"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.