cops with beers

7/1/2006, 02.00
Berlin, Germany

Ole, ole ole ole! Ole, ole! Deutschland!!

This has been the best, most thrilling night I've had in ages! Germany beat Argentina in the quarter-finals, & mass hysteria ensued! We watched it in an outdoor Indian restaurant, drinking beer & eating naan, & after ending the 90-minute game at 1-1, going into a 15-minute overtime, then going into another 15-minute overtime, Germany ended up blocking two of Argentina's penalty shots & won 5-3! Chris & I (along with everyone else in the city) leapt out of our seats screaming & gave each other a huge hug complete with vigorous back-slapping. What a fucking rush!

After that it was every German for himself. Everywhere were people waving flags, screaming, drinking & honking their car horns...occasionally all at once. We went uptown to Alexanderplatz & found the real party. Not before we lost each other again though. Jason decided to try to switch cars on the metro just before the doors closed & got shut out. The end result (after much running around) was he & I together without Chris. Needless to say, a thoroughly unacceptable outcome. We searched for awhile, until I finally decided that we were going to forget the metro & hit the streets. All three of us knew where the hostel was & had a key, & the biggest party in the world that night was going on above our heads & I was going to be damned if I missed it! We hit the streets. While marching (& screaming, & chanting, & jumping up & down), I could not shake the feeling that Chris & I would find each other. Why, you ask, in the center of a foreign capitol city amongst throngs & throngs of crazed, celebrating, drunken Germans did I even for a moment entertain such an inconceivable fantasy? Simply because of the idiocy & pure illogicality of such a thing happening. Practically everything that has come to pass so far on this trip has made no sense & defied all logic. Why should tonight be any different? Sure enough, after walking for only 20 minutes in one direction then back, I was standing on two planters videotaping a parade being led by drummers when I spotted him: Deutschland scarf around his neck, black, red & yellow clown wig on his head, marching right along with everyone else. Now that was a reunion! Fuck you logic!

The rest of the evening until around one a.m. was spent drinking, dancing, running from the polizei & contributing to the general chaotic merriment at Alexanderplatz. It was an excellent party, to say the least. And the polizei? Well, a few of us took it upon ourselves to scale the building overlooking the impromptu dance floor like superheroes - complete with capes made from German flags fluttering around our necks - to continue dancing accompanied by the roars of approval from the crowds below. As fun as it was, it took the polizei only minutes to begin streaming towards us. Ah well, it was a good time while it lasted. We scrambled back down the other side as they were reaching for our ankles, putting a brick wall between them & us, & scattered off into the crowd. A good thing too, considering that we had around €70 of stolen shit on us! Wristbands, flags, wigs, scarves, beers, face paint - none of it bought. It was overpriced anyway.

After getting back Jason promptly went to bed - again - & Chris & I came out to the lounge to chat some more & check out the pictures from the evening. I got some good ones!