Well long day coming in from Abercrombie and Fitch in Ohio. The whitest place in terms of people, I have ever seen. It is almost like a cult there, in that everyone wears the same clothing, they look the same, all the guys are thin and wear the T-shirts and shorts, the girls are all desperately thin in general and all basically have the same look to them. Anyway, so I got home on the Friday night and went shopping and what not, to get ready for my flight on the Saturday night to Frankfurt.

Anyway so the day passes and I hustle everywhere to get the shopping done and the money moved around to the appropriate accounts. So Beth comes over while, Tara, Maggie and Wing Ki are talking about our asia trip in basically a month from now. We hang out and then head over to Craig’s for Ed’s birthday. We spend 15 minutes and then we have to head to the airport.

Limo picks us up and we head over the airport and catch the flight to Frankfurt. Flight was uneventful really, although I must say, in traveling, you really do get what you pay for. Air Transat seriously and when I say seriously, sucks!! It was a full plane but the seat we’re small even by economy standards. The temperature in the plane was consistently too hot, so that everyone was sweltering on the plane. The service was quite atrocious, when things are considered, since there was a charge for everything, which isn’t the problem, since you expect that when you buy a cheap ticket, that you get crap, but this was ridiculous.

So once we got into Frankfurt, we cleared customs, it was just like the world cup again, well with one significant difference: it wasn’t the World Cup. This was quite the big difference, since the services and manner of the people, well the apparent one, was quite different. When we here, for the World Cup, if you looked at your map wrong, there would be 10 people who would jump to help you. Not this time, in general, most people in the airport were quite unhelpful; in fact most people were more interested in staring at the motley crue collection of the West Indian, Sikh and Ethiopian traveling party. The staring would be a theme over the whole week.

So according to the plan, I would not be taking my luggage with me but rather I would be checking the luggage in Frankfurt. This would save on time and wondering how to lug this huge suitcase around. So this was done, and I collected my claim ticket in Terminal 2, and then we were off. First was to validate the rail ticket downstairs at the rail ticket office.

End of day 3 -  and start of day 4 – pre dortmund!!

Well the first match come and gone—-
well all the squad meet up…. it was ttcom and mrs ttcom, slade, gary , nygill, friday, bago soldier and myself. Ah was supposed to meet up licks, but he was MIA…
well boy we represented well with huge flag and thing…. people love the big flag ah was walking around with.. the english fans ´serendaded# us everytime we passed one of their bars… the paraguayans chanted and the socceroos were with their ‘AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI’

Saw a lot of trinis from the tours… since you could tell what speed they was on…. just on the Im here vibe and nothing else….. well we was walking all around and thing…(god damn im tired just typing now… lol.. it just hit meh)

Well the fan fare as I posted was amaying.. all countries all flags, thousands and thousands of people. It was so packed they closed off the fan areas .. with about 60000 people around it was that much I heard from a police officer. But it was brilliant …the atmosphere, incredible!!

Well after walking around, watching the first half of the match.. of course by this time i was properly liquored up… drinking apfelweiss and 1919 together… quite the potent mix…we decided to head to the Marriot to watch the rest of the match.

When we got there… it was almost the end of the Germany match… but Ecuador was to come!! We met some brits, who in good spirit jabbed a bit at us…. I went drinking against them and lost…. but they were buying… so i was drinking!

Then met a portuguese guy from toronto… he started buying drinks for us all…. then met a german guy who had a trini girl and she had a cute german friend who liked trini boys, and friday came and retrieved me!!

Then met a flight attendant and her friend….they bought drinks again for me…. then met these other english lads… who guess what!!! Bought drinks for me again!!

In the mean time, while i was socializing, the lime was sweet with nygill buying rounds also.. the food was decent and talk was good and everyone from different countries was just on the same vibe!! BRILLIANT!

So by the end of the night… everyone went off.. Friday dropped everyone off and thing… Gary and I caught a cab… and that was the night!!

