this is not 1998

in 1998, the US lost its first game to Germany by a lot of goals, then lost its next two games, including to Iran, in a humiliating showing that left them in last place. then in 2002 the US raised expectations to astronomical levels by shockingly making it to the quarterfinals after upsetting Portugal and beating Mexico. so now we´re back to earth with a first-round exit.

but that doesn´t mean we´ve regressed to 1998. our team had a clunker against the Czechs, but raised their game considerably after that. we were the better team against the heavily favored Italians, and we were very unlucky against Ghana, to whom we lost 2-1 today in an outstanding match. Ghana played a terrific game and so did the US. Ghana´s first goal came after they seemed to foul our last defender, leading to a breakaway with only Keller to beat. their second goal was a PK after Onyewu was a bit reckless in the penalty box. it´s too bad, but the US team should be proud of their effort and we should be proud of them and of US soccer. our team showed that americans can play this game and do so with style and heart. Clint Dempsey´s goal off of Damarcus Beasley´s laser of a cross was absolutely gorgeous, and we in the stands (along with you watching at home) were treated to a few moments of delirious happiness. as a special bonus, the referee for this match did a terrific job, in sharp contrast to the officiating of the US-Italy match.

so now we, along with the US team, are going home (but on different flights, i suspect). but with our heads held high.

we have had a spectacular adventure, traveling through nine cities in three countries. we have learned how to ask for water with no gas in three languages. we have shaken hands and high fived with people from all over the world. we have been really sweaty. we have found tasty refuge at out-of-the-way asian restaurants all over europe. and we're ready to go home.

we fly out of frankfurt tomorrow afternoon, arriving home at 10:30 EST, which will feel like 4:30am to our confused bodies. so we'll talk with you when we wake up.

thanks for reading!

love,
betsy and randy

"How's your underwear?" "Wet."

so it's come to this. as a result of some logistical misfortunes, we have been out of clean clothes for a day or two now with no hope of doing laundry till we get home. i did some wash in the sink last night, which somehow doesn't actually remove the aroma from extremely sweaty jerseys, but it helps a little. unfortunately clothes don't dry overnight as much as you'd hope. but we wanted to be as clean as possible for our national team today. and randy has pointed out that we're definitely not the smelliest people around.

our last day in prague was ok. we crossed the tourist-thronged charles bridge, climbed a ridiculous amount of stairs to get to the prague castle, waited in line to get in only to discover they didn't take credit cards (which they did when our book was printed, i guess) and we didn't have enough crowns or energy to get more money at the moment. we did walk around st. vitus's cathedral, which included some beautiful stained glass windows. the people in charge really stick it to tourists, charging you extra to take pictures on the premises of the castle. we declined.

thankfully our climb was made worth it when we found Maly Buddha (Little Buddha), an extraordinary Asian restaurant in a little cave-like setting replete with flowers and images of the Buddha, as well as a shrine in back where people lit incense and prayed. We enjoyed a fantastic meal of generous portions that was also quite cheap. The place was mellow and serene and a nice respite from the hot crowded streets of Prague. the rest of the prague experience was somewhat uninspiring (at least for Betsy) but it was interesting.

we had a nice train ride back to nuremburg, where we are now. our hotel is out in the midst of farmland, but only 25 minutes away by bus and subway. today we have a few hours to explore the city before the US takes on Ghana at 4. there are a lot of activities set up for fans here, such as an inflatable life size foosball game that we have seen folks playing. here's randy...

last night we watched the much-anticipated Holland-Argentina match at a smoky beer garden in downtown Nuremberg. as much as i was hoping for Holland to win, Argentina seemed the more creative side - Argentina's wunderkind, Lionel Messi, was magical. frustratingly, the match ended in a 0-0 tie. throughout this trip Betsy has been fantastic, showing Herculean patience while i watch games amid much smoke and beer. as if i needed any proof of her love - this is certainly it!

