James & Heather Travelogues

We boarded our overnight train in Prague; fortunately we had a sleeper to ourselves so were able to relax a little. By 10pm however, we were both pretty tired having watched the Australia vs Brazil game earlier that evening. We turned the light off and looked forward to a good night´s sleep.

At around 2am, we were woken by the noise of our door being repeatedly bashed in and a harsh voice telling us to open up. It was the bundescoppers, and they were probably hoping for a couple of untermensch that they could play with. However, like good herrenvolk we handed over our passports, and seeing that we were both English, left us alone. It was at this point that I noticed the difference in the styles of border police: most glance at my passport photo and wave me through. This bundescopper examined my picture carefully and then looked at me. Unlike in Thailand, he didn´t laugh and seemed to be itching to arrest me. I think if I had not had Heather there, I would have been doing my own remake of Midnight Express.

Eventually we arrived in the town we were staying in (Aachen) and checked into our hotel. It was the day before the England game, so we took the opportunity to explore the town. It´s a pretty small one that was the regional capital under Charlemagne and seems to have an interesting attraction towards horses. Everywhere you look, there are statues of horses.

On the 20th, we headed in to Cologne proper for the game. On arrival at the station, it was a sea of people bedecked in national colours, whether Germany, England, Sweden or whomever. Fortunately, not a single person was in the mood to cause trouble and good natured bantering was the order of the day. We had planned on visiting the stadium before kick off but decided that it was more important to find a decent spot to watch the game. This is where German efficiency really kicked in...

After so many tournaments with fans turning up without tickets and hanging out in pubs before getting in to fights, the German authorities created outdoor stadiums with huge (6 metre or so) TV screens showing the games. Within these stadiums, they provide eating, drinking and toilet facilities and have a DJ playing music and keeping the crowd entertained. That way, fans do not need to get in to cramped pubs, get in each others way or cause trouble. The stadium we were in was along the Rhine and was packed with 35,000 fans - both Swedish and English, plus a few others thrown in for entertainment. The atmosphere was really good and it was nice to see England top their group. What was not so nice was that it was not a win, and Michael Owen´s injury has forced Crouch in to a first team position. England´s chances of winning the World Cup have just evaporated.