Quite a lot of liquor and thankfully no hangover…. but now to get ready and head off to Limericks.. since that is where the lime is tonight.. before the SWEDEN game!! People liming there from about noon or so and it is a 3 hr train ride to Dortmund… but Friday was gracious enough to drop a couple of us down there and thing!!

What’s amazing is that the board men met up and liming we liming for years… it was great!!! Anyway, over and out… I will post tomorrow morning.. since I feel that once I get to Limericks… there will be a tad more liquor to be had, more people to meet and greet… but today is trinidad#s day .. win or lose… we here, we reach and we glad!!!

PS I think I met up with Palos and some other fellas… but i was properly drunk by then… so Palos… if i say anything bad… forgive me!! 

 Day 4 continued from Frankfurt to Dortmund and back to Frankfurt!!Highlights : Well gentlemen, I am up late provided the blog report from this end… we came into Dortmund at 4am… I have no voice, Destra mash me up, Maximus Dan surprised us with his song…a PERSON was picked up at traffic light by a fittie and her grannies (names cannot be mentioned) .. oh yeah BTW a small matter…. Trinidad beat Sweden!! Wait the score was 0-0… and how is that a win? these questions to be answered in this edition of the blog (by the way people, thanks for the very nice e-mails)The morning started off nice and bright and not a cloud in sight…. blah blah blah!! Details….The morning crew was the usual now…. Friday (who has been an amazing and gracious host to deal with all of us . big up!!), Slade, TTCom and Mrs TTCom, NYGill, Bagosoldier, Gary and myself. We all linked up at the Marriott downtown Frankfurt, TTCom came with a case of beers c/o the US Army (thanks Dubya!!) and we all trundled in and off we were.

The drive was 2 hours, parking was hell..and there was trini like rain…. everywhere was red, white and black!!

Once we parked and got in, the original plan was to head to Limerick pub to meet up TI and the other crew there… but from directions on this/other sites… (no names mentioned * cough cough*) we were led to beleive that Limerick was actually close to the Westfallon Stadium .. this was not the case!!!! So of course we just limed there.

TT Tourism had a booth there, Sherwawyne was there greeting (we all get some pics with him), got some FREE trinidad shirts, flags, bandanas and the kitchen sink… did I mention it was FREE… the high price allows that sponsorship doesn´t it *lol* We lime and drink in the huge concert style bar under till about 4 pm, when my ´FINDING TI´adventure was about to start. TI was in contact with Bagosoldier, my phone was cutting in and out, as were everyone´s phone in the stadium… who knew why?  Anyway, I had tickets for TI´s uncle, so I had to get them to him, but coordinating was quite difficult, and in the end I could not get the ticket in time to TI  , however Rikki Jai was there looking for a ticket.. and didnt have a ticket cause his complimentary was in traffic. So at 5.52pm… 8 minutes to kickoff, I sold Rikki the tix (face value of course) took a pic with him as proof and off I went running through the gates to get to my seat on time.

Walking through the gates, then down the aisle with the Trinis singing Warrior and chanting was a simply electric feeling, it was like running through your dreams, most of that match felt like a dream. I got to my seat 30 secs before the Anthem played and we were seated in a couple rows of Swedes with only us as the Red, white and black. Singing the anthem there, drew ONE tear to my eye!! it was phenomenal, seeing a huge block of Trinis in the sun, then another huge block in the North eastern corner of the stadium, but we had about 1/4 of the seats there, which was amazing!

Kick off time, and we started slowly and what I noticed immediately was the Birchall and Edwards were slipping on the turf… maybe it was only me who noticed that, but that 45 mins was gutwrenching tension, every slip, misplay, blocked shot was greeted by Swedish cheers and Heart Failure on the Trini side.

I think I aged 10 years for every minute of stress, but the first half closed off with 0-0 and the Swedes on my side were a bit pissed but they still seemed confident about their chances for the second half. They were very good sports about everything who cheered good plays and boo-ed the bad ones.

Halftime came and time for a drink! Well it took 40 minutes to get a Coke, such was the mass of people who came at halftime, but it was entertaining, from meeting a man living Texas who from Marabella, to tantie brooklyn to the woman who have a head that look like a bottle of Javex hit it…Cisse can attempt to pull off dotish hairstyle but this woman with platinum blonde hair just was a walking disaster… but she entertained the three of us while we there getting the cokes.

