Come 13:00, Kyle and I met at Alexanderplatz under the World Clock. We had lunch and then started our trek to the stadium. From Alexanderplatz, all we need to take is the S7 or the U2. We elected to take the S-Bahn, and so off we went. Turns out we took the S5 by mistake, and had to backtrack one station after we realized the error. Once we got on the right train, it was a simple matter of following the fans to the stadium.
It could have been a better day, for sure. It was windy and rainy through much of the game. That didn't make it any less enjoyable though as the atmosphere was amazing. Two hours later, the whistle blew and the game was over. Of course it happened to be the only game this week that ended in a scoreless draw.
(Note that fireworks and flares are not allowed in Olympiastadion)
13 comments:
Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
Too bad, it ended 0:0. But I am sure you enjoyed the atmosphere nonetheless.
How was the beer? Did you end up meeting/talking to Mika (the bearded guy)?
Yeah, Mika and I had a blast since we were both big Bundesliga fans.
Did you see anything in the stadium that related to Germany's past? (e.g. architecture)
Olympic Stadium was built by order of Hitler to host the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. It stood the test of time and survived the war, and was recently renovated for the 2006 World Cup hosted in Germany.
Fun Fact: Hitler also started the tradition of the Olympic Torch run for those very same Games.
I don't suppose the original stadium had a dome did it?
Fun fact, during the Berlin airlift they tried using the stadium as a site on which to parachute coal.
It shattered and covered everyone there in coal dust.
The original stadium did not have a roof. I believe the roof was added with the rest of the renovations beginning in 2000 for the 2006 World Cup.
Something interesting that I learned today while at the Topography of Terror exhibit was that they actually moved much of the 'gypsy' population into a camp in Marzahn before the Olympics, in what I assume was a 'clean up the streets project'. Reminded me slightly of the Beijing Olympics with all their human rights controversies.
Also Kyle that is a really interesting bit of information. It really speaks to the accuracy problems when dropping things from the sky.
Oh no way! That's super cool! I didn't know it was the same stadium! Do you know if it was affected like the Neues Museum at all? Or did they go through a series of renovations to fix it up?
It was practically untouched in the war, which is amazing due to the size of it. I read that its only real war scars were some slight peppering with machine gun rounds.
Of course it was updated and renovated for the World Cup, but most of what you see when you visit is actually what it was back then.
Post a Comment