i'll try to post briefly after the game tonight, before we head back to our (smoke-free) hotel to watch the later matches to see who our opponent will be in the second round. (we're being optimistic - another great feature of Betsy. :) that will be our last post before we head home tomorrow to sleep in our own bed. we're looking forward to being home again and eating lots of vegetables and drinking skim milk and seeing our friends and family again. thank you all for following along on our adventure these last 16 days. it means a lot to us.

happy father's day yesterday!

happy father's day to bob rosenblatt, dave rosso, and all the other fathers and expectant fathers who are reading. sorry we didn't get to call, since we were on trains for 10 hours. but we thought of you!

our first adventure in prague was figuring out how to leave the train station. we discovered that the facilities are not quite as spotless and organized as in many german stations, and that czech is not at all intuitive. at all. we managed to get some money and check our email so we could recover the address of our hotel, which was not listed on our confirmation. the internet cafes at the train station were in a) a sex shop and b) a dark, dank, creepy basement room. we opted for the basement. randy deftly figured out the metro and we made it to our hotel by 6. the room is small but nice, but the bathroom came free with an unpleasant odor that has yet to dissipate. hmmm.

we met up with a former colleague of randy's dad's for dinner, and he took us on a 20-minute hike at breakneck speed (and anyone who knows me knows i walk fast) which included leaping over cement barriers and darting in front of speeding buses. actually he jumped in front of the bus. we waited on that one. after this aerobic activity, we ended up in a giant beer garden filled with expats. apparently this is where they and their dogs hang out during the world cup. a rich perfume of cigarettes, beer, and pot filled the air, mingling with grilled sausage. our dinner consisted of kielbasa served with mustard and two small pieces of wheat bread. it was tasty though. so we watched the last few minutes of brasil/australia, then all of south korea/france. (Randy had to defend his sausage from a large dog giving him the pleading eye, which later turned to an evil eye and several angry barks when he didn't get a single measly bite. that's MY sausage, my friend!)

today we covered a lot of territory, walking everywhere and enjoying the beautiful architecture on every street. most ordinary buildings are extraordinary looking, with all kinds of gold and intricate carvings. i'm sure there are better words to describe this style, but i don't know what they are right now. highlights included an open air market where we played with lots of wooden toys and admired some czech art. the most moving activity of the day was our visit to the jewish museum, which includes several synagogues and the old jewish cemetery. one of the synagogues is dedicated to the memory of 80,000 jewish men, women & children from prague and its surrounding towns. all of their names are painted on the walls. it's a bit like the vietnam memorial in dc, but inside a building. equally as powerful. the cemetary too is stunning. it includes hundreds of graves leaning in all different directions, marking the bodies of many thousands more people, because at one time jews were not allowed to bury their dead in other parts of the city, so they had to create layer upon layer in a small area of land. in one of the synagogues was an exhibit of drawings and paintings by children who were forced to live in the terezin ghetto. the adults were dedicated to ensuring that their children would continue to be educated and survive the horrible experience of being stripped of all civil rights, possessions and homes with as little permanent damage as possible, so ad hoc schools and dorms were set up for the kids, with art therapy to help them express their feelings. in some cases these drawings are the only records existing of children who were killed in the holocaust.

now we're at the globe, an english bookstore and coffeeshop where we will likely eat dinner since a huge thunderstorm started since we arrived. :)

heroes

what a game! wow. 3 red cards (2 for the US), 2 goals called back (one for either side), and a heroically gutsy performance by the American team to defend their goal against the Italian onslaught for the last 30 minutes. not to put too fine a point on it, but the Italians seemed to be playing on a skating rink, because they clattered down to the turf everytime they were breathed on. it was a shameless display of referee manipulation by the Azzuri, whose league (Serie A) is being investigated for match-fixing. (it´s no secret that teams in Serie A work harder to disrupt the other team´s attack and to flop around to manipulate the referee into free kicks than to create anything like football beauty.)

