I promised some of my friends who don’t understand Swedish that I would write a few English entries. For different reasons that never happened. So instead I thought I’d try to write a summary in English, just to let you know a little bit about what happened.
We started out by being somewhat cultural when we reached the German coast. A visit to Hitler’s idea of a vacation paradise, miles and miles of identical concrete residential buildings right by the sea. The members of embussen decided to wade through the water past this massive stone construction. Yours truly and one more person saw the folly and turned back but the others didn’t. No life was ever in danger but it turned out to be a hassle. Unfortunately this would be kind of a theme for the trip, embussen not knowing when to say stop and turn back.
Our initial plan was to make Berlin our first overnight stop because we wanted to go to the Panorama Bar where we had a great night two years ago. This plan was scrapped at the last minute, partly because we wanted to get more distance in the first day. Now we ended up in Dresden instead. We found a nice place to park by the river. Our first order of business was to play the first embussen game – 3 against 3, the city against the country. The pitch was cobble stone, we occasionaly had to pause to let cars by, and it was getting increasingly darker but despite all that it was a pretty good game. After the game we had some sekt (German sparkling wine) by the river. [Sekt is a very important thing for embussen. Most people associate football with beer but for embussen the main drink is sekt. It's the perfect drink to have before going to a game, when you're celebrating a victory, or when you're trying to forget a loss.]
We’d scouted this soul club in Dresden that seemed nice but when we got there it was empty. We ended up at what we in Sweden call a gymnasiedisco, a club where the average age is 18-20. For embussen that’s no problem, though, we know how to have fun anywhere.
Our next stop was supposed to be Munich but we decided to stop in Regensburg because we wanted to have time for an embussen match before the official matches of the day. [This is another good thing about embussen, barring events beyond our control, every match must be seen, even matches like Austria-Poland.] In regensburg we went for the expensive lodging, camping. As is often the case, the proprietors of the camp site were asocial, not service-minded, and quite possibly inbred. The camp site was nice, though, and we found a really nice pitch near by for our game.
Next stop Munich. We chose the cheap lodging and parked in Englische Garten. No city vs country game there but a nice kick-about followed by the two matches of the day in a bier garten.
Two years ago we were also in Munich and spent a really nice half-day at the sauna section of the Olympia Bad. We had planned to do the same this year but, this was where the German curse started. When we got there it turned out they were only open late in the afternoon. We got a tip about another place that was supposedly close by. We got back into the van and started driving, and driving, and driving. We asked several people for directions and finally this guy got in and showed us the way. When we got there we were told today was only sauna for women. We stayed there for a swim and a shower. At 4-4.30 we had to be at the airport to pick up a seventh member. Surprisingly we found both the airport and our friend quite easily. Now we had to get as much driving done as possible before the first game at 6. At 5.55 we stopped at a roadside diner and asked if they were showing the game. They said yes so we sat down and waited. They wanted us to order something but we didn’t want to in case the game wouldn’t be on. At 6.10 we finally managed, by mutual effort, to get the game on. When the final whistle blew it was quickly back out and drive along until 8.30 when we found a restaurant that showed the next game. After that final whistle back in the van and drive toward Salzburg. We had to get there the same day since the day after, the 10th, was game day for Sweden. We got to Salzburg, drove to the center to ask for camp sites, got some directions, and drove back out of the city. Again we drove too long before we realized we weren’t where we were supposed to be. Again we asked for directions and drove along. This time we didn’t drive too long before we realized we were way off, we drove to way way too long. Suddenly we found ourselves crossing the border going back into Germany. The second time we arrived in Salzburg we had better luck. We found a camping and and a spot for Isak (that’s the van) and the tent.
Game day: We walked around the area outside the camping to find a pitch to play on. Finally we found one and despite the high altitude we played a good game. Back to the camping for breakfast and a shower before heading in to town. We didn’t have any tickets for the game and we had sort of accepted the fact that we weren’t going to get any, therefore we went to the city and not the stadium area. As we were walking around looking for a place to have a beer we met these Swedes who told us they were selling Greek tickets out by the stadium. We got on a bus and found the place, only to hear there were no tickets left. To soothe our disappointment we had meat balls at IKEA for lunch. After lunch we passed the ticket place again. This time the people in the stand next to it asked us if we wanted to buy tickets. Naturally we said yes. They were the most expensive category and they were in the Greek section but it was still a no-brainer, especially considering the scalpers wanted 100-200Euros more than we paid. Now we ended up sitting perfectly in line to see Sweden’s two goals. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I honestly believe there’s no feeling better than when you’re in place watching your team score an important goal. Pure euforia. After the game we got back to town for food and drinks. We’ve had better victory nights. A crowded bar full of sweaty, horny Swedes drunk off their asses, singing along to rock music isn’t my idea of a great time. It didn’t really matter, though, since the victory was still so sweet. We did stop by an interesting place. It was a small gay bar, a fact we discovered after a while, which actually played every other Falco. I don’t know how many of you, especially non-Europeans, are familiar with Falco. He’s an Austrian who had a few hits in the 80s, Jeannie, Jeannie Part 2, and Rock Me Amadeus. It’s almost the epitome of national pride to me to do what they did.
Wow, this summary is turning out to be much longer than I had expected. I’ll have to give you the rest another time. Right now I’ve jumped ship. The rest of embussen is probably back in Sweden by now but I am in Berlin. I’m also sick and that’s one reason why I’m to tired to write the rest now. Being on the road with embussen is not good if you want to shake the flu. I’m hoping a few calm days in Berlin will help me recuperate. (And for embussens members: I didn’t go with Ron to the club last night.)
To be continued…
Arkiverad under: Uncategorized
