Euro 2008!!!

The big sport everywhere else in the world is football, or as we Americans call it, soccer. Right now they are having the Euro cup, or whatever they call it. Euro 2008. The World cup for soccer is played every four years, and the Euro games are played every four years as well, but not the same year, there’s a two year span between the big games. One game just ended in the guarter finals an hour ago. Turkey played against Croatia, and Turkey just won, so they get to go to the semi finals. I am sitting in my hotel room typing this in this teeny little touristy town, Rothenburg, that time forgot (I’m typing this in word, the internet is down), and I can hear cars honking and people celebrating. It’s totally crazy. I missed the celebrating when Germany won their quarterfinals game last night. I was so exhausted I passed out early. But the fans are really into it here. We actually met a guy who worked in this little shop in this town who just retired from playing on a local American Football team. He works in this shop that his grandma owns, and his dad and uncle work there too, so when I asked him about it, his proud father whipped out newspaper clippings to show me. But he had to retire because it was too expensive. There are no sponsors, because no one goes to see the games. It’s all about soccer here.

You can tell some of the bigger fans, because they like to fly their flags proudly in support of their favorite team (or home country) I took a few pictures.

This flag was flying off the back of a tanker truck driving down the Autobahn.

It was a common sight to see flags attached to cars. This car was parked in the parking lot at the LDS temple in Frankfurt.
It was also common to see flags flying from windows. This house had an actual mounting for the flag. Most people just hung them out the windows.
One of my favorites was this bakery window display. Notice the soccer ball in the center, in the place of honor.

So of course I’m rooting for Germany. Any other team I might have supported (England, France) is already out. I’m not sure if Italy is out, but I’ve grown pretty fond of Germany.

Seriously!?! They are still out celebrating? The game was over like an hour ago. There’s THAT many Turkey fans here? And cars honking? The streets are a NIGHTMARE to drive through- we got so lost- all cobbled, and one way, and narrow. The last game Turkey won we were in Paris, so all the guys that were driving around yelling and honking and waving flags and hanging out their windows, wasn’t as surprising.