What goes on at a Fan Fest when there’s no game?

July 4, 2006 · Filed Under Events/Meetups 

Last night was Mateo’s last night in Germany, so we went to an Austrian restaurant on Kantstrasse in Berlin. He’s arriving in Italy at 8:30pm, and since his house is an hour from the airport, he’s got one of his students picking him up and he will watch the Germany v. Italy game at the guy’s family’s house.

After dinner, Rainer and I headed over to the Fan Fest, since I found on the internet that it was “American Night” (I was looking for July 4th festivities, but the only thing I found was a barbeque being hosted by Republicans Abroad at a rowing club in Grünewald - and although I suppose I am still registered as a Republican in Virginia, I’m not going anywhere near there).


Our first stop was the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It was the first time I’d been inside since it opened just before the World Cup. We used to live about a 10 minute walk from here, so it was neat to see the building completed. But at 11:30pm it was pretty much deserted.

I complain about having acne at my age, but at least I don’t suffer from this poor guy’s rare affliction. Shaving must be a pain in the butt.

The building being constructed in the background above will be the new American Embassy once completed.

A German group playing country music was the “American Night” attraction. They weren’t bad, but there were maybe only 50 people paying attention to them (there were a couple hundred people wandering around the Fest). There were also two line dancers in the audience who kept us amused.

Shortly before midnight, some American biker looking guy was invited on stage to sing “Storm on the Water” (I’m not sure that’s the title of the song, but that’s the refrain anyway). It was funny, the 40 and under crowd were tapping their feet and bobbing their heads, but there were quite a few 60-somethings who were right up at the stage head-banging along to the song. Then the German country band was back at midnight to sing “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Not a song I associate with independence. I think it would’ve been cooler if the guitar player had done a Jimi Hendrix style interpretation of the “Star Spangled Banner” to celebrate the 4th of July.

At midnight the Fan Fest closed and we made our way home to find that Charlie had not done anything destructive. Yay!

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