Live Sports Abroad Part II: The Czech Extraliga

Unlike American Football in Germany, ice hockey in the Czech Republic is popular and they have a really good league.  When I looked up tickets and discovered that a seat right on center ice was only 190 crowns (about $8.50), it was a no brainer to take in a game.  I mean, the crappy, scary, balcony seats at the Garden for a Bruins game are 10 times that. So, let's break this down question style again:

First, let's see you at the arena.

Happily:

Awesome, who was playing?

The matchup was HC Slavia Praha and HC Verva Litvinov with Slavia as the home team.  Praha is how Prague is pronounced in Czech.  It's a 14 team league and at the time of the game Slavia was in 13th and Litvinov was in 2nd.  So, on opposite ends of the standings, but I was hoping for a good game.

The visiting team's fan section...

was bigger than the home team...

which didn't seem to bode well.

Did you get a good game?

Yes, but things didn't look good initially for the home team.  They fell behind 3-0 in the first period.  The defense on the third goal was particularly bad. A Litvinov player skated right up to the net, and the goalie noticed and tried to signal his defense for help but then that player was passed the puck and promptly buried it the in back of the net.  The goalie slammed his stick in frustration.  Things got better from there.  They scored once before the end of the first period and the offense really woke up in the second and third.  They ended up scoring six unanswered goals and winning 6-3.

Anything fun happen when a goal was scored?

The animation for a goal on the Jumbotron was entertaining.  The Slavia train drives through the Litvinov wall:

Anything else cool show up on the Jumbotron?

Well, people got really into the kiss cam, but my favorite was when a penalty happened.  You get a flash of lightning and then skeleton referee tells you the infraction.

If you are an avid hockey fan you'd recognize the signals.  Of course if you want to have fun with Google translate, it's "hooking" and the more randomly worded "shoving the coverage."

Sweet Mascot?

Sure, I appreciated the crown continuity with the team logo:

Anything else odd worth mentioning?

Well, there were Hooters cheerleaders for some reason.  Apart from a show during intermission, they hung out on the steps right next to our section for the whole game.

The whole game?  What if you wanted to go get a beer?

Well, then tread carefully my friend and make yourself known.  I came very close to wearing two beers not once but twice on my return to our seats.  Beers, by the way are only 40 crowns which is less than two dollars so you are going to want to go and get some beers.

Finally, where is the Zamboni action shot?

I'll do you one better.  Here's two Zambonis and two Skodas (a Czech automotive brand) on the ice:

Paris? Las Vegas? Nope, still Prague.

Jim and I have been enjoying exploring the city,  despite the cold.

Here you can see the charming replica of the Eiffel Tower that we climbed to on the top of the hill in Mala Strana, Praha 1. 

So taken with the one in Paris, they created their own minature. With over 260 steps to the top, you know we couldn't resist.

Also in the park, built for the 1861 Jubileum, a mirror maze, which was small, but highly enjoyable. 

Turtlenecks and Dave Coulier

I know, I know, after reading that title you're wondering where I could possibly be going with this post.  "Jim" you might say, "I know it's fall so sure turtlenecks, but what the heck does Joey from Full House have to do with anything?"

Well, to answer your questions, first look at the picture of my lovely wife and the spiral shaped pastry she is holding (along with the mulled wine, it's been chilly). That is called a trdelnik in Czech.  They are covered in sugar and spices and are pretty tasty.  If you try to pronounce it, you basically start mentioning a certain article of clothing.

You may see where I'm going with this.  Most of the basic phrases in Czech aren't too hard to pronounce.  Dobry den is hello, prosim is please, but thank you has been giving us a bunch of trouble.  It's dekuji, but kinda sounds like the person in the title of this post said really fast.

In other news, escalators to the Prague metro are really steep and long and move wicked fast and are just generally a bit unsettling.

Finally, here is the Old New Synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Prague.  Legend has it that Rabbi Loew created the Golem here in the 16th century to protect Prague from antisemitic attacks, but it had to be deactivated every Sabbath.  He forgot once and the golem went crazy and had to be permanently shut down and is now said to be stored in the attic.

Dresden

We decided to give ourselves a brief layover on the way to Prague by going the way of Dresden.  It rained on the full day we were there and the temp never really got above 50, but we made the most of it with a tour of the Kunstkammer of Augustus the Strong and his numerous vaults complete with tournament armour,  Turkish tents, lathed ivory, jewels, silver, bronzes, and ostrich eggs. None of which we have pictures of because they are not allowed. Instead, check out our rainy, but beautiful view of Altstadt.

