We were really pleased to be able to go to Berlin for the weekend of the 2014 World Cup final. We drove down with Tanbay's sister and her boyfriend on the Saturday. We spent all of Saturday and Sunday morning sight seeing and then we got ready to support Germany:
We (I) miraculously managed to navigate the U-Bahn and we successfully got to Hansaplatz. Here's a picture of us on the train:
Our plan was to walk through the Tiergarten and watch the game on the big screen behind the Brandenburger Tor in what's called the 'Fan Mile'. So we walked along and enjoyed marching with the other dressed up people, everyone was very excited and it was fascinating to be a part of it.
We made it there, and it started raining:
The rain was pretty depressing and with the umbrellas we couldn't see anything at all. People started to climb on parked cars to get a better view and when the police turned up we decided to leave. We were hungry, we were being rained on and we wanted to see and hear the football!
We felt like we were wimping out a bit, but don't worry it was the right decision and we went back later. Anyway we went to a pub and watched the game with real Berliners. The seats were comfy, there was beer and we could see perfectly!
I walked Tanbay's sister back to the hostel after a bit, proving once and for all that I am a better big brother than Tanbay is, and also that it's safe to walk around Berlin at night, or at least it was at that particular date and time and part of Berlin.
Anyway it went onto extra time and, as I'm sure you know GERMANY WON!!
We took the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz to see what was going on there - a few people were waving flags:
But the party was definitely on at the Brandenburg Tor, so when a homeless person said 'fick dich' (fuck you) to me, we decided to go there instead.
By this point it was very hard to navigate the U-Bahn, so we got lost and took the S5 instead of the U5 (easy mistake). We didn't have to wait too long though and we saw lots more fun, happy people:
We finally made it to the Brandenburg Tor, it was busy and beautiful:
Some guys made a human pyramid and were filmed by national tv:
We walked around a bit and joined in with the singing. The atmosphere was electric - everyone was so happy, it was amazing to be part of it! Our last train was cancelled so we walked back. This was good because we got to see all the cars celebrating and beeping. Near-ish our hostel someone let a firework off into the street from the houses above, so we had to shimmy up to the walls and run along. It was fun though, I felt like we were trying to escape the DDR - ha.
All in all, it was a fantastic night, I'm so so glad Germany won and even more glad that we were in Berlin when it happened! This selfie pretty much sums up our excitement:
Well done Deutschland!
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