the American team did our country proud, and the American fans did as well. the stadium was really loud, and the American section was rocking the house. we were on our feet the entire game, and we hardly stopped singing to breathe. the match was so intense and the atmosphere so electric we felt almost faint with exhaustion by the 80th minute, and yet we had to continue cheering to urge our boys on for the last 10. (the two guys next to me were exuberant and aggressive in their cheering. one of them hugged me and Betsy together. i had their face paint on my jersey by the end.) i am incredibly proud of our team and our fans. this match, like the Germany-Poland match, is one of the best of the tournament. for me, it´s by far the most thrilling match i´ve seen in person.

the match ended around 11 pm, but we didn´t get home until almost 2 a.m. the logistics for leaving the stadium were not well thought out, and although it´s a smaller stadium (46,000) than the one in Gelsenkirchen (52,000), it took much longer to walk back to town. we were two among a swelling mass of humanity being herded through a narrow space down a long road. at one point a couple cafes were set up, selling beer, juice, snacks. they must have made a killing. apparently, some fans took even longer to get home - when we got to the train station this morning at 6 am (after a leisurely nap of 3 hours), a train pulled in from Kaiserslautern filled with singing American fans. drinking beer. with face paint still on. no luggage. 6 am. oh my god, we thought, these guys have been partying all night and they´re just getting home! and they´re STILL DRINKING AND SCREAMING! these people must have lungs and livers of steel.

so today we´re in Nuremberg en route to Prague (Praha) for a few days of relaxation before the third (not final!) US match, against Ghana in Nuremberg. the train here was filled with Croat and Japanese fans (their teams face each other this afternoon), the Croats singing at the top of their voices and the quiet Japanese in our compartment apologizing for being too loud in their conversation. we´re definitely rooting for Japan today!

note from betsy--i've never cheered and screamed and chanted and clapped for anything as hard and long and loudly as i did yesterday. at several moments i thought i might pass out from excitement. i must be a real soccer fan now.

a rockin´ day in k-town

we love kaiserslautern! although it is the smallest world cup city, there is a wonderful atmosphere, fantastic food, and incredibly friendly people. so far it is one of the highlights of the trip.

before we forget, though, the train journey here yesterday from bonn, although long, was absolutely lovely. we traveled through stunning mountains with fields plowed at seemingly impossible angles. we saw castle after castle that seemed to be growing out of mountainsides. we observed picturesque little villages beside the river that looked like they had not been touched for centuries. perhaps unlike on amtrak, train is a great way to see the country here.

our hotel here (actually in nearby landstuhl) is the fanciest place we have stayed so far, and we feel lucky because it was the hotel we booked at the last minute. we have a spacious and beautiful room and it feels more like vacation and less like camping than we have experienced thus far. the people who run it are also quite gracious. apparentlz landstuhl is where wounded US soldiers stay while recovering from combat in the middle east.

K-town (Kaiserslautern to Americans here) knows how to party! a sea of crazed football fans crowd the street festival that runs a mile through town. as we walked through the festival, we saw sausage stands, souvenir stands, a dixieland band, a brass jazz band, body painting, and numerous purveyors of multi-colored mohawks that you can clip on your hair to express national pride. on the way home last night, a German classic rock cover band was screaming the Queen hit "We are the champions" and farther up there was a makeshift dance floor as thousands of fans danced the macarena and pushed together in a human blob of celebration.

last night we ate at himalaya, a serene oasis from the party outside. we enjoyed several courses of nepalese food, some of which was different than anything we have ever eaten before, like baby corn/tofu/cilantro soup and carrot pudding. today we found a similarly quiet thai place and enjoyed yellow curry and tofu with veggies. the staff at all the asian restaurants we have eaten at have spoken excellent english and been quite friendly and welcoming.

