German hospitality and home made cooking

After safely making it home to Stuttgart, going a comfortable 220km/hr on the autobahn, it was time for this Santa to get some much needed rest. (Note: I got my shoes off!!) In the morning (after the night before), I had to pinch myself to make sure that it had really happened! Thankfully all had happened as I thought and we were through to the next stage. Unfortunately, despite everything, the Socceroos came undone against Italy. On the subject of “dodgy penalties in the dying seconds of a game” I shall remain quietly mute. No matter what I feel that the boys, and us as a reborn football nation, can hold our heads high and aim for the next World Cup to go that one step further. Everyone I’ve met since that day (still making to time to see every match but will talk about that later) have been honestly disappointed by the result. The Socceroos certainly gained the respect of the people here in Europe and that, in itself, is an achievement beyond any score on the board.
To fill in the time between games, Volker and I researched the possibility of hiring a Porsche for a day. Unfortunately, although not outrageous, we decided that it was going to be a bit too expensive. For anyone out there keen to look into it:

1. erento.com
2. €315 for the day including insurance (excess of €2,500)
3. 150 km free
4. €1.10 per km over the 150 km
5. 911 cabriolet

Fortunately, there was still plenty to do. My wonderful host had plans A, B and C worked out already. Initially I was planning to stay for “a couple of days around the Aussie game”. At this stage it looks like I’ll be here for about two weeks?!?
Currently I’m staying in Tischardt, (pronounced “T-shirt”), about 30 minutes drive South from the centre of Stuttgart. Stuttgart itself is home to Porsche and ?Mercedes (there’s a massive “city” known as Mercedes City so maybe it was born here too). Therefore, as was my duty to my father and sister, I went to the Porsche museum. There is a new one currently being built and it is expected to open late 2007. Thank Christ because the one they’ve got at the moment took all of 15 minutes to get around!! That included using an English-German dictionary to translate the plaques!!
Like the rest of Europe, the U.K. and Asia, Germany has castles and castle ruins and it was off to one of the castle ruins that over-looked Stuttgart. Thankfully my leg continues to improve because after parking the car, the steady walk up hill would have sucked the pus a week ago. The site gave amazing views of the surrounding area and gave me the ability to put everything into perspective. While one gets to know the regular roads, having no map and not being able to pronounce let alone read the road signs, can leave you feeling a little bit like Alice in Wonderland. Getting a birds-eye view helps to put things into perspective.
The next part of the extended stay in Stuttgart was to get out of there and down to Singen to meet Volker’s mother and brother and to try Sauerkraut. After the quick pop into Volker’s mum’s place to drop off the bags (and have all of our plans for the next 48 hours changed by plans that his mum had made for us…parents, the same everywhere!!) it was off to some near by ruins with an even steeper ascent than the last one. I guess I call it rehab for my leg!! Again, we were afforded spectacular views of the city and also of the nearby Lake Konstanz., were we headed next, after collecting Volker’s brother Axel.
Konstanz is a beautiful city across the border from Switzerland. The placid lake on which it rests was full of sailing boat (none as beautiful as Quetzal of course) as well as rowers and self-perpetuating paddle boat things. After cruising around the city it was off to one of the many micro-breweries for dinner. This brewery was basically a restaurant surrounding the distilling tanks and served awesome Weiner Schnitzels.
Tips for young players:
1. when the weather permits, always try to eat outside;
2. in case of extreme weather, try to get a seat under the large umbrella;
3. when it starts to spit, make sure that you are well under said umbrella;
4. when it starts to hail, continue to remain under said umbrella provided no rain gets into your beer or onto your food;
5. when it starts to hail, as well as torrentially down pour, in a horizontal direction it may be wise to move inside;
6. when thunder and lightning becomes associated with point 5, it is definitely time to get inside;
7. soggy chips and schnitzel do not taste good.



After the dramas of dinner, it was back to Singen to get some much needed rest prior to trying some homemade sauerkraut.
A wise man once said that: you don’t have to like everything in the world but you can’t say you don’t like something until you’ve tried it. Sage advise and especially true when something is homemade. The morning was fresh bread with homemade jam followed a few hours later by lunch with the family…and home made sauerkraut. It was good…in fact better than good; a little bit salty (made more so by the smoked meat it was prepared with) but complemented perfectly by the mash. Despite being 1100, initial reluctance towards the after brunch schnapps was quickly dispelled by the famous words “home-made schnapps”. As was explained, it has to burn inside the stomach before you’ve finished the shot. Now I appreciate why we have strict rules regulating what can be sold legally from licensed premises!!
After a relaxing stroll and dinner in Zurich (having taken another 2.0 GB card of photos at the waterfalls on the border) it was back to Stuttgart for some well needed rest…both after the hectic last days, and the coming Quarter Final between Germany and Argentina.