Born in the USA

After sleeping until around noon I got up and headed down to Kaiserslautern. There was supposed to be a gathering of US fans there on Friday night before the USA’s showdown with Italy on Saturday at a bar in the central part of the city.

Kaiserslautern is a really nice small city . When you walk from the train station they set up a “Fan mile” where fans partied and got together for the games.

At the train station I met up with this lady who was heading to a gathering of US Fans in the city center. We made our way down there and found the place called the Brahaus Market. In the back there was a large area for US fans to hang out and gather.

The atmosphere was fun and I don’t know how many times I bumped into Red Sox fans while I was there. The fans started chanting and after drinking more. During the half time of the Mexico-Angola game a bunch of fans dressed up in USA garb made their way out of the bar and the center of the town where there was a dj playing music for people. The USA fans joined a bunch of Italian fans there partying and it was all good spirited. Then the dj put on “Born in the USA” which made the American fans go wild. It was great and a good way to psyche up for the game.

I was going to take the train back to Erfurt that night and then back down to Kaiserslautern the next day but I misread the schedule and missed the last train out for the night. I was stuck. At first I didn’t know what to do, but then at the train station there was an info book and they had listings of hotels in Kaiserslautern. I called every one and they were all full.

Not sure what to do then, I looked at the next page and there were more listings for hotels around Kaiserslautern. In a town called Landstuhl there was a hotel that was preaty cheap and only 15 minutes away on the local train. So I made a reservation and took the train over.

When I got there it was really dark. The hotel person told me to walk up the hill and I would see the hotel. I started up but wasn’t sure I was going the right way. Then I saw a bar completely in red light and playing country music. I went in to ask for directions and it was interesting, only a few women sat inside and besides that the bar was empty. I asked one for directions and she was nice and after a little walk more up at the hill I found the hotel.

As I was checking in I had to ask the hotel person:

“Is this a military town?”

“Yes,” he said. The town actually had the largest US Military hospital outside the USA. It was the hotel where soldiers injured in Iraq were transferred before heading back to the States.

So I asked my next question: “ I went in a bar down the street that was in red light and was playing country music. Is it.—“

The hotel person cut me off, “Yes, you are thinking the right way.”

With that confirmed I got my room which was nice and turned on the TV. It was Armed Forces Network. It was cool to hear TV in English again for once.

I ended up thinking that Kaiserslautern was about the best place that the US could play a game in Germany.