A friend asked if we survived the World Cup mania. Unless you went downtown seeking the mania, it wasn't a problem. Unless you were following in on the TV or paper, you could believe that it wasn't going on. The only time it affected life was when the Germans won. You could hear fireworks and everyone was driving around town honking thier horns. Was kinda funny, because you never hear Germans honking otherwise. I was interested in seeing all of the hubub, so I took the camera and went to downtown Stuttgart where the party was going on when the Germans were playing for overall third place. It was really interesting. I couldn't believe how how PACKED it was down there. It was like one huge party, 10 blocks wide. The area where they had some huge public screens set up was closed off several hours before the game even began. The beer was flowing very freely and it was so packed you could barely squeeze between people flowing through the streets.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivneal/sets/72157594192181916/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivneal/sets/72157594192181916/
