football and more...

On Tuesday night, Kerry and I watched the Germany-Netherlands game in the bar on the ground floor of the Main Tower, where my firm's office is located. The local IT administrator took us there on Monday for a pre-dinner drink and said that it was the place to be on Tuesday nights. And he was right. The bar has two areas inside the building - a glass-enclosed traditional bar, and more seating in the lobby just outside the bar, where the games were being projected on the wall. We arrived a few minutes after the game started and since the lobby was full, we had to drink in the bar itself. Inside the bar, we heard a DJ spinning old and new dance music instead of the game commentary, which was OK since neither of us understands any German. So we watched the game through the glass wall and enjoyed the "scenery" of the bar (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, etc.). For some reason, the bar employs three dancers - one shirtless guy and two women wearing nothing more than bras and panties - who danced in front of the DJ and on top of the bar. At one point one of the female dancers got another female bar patron to dance on the bar with her, giving us two shows to watch: the game and the dancers. Germany led after a goal in the first half, but the Netherlands scored in the 81st minute and the game ended in a tie. After the game the bar filled up and turned into a real "meat market." We observed the mating rituals of young Germans for a while (not much different from American mating rituals), then called it a night just before midnight. Despite (or due to) drinking two half-liters of hefe-weizen, I had the most restful night of my trip so far.