Some fun doorway graffiti in Neustadt

And some special wall art from  our hostel, Egyptian themed:

Moving on

Berlin by the(some) numbers:

19 nights

1 hostel, 1 apt ( 4 individal comforters)

8 games of cribbage in 4 different parks, and 2 different cafes as well as assorted Platz

Over 500 steps to the tops of tall things (Berliner Dom and Siegessäule)

Countless Döner and Currywurst consumed

3 Deutsche Bahn strikes navigated

2 visas to visit Vietnam acquired

2  museums visited ( New national gallery and computer game musuem)

2 movies watched in their original American english ( Gone Girl and Equalizer)

1 comedy show

1 trip to the zoo

1 strange Shakespeare performance art piece

1 funk cover band

1 super bowl

1 90's club night

Etc, etc...

Thanks for the beautiful send off Berlin. We're in Dresden for the next few days, then onto Prague, Budapest, and Ljubljana over the next 3 weeks.

The Tyranny of the Individual Comforter and Other Thoughts

I'm not sure what it is about all the places we've stayed so far, but man they do love individual comforters.  While some may find that a delightful and easy way to prevent your covers from being stolen, the whole thing seems like a way to remain as isolated as possible which I don't like.  Our solution (back in the old days when we had an apartment) was to buy a comforter that was a size up from our bed.  That way even if someone steals a chunk, there is plenty more comforter to go around.

Really, though, what I'm concerned about is where all the regular bed sheets have gone.  Sometimes a comforter is too warm, but if it's all you've got welcome to Sweatsville, population: you.

While I'm at it, I know the service at restaurants isn't as attentive as in the States which can be nice as it doesn't feel overbearing, but sometimes the American in me just wants somebody to bring me the damn check already.

Seriously, though Berlin is a great place to spend time.  It's huge but not overwhelming and there is a ton to do.  There are a good amount of English events as well.

You can get really close to the elephants at the Berlin zoo.

In our neverending quest to go to the tops of things, we went to the dome of the Reichstag (the main German Parliament building).  It's a unique place where you can look down from the dome right into the room where the Parliament meets and votes and also get a great view of some of the city.  There was also a crazy sunset that day that you can see reflected in the dome.

Let's talk about food.  Döner kebab (sort of like shawarma or a gyro) is an entire meal for usually under 3 euro and it's delicious.  It's hard to describe what makes it different from the shawarma I've had, but it is.  It will be interesting once we actually get to Turkey to see what variation we can get.  Currywurst (the other classic Berlin street food) quality seems to vary a bit more, but it's hard to go wrong with a hot dog covered in ketchup and curry powder.  Curry ketchup isn't really a thing in the US but it should be because it's awesome.  Saus in Faneuil Hall has a really good curry ketchup, if I need a fix when we get back to Boston, though.

Finally, observe my transformation into my evil twin:

Strike!

I'm sorry, were you trying to get somewhere today? No go, well, limited go. For the second time since we've been here in Berlin, the Deutsche Bahn workers have gone on  strike. At least we've known to be checking, today they were on strike from 2 pm until 6 am this morning,  which easily could have left us stranded had we gone on the day trip to Potsdam we had been considering.  The DB workers essentially shut down all regional rail and the S bahn portion of city transit. What are they striking over? They'd like to work a 37 hrs week instead of a 39 hour week? Seriously Germany, get it together. 

Not to be outdone

By the cultural relevance of American football in Germany, but on the same day, we also went to this show:

Having seen this poster early on in our time in the city, I thought, Shakespeare, blazers,  and tutus,  I'm curious.  After a little internet research we learned the show would be in both English and German, and tix were relatively inexpensive, so let's give it a shot.

It was certainly a work of performance art that I found at best curious, and at worst, laughably peculiar.  There were 4 main players,  a puppet, and a muscian, 3 tutus and 1 fog machine. At times sonnets were recited in English,  at times in German translation.  I think one of the players was supposed to be playing Shakespeare himself, answering for why it was so difficult to translate his poetry into German. At one point, for no reason I could discern, they killed the puppet by smothering it with a pillow, then proceeded to punch and kick one another in the groin.

The artistic redemption to all this ridiculousness came in the last 10 min or so with dramatic juxtaposition of sonnets 57 ("Being your slave, what should I do but tend....") and sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summers day?")

It was certainly something we never would have seen sitting at home on our couch in the states.

Are You Ready For Some (American) Football (In Germany)?

The New Yorker Lions!  The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns!  It's German Bowl XXXVI!

So, it turns out that the championship game for the German Football League (GFL, the pinnacle of American football in Germany) was on Saturday down the street from our apartment.  Naturally, we had to go check it out.  You probably have some questions, so here we go:

American football?  Aren't you in Europe?  Go to a soccer game!

