WC2006: Coz-mopolitan

ON A TRAIN TO MANNHEIM (11:56am local time) -- My last full day in Berlin packed an awful lot of activity into a short period. First up was the double-decker bus tour, and ever since I saw them lined up outside the train station, all I can think of is that scene in Family Guy when the tour guide, after being questioned on the early forties, screams "Nothing happened! We were all on vacation!" I didn't think it would be appropriate to ask our guide to re-enact the scene. Besides, we got enough cheesy, tourist-friendly diatribe from him without provocation, with an obvious German bent.

The orientation was just what I needed, and it gave me a plan of attack and a good general sense of both direction and history. The game plan would be to watch some matches over in a different part of Berlin, visiting Checkpoint Charlie and other nearby landmarks in the process.

As I change trains, I explore the area around a station I had not yet visited. Some hotels, restaurants and shops, and I debate just watching Argentina here. No, I need to see some sights. It's not ALL about the football. I do find a Fossil store and finally buy a replacement band for my watch.

Back onto the train, emerging at what I think is the closest station to Checkpoint Charlie. It might be, but I head off in the wrong direction and end up at the Gendarmemarket, which is impressive in its own right. It's also more cultured/touristy, and I can't find anywhere suitable for a casual lunch while I watch the match.

I get my bearings and head towards the checkpoint. I feel like I'm doing as much or more walking than the past two days, but I've got purpose, and I'm feeling good. If you had told me that my feet would feel most comfortable with this much motoring around in flip-flops, I wouldn't have believed you, but the aggravation of my blisters is minimal.

I take the requisite tourist pictures and get the honorary passport stamp, then stop at what I'm sure is considered a terrible restaurant right on the corner for a leathery steak and some tasty mushrooms, and the last three of Argentina's goals.

As I pas through other landmarks and wall memorials, I realize I have a song stuck in my head, and it's "No More Words" from...you guessed it, Berlin.

I make it down to the shiny new buildings of Potsdamer Platz, and take in Holland vs. Ivory Coast. It's an impressive venue, with five massive screens and several restaurants attending to discrete, cordoned off areas. I'm told the ticket is free, but that I am expected to buy food or drink. Then I'm patted down and sent through a metal detector while my bag is searched. Between the half-naked Swedes and the groping German security, you'd think this was a different kind of vacation.

The game ends, the rain stops, and I stop briefly at the "Easy Internet Café" that's attached to a Dunkin Donuts. Ironically, it's the least easy of the Internet shops I've visited, in that the warnings that you're running out of time are exclusively in German.