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!