I know, but the local team here doesn't have a home game coming up soon.  I checked.

New Yorker?  Like the magazine?  You said this was Germany.

So, New Yorker is a clothing brand based out of Braunschweig, Germany (where the New Yorker Lions also call home).  As far as I can tell they are the only team with naming rights like that in the league.  They are the most successful team in the history of the league and definitely had the bigger fan base at the game.

Both the team and the event are sponsored by this New Yorker?

I know I thought that was kinda shady, too.

Alright, let's see some proof.

Here you go:

That doesn't look very big, this is for the championship?

Indeed it is.  The stadium is actually deceivingly large.  It can hold 20,000, but the stated attendance was 12,531 which is not bad for American football in Germany, I guess.  Here's the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns section:

Here's the New Yorker Lions Fan section:

Note the fans with the drums.  They were the much louder fans.

OK, so how was the game?

The first thing I noticed was how bad the kickoff was.  More running plays than passing, which makes the game go fast.  The Unicorns drove down the field on the opening drive but had to settle for a field goal. Things went severely downhill for them from there.  They had three turnovers and just generally couldn't make anything happen.  The Lions meanwhile, were marching up and down the field.  You could tell their offense was better.  The game was over at halftime, basically.  The Unicorns did finally score a touchdown in garbage time.  Your final score: 47-9.  I don't really watch any college football, but I imagine it was much closer to a random college game than anything in the NFL.

So, if this was basically the German Super Bowl, did they have an elaborate halftime show?

Not so much.  First there was all the cheerleaders doing routines separately.  They apparently have the cheerleaders from every team in the league come.  Or maybe they were from elsewhere, I don't know.

Then two people sang and tried to get the crowd into it, but they didn't seem to be having it.

To be fair, they were singing to the side of the crowd whose team just took a 34-3 whooping in the first half.  There was actually better entertainment before the game, including a rock band and a drum corps.

OK, were there any sweet mascots?

Glad you asked, I did enjoy the Lions mascot.

The Unicorns mascot was pretty good, but I have no good shots of him as he had less to celebrate and was on the other side of the field.  There were some random mascots to go along with the random cheerleaders though.

Anything else interesting or strange come to mind?

You bet.  There was no merchandise on sale for either team but a bunch of NFL and NCAA merchandise available.  I saw a guy in a Gronkowski jersey talking in German with a guy in a Manning jersey like they were best friends.  There was only one scoreboard that just had the clock and the score on it and we couldn't see it from our seats.  You had to look at the downs marker on the field to figure out the down.

This all sounds pretty good.  Was it awesome?

Yes, it was.

36 Chodowieckistraße

For our time in Berlin, we Airbnb'ed a studio apartment in the neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg. Here are a few highlights of life at 36 Chodowieckistraße.

The view of our street

Looks nicer during the day than it did the first night we arrived. Could also be that the first night we arrived,  our host didn't answer the buzzer, and by luck, a gracious Polish-America Au Pair was heading out for some groceries and let us borrow her phone to call the landlord, who had gone out to run an errand and was returning in 10 min or so. Fear of being stuck in an unfamiliar neighborhood in the dark may have colored my initial view.

Apt buildings in Berlin don't number the apts, so we identify the apt by the name of the former tenant.  We are, for 2 weeks or so, the Makowska's.

This is our futon bed with its individual comforters.  Since we've been on the road, every double bed we've stayed in has provided a comforter for each person. Not one large comforter, as we are used to in the States. This prevents the stealing of covers,  since each person gets his/her own.

Our dining table/ command central. We use 1/3 of the table for eating, and the other 2/3 for laying out maps, brochures, travel books, journals and planning our days.

The washing machine. Luckily,  the washing machine at Sandy and Norman's was also German, so we knew ahead that the setting we wanted was Pflegeleicht.  Otherwise there would have been some interesting Google translate action. I'm sure that will come later.  Also,  one load of wash takes about 90 min thanks to the high energy and water efficiency. 

Our kitchen is both well, and not well stocked. We have an oven, stove top, dish washer, plates,  bowls, cups  and 4 pots. But only one sharp knife, a vegetable peeler and a cork screw. Thus, I have had to buy potholders,  and have been creative in single pot meal cooking.

One of my favorite elements of european homes are the windows. They open in both tilt and

As doors. But they don't have screens, so on occasion a bee may join you for lunch.

Our bathroom has excellent water pressure,  and a rainfall shower head, which are both improvements from some prior hostel living arrangements where you had to hit a button every 15 secs for hot water in the shower. Unfortunately, though,  the bathroom also has no ventilation,  so things tend to stay a bit sticky.

Thus, like every apartment around the world, there are things to like, and dislike.