Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure of going to a Bundesliga match. I've been told since my arrival that it is really a memorable experience and one I ought to have while here. And so Saturday morning I rose with the sun to attend Dortmund vs. Karlsruhe SC, in Dortmund.
Attending an American football game, though I never have (except a preseason game) is, I assume, an all-day experience. You wake up, drive to the game, tailgate with beer and brats, then watch the game, and drive home. But I move to remove the label "all-day" from that experience. Because I am assuming that, unless you live far, far away from the stadium, you'll be back in your comfy lazy boy by 10 so you can watch the highlights of the game you attended on ESPN. This was not the case.
I woke up at 6 am on Saturday. I jumped under the shower and threw on my bright yellow polo shirt- to represent the schwarz und gelb (black and yellow). I went to the bakery to get some rolls for the long journey and was in front of Hanna's as the church bells rang for 7 am. We made the 15 minute bike ride to the train station and bought our ticket- a "Schönes Wochenende" (Nice Weekend) ticket that lets you travel with up to five people throughout all of Germany for one day. It's super cheap- for 37 Euro/5, it could cost at cheapest 8 Euro. But it was just Hanna and me, so it was about 20 per. The catch: you can only ride the Nahverker, or local rail. (Very brief primer on German train categories, from slowest to fastest: ICE (300 km/h), IC, RE, S). S is close, but not really, to the Chicago "El" train. The RE is similar to Metra in Chicago. And IC is Amtrak. We don't have anything that compares to ICE.)
So on this ticket we're only able to travel on the slower two. The match started at 15:30, but our connections were going to get us there a whopping 1.5 hrs beforehand. If you're counting at home, that means the journey would be 6.5 hrs of touring painfully slow through the boonies of Germany. Now don't get me wrong, I love Germany. It's why I took one year off of the grueling academic orgy that is my beloved UofC. But when one becomes used to the beauty and efficiency of the upper levels of the Deutsche Bahn, ie ICE or IC trains that whisk you extremely quickly through the countryside, it comes as quite a shocker how long and inefficient the ride is on the less polished underbelly of the Deutsche Bahn. The ride north to Dortmund was planned at 6.5 hrs, with 5 different trains. That is, if we caught each connection. And some were quite close- a layover of 4 minutes. Our expectations were a bit high and we missed the 3rd connection, forcing us to hang out at a train station in the middle of nowhere until the next connection came. We thus made it 1 hr later than planned to the game.
While waiting for our train we met two fellow Dortmund fans traveling north to the game, Tommy and Kevin. Well not really met: they asked us to watch over the case of beer while they found somewhere to pee. But open returning we exchanged pleasantries and got to know each other. They made fun of George Bush and I told them how I shook Obama's hand. Amazing how much that amazes people. But they shed some light on the true hardcore Fußball-Fan life. They had been traveling for 3 hours longer than us, and were each planning on knocking off 12 beers before game time. Accepting their ineptitude, they asked for help and I obliged. I also learned from them the intricate capabilites of the word "tussi". Don't look it up. Supposedly it's quite the offensive word, but the two of them immediately unleashed it on a surprised Hanna. Turns out where they come from, it's a friendly greeting.
So after 7.5 hrs of friendly people, unfriendly people, inefficient trains, beer, smiles, bachelorette parties, and beer, we pulled up to the stadium. It was huge. The smells I miss so much from baseball games were pretty much there, only now I was smelling legitimate bratwursts and beer, not that Miller Lite crap. We entered the stadium and found our seats, in the SW corner of the stadium and literally as high up as you can be. We were in the last row. Not to complain, though- the view of the entire stadium was spectacular and no beer was being spilled onto us from behind. Soccer is also the perfect sport for viewing from afar. In fact I think I'd rather be far away than right on the field, as from high up one can see the movement and geometry so much better.
The game itself was a complete success. We chose this game because it was against Karlsruhe, the single worst team in the Bundesliga, and our chances of a rousing success were high. The first goal game in the 30th minute, and we went to the half up 1, but the second half provided 3 more, including a brilliant free kick goal from Frei.
To the right of us was the famous Südtribüne (south stands), the largest standing room only section in Germany, where 10,000 hardcores were sardined into a space designed for at the most 6,000. They start up the chants and cheer the loudest. At some times they begin to jump high in the air, and the view from where I was of the pulsating, throbbing sea of yellow humanity was breathtaking.
By the end of the game Hanna and I raced out of the stadium, sadly unable to take in the post-match pageantry, to catch the first train out due to our tight timetable. The penalty of missing trains on the way up was to arrive a bit later for the game; the penalty for missing trains after the game would be sleeping in a train station in Nowhere, Germany.
By this point the beers have worn off and my head was pounding, thanks to too much beer, not enough coffee in the morning, and not enough overpriced sausage at the game. The ride home is a bit of a blur to me, but it was a nasty combination of exhaustion, pounding headaches, aching hunger, and loud and rowdy Karlsruhe fans. That's right: somehow a team can be smashed 4-0 and be assured to be demoted to Bundesliga 2 after the season yet still retain fans that will ride the train 20 hrs in one day to cheer them on, all the while singing and dancing in their honor. It blows the mind.
But we soldiered on home, following a rough approximation of our itinerary, and made it to Heidelberg at 1:30am. We rode bikes home and I ate a piece of bread with butter. The stomach only got angry for teasing it, so I dug through the change bucket for the 3.70 needed for a kebab. I crashed and slept until 2 the next day.
As promised, it was quite the experience. Ich dank dir, Hanna, für einen von den besten Tagen meines Aufenthalts.
Next weekend camping on the Bodensee!
Hope all is well. Love, Al.
(ps, good enough for you rob? it's even sport themed.)
