From Switzerland to Germany (Wolfsburg)

Outside the offices of FIFA in
Zurich, the home for futbol
(soccer) world wide

On Wednesday the 6th Madyson and I began our journey from Wil Switzerland to Hanover and ultimately Wolfsburg Germany for the USA vs Sweden match.  By now everyone is aware that this was not one of the USA's finest matches and fact was the end of their undefeated streaks in Pool Play since the first World Cup tournament.  Since we had so much fun with Thorsten, Ute and Leo in Wil, we ended up missing our train on Tuesday from Konstaz to Hagen.  Thus, on Wednesday, we rented a car that will now serve as form of transportation for the remainder of the trip.  For Elliot and Madyson, it will be our opportunity to cruise the Autobahn's of Germany where there are still a few places that they have no speed limits!  The trip was a long one covering approximately 750 KM, about 6 1/2 hours.



Elliot, Madyson, Ute and Leo at the rental car spot in
Konstanz, that is a VW golf!



Outside the VW stadium in Wolfsburg!

After the long journey, Madyson and I arrived at the beautiful VW stadium in Wolfsburg, home to the bundesliga team Wolfsburg which won the league title in 2010.  Again, we were so very lucky with the weather and despite the loss, Madyson and I had a great time at the match.  We hope that the women will have more luck and play a bit better in their quarterfinal match on Sunday vs Brazil.

Wolfsburg and Hanover we will head to the very smal village of Garbeck and spend time with Heidi's Aunt Ulrike and Uncle Dieter a family that we have done many things with in the past from trips in Colorado, to celebrating the new millenium in Whistler British Columbia to holiday on the island of Malloraca, an island off the coast of Spain.

Time for Family in Germany and Switzerland



Schwetzigen Castle

 On Sunday, Heidi''s cousin Ute, her husband Thorsten and son Leo came to Schwetzigen in the afternoon.  Together with Gundi and Florian we headed over to the castle of Schwetzigen which is most notable for its fully preserved Rocco style theatre and its Gardens. Madyson and I had the chance to visit the gardens on 2 occasions while staying with Gundi.  The school that she runs has the administrative office on the far side of the castle grounds from where they live, so she gets to walk through them on many occasions.  She tells us that she is also planning a big summer event in the garden under large cut trees that form arches along one side of the grounds.

Madyson and Gundi at the castle!

One very interesting fact about this particular castle was the intention of its elector owner to have on the grounds a representation of the different world religions.  This is a wonderful example of the muslim mosque.



Leo, Thorsten and Madyson under the stag



And now we say goodbye to Gundi and Florian!



The largest clock in all of Europe!



Our new hosts, the Kleibolds brought us to their home in the village of Wil, which lies nearly in the middle between the larger city of St. Galen and Zurich.  Our stay was to be for 2 nights but Madyson and I had so much fun on the long hike to the top of Chaserrugg, a 2262 m (7421 ft.), we decided to stay an extra night and thus also have a chance to got to Zurich to look at Elliot's passion, watches.  Something he shares with Thorsten!.  So, rather than bore you all with a lot of details, let me just share pictures with you.



"When I heard 1300 meters, I thought
 you meant feet"



Thorsten





Ute

"What a view!"



Looking back towards Zurich



"We Made It"



Tomorrow we are off to Wolfsburg
for our next match.







USA vs Columbia 3 to 0

After our visit to the town of Heidelberg, it was on to Sinsheim for the match.  Hopefully all of you had a chance to see the game live back in the States.  The women played well, the stadium was fantastic and the seats were really wonderful.  The stadium was built specifically for soccer and holds a comfortable 25,000 or so fans.  The setting was really quite intimate and sitting in a predominately US section, Gundi, Mady and I enjoyed a wonderful victory for the US.



The name of the stadium is for the river that runs through
region



Gundi and Mady in a sea of Red, White and Blue



In addition to soccer, Sinsheim is also home to some of the manufacturing for the large Airbus manufacturing and Germany's version of our Smithsonian Air and Space museum.

After the match, Hope Solo came over to the US
Section and as you can see blew us a Kiss!



In this small stadium we were able to see everything from very close distance.  The end of the stadium that we sat in, was the end which the US was attacking in the first half.  For us is was so exciting because we were able to see all of the very close scoring opportunities that both Abby Wambaugh and Amy Rodriguez.  In fact we were so close, we could see the frustration, especially for Amy, I guess that is why she was replaced in the second half.

Congraulations to the US, we hope they have a similar result in Wolfsburg where they will play Sweden to detrmine the seeding for the quarterfinal matches.  Madyson and I will be there with Heidi's aunt and uncle. We will talk to everyone soon!

A visit to Heidelberg

For those of you who are following and do not know, Heidi my wife is German.  Her parents immigrated to the United States back in the 60's, they were the adventuresome pair!  The rest of Heid's family remains spread throughout Germany and Switzerland.  Madyson and I are having the pleasure of staying with cousins and Aunts and Uncles while we make our journey.  After Frankfurt, our first stop is in the town of Schwetzingen, which is home to Gundula, who is Heidi's cousin and her husband Florian.  Gundi, as she likes to be called, is the director of the Volkschule.  The Volkschule is a collection of 5 schools that offers life long learning to students from the very young to those in the 70's and 80's.  Florian to was an educator and has since taken his profession of artistry and continues that as his passion.

On Saturday 2 July, Madyson, Gundi and I visited the town of Heidelberg on our way to the match in Sinsheim.  Heidelberg is a very old town and home to the oldest University in all of Europe, founded in the 13th Century.  Heidelberg is home to a midievel castle, you know, Knights of The Round Table type of stuff.  Heidelberg was also home to the ESPN following for coverage of the World Cup on Saturday, so in amoungst 700-800 year old buildings was this totally modern travel studio, hosting many from around the world wanting to take part in the tournament. 

 

Enjoy the sites as we did:

Germany vs Nigeria 30 June 2011

Just goes to show how big soccer players are in Germany

A beautiful church from across the Main

WM 2011 World Cup!

Official ball of the 2011 Women's World Cup and the biggest ball in the world!

Elliot by the big ball

Big screen by the Main

Entrance to the Frankfurt Stadium!

Mady and the Frankfurt Stadium

Elliot and the Frankfurt Stadium!

The official logo for the WWC 2011

The field!!!

Dad finally learned how to take a picture of ourselves

The kickoff ball

Well, we have now experienced the full European Soccer match experience.  Yesterday, we started our journey, travelling into Frankfurt by train.  Once we arrived, we walked a bit through the old town, there will be a few of those pictures.  We then attended the fan event along the river Main, where we had some dinner and watched the first half of the France vs Canada match.  From there we proceed with a large group of fans to the stadium in Frankfurt, a really facility.  As we walked up to the stadium we passed by just the training grounds, where Madyson professed, "I wish we could play on fields like this all the time!" 
-Elliot

The game was such an amazing experience! I absoletely loved everything about it. I can't wait to go to the USA game on Saturday! By the way, Germany all the way!
-Mady

At the airport