Arrived safely in Berlin on Saturday 17th after a 2 and half hour flight from Athens on Easyjet... and listening to Bear bitch about how airlines should have a special designated seating area for people over 6ft 2in. Planes seats are designed for people my size... 5ft 10-11in and weighing no more than 80kgs. Anyone else has to suffer and risk DVT.

 

Kris and Danni picked us up around 11:30pm and took us back to their place in the Prenz Lauerberg, about a 10 min drive from the centre of Berlin, 25 min by train. It has a bohemian feel about it, but is quiet and close to everything. Good to put our feet up and have a host that knows the area and the food. Chilled out and caught up first night, second day went into Berlin and watched the Aus vs Brazil game at the Sony Centre on the Cinemaxx balcony overlooking about 6 huge screens so you could watch from any angle.

 

Berlin is too cool for school... looks pretty easy to get around, streets are nice and wide, mix of the old and new. We plan on BBQing local style today and checking out the Fan Mile, where 500,000 fans go to watch the games.

 

In Ios, we met these Irish guys who belong to "Firms", organised soccer hooligan gangs. They had been banned from attending Germany due to their affiliation with the Shamrock Rovers firm and N17 (Tottenham's firm) and tried to warn us about Germany. In their defence they were OK guys raised in this environment, but only get involved when one of their members is in trouble. They warned us of firms attending from every country basically out to organise brawls (the racial violence in Berlin 2 days before the World Cup was apparently a warm-up fight between the Poles and Germans for something bigger). So if we want to avoid a "smiley" (mouth slashed on either side and a kick in the balls so you scream) or a twin-blade cut (razor blades spearated by a matchstick so they can't stitch the wound and have to fold the skin over), then stay away from bars where there are only 1 group of supporters. Wisla Krakow, Red Star Belgrade and the Sao Paulo Devils firms are apparently the worst.

 

We look at chillin in Berlin until I return to Melbourne in less than a week.