We're going on a boat cruise today

Which should be a lot of fun. At least it'll be a good way to forget about how horrible the USA was against the Czechs. I was pretty upset all morning yesterday until Jan pointed out that I shouldn't let the loss ruin the entire vacation. Of course, as usual, she was right.

I mentioned that the S-Bahn ride from downtown Gelsenkirchen to the stadium was a nightmare. Here's what the inside of the train looked like.

After the game on Monday night we went back to the "fan fest" in Gelsenkirchen and had some fun with the Czech fans before we caught our train back to Cologne. There was a Country and Western trio (drums, guitar, steel guitar) from Texas performing, and they were really good. Of course, they performed lots of "Texas Outlaw" stuff. They did a great cover of "Good Hearted Woman" and it was really funny when the Czechs started singing along with them. In Czech! They were awesome.

We spent most of Tuesday licking our wounds, and somehow through the magic of beer (specifically Kölsch, which is the type of beer made in Cologne) we managed to feel much better by the end of the day.

We watched some of the Togo v South Korea game in a bar near the Cologne fan fest, then decided to go to an Irish bar near "big Paeffgen" to watch Switzerland v France. Jan was pretty beat though, so she decided to go back to the apartment on the S-Bahn and take a nap. Rob and I walked to the Irish pub where we ran into Robert. We just ordered a couple of drinks when the phone rang.

It was Jan. She asked me about apartment keys. They were in my pocket! Since she was about two stops from our place she decided to see if she could catch someone from the apartment management. Unfortunately they were already gone for the day, so she hopped back on the S-Bahn and came to the Irish pub.

It was hot as hell that day - in fact, we were in the middle of one of Germany's longest running heat waves, with temps in the high 20s - high 30s Celcius - between about 85-100 degrees Fahrenheit. The first thing she did when she got there was drink at least a liter of water.

We watched the FRA v SWI game, which was awful. Robert's girlfriend Amy showed up at some point during that game.

There were also some other Americans there, and one of them got really drunk and started hitting on Jan. This was in spite of the fact that she told him she was married and that her husband was right next to her. Robert, Rob and I came pretty close to punching the guy out, but Jan convinced us otherwise.

Jan and I left at half time of the Brazil game and I told his friends "hey your buddy is really drunk. He was hitting on my wife even after I told him to stop." They responded "really? He's married to our sister!" Just a point of advice. If you're going to start hitting on other women, don't do it when your brothers-in-law are out partying with you.

When we left the bar, we encountered these Brazilian "women" who were partying down the street from the Irish bar.