otherwise, we spent today relaxing in nature. we explored a flower garden park that included medicinal herbs, odd little statues here and there of animals, and the occasional dinosaur. it was kinda weird. but pretty. it´s mostly on a hill, and at the top of the hill we stopped for drinks at a cafe, where we also had a nice conversation with two Army reservists stationed here in Kaiserslautern. one of them was recently in Nuremberg and gave us some tips. both have wives and little kids in the midwest they had to leave behind while they´re stationed here for a year.

after lunch (at the thai place), we ambled through a Japanese garden, complete with waterfalls, ponds with enormous koi, and bamboo. after all that natural relaxing, we, naturally, went shopping! we found a couple shirts to commemorate our stay. and now we´re going to take our loot back to our hotel before returning to town to head to the stadium for tonight´s must-win clash between the US and Italy.

(speaking of Italy, Italian fans are here in full force, filling the air with the music of their voices and painting banners to display at tonight´s game.)

thanks to george, mike, and teri for explaining that the holiday thursday was Corpus Christi day, and thanks to Annie for explaining that the anti-AIDS campaign reads "Fits every cuke/pickle" and "It´s your heimspiel" means "It´s the game of your homeland." And thanks to everbody who´s written us - it´s great to know you´re following along on our adventure.

Viel Gluck to the US against the Azzuri!

fulfilling our blog title

today we actually cruised down the rhine river, from bonn to a small town called linz. it was a lovely and relaxing trip, during which we saw all kinds of german architecture and lush green trees. we spotted a few swans and some ruins. we saw the remnants of the bridge american soldiers used to cross over the rhine for the first time in world war two. by the return trip the air had cooled considerably and it sprinkled intermittently all day, so the castles and churches were bathed in fog, which was very romantic looking. :)

randy pointed out that mozart traveled from vienna to linz once and wrote an entire symphony (the linz symphony, no. 36) during the three-day journey, to be played when he arrived.

this morning there were public celebrations of today's holiday, and we could hear singing and beautiful churchbells from our hotel room. i imagined the congregants were not the same people who were out reveling in germany's victory until the wee hours of the morning. during the day today we saw altars with flowers and candles set up in several public squares, both in bonn and linz, so it seemed the services must have been nice.

we finally bought a travel alarm clock yesterday because we seem to have a hard time getting up too early, and when we returned to our room to set the alarm, we discovered that the time on the clock is set according to radio signals from frankfurt. so we can use it within 1,500 km of frankfurt, but then we're out of luck. who would have thought you could even find such a clock? i guess we will leave it as a present for someone in nuremburg as we head home.

germany-poland - beware: spoiler!

the germany-poland match just ended. so far, for me, this is the best match of the first round. if you haven't already, and can find a way to watch this match, you should.

we watched most of it from a falafel bar near our hotel - most of the patrons seemed to be immigrants - one African and a few Muslims. we returned to our room to watch the last 30 minutes. with Germany's victory, they've clinched advancing to the second round with one game to play (against Ecuador).

as soon as the match ended, we heard cheers erupt from outside, so i (Randy) investigated. there´s an impromptu parade down Friedrichstrasse (just north of our street, Bonngasse) of cars with flags, honking their horns rhythmically, men walking up and down the streets leading renditions of "Deutschland, Deutschland!" it's quite a scene.

sweat and comments

thanks to everyone who has emailed. we have free internet access at this hotel so we have been able to check frequently. sorry to everyone who couldn't post comments. i figured out how to change the settings so you don't have to be a registered user to comment. so please go back and comment now to your heart's content. we wondered why no one was posting comments and thought you had all forgotten about us since we've been gone. :)

today has been a slow day. it is still powerfully hot. we did laundry at a laundromat so our clothes are no longer stinky. we've both been a little stomach-achy and are hoping that will go away soon. we learned that tomorrow is a holiday in germany so we're going on a cruise down the rhine to linz. i asked someone at our hotel what the holiday commemorated and she said "something from the church." but wouldn't say what. does anyone know?

