The heavens open over Berlin
- 7 Jul 06, 07:55 PM
BERLIN - Ricco and I were heading back to the campsite after visiting an English family living in Berlin when an almighty thunderstorm broke out.
From our perspective there were two interesting consequences to this.
The first came in the form of a female cyclist.
Ricco and I alighted the at Messe Sud and with the rain lashing down and thunder and lightning all around, we sought cover in a shelter.
Moments later the cyclist appeared, lifting her bike down the steps, absolutely soaked to the skin.
The situation was leaving precious little to the imagination and so, being fine, upstanding Englishmen, we offered her a Fletch and Ricco T-shirt.
At first she looked a little bemused but then accepted and proceded to remove her old T-shirt and put the dry one on.
Without so much of a word she then studied the timetable and boarded the next S-bahn that came along. Remarkable.
Eventually the rain eased and so we headed back to the campsite.
The only problem was that a flash flood had blocked the road - forcing Ricco into the emergency action of removing his socks and shoes and wading through the water.
Earlier in the day we had travelled to Albrechtshof to meet the Sharman-Davies family and find out their perspective on the World Cup as an English family living in Berlin.
Dad Mick is on a career break, while mum Kay teaches at the , which their teenage children Harry and Lucy attend.
Lucy had sent an e-mail asking if, with the ±«Óãtv boardcasting from Berlin, some members of staff would take time out to visit them.
With Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and company unavailable they ended up stuck with two bloggers. They must have been thrilled!
However, from my point of view the sheer joy of an drinking an English cup of tea cannot be stressed enough - many thanks for that.
It sounds as though there are many nationalities at the school, which made for some pretty good banter - though apparently there were definite disagreements between English and Portuguese students over Cristiano Ronaldo's antics last Saturday.
The family had also enjoyed some good jocular banter with their German neighbours and seemed pretty impressed with the way the host nation had embraced the tournament - turning out in great number to support their team and constantly beeping their horns after a victory.
Harry's mate Dan turned up and they both disappeared into the garden to play cricket - something I haven't seen too much of in Germany.
Ricco and I said our thanks for the brew and headed back to the station. Little did we know what lay in store.
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We are a half English half German family and run a B&B as in URL, in a totally renovated 18th century farmhouse. Any of you would be most welcome to stay gratis, evven Everton supporters. We are ardent Liverpool supporters. Lots of English brew and even electric sockets.
Any info re Liverpool's game in Mainz would be greatly appreciated.
Viele Gruesse
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Now that you are on to the subject of beer festivals, don't forget Berlin's own annual beer festival (now in its 10th year) to be held 4th - 6th August on Karl Marx Allee - it's worth staying on (or coming back) for. The scale of Karl Marx Allee, an archetype of Stalinist monolithism, is still truly mind-numbing, even if there's a bit more colour to it now than there was 10 years ago.
You do not strike me as followers of high culture, but as the sod with the degree in European Humanities who gave you the life-enhancing experience of climbing Ulm Munster's spire, can I just recommend the phenomenon of Die Lange Nacht der Museen ('The Long Night of the Museums') . These are nights when all the cultural attractions in particular German city stay open late (until the early hours of the morning), charging virtually nothing for admission, and laying on special concerts and performances. They are a brilliant concept - and they started in Berlin. If ever you come back to Germany, which I hope you will, try to catch one. The next one in Berlin is on 26th August. When it comes to making the arts truly accessible and fun and non-elitist, as with so many other things, the Germans do things better than we do.
Like so many other people, I was going to suggest some things for you to do in Berlin. But I sense you have too many commitments and not enough time. If you want another (small) ascent... I guess you're parked somewhere near Spandau. Climb the Round Tower of Spandau Citadel. You have some fantastic views, especially the one across to the Olympiastadion (which with its new roof looks like a mothership that has just landed in the woods). And check out the size of the iron door whic Bismark had installed to protect the Imperial Treasury.
Enjoy Berlin. Sorry about the rain!
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I'm very disapointed,with Bistish press,It happens every time England loses,Portugal have not done much in world soccer,but neither as England.I
think Portugal desrves better than that, what was the cheating ,the diving ,what ,portugal plays great soccer,what I see the politics of little country doing so well in soccer world.The Bristish press is very bias,and their so called experts.The Netherlands I agree was ugly,but look back the harsh foul against Ronaldo,it went down hill from there ,how is team have 9 or ten fouls and have 9 yellows,People what game are you watch.The problem with England is that they thought this golden age of the players have not perform,love the premiership style, why change for the national team.Please be fair,really what did Ronaldo do,to creat just international barage,I see alot premiership ,England players are far removed , what you accused the Portugues of doing.
Thank you
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Hello jpoliviera
Many Players, as individuals, have resorted to cheating which has spoilt this world cup. I include certain english players in this. I have waited so long, watching many qualification matches, to see my country and especially its star player perform as I know it can. Having played negative teams earlier in the competition, who kept most of their players in defence, stifling play, I was expecting a more open game with the Portugese. One where We could play our football. What I saw was a team which deliberately targeted our creative player for a sending off in order to gain advantage. Portugal lost a lot of friends in this country over this. It is shown in the significant fall in bookings of Holidays to Portugal amazingly. (Dropped from 4th most popular Holiday destination to 15th for English people in one Times statistic I recall )
Any player who changes the course of a game through cheating whether Portugese, English or other should be sent home.
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