Now, don't we Germans have a team?

No more complaints, please, my fellow country men and women. I for my part will stop complaining for a while and enjoy this feeling of national pride, the solely sport-related kind. During the second half of the game against Poland, I almost fell of the bed out of excitement (our room was too small for armchairs or the comfortable like) once I woke up from my exhausted first-half nap! 12 shots on goal, and we have to wait until the 92nd minute until they score! Wow... Next time I would prefer the decisive shot a bit earlier in the game. Other than that, this was fun soccer to watch :)

Well, after that nerve-wrecking night - and you should read Nate's account of his train trip back from the stadium in Dortmund with about a million soccer fans, the funniest part was him being stuck between a quite active young couple and a group of teenagers reading the instruction booklet of a condom quite loudly - we decided to take it easy for a day.

So we went from Essen to the small town of Münster in Westfalen and enjoyed the afternoon there wandering around, eating, and wandering around more. it was a holiday in a few of the Bundesländer, specifically Catholic ones, so most people were just relaxing... Of course, though quite paradoxical but not unusual for Germany, all the stores were closed - though that would have been a perfect day for going shopping. We did as most people of the town, it seemed: we went to the Botanical Gardens and looked at herbs, cacti (no Saguaros, unfortunately), frogs, ducks, and swans. Very peaceful :) Again, you can see pictures of this trip at the end of my photo album. Most of them are named "Münster" this or that.

My favorite funny names of the World Cup: definately Kaká (though stressed on the last vowel, but still...), Yippi Yapo (from the Ivory Coast), Cherundolo (you have to hear Maite say it... ;) ) and - yes - Schweinsteiger. Because supposedly, many last names derive from people's professions or past time activities... now, what exactly DID Bastian's ancestors do then to deserve THAT name? I'd rather not think about it too much...