", and I wish I could be there. Let me know if you need someone to show you around in Hamburg. Im sure I can dig up some of my old friends.
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Germany is dotted with lots of frankfurt stands, so trying one of their famous weeners is a must!
Also, if when on your travels you happen to spot Frank Lampard by any fluke of nature (or stalking) can you take a photo of him holding a piece of paper saying 'Hello Naomi' :-) The closest i've got to see Frank was when I was outside the hotel that the chelsea team stayed at in Cardiff, before the Community shield game...im not obsessed...honest!
happy traveling!
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When you are in Munich, you should definately visit the beergardens, especially the one of the city brewery... If you don't visit that, you haven't really visited Munich
(and as a Dutchman, I really like England to win the world-cup: the cup should go home after all these year
C'MON ENLAND!!!!
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