It’s still hard to come to terms with, but I was in the main fan zone for the finale of Euro 2008. I snagged a couple of free papers today and I simply cannot imagine I was in a mob of people that huge. And I wasn’t just there; I was a part of it. I had my team colors on, my face was flag-ified, and I was cheering. It’s an amazing feeling inside the mob. You cheer for your team and the guy next to you cheers for his, but everyone’s cool with it. And even though it was a sea of white for the most part, the Spanish fans cheered just as proudly. When we were walking towards the fan zone, sandwiched between two groups of German fans, were two Spanish women chanting “Deutschland Deutschland Auf Weidersehen, Auf Weidersehen”. The Germans fans would counter with “Spanien Spanien alles ist vorbei, alles ist vorbei, alles ist vorbei”. This continued back and forth, with both groups having fun and not getting upset. Even though we lost, it was an once in a lifetime experience. Give the fact that I had already had plenty of fun that weekend, it’s probably better, at least for me, that I didn’t have to celebrate after the game.

So now I’m in Innsbruck, and it’s beautiful. I wish the mountains had more snow, but it is summer time and there is a heat wave in Europe, and that whole global warming thing. My hostel is part of an old castle, albeit a tiny one. I’m a bit disappointed in the people though. I’m in the region of Austria known as Tirol, and all I really know is that they traditionally wear lederhosen. So I came expecting something similar to happy fun Bavarians, especially in a tourist city. So far, aside from waitstaff, no one’s been particularly cheerful. Most of them have been slightly rude. I don’t know if they’re worn out on tourists right now or what. Maybe it was a city-wide bad day. Hopefully tomorrow everyone will cheer up. If not, I’ll be back in Heidelberg on the 2^nd.