Germany in Germany!

For those of you who don't already know, I'm in the middle of some travels for work.  Germany and England.  All this week was spent in Stuttgart where some fun was had.  

The downside of these work travels is that we usually end up staying out too late, drinking too much, then having to get up early to go get some work done to justify the trip.  The upside is that it's fun for the first few days before I really start to lag.

This trip is looking to be even more fun than normal.  Since most of my readers are US citizens, you may not know this, but the Euro 2012 Futball (soccer) tourney is going on in Poland/Ukraine.  Being in Germany we all got to enjoy two soccer matches a night watched outside while eating and drinking.  This is apparently a big thing in Stuttgart.  Every restaurant and bar had outdoor seating and a nice big TV.

And what was even more fun was when Germany's game came up.  Watching that game whilst being surrounded by local Germans going crazy and cheering and yelling at the refs was quite an experience.  Then after the big win and everyone was done hugging and singing their soccer anthems they all rushed out into the streets and blocked them off.  This is apparently another custom for after a big win.  Everyone must do one of two things.  Choice one is to block off the streets, beer in hand.  The second choice is what cracked me up knowing what the first choice is.  The second is to get in your car (I'll let you guess how many of them are sober) and have your friends hang out the windows waving flags and screaming while you drive all around downtown where the streets are all blocked off.  I felt mildly sorry for any locals who weren't into sport and needed to get somewhere.  But if you're not into soccer/Futball, maybe you shouldn't live anywhere other than in the US or maybe Canada.

And on the menu for tonight:  England v Sweden in a pub in southern England.  I've already been forewarned that British spectators are not nearly as entertaining as zee Germans.  They will be sitting with face in mug and when they lose to Sweden as they apparently always do, they will all mope home mumbling and stumbling the whole way.