Got back to the my seats, and 12 mins had elapsed and we still were 0-0. Avery was gone and I didnt know. As the time moved on, the Swedes were getting more and more antsy and we getting louder and louder, and WE means all the trinis! We were growing in confidence with every passing minute and the play reflected it, and conversely the play of the Swedes reflected their surprise and of course SHAKA just own them, but then again this is not a TOUCHES match report… so back to the experience!

With the final minutes, there were huge OLE and WARRIOR chants, one could easily think Trinidad had won! Once the final whistle blew, the Swedes around me were shocked. In fact, shocked is an understatement, they were dismayed, mortified, disgusted and sad all in one, and yet they were good sports. They all shook hands with Gary and I, commented on the brilliance of Shaka and moved on. I swapped shirts with a Swede, another Swede gave me his hat to wear, which I did for about 10 minutes, since I was heading Limericks and I could not be in a Swedish shirt and hat for the night, I felt naked being without the the flag draped around me. To the Swedes, the fact that they could not beat a 10 man `Banana republic´ was quite sobering for them, and everywhere we went, it could be seen that the Swedes considered this a loss. Good souvenirs and pics though!

So once that matter of beating Sweden was done, it was back to the car, link up some more men, who we had met earlier and had directions to Limericks. And off we went, our thirst quenched by the Army beers! Drove down to Limericks, passed thousands of Trinis going back to the Haubtbahnof, saw meh padna Kyle Johnson from Naps… in fact it is amazing how many people I recognized from home.

So we got to Limericks and it was rocking!! I got to the front of the stage, and Destra played for a full hour with a characteristically high energy performance, except when she started on this pro-feminist rant type speech… boring!!! She rocked the house, and then Maximus came on and closed with Warrior!! Now what time you think this was all done by? 2 ? 3 ? 4am? Not at all, the Europeans are religious etc and the show was done by 11.30pm!! However we limed there.. watch some more fit woman, got some food and then was back on our way to Frankfurt!

Of course, the cheers and props from everyone was just great!!! Even the stinking bloody English gave us some props!!

On our way back, we stopped at a light and the grannie mobile (What is up with these older women in Germany…. dread seriously!!!), anyway a man said hi, the women said hi and then a man told Friday to stop the car… then a man jumped out and got their numbers – note here .. that man was not me, but cannot be named due to privacy issues from the Schengen Treaty and the Rupee law .. yanno, what happens in Germany.. stays in Germany!!!

so 4 am that was the night… a long long amazing day in all!!!!

Day 3—
Yesterday I spent all day in Zurich and no one here cares about that… so I will skip that and move to today!!

Got up this morning and Slade and I decided to go the FIFA fan area by the Frankfurt Waterfront!!

It is brilliant.. this HUGE 50 ft screen floating in the water.. and thousands of people milling about.

Tons of english fans and even they love us! I have this big trinidad jersey that says Trinidad on it… and I have pics with Socceroos, English fans, and brazillian girls….. but everywhere… everyone calls out Trinidad and we cheer.

It is great… and by the waterfront they have the Trini flag.. once I can upload pics, I will post pics of the Fan area! Tons of conversation with people and everyone loves us! It is amazing!!

The other thing that I am jealous of.. how friendly and amazingly helpful everyone in Germany is. For today alone, 11 people have helped us, given directions, or explained something to us. In English and very halting English! There is an electricity in the air that is tangible and papable, especially with Germany playing tonight.. tons of German flags etc everywhere!! just amazing!!

There are also tons of fans here who wanted the experience but dont have tickets… and I could see if i lived in Europe, I would come here regardless without tickets, it is a phenomenal atmosphere.

For Carnival, it is a one love atmosphere… but only Trinis can appreciate it… here… it is a one world, one family atmosphere, and make no mistake, THE WORLD IS HERE and they know and love Trinidad!

