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Frankfurt

This was a disappointment - we didn't know that it suffered so badly during the war. Almost all of the old city is destroyed. It reminders a lot of New York - they even call it "Mainhattan". It's loud, dirty, urban (in politically correct sense of this word). Our hotel was right by the train station. As we parked the car in the underground parking, we have noticed a sign "Women only" pointing to a certain parking area. Probably it was closer to the exit or, as Gene suggested, the parking spaces were wider there - we don't know for sure, but what we do know is that if such sign appeared anywhere in the US it would be followed by a lawsuit :)

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Only this plaza appears to be left from the old city. But it is still the main place for gatherings.

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There are tons of small restaurants here, but order local beer ONLY!

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Today Germany is playing and all the fans are going to the main fanfest on the river.

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Huge TV screen is installed in the middle of the river and stadium-like sittings are placed on the both river banks. The area is secured and full body searched is performed for all wishing to enter. We couldn't even get close - there were soooo many people.

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There were portable bathrooms everywhere, but clearly not enough for some people :)

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We found another fanfest close by, but decided not to get in, just staying nearby where we could see almost everything. As predicted, Germany won that day.

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Cruises on the Main... Not that impressive, really

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Argentina is playing against Holland here tonight. Holland fans are arriving by bus with the full orchestra on board.

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Another Fanfest area full of Holland fans in orange jerseys.

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Depressing industrial views...

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New York ???

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Camping area - lot's of fans live here in their tents. It costs about 25 EUR per person per night, but probably cheaper if you have your own tent.

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                                                   Friendship forever!!!

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I found this great local restaurant in Frommers Guide. Locals love coming here as well as tourists. I don't know why ]|{Eka chose this angle to take the picture of the area we were sitting in, but if you look closely there's a reflection of two people in the window - a man and a woman. They are germans, live in Frankfurt. We just happened to be seating at the same table. Gene noticed that this guy was eating some sort of a broth with the liver dumpling in it. Of course it was a Leberklosse soup. Gene ordered one for himself and fell in love (in case you didn't know, he is VERY passionate when it comes to food). So naturally we started chatting with this lovely couple. They asked us if we liked apple wine (the place is actually famous for it) - we had to be honest and told them that we did not at all. And this was when the guy suddenly said that days of Germany are over, that everything is quite upsetting here and so on.

On the other picture is something that I ordered - pork stomach... Yum-Yum!

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It was getting closer and closer to the game - more people were gathering at the fan fests and just on the streets.

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More views from city streets... Pay attention to the restaurant speciality :) What a deadly combination this must be! We didn't risk eating there.

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Time to go to the stadium. We took the train, only about 7 mins ride. Our first game - we are VERY exited!

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It is a good idea to have a snack before the game - they were selling pretzels and some bread with melted cheese and ham... AS you can see I just loved it!

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Everything was organized very well. Everyone entering the stadium was checked twice - first just a glance at your ticket and full body search ( all the food/water had to be thrown away). Second check was to validate you ticket. It took about 10-15 mins to do both, not bad.

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                                                                                    * * * THE GAME * * *

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