Berlin last day and Potsdam and Stuttgart

So for my last day in Berlin I went to the nearby town of Potsdam, about 1 hr west of Berlin.

Potsdam like everything else in Europe is steeped in history. It's the home of Frederick the Great who built a few palaces in Potsdam.

The town feels similar to Ballarat, smaller town with lots of history near a big city.

Big palace inside Sanssouci Park - was a looooong walk to get to this one

One of the smaller palaces

Back to Berlin to see Engand vs Trinidad and Tobago at Fan Fest. T&T put up fight but eventually went down 2-0. Then the Stuttgart adventure begins.

Background: I have a ticket for the Holland-Ivory Coast game on June 17th organised for me
Mission:

• Meet a man named Karl at the Stadium's blue entrance at 4:30pm before the game at 6.
• I have never met Karl before and have never seen him before. I am told he is wearing a big straw hat with Deutschland and wearing a German football jersey. And he may not speak the best English
  
• Get to the game, then get back to Berlin Airport by 8am on June 18th to catch my flight to London

First night train from Berlin --> Stuttgart required a 5am train change at Augsburg, then I arrived at Stuttgart at 7am with almost no sleep. Saw the local sights during the day, then went down to the stadium at 2pm so I could nap before the game.

The Dutch fans gathering in the morning near Fan Fest - they were all drunk, topless, and sunburnt by 10am

Napped until 4pm, sat at the entrance until 4:30pm, and there was no Karl in sight. Getting worried. 4:50pm comes around, I go back to check the map - I'm at the RED entrance, not BLUE - the BLUE entrance is 50 mtrs away around the corner! Whoops. Race to the blue entrance, still no Karl. More and more people go through the gates until it's just me and the scalpers. Finally at 5:30 when all hope is lost - Karl appears. It was probably the happiest I have ever been to see a complete stranger. His English was ok, and we communicated just fine. So we made just in time for national anthems.

Me and Karl and his big straw hat

The game itself had a great atmosphere, with lots of orange worn by fans of both sides.

Yellow shirt in a sea of orange

The Germans were going for Cote d'Ivoire (Iv Coast) to win, as they didn't want Holland to win (sort of like Aust v NZ), and as I was with Germans, I did the same. Luckily were in the Iv Coast fan section anyway. They lost 2-1, but they put up a good fight.

After the game, it was back to the train station, and another night train back to Berlin sometime around 5am. Grab my bags, and off to the airport, London here we come!

DN