Kieler Woche in Review

A few weeks ago I posted a blog entry about Kieler Woche, the huge sailing event that takes places here every year. I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew that it was a big event, however it was far bigger than I imagined.

For those people that live in Brisbane, it is very similar to the Ekka, but with Beer stalls everywhere. People everywhere, drinking, dancing, and partying. It was such a great atmosphere. Most of it was set along the water, hundreds of boats docked, and people everywhere watching the World Cup. I am sure that the World Cup was also a huge draw card, and meant that Kieler Woche was more popular than usual.

The website for Kieler Woche says that some 3 million people come to Kiel over the 10 days, but I am sure it was more this time. Doesn't matter where you went in Kiel, there were stages everywhere, with live bands of all different types of music. There was something for everyone.

As always I took heaps of photos, but still they don't capture the atmosphere as well as I would have liked. Most of the photos were taken after Germany won through to the round of 16 in the World Cup, so there is an obvious theme.

Down on the water front. Stalls lined the road, selling food, beer and lots of ice cream.

People trying there best to get to the other side of the river, where Kieler Woche continues. The bridge is quite small and is retractable allowing boats to pass at certain times of the day.

So many sailing boats of all ages. It was quite expensive to go for a ride so I decided against it.

Some of the fun and entertainment.

One of the many stages with live entertainment. The Welmeister flag shows just how confident people are that Germany will win the world cup.

One of the streets of Kiel with 1000s of people wandering through, enjoying the entertainment.

More people wandering the streets.

People sitting on the back, and hanging out of cars with German flags is very common at the moment. I am surprised the police don't crack down on this.

As you would expect BMW had a stand. The M6, very very nice! I can't remember what the price was but it was somewhere over 100 000 euro.

Kieler Woche finishes with a bang.

All in all, we all had a fantastic time. Made it pretty difficult to go to the gym with all this excitement. Back to it tomorrow!!

Thanks to those German's who also supported the Aussies during our World Cup campaign.

Niko the famous Australian Supporter. He was gutter when we lost!!! Don't howl too loud Niko!

Olaf, me, and Schners after the Croatia game.

At a local pub watching the match with some other Aussies. The guy opposite me was a German, who decided to come and tell us what a great team we had. I didn't catch his name unfortunately!

Thanks to all those people that made the world cup a great event for Australians. Cheers!

Fußball

Well what can I really say about the Socceroos missing the Germany 2006 quarter finals? I too could write a rant (just as many Aussies have done) about how poor the referee was, what a bad decision the penalty was, how Australia dominated procession and the match and deserved to win. But I think I will leave that to everyone else.

In my opinion, Australia's performances were some of the best at the World Cup. We qualified for the round of 16 in what was one of the toughest groups at the tournament. We played and matched it with some of the best teams in the world. We won our first World Cup finals game ever! We made so many opportunities, but just didn't quite have enough to stick them all in the back of the net (mind you not one side in the world can finish every single chance!). We just didn't get that luck that is needed to win a World Cup.

I have to say that to loose the match in this fashion was heart breaking. If it had of been a clear foul, and it was awarded, fair enough. If Italy had of scored a goal in regulation time fair enough. Even to loose to a goal in extra time, or loose on penalties fair enough. Fairs fair right?

I have to make the observation that there always seems to be a lot of controversy at the Soccer World Cup. If you do a Google search for “controversy World Cup” you come up with some 300 000 matches, and this is just in English. The first one that pops up was this link:

http://worldcup.uk.msn.com/features/Worldcup~refereeing~decisions/

This article details the top 10 most controversial moments of the World Cup. It seems that every four years there is some controversial moment that denies or robbs a team from achieving what they deserve. How can FIFA continue to let this go on? Do they like it this way? Fairs fair right? It seems not.

This is disappointing, and in my opinion is one of the reasons that Soccer is not so popular in Australia. Australians, myself included, like to see a fair contest. How can it be fair when a player takes a dive, and ends up rolling around on the ground, in pain, when there was clearly no contact? That isn't fair, its just plain stupid. It spoils what is an excellent sport, and destroys the image of the sport.

So what is needed? Why is it still possible for everyone watching at the stadium, and on TV to know a wrong decision was made, but to have the match carry on. What are the refs at the World Cup wearing headsets for? What a waste of time.

Australia now has the A League. Why not stamp this behaviour out in our national league and make a statement to the world? Introduce the video referee, allow them to help the on field official, review all goals, and penalties. This can't take too much time because there is sometimes only 1 or 2 goals scored in each match. Get tough on diving! More serve penalties should be imposed on players that dive. There should be a video match review committee just as in other Australian sports that look for this type of behaviour and punish those offending with match suspensions.

