Two weekends ago a big group of us went out on the Friday night to see a Frankfurt Löwen playoff hockey game. It was an early game in the playoffs and not a very crucial game: the end result was 11 - 2 for Frankfurt. Not the greatest game, but still a great atmosphere. My favourite part was, as always, in the pre-game ceremony. At one point after the players come on, this one song is played and everyone in the crowd gets out sparklers! Having seen this before we came prepared. I don't have any photos of us, but I found one on their webpage from the latest Löwen game.
You can also see the large flags that people bring. Mostly this is in the standing end that is behind the one goal. There are also people with drum sets that lead cheering/yelling/chanting the whole game. I love it! I am still trying to learn the words to my favourite German chant. I have learned one part - wir sind deutsche Meisters (or something like that, meaning we are the German champions).
The day after I went to Cologne, just for a day. We had a lovely day wandering around, visiting the Roman museum and just enjoying the sunshine! We started the day off by seeing the cathedral, and then walking across the popular rail bridge. It is just packed with locks that people have put on there. Here is a photo of me on the bridge: You can see the colourful locks on the right.
Across the bridge we discovered a viewing platform on the top of one of the high rises. It had a 360 degree viewing area on the top, and in the sun it was perfect. It was not all that warm, but with the sun out I warmed up quickly. It feels like we have barely seen the sun this winter, so it was exciting.
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| Overlooking the famous Kölner Dom |
We spent the afternoon in the Roman museum (a must see for me!), and then wandering around the city. Of course, tried out the U-bahn and trams as well.
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| View of Cologne |
Last weekend my excitement was from softball, instead of travelling. On Sunday we had an indoor tournament in Bad Homburg. Now, indoor softball is almost a completely different sport from outdoor. The games are either 7 innings or 12 minutes. Yes, in 12 minutes we sometimes manage to play a full 7 innings!! It is like highspeed craziness. When you switch from batting to fielding you run, or they will start without you ready. There is no pitching, the ball is tossed by the home plate ump. There are also only 6 people playing at a time (compared to a normal 9). You have 4 infield and 2 outfield. No catcher, 1st or 3rd base have to cover home plate. Now I have been really enjoying playing indoor softball in practice, but I wasn't sure about how it would be when we played in the full highspeed mode. In the end I didn't get to play much, due to having 18 people on our team show up, but I absolutely loved it! I enjoyed watching, and playing. The first game I played I was on 2nd, and played really well. We didn't do that well (7th out of 8) but it was such an enjoyable afternoon. I wish we had more tournaments to go to! Good thing the weather is getting nicer and we will be back outside soon for the start of the season.
And on that note, last weekend and the week leading up to it, we had absolutely lovely weather. 15 degrees and sunny! However, that all changed this past week and on Tuesday/Wednesday we got over a foot of snow!! On Wednesday I had to cancel a field trip, and instead took my class out into the fields. We all, including me, were dressed in snow pants and went on a hunt for the deepest snow. We found snow in parts past my knee, and the kids were having trouble walking without getting stuck in the snow! We all loved it though. I even had a kid say he was happy we couldn't go on the field trip in the end.
Next weekend at this time I will be on my way back from Zürich with my Mum. She is coming on Wednesday, then the following Tuesday we are off to Istanbul to meet up with my Dad!! I can't wait!! :) Will update when I get back after Easter. Happy Easter!
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