Randy here. I went to the Beethoven Haus this morning - the house where Beethoven was born, which has been converted into a museum. The person who sold me my ticket complimented my German, which was a surprise because I´ve been butchering the poor language. It was special seeing Beethoven´s viola, fortepianos, autograph scores, and even a couple locks of his hair. They also have his life mask and death mask, which give you an intimately lifelike impression of the man´s features.

did we mention we´re hot?

there's been a heat wave since we've been traveling and i've been sweating a lot. and you know how i feel about sweating. so i finally broke down last night and bought a few sleeveless shirts. i didn't bring any because the weather is usually in the 60s this time of year, 70s at the most. lucky us! actually it's been beautiful and sunny every day, which is nice most of the time, but the sun is rather relentless and temperatures seem to be in the 80s or 90s. the best time of day is after 8 pm or so when it's still light out but not too sweaty. :) there doesn't seem to be much in the way of air conditioning in hotels, shops, or anywhere else so it all feels a bit like camping.

we've been wondering what europeans have against double beds. in the first two hotels where we stayed, there were twin beds pushed together in one frame, but with two separate sets of covers. in this hotel, there are just two twin beds, across the room from each other. the linen system seems to be a sheet covering the mattress and something like a duvet on top, with a big square pillow. in essen randy's sheet was made of terry cloth. nothing like sleeping on a towel.

last night after brazil's narrow victory over croatia (1-0) we enjoyed the spectacle of many brazilian fans celebrating--standing up in their cars and hanging out the windows waving flags and shouting. the brazilian team's headquarters is in cologne, which is the next city over, so there are lots of supporters in the neighborhood. we watched the game at a neighborhood bar called Sonja's where everyone knew each other and were betting small sums on the game.

we continue to be impressed with the variety of local shops and restaurants everywhere we go. bonn is the first place we've seen a starbucks. most cities have mcdonald's. the essen train station had dunkin donuts. but mostly the commerce seems to be local, which is reassuring.

last night while strolling around town we came upon a circle of capoeira dancers/athletes. if you're not familiar with this, i encourage you to google it. basically it's a community art form that involves martial artsesque moves combined with dancing and singing and clapping. sounds weird but it's cool to watch.

now i'm off to investigate a cruise down the rhine and a spa park while randy explores the house where beethoven was born. hope everyone is doing well. send us some comments!

oh man...

We arrived in Bonn this afternoon, on a slow train from Essen. We had a rushed start to the day after oversleeping - the hotel staff woke us up with a phone call at 10:15 asking if we wanted breakfast (which ran until 10). We scrambled out of bed and scarffed down some bread and cold cuts, before running back upstairs to shower and pack before the checkout time of 11 a.m. At 11:05 they called us again to remind us that checkout´s at 11. We made it by 11:15...

When we were going to bed last night, we noticed lots of little light brown bugs on our sheets, our pillows, the walls.. At first they looked like lint but the lint kept moving. Eventually we cleared our bed of them (mostly) and tried to forget about them as we went to sleep (which clearly wasn´t a problem).

Dutch and German are fairly similar. Streets in Amsterdam are Straats and Grachts. In Germany they are Strasses and Gasses (our hotel in Bonn is on Bonngasse, across the street from the house Beethoven was born in). Our favorite street in Amsterdam, near our houseboat, was called Tichel Straat. A great anti-AIDS ad in Essen bus stations had pictures of cucumbers with condoms on them. The slogan was "Passt auf jeder Gurke" - which we think means "put one on every cucumber." Other versions have bananas and asparagus.

Often languages are mixed, especially with English. The Coca-Cola ad campaign for the World Cup is "It´s your Heimspiel." We think Heimspiel means game, but I don´t know what Heim means.

