Frankfurt World Cup Fan Fest

We took a day-trip into Frankfurt on June 22nd, the day of the US v Ghana game. This was sort of a trial run for packing up all Madison's gear and getting out of the house for a few hours. We headed out early to beat the crowds and our plan was to only walk around a bit, buy some World Cup gear and head home.













Here I am with Madison at the Roemer Platz; the 'old town' area of Frankfurt. Madison wasn't having a good day in the stroller so we had to carry her around a lot. She's so small she looks like a little doll.


We felt pretty comfortable with Madison so we grabbed some lunch by the river and decided to watch the game at the 'Main Arena' - a jumbotron set up in the Main River so that fans without tickets can gather to watch the games.





Here's a shot of the jumbotron on the river. There is seating and a 'Fan Fest Mile' on both sides of the river. The Fan Fest Mile is something each host city set up for fans to watch the games, eat, drink, and generally hang out and have a good time. The atmosphere in Frankfurt has been pretty neat with food and drink of all kinds available, a soccer field for pick up games, and of course several places to spend a few bucks on official World Cup merchandise.

Unfortunately, as this was the last round of group play, the other teams in our group were playing at the same time and that game was being shown at the river. We hung out until 3:00 and headed home to watch the game. All in all it was a successful trial run.
















Here are a couple shots of Shelly and I sporting our USA jerseys. There's been a lot of stuff pumped out by the military for US personnel to keep a low profile, but we've found that everyone is just looking to have a good time and root on their team. Germany has done a great job and the environment has been very fan-friendly for supporters of every team.

--Ed