EU Semi Finals, Russia vs. Spain Berlin Fan Mile.

Sorry everyone that it has taken me this long to put up more posts. These pictures are from about a month ago, but they are definitely worth putting up here. Also, there will be be more posts this week, I promise, as I have Amsterdam and Munich pictures to put up.

So, here I am at the Berlin Fanmile for the Russia vs Spain EUFA cup semi-finals match. This whole championship was crazy for me, as I was rooting for Germany and Russia, and hoping teams like Italy and Turkey would be eliminated. Anyways, I had lost my voice several times, and I had gone to Kurfurstemdamm (the main street in West Berlin) to celebrate the victories.

Here is just a little bit of background information about Berlin. Berlin is the 3rd largest Turkish city after Istanbul and Ankara, and Turks in Berlin are not much liked because of some negative press and habits. Berlin is also the largest German city. Furthermore, there lives almost 300,000 people in Russia, making it bigger than some Russian cities. So everytime the German, Turkish, or Russian teams one, Berlin would come to a crawl, and cars would be honking their horns for hours, people would be waving their flags sitting on the windowsills of their cars as they all tried to make it down to the Kufurstendamm.

I happen to live on the periphery of normal Berlin, but in Altmoabit, which is a prevalently Turkish area. Let me clarify that not all Turkish people are bad, but many uphold current stereotypes. There are very similar to the situation with Mexicans in the US.

On this night, Russia was to play Spain in the semi-finals. The winner of this game would play Germany. For me, this was a huge game, as I really wanted to have Germany play against Russia. Andreas, my roommate, was really excited for Russia, and was impressed with how Russia played against Holland, the favorite of the championships. We walked together through Tiergarten, right in our backyard, to the Brandenburg Gate/Tor. It's only about 2 km from where I live, and took about 15 minutes to walk there. When we got there, there were already a lot of Russians shouting "Davai Rossija" or "Let's go Russia." Everyone was dressed in their tricot jerseys, and most had facepaint and a Russian flag (like me to be more exact). So, we entered the fan mile, and lined up like many others.




In front, you can see the huge screen that was placed up in front of the Brandenburg Tor. In the background you can also see the Alexanderplatz TV tower. Here, although not as full as the Germany games, are thousands of fans lining up to stand. The game lasted only about 2 hours, and Russia played poorly (you probably know this already). However, it was a great experience and something that I will always remember. Maybe next year, Russia will play Germany.


Here is my roommate Andreas converting to a Russian. You might even think that he is Russian, but he was just supporting it as he favored her more than Spain. He's also wearing a Karlruhe Jersey, which is the same colors as the Russian Flag.


The crowd at the fan mile. Dusk. Dissapointed Russian fans, and happy Spaniards (there were quite a few actually). Also, in the background towards the right, the building to the right of the Brandenburg Gate is the new US Embassy that opened July 4th. It now stands where the Berlin wall once stood, as in the same spot as the original embassy before WWII.

The best part of this game were the new friends that I made. Here in the picture is a motley of different Europeans, from Germans, Russians and Frenchman, but all living in Berlin. Laura on the right is a techtronic dancer and was in the Dortmund Love Parade. Quentin to Laura's left is from Marseille, as was visiting, then me, then some other people, and finally Andreas. Robbin also with us, is not pictured.