Speaking of language, much of the staff at the Gelsenkirchen stadium did not speak English. When they wanted something, they stared at you and talked louder, a trick Americans have perfected but that surprised us at a World Cup event. Another surprise at the stadium - when we went through security, a man frisked me and waved Betsy over to a woman, who checked her purse VERY thoroughly. She had nothing to hold the stuff in as she pulled out pens, hand sanitizer, lotion, sunscreen, and tried to juggle it all as she continued to search. She then told us in German that we were permitted to bring in only one pen, so Betsy had to choose the best from her 4 pens. The woman also confiscated the sunscreen, sanitizer, lotion, and my glasses cleaning fluid. (They put them in a bin and gave us a ticket to get them back after the game.)

Once inside the stadium (at 3 pm, 3 hours before kick-off), we saw that the policies on what you can bring into the stadium are inscrutable, as fans sported flags (on flagpoles), helmets, tiaras, bullhorns, and drums, etc. But no dangerous sunscreen.

So, about that game... Okay, if you watched you know how awful it was (a 3-0 loss to the Czechs if you missed it). We can just hope that the Americans pick themselves up and find a way to compete at a higher level against the Italians, or this will be a short tournament for the U.S. I´ll just say that I have never been prouder to sing our national anthem, joined by thousands of other Americans, to support our country and our national team. A banner in the US corner of the stadium said "Go U.S.! Letäs Roll." Another said "Just married! Go US!" We cheered our hearts out, and made friends with the people around us, some of whom are from the DC area. (We also saw several DC United jerseys.)

The American fans were fantastic supporters, friendly to the Czechs from what we saw (and vice versa), colorful, and boisterously singing throughout the match (until the third goal, when we were all a bit depressed). There were a man dressed/painted as Captain America, several Uncle Sams, two Elvises (one of them Indian), two men with large helmets that looked straight out of pro wrestling, a number of fans with painted faces, and thousands of U.S. jerseys. It made us proud.

The Czechs too were very friendly and intelligent supporters, singing festive songs for several hours before the game even started. After the game, by the Gelsenkirchen train station, there was a party complete with American country music. Czechs and Americans mingled and joined in a chorus of "King of the Road."

It was an incredible experience, and we´re looking forward to the Italy match. But first we´re going to relax and recover our voices and explore Bonn and Cologne.

Dispatch von Deutschland

Guten Tag!

We arrived in Essen, Germany yesterday about 2 pm, and it´s quite a change of pace from Amsterdam. Essen is the 6th biggest city in Germany, but our hotel is on the outskirts in a quiet suburb. We can hear the birds singing and everything is closed on Sunday. After settling in and watching the Holland-Serbia match (Hup Holland! Beautiful goal from Arjen Robben), we took a nap. Then we ventured out in search of dinner, which required taking the bus back to the train station. I´ve been doing okay with my German, but figuring out the bus was definitely a challenge. The driver was impatient as I stumbled for words, and told us to forget it and ride for free. But we made it to the train station and found a Chinese place where we were the only customers. The servers at the Chinese place were very friendly and we laughed about my broken German and the waitress´s broken English. They gave us free fruit.

We´ve observed the omnipresence of breasts in various states of nakedness throughout Europe. There´s much Dutch and German cleavage to be seen and topless women abound on late night tv. Last night we saw some ads or videos or something involving naked women prancing around a soccer field with soccer balls, celebrating something. :)

Another amusing note was at the grocery store in Amsterdam where we stopped to get snacks I bought what I thought was a carton of chocolate milk. I tried to drink it and thought, this is rather thick milk, only to realize that it was pudding. Yum.

