England v. Trinadad & Tobago

Joel and Shelly left early in the morning and I slept in a bit before heading up to Nuremburg. That day England was going to play Trinadad & Tobago. When I got there the fans were roaring and ready to go. Tickets were going for 450 Euros each outside the stadium. Needless to say with 100,000 English fans in the country traveling the tickets were even selling at that price.

Needless to say I wasn’t one of the buyers ☺

The town was taken over by the English, but the T&T fans were heard loud and clear as well. Carrying drums and playing irresistible Caribbean rhythms, they could start a party up at any moment on any street corner.

I decided to take another way to crowded subway ride to the stadium to get a feel for the ride and also because the USA was to play there next week. Its kind of weird cause the stadium is right next to the Nazi assembly grounds where they would have their huge 200,000 people rallies back in the 1930’s. it was interesting for sure.

After figuring there was not financially feesable way into the stadium I went to the Fan Festival with a ton of other fans to watch the match on a large screen.

It was a lot of fun there. Thousands and thousands of fans were jammed in together. The actual viewing area was full with a fence around it. However there was a sitting area outside where you could eat on picnic tables. All the English fans had ended up using the tables to stand on so they could see the television over the fences.

The fans stood up there all game (between runs for more beer) until late in the game when the English finally scored a few goals against T&T and won the game. With the win, England was also going to advance to the second round.

The team’s fans went crazy, singing and cheering and waving flags for hours. Many head back to downtown Nuremburg to celebrate in the bars there. I went back down also but I decided to walk instead of take another crowded train ride. On the walk back I ended up talking with this German guy Uve. He had tickets to the game and was just starting his holiday. After partying in Nuremburg he was heading to Berlin to enjoy the rest of the holiday.

One the walk we saw a couple of motorcycles and he told me about a Harley Davidson meeting he went to in South Dakota some years back. It sounded like a fun time for sure.

So after sending my photographs in I checked out the party scene for a bit and then caught a late, late train back to Erfurt.