I am sure there are more things that would help make this sport better. I would love for the A League to make something like this happen, and show the world it can be done. Maybe then other leagues around the world would introduce similar rules, and then maybe FIFA might get with the times, and make the best decisions based on the information at hand.

Go Australia! Well done Socceroos, you did us proud.

We Can Make it to the semi-finals!

That was an amazing match! I really can't understand why Mark Schwarzer was dropped, but in the overall scheme of things, who really cares. We got the result! I just hope that Mark Schwarzer is back for the next game against the Italians!

This means that Australia, a little country of about 25 million people, is now one of the top 16 countries in the world, in a sport that is at best maybe the 3rd of 4th most popular. Just imagine how good we might be if all true Australian's (like Mark Viduka) played for the country of their birth!

Lets go Australia. I want to see Australia vs Germany in the WM Semi Final!

My Prayers have been answered!

Yesterday I posted a rant about how stupid it is that only 2 of the four games in the final round of the Soccer World Cup are being shown on German free to air TV. I checked last night, and the Danish TV stations are doing a delayed telecast. I would love to know the reason for this decision, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. There maybe a perfectly logical explanation. I still think the host nation should do its best to offer each game on Free to Air.

After my post I received a comment from Olaf (Odro), telling me that the game was on live on pay tv. It just so happens that Odro has pay tv, and Olaf and Schners have invited myself and Britty over to watch that game!!!! I would like to publicly thank them for their hospitality in helping out an Aussie!!!

One more thing!

GO AUSTRALIA!!!!!

Project Paint

When you are an IT person, much of the day is spent sitting at a computer, fixing some problem. As you can expect sitting most of the day, you don't get the opportunity to do any physical work. At my last job, the most physical task involved lifting some heavy network devices every once in a while. Other than that, there really wasn't much to raise a sweat with. (Some of course may argue, there is a good chance you will sweat if everything starts to crash around you!!)

Being in Germany, and only having very limited knowledge of the language, really doesn't serve well for finding an IT job. In the first few months while I am learning as much German as my head can handle, I have lots of free time. So to help me out, Britty's parents have been nice enough to give me a few little projects around their house. This not only means I have something to do, but it means I am required to speak German, because they only speak a little English. It makes things a little difficult, but so far we have managed pretty well.


The first project was to re-paint the shed/cottage in the Garden. Firstly, I sanded it back, and then gave it two coats of paint. I also put some new sand under and around the shed. With all the rain here, it is pretty easy for the soil to wash away. Check out the finished product.

The Shed, Finished!!!

Me doing some physical type work. Who would have thought?

And again, just to prove it!

Close up of the finished product.

Now it looks like a scene from a movie! :)

Doing physical work has certainly been a real change. For now I am liking it, but I dare say after 6 or 7 months, I will want back in IT . For now it is a great way to improve my German, and if I want to find an IT job in Germany, this is just what I need.

Big Game for Australia

Today is a massive game for the Socceroos! I can't wait to see if Australia can make it to the round of 16. The only problem is that in the last round of the the first stage of the World Cup, they have moved to having 4 games per day, and only two of the games are selected for German TV. I have no doubt they will choose to show Brazil over the Australian game, and Australian fans in Germany will be left to view the 5 minutes of highlights put on by the networks after the "main" game is finished!

Have they not heard of a delayed telecast? Why not show both games? What about all the fans that have traveled to Germany, who do not have tickets to their teams last pool match, and are still on holidays here spending money? Shouldn't the networks play the games for these people? What's going on?

Here in Kiel I have noticed that I can also receive some Danish TV stations. Maybe the Danish TV stations will show the match! I can only hope.

Go AUSTRALIA!!!!!!

Cycling in Kiel

Cycling in Northern Germany is extremely popular. Around Kiel there are bike lanes everywhere, and many (and I mean many) people are taking advance of this method of transportation.

The state in which Kiel is located is called Schleswig Holstein. One of the reasons that cycling is so popular here is because Schleswig Holstein is extremely flat! There are no mountains, hills, or major elevations! Compare this to living in Mt Gravatt East in Brisbane. I couldn't think of anything worse than getting out on the bike and riding up and down the hills (I know I was lazy when I lived there)! I remember riding to work once, and then having to get my dad to pick the bike up in his ute, because there was no way that I was going to ride back home! Here I love riding, and will be doing heaps of it while living in Kiel.

