Day 16: Oehringen and Goodbye Germany

Spend a good part of the morning chatting over breakfast with my Argentinean/German host couple and three other Australians staying with them. Everyone is still on a high, grateful to have witnessed an exciting game and impressed by the Australian team’s resolve. All three Aussies arrived yesterday without tickets, and had little trouble at prices up to E200, or double face value. FIFA’s much-publicised identification system was a bit of a non-event.

Our hosts have loved having many nationalities stay with them. The husband, Armin, says, “I’m so excited you came to stay with us,” while his wife runs around making ham and eggs and cheese and helping everyone to enjoy their stay.

My flight from Munich to Dubai is not until 10.30pm, so I spend much of the day driving around. I travel up to Oehringen, where Australia has been training and staying, as someone told me the players relaxed around the town. No sign of them, but many Australians are there on a ‘morning after’ pilgrimage.

Thanks to the brilliant SatNav, returning the car to Munich about 300 km away is straightforward. I have driven over 1,000 kms in the last week without a serious hitch, at one stage overtaken by a Porsche Carrera which must have been doing 250 kph. It is startling how quickly a car at this speed closes in on you – one glance in the mirror and there’s nothing there, next it’s up your clacker. At 240 kph, a car is covering a kilometre every 15 seconds.

I am not staying in Germany for the Italy game next Monday, for several reasons: I want to see my cuddle-bunny and two girls, and we’ve all got tickets to Coldplay in Sydney next Tuesday; I’ve seen four games and had a great time; and all my arrangements are in place to return via Dubai and I’d rather avoid the hassle of finding a ticket, arranging transport and accommodation for another four days, and cancelling and rescheduling my return plans. I have safely seen Australia through to the next round.

So I leave Germany with some wonderful memories, of excellent German hospitality and catching up with old friends, of football games at 3pm and 6pm and 9pm each day, of an adventurous Australian team which has played with style and resilience, of two weeks of sunshine, of joyous and loud Australian singing, of reading Debbie’s funny blog each day, and of the way many nations of the world can come together to celebrate football with much humour and friendship, leaving their politics behind.