They cant pronounce SOCA, or dance or eat a HOT HOT curry but they will still cheer for us and that I am amazed by, since in Trinidad, people would never be this friendly, and I dont care who will disagree… but only once ur here, can one understand the sincerity of the people.

Anyway, Friday and Tobago Soldier on dey way.. TI is in Dortmund liming with the boys too.. we liming in Frankfurt at the Fan area and i hope to have pics online for everyone to see the fan area here.

BTW… I have never eaten so much meat and bread… these people love their meat… like seriously love their meat. Anyway ah gone, will post more, and to those, thanks for the PMs and e-mails—- I will post this stuff as long as people wanna read it

till tonight after Germany play!!

People here have been soooo friendly… it is really amazing..
when we ask people stuff in our english… thez dont understand words like washroom and lavatory but they know toilet….
in the cyber cafe.. the guy only knew one word in the ‘may i use your washroom-lavatory-toilet#.. but proceed to guide me through a labrynth to get me to a toilet.

When we ask directions, as i did when I could not find my hotel, 4 people took time to guide me along to find my hotel…. and the only communication was me asking for directions and showing them my PDA with the German directions to Niddastraße.

And they recognize the Trinidad flag and team!! Yuh know we reach, when they paint our flag on their buildings…. however we still dont have socks with our flag on it.

Aight finally ah gone… BTW We see the white TRINIDAD shirt in the Adidad store.. 64,99 euros!!

Allyuh have to buy the Japan and the new Argentina shirt… they frigging SICK!!!!

We once I left the hotel, me and Slade decide to play hardcore tourist.. especially seeing that I am professional tourist and thing.

Frankfurt is a city like Montreal, very North American, but obviously with a more european feel. Slade and I finally saw the T-UNIT .. if ah only had a card reader on me.. this shoes is the baddest thing since sliced bread – since we walk in the Adidad store and both Slade and I were like kids in a candy store. The store just hot for days, with every piece of merchandise around.

The store was on Zeil Street…. or Zeilstauße… Frankfurt version of Yonge/St Catherines/Bank Street. Now all yuh never see a pic of a footballer until allyuh see a fricking 10 storey pic of Ballack, Kaka and Messi .. imagine 30 storey of 3 footballers.. and allyuh think the pic of machel on the promenade for bMobile was ridiculous… Adidas obviously have ridicuous money to burn and all.

But dread, seriously this place have some SWEET oman… but then again, every developed cosmopolitan european city have super sweet oman. Well back to the tourist story… Slade and I was walking up and down Zeilstrauße, when we see a wagon of meat over a fire.

I kid you not… think of a side ways wagon wheel.. with a sick amount of sausages, ribs and pork on the fire. Of course, the fat bitch that I am… I had to get one of these sausage.. it was about a foot long….. ! BTW Slade get one with plenty mustard and dey does give you a piece of bread about the size of an ant.

Anyway after walking about more… we see people drinking on top of a mall..looking down on the street and once again, being the intrepid tourists that we are, we had to investigate and have a drink at the top of the building.

The view was spectacular and I will post pics online….and had drinks!! I had a apfelweiss or apelweiss…. i dont know the exact spelling.. but this pretty. Allyuh ever drink a apple juice that hit yuh like 5 cold carib. Slade drink a beer with about 6% alcohol in too.

Once we drink and take more pictures and gape at woman and clothes… we kept walking looking for the Frankfurt Opera house…. we asked about eleventy seven people where this blasted place is, and no one could give us directions… so we just decided to walk, with no clue of destination – obviously completely lost.

So I man, spot a big fountain out of the corner of my eye.. and anyhow who know me.. know I dont resist taking a pic.. and lo and behold…. guess what!!!

We get to the opera house… so then more pics of opera house and fountain.. and then we decided to end like champions… we went for an expensive steak dinner… where we were the only refugee, poor ass native looking people, but money does talk loud!

Well we eat, digest and decided we want to walk for the old port.. and on the way we passed the #shut down# Goethe house….it was closed… so we kept walking till this internet cafe.. and now both of us are typing away furiously!!!

Next strip clubs and me trying to get up for 4am tomorrow!!