There are hundreds of KMs of bike tracks in Schleswig Holstein. These tracks go right up into Denmark. The map below is a good indication of how much riding you can really do here. The yellow lines represent bike tracks.

Map from http://www.ostsee-schleswig-holstein.de/oht/de/Radfahren/ostseekuestenradweg.php

Now for the wheels! Take a look at the hog I am riding! It is a beast!



In the future I might decided to ride Britta's far less girlie looking bike. On this bike I feel like something out of the "Wizard of OZ"!!

Enjoy! Scott

Kieler Woche

Today marks the start of Kieler Woche. Check it out at http://www.kielerwoche.de/eng/englishdefault.htm

Kieler Woche is a sailing event that attracts some 3 million visitors to Kiel. There is lots to do over the next 10 days, including live bands, international food markets, and lots and lots of sailing, and soccer to watch.

I will be on the look out for more Australians. I have already met two other Aussies, whilst watching the Socceroos on Monday afternoon. They believed they were the only Aussies in Kiel, but that obviously not true. So if anyone knows anyone coming here to sail, get them to drop me a line.

Enjoy the weekend.

QLD Take the win

Just checked the score!!! 30 - 6!!! QLD must have played really well to win by so much! I wonder if some of that beating was a direct result of the NSW fans painting the King? That'll teach them!

Well done QLD!

Cigarettes Stink!

In Australia, when you enter a shopping centre, a movie theatre, or an indoor restaurant, you can enjoy the experience without having to put up with the smell of cigarettes!

Here in Germany people seem to smoke where ever, or whenever they like. In cinemas, in shopping centres, small food outlets, even behind the counter. It seems you can't go anywhere without someone blowing smoke in your face.

On Saturday night we walked past a Subway store in the centre of town. The store was closed but I noticed that an employee who was cleaning the counter had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth! While "cleaning,” he was spraying ash all over the place!! I can't say this wouldn't happen in Australia, but the consequences if caught would be serve. Here it seems to be excepted.

It just seems amazing to me, that from what we know about smoking, and how detrimental it is to our health, other countries have not started to introduce anti-smoking regulations.

Here in Germany cigarettes are easy to access and they are still very cheap. Packs range from 2– 4 euros, at the local super market. There is no need to line up at a special desk, you just grab them out of big baskets and throw them in with your shopping.

There is nothing worse them coming home after dinner and having the smell of unwanted cigarette smoke in your clothes, hair, and mouth. Australia, I really really miss those anti-smoking regulations!

What a GAME!!! AUSTRALIA gets home! Who would have thought that we could score 3 goals in the last 10 minutes! I guess the weight of chances adds up, and eventually things even themselves up! Next game vs Brazil! Massive challenge! One I think we are ready for!

GO AUSTRALIA!!!!!

Maybe the shirt might get some extra wear!!!!!

Weltmeisterschaft (World Championship) 2006 Party

The World Cup started here Friday afternoon, so to celerbrate, Britty and myself decided to host a World Cup (WM) Party. Germany played Costa Rica and took the game 4-2. It was a good game, and as you can expect spirts were very high as a result of the good display from the home side.

Quite a number of Britty's friends joined us for the event. Check out the photos.

Britty sitting next to Markus, and everyone else hiding their faces!

Britty's single friends, Ingola (left) and Corinna

World Cup About To Start

This shirt is going to get a lot of use over the next 3 weeks! Let's hope it gets a lot of wear after the pool stages!!!!




GO AUSTRALIA!!!

Summer Summer Summer!!!!

Hi everyone. Summer has finally arrived in Germany!!!

It has almost been 4 weeks since I arrived in Germany, and I can tell you it is a relief to finally see the Sun! For the first 3 weeks, I have seen the Sun for a total of 10 hours (If we were lucky it would fine up in the afternoon for an hour or two)!

Over the past week, the weather has improved, and the Sun is now shining consistently. Temperatures have also risen to about 24° during the day. This prompted Britty and myself to take a day trip to a beach outside of Kiel. It was still too cold to swim, but I took a few nice photos, and we had a round of Mini-Golf (in which I was victorious, by a few strokes!!).

Check out the photos.





The pictures say it all! Let's hope this weather hangs around for a while!!

The other aspect of the German Summer that I am still coming to terms with, is the length of the days. Here in Northern Germany, the sun starts to rise about 4:30am and doesn't disappear in the night until about 11pm.

This is a big shock for someone coming from South East QLD, where there is no daylight saving, and in most cases you go to bed at night, not day! Countless times I have been caught out thinking it is only about 5pm, but it was actually more like 9pm. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it!!! The fact that you can go out after work, and do something is brilliant!