So today is the big game and we arrived in Gelsenkirchen and went to the stadium around noon (mind you, the game is at 6). There were lots of other fans there as well-mostly czech-but the stadium wasn´t open yet. So we circled around and took the tram back to the train station where we can eat lunch and mingle with other fans before we return to the stadium at 3. So far czech fans vastly outnumber us and are quite boisterous. one man on the tram was wearing a red white and blue (czech colors as well) wig, a hat that looks like one chinese peasants wear, striped red, white, and blue, and a flag draped over his jersey. he saw us and jokingly chanted "USA! USA! USA!" then shook randy´s hand. Randy reminded me the game isn´t for another several hours and already the mood is quite, um, festive. And smelly - many of the fans (we won´t specify what country they´re from in the interest of diplomacy, but they may be relatives of Antonin Dvorak) - don't seem to believe in deodorant.

As we walked around the stadium, a Czech fan asked us where in America we´re from, and said "How score?" Betsy replied, "3-1, US!" He said "Oh no, I'm Czech! It´ll be 3-1 - for Czech!" She must be a real fan now - 6 hours before the game, she´s already trash-talking.

So now we're going to get lunch before heading back to the stadium to cheer the US to a victory! Tune in and support our team!

Bis Tschuss! (til later)

Day 2 - the World Cup begins, and the Rossos wander aimlessly around Amsterdam

Amsterdam is confusing! As cities go it's not all that large, but there is no grid to organize it and the street names are difficult to remember - like Nieuwgewijds Voorburghwal. But we're starting to get the hang of it. We figured out the tram yesterday, which was a boon to our weary feet.

After breakfast at our hotel, we trammed to Museumplein to visit the, ah, museums. Betsy went to the Van Gogh while I went to the Rijksmuseum. Most of the Rijksmuseum is closed for renovations, but they've collected a sample of the best stuff in one wing that can be explored in a couple hours. Currently they have a multimedia exhibit of Rembrandt's the Night Watch, created by film director Peter Greenaway.

The Museumplein includes a large field and a reflecting pool. The field was filled with children playing soccer and the reflecting pool was filled with toddlers in various states of undress. It was a pleasant place to sit and read, which I found Betsy doing when I returned from the museum.

We had lunch at an Surinamese restaurant - chicken and lamb stew with vegetables and roti bread. After lunch we walked through an extensive market that included clothes, fish, electronics, spices, kitchen gadgets, etc. And of course Holland jerseys everywhere (with a smattering of England and Germany).

And then it was time for the games to begin. We began watching the opening ceremonies in an Irish pub, but it seemed too pedestrian, so we wandered back to our neighborhood around Lindengracht and found ourselves in a local bar filled with Dutch partisans. I owe a big thank you to Melissa Levy for the Paulo Wanchope Costa Rica jersey she gave me, because it helped me make a barfull of friends during the Costa Rica-Germany game. Men were patting me on the shoulder and rubbing the back of my jersey for luck. Sadly, Germany prevailed (4-2), but I was proud that my man Wanchope put two well-taken goals past the Germans. We also caught the last 30 minutes of the Poland- Ecuador match at a bar near the red light district, during which we made friends with Greg, a man who worked for DC United during their glorious first 4 seasons (when Bruce Arena was coach and they won 3 championships). He said Marco Etcheverry is a terrible pool player but he loves to gamble, so he was good for a couple hundred bucks a night in Greg's pocket.

Today we visited the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam's botanical gardens originally created after a plague in the 1600s so doctors and pharmacists could collect herbs for medicinal use. Today it includes some plants that are hundreds of years old and a butterfly greenhouse filled with extraordinary fluttering beauty. We took lots of pictures.

Other interesting notes:
*it gets dark here around 10:30pm and the pink sunsets over the canals are lovely
*they're big on cheese here, and many cafes sell tostis, the equivalent of grilled cheese. you can order yours with young cheese or old cheese.
*there are extensive open-air markets everywhere that sell everything from fresh fruit & veg to dove soap to underwear to rugs.
*there's a big park near the edge of town where we saw dozens or hundreds of muslim women (wearing headscarves) playing games like sackraces. there seems to be a large muslim population here, which is interesting. it seems like a really diverse city, but it's hard for us to tell who lives here and who is a tourist. but there is a wide variety of people everywhere we go.
*what i learned at the van gogh museum: he was a failed evangelist until age 26 and he decided to be an artist. he had no experience and no training and he taught himself to draw, then paint. he was heavily influenced by japanese art and he only painted for 10 years before he killed himself. his brother died 6 months later.
*you can smell pot everywhere you go, regardless of whether you're in a "coffeeshop" (where it's sold) or just hanging out at a cafe. so far we haven't noticed any effects of secondhand smoke.

