Die nächste Abenteuer

                                                     Guten Tag Fruende!                                                                     Hello from Frankfurt.  No, not Frankfurt Ky. -that would be much less exotic.

This latest adventure has brought me to Germany for the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament working for ESPN.   As in past World Cups, this is a month long assignment.  Join me here on this blog and I’ll take you along for a tour of  Frankfurt, a commentary on International Soccer and many random, quirky happenings.  I may get a few facts incorrect, misspell a word, or invent a sentence structure that would make a grammar school teacher cringe. You will just have to get over it, this is a travel blog, not an English lesson.  As and added bonus, I’ll give you a not-so-daily dose of mixed metaphors, useless trivia and a selection of new music to discover. Buckle up. Put your seat in the most upright and uncomfortable position. Stow your belongings and children in the overhead compartment. This could be a bumpy landing!
 

Tomorrow’s games- (Sunday)

Match 1 has reigning champ Germany hosting Canada at 9am PT on ESPN. Leading the Deutsch is Birgit Prinz, the Women’s World Cup All-Time Leading scorer.  In our TV truck, we call her the Bearded Prince. Canada counters with a goal-scoring machine of their own, University of Portland alumni Christine Sinclair.

At 6am PT, Match 2 begins, (kinda confusing that Match 2 is first- hmm- whatever!) France faces Nigeria on ESPN2.  I’ll not pretend to know anything about these teams, so I'll save some blog-space and not expound.

The flight here was fine…if you like 9 hours in the torture chamber chair of an international flight.  However, with a plane like this, I knew I’d be safe.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want.

During my 5 hour layover, my plans were to venture into Amsterdam grab some coffee and check out a museum, then head back the airport for my next flight.  Well, as it turned out, my plane was a bit late, it was raining dogs and cats, plus the gate agents recommended I not try that, since I’d waste time standing in line at Customs/Immigration, then go back through security on a busy travel day.  So, I decided to take my lemons and make some orange juice.  (huh?)

I wandered down the concourse to the Crown Room to enjoy free breakfast and much needed espresso out of a fancy little doohickey coffee machine thingy.  On the walk to my gate, I stumbled upon the airport auxiliary of the Rijksmuseum. During renovation, they are housing pieces of art at various locations….almost as if they knew I couldn’t make it to real museum. The Dutch are very kind like that.

 

This seascape of a Herring fleet was finished using 180 tiles. Cornelis Boumeester of Rotterdam finished this tile painting in 1720.  A master of painting ships, it was said of his creations "not even a rope was missing".

 

That’s enough for one day, catch you on the flipside, as the kids say….

(just overheard, “Russ, they don’t really say that anymore”)

Shout Out to Meredith Zampino! Thanks for sending the cookies along with Shaw.  Our Hoboken Bloke was a good boy sharing them with us. That's exactly what Jorge and I needed.