My question is how do farmers in Germany cope? How do the cows cope? It must just be QLD cows that complain about an "extra hour" of sunlight!

Hamburg

Two weeks ago Britty and myself decided to go to Hamburg for a weekend to take in the sites of Germany's second largest city. Hamburg is a port city, and is the second largest port in Europe.

Hamburg is more than just a big port! Hamburg has some beautiful architecture, has the second most bridges of any city in the world, and has a very good public transport system, that even tourists can work out!

Our hotel was located a little way from the city, however accessing the city centre was a breeze on the underground "U" rail network. We saw many sites, and I guess a picture represents a 1000 words.

First stop was the famous Fish Markets. So many people, so much fish, Fruit, vegetables, and so much rubbish!

Believe it or not this was taken at 9am Sunday morning. This is a hall at the Fish Markets where people continue drinking after the night clubs close! It was packed with people drink large amounts of beer! There was also lots of shameless dancing to the live band. This apparently happens every week.

Britty on our port cruise. We wanted to do an English Language tour, but the conditions were so bad, we couldn't bare the thought of getting in a tiny boat on the very very rough water!

Cruise Ship Terminal.

Cruise Ship

One of the huge Container Ships. From memory I think this one holds something like 4000 containers.

Me in front of the beautiful Town Hall Building in the centre of Hamburg.

Hamburg City Centre in the distance from our city tour bus

Picture from one of Hamburg's many bridges. These buildings are Warehouses for storing goods ship to the port from other countries.

Another photo from a bridge. Lots and lots of boats.

A church in the distance that stands as a reminder of the World Wars. It was burnt out during the war, and now stands as a Memorial to those lost to war.

Some of the houses along the river. Not too shabby!

Picture taken from the Hamburg Dungeon. The Dungeon takes you through some of the horrors that have occurred in Hamburg. It is a museum, but with actors!

The very famous Reeperbahn.

On the way back to the hotel I decided to stop for a drink in front of the Bank. Drinking in public places is very common in Germany. I did however stop short of opening a beer on the train, which is common practice for some locals!

Das Bier in Deutschland ist nett

My Lonely Planet Guide to Europe says, “Germany is famous for beer, BMWs and invading Poland” (Europe on a shoestring, Lonely Planet Guide: p446). Invading Poland is rarely spoken about (for obvious reasons!). BMWs are everywhere, and seeing them fly past you on the Autobahn at 200Kms/H+ is a daily occurrence. I must also agree with the book, that beer in Germany is sehr gut.

Last Friday I went with Britty to a local pub for some dinner, and a drink. The pub served beer brewed in house. The beer I decided to sample was called “Kieler” beer. The beer cost me 2€ for 500ml, and was just beautiful.

In most pubs the standard tap beer is Becks. Depending where you go, you can get a Becks, from tap, from between 2€ and 4€. If you want a bottle, it will cost you about 2.50€. There are of course many other beers and these vary in price. I am looking forward to sampling some of the beers from Southern Germany later in the year when I go to Oktoberfest.

Drinking at home, and then heading out is a very good option for those that want to save money. In Germany you can get beer at any servo, small food shop, takeaway food shop, or supermarket. Two days ago I purchased a six pack of Becks for 3.70€. That is about 0.67€ each. Not too bad I have to say!

A few weeks ago I purchased a box of Carlsberg for 8.70€. The box contains 11 x 500ml Carlsberg's, which are extremely nice, and drinking 2 of them will get you drunk pretty quick. The actual price of the beer is only 6.20€, because when you return the empty bottles and the box, you get a 2.50€ refund. Not a bad price that's for sure. This is what you get! Check out the photos.





The price of beer here is unreal compared to Australian prices. If you go down to the local bottle shop in Australia, buying a 6 pack of beer will set you back between $12 - $19. Here the same six pack costs you 3.50€!!! Even if you convert, it still works out cheaper (1AUD = 0.60 Euro approx.).

I guess the motto of the story is, people from Australia come and visit, and drink some beer with us!!!!

Plön Castle

On Sunday 21st of May, Britty and myself went to visit a little town outside of Kiel called Plön. The main feature of Plön is a Castle that overlooks “Plöner See”, which is a very large lake. We also took a walk through the Gardens of the Castle, and checked out a few other “little” houses there! It was a very cold and windy day! Here are some of the photos.

Me and Britty in front of the Castle.A smaller Castle, which was once for the Princes of the Area. Not a bad bachelor pad!

The Gardens

The main street of Plön