Tomorrow (happy birthday Susannah!) we head to Essen, where we're staying for Monday's US game in Gelsenkirchen vs. the Czech Republic. We anticipate running into a few folks there and meeting new friends, since you seem to run into people everywhere in Europe. Last night at a tapas/mexican restaurant by our hotel we ended up seated next to a couple who used to live in Georgetown in Baltimore. We'll be taking the train and Randy will have the opportunity to dust off his German. He has been valiantly attempting to speak a few words of Dutch here, but everyone speaks English so it's somewhat futile. I've been proud, though, that people don't automatically pin us as Americans because they seem to speak to Dutch to us when we first approach. So we must not look TOO dorky. :)

hup holland hup!*

hallelujah! we're here! after a long night of traveling with little sleeping involved, we're now trolling the streets of amsterdam, looking at the lovely canals and little alleys and cafes, leaping out of the way of omnipresent bikers and careening motorists, and sampling authentic dutch indian cuisine. also trying to find an internet cafe that doesn't require you to smoke up while you check your email. some highlights so far:
**shortly after taking off from dulles we saw two rainbows (or one rainbow twice?) above DC. it seemed like a good omen.
**our hotel is on a houseboat which is totally unlike what i had imagined. there are tons of these squat little constructions on every canal, some of which look like boats and others like trailers plopped into the water. some have roof gardens complete with hammocks and bike parking. ours looks vaguely boatlike and is pretty cozy inside. when we arrived they had just finished cleaning our room from a recent flood but they were still working on the water and electricity for the whole boat. we immediately lay down on the bed for a nap and were surprised when a hotel employee and then a repair person began to let themselves into our room. they were very nice when we told them to go away.
**there seem to be many fish take away shops we haven't quite figured out. when we went out in search of a snack we both had very low blood sugar, so we're trying to evaluate our options for the rest of our time here.

our plans for the next two days include the van gogh museum and rijksmuseum, the anne frank house, a peek at the red light district, and checking out all the parks and interesting neighborhoods.

and, of course, the world cup starts tomorrow, featuring germany vs. costa rica and poland vs. ecuador. we plan to plant ourselves in a cafe near our hotelboat and join the locals in cheering loudly.

*(go holland go--on orange signs everywhere)

things that can go wrong

Last night as we were looking up train schedules to see what our options are from traveling from city to city we discovered that one of the hotels we'd booked was about four hours from the stadium we were trying to be near. Hmmmm. I have no idea how that happened, but good thing we figured it out now instead of when we arrived. So we quickly found another hotel that's 15 minutes by train from the city where the game is. We cancelled our other reservation for a fee. Randy assured and reassured me that it was all ok.

Today I got a message from our hotel in Amsterdam where we were looking forward to staying on a houseboat in one of the canals. Apparently a pipe burst recently and the houseboat flooded. :( The hotelier (?) said they were trying everything they could to get it in shape, but they couldn't guarantee it would be dried out by the time we arrive so we might have to be in a regular room. At least we'd have a place to stay, but I was pretty darn excited about sleeping on the boat. Hmmm.

Officially Sanctioned Cuteness

Here we are in our world cup kits. We've already started getting comments from strangers who are fellow football enthusiasts and envious that we're going to Germany. Don't worry, we don't intend to wear matching outfits except on game days, and then we'll be matching thousands of other fans. (photo by Melissa Levy)