Monday, April 30, 2007

26-30 April 2007. Berlin.

`
The WA (weekend away) took in a match against Union Fanforum, a team of 1.FC Union Berlin fans, the users of forum
1. 26 Apr 2007. Sticks and his favourite paper

2. Sash with a lovely horse, Stansted Airport

3. ChChFCOBTC enjoying the first beer on the banks of the Spree

4. Our nearest station

5. Marching unopposed through Kreuzberg

6. Ashti's look says it all, really

7. In Golgotha biergarten,Viktoriapark, Kreuzberg

8. Sio, Dan, Phil, Lilly

9. Phil's Guide to people you can meet sitting in one of those stripey chairs - an Englishman

10. - a Russian

11. - a German

12. Sasha prefers to pass out in those chairs, rather than meet anyone (apart from Phil)

13. Whereas Lilly prefers to break furniture

14. 27 Apr 2007. And now for a friendly game of pool...

15... that then gets too friendly...

16... and descends into violence

17. Beautiful Friday morning at the Baxpax Hostel in Ziegelstrasse

18. A nice Imperial eagle on Weidendammerbruecke

19. Dan Don loves Berlin

20. Tacheles building. We'll dominate it before long

21. Neue Synagoge, Oranienburgerstrasse

22. The gap left by a bombed-out house

23. A deportation collection point for Jews

24. Dan brueckeing it with a local bear

25. ChChFCOBTC pondering history at a memorial to those who did not turn away but stopped a deportation

26. Berliner Dom

27. Tourists

28. Sash liking it on the Museuminsel (with Altes Museum in the background)

29. Preston the Tourguide and his captivated audience (Palast der Republik being dismantled there)

30. Unter den Linden

31. Bebelplatz (the site of the first book burning) and St.Hedwig's Kathedrale

32. Friedrich der Grosse

33. And in the meantime... Dubbs is brueckeing another local bear...

34... whilst Rob and Ashti are sampling open-top buses

35. On the way to the Reichstag along the Spree

36. Reichstag - a detail

37. ChChFCOBTC at the Reichstag

38. Reichstag close up...

39.... and picture-perfect across the meadow

40. The Soviet War memorial in the Tiergarten

41. T-34

42. ChChFCOBTC at the memorial

43. Eternal glory to the heroes-tankmen who fell during the storming of the city of Berlin

44. A breather in the Tiergarten

45. The Holocaust Memorial

46. The site of the Reichskanzlei

47. The site of Hitler's bunker

48. The former Luftfahrtsministerium (and SED HQ) in Wilhelmstrasse

49. ChChFCOBTC marching on

50. Several eras thrown together

51. ChChFCOBTC at the Berlin Wall on the site of the former Gestapo HQ

52. Brandenburger Tor from Pariserplatz

53. Strasse des 17.Juni with Siegessaeule

54. Having a seat at the Tor

55. Some absurd leaning in a Biergarten in Prenzlauer Berg

56. Half-man, half-...

57. Rob, Ashti, Charlie

58. Chew, lads

59. 28 Apr 2007. Sticks airborne...

60. Gav sitting down

61. Don't let those lights blind you...

62. A round of applause

63. Tony in his usual pose

64. Gaylords

65. Self-descriptive

66. Where are the kids?

67. The morning of the important international fixture arrives

68. The crowds know the time...

69... and the place of this massive event

70. ChChFCOBTC stumbling towards Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn station at some stupidly early hour

71. Buying a ticket at Friedrichstrasse to go to Schoeneweide on the S9 - a matter of some concern, given our current state

72. On the (slightly pink) S-Bahn

73. Nutrition before the match - very important!

74. A reminder of Germany's World Cup triumphs

75. Preparing for action - The Fly

76. Tony - actually awake!

77. Hicksy and Dubbs - focused!

78. ChChFCOBTC - chomping at the bit

79. The captains - Erwin and Sash

80. ChChFCOBTC lining up at Arena Wuhlheide, Oberschoeneweide

81. Phil Day flying down the wing

82. Tony pulling the trigger

83. Sash shouting s***

84. Dubbs looking fat

85. Gav taking on the whole opposing side

86. Sash and Gav - on the ball at the back

87. Phil knows the importance of rehydration

88. Stopping the hosts' attack towards the end

89. Reevo - refereeing without moving

90. Phil - still full of running

91. Union Fanforum 0 ChChFCOBTC 7 - after the match

92. And another one

93. The victorious captain with a delightful bottle of beer

94. Off to the Regionalliga Nord match

95. Beer at a tram stop - stuff dreams are made of

96. At the 1.FC Union Berlin clubhouse

97. Phil Small does not approve of the fun

98. Training pitch behind Stadion An der Alten Försterei

99. Spot the rugby players

100. View from Haupttribuene towards Fanstribuene and Gegentribuene

101. The Away End

102. Tony does panoramic

103. The scarves are out on the Gegentribuene

104. Hauptmann von Koepenick joins us

105. Hicksy and Sash - (in) red

106. Dan, Sash, Phil, enjoying the sun

107. The others a bit burnt by the sun

108. 2-0 to Union

109. The colours are out

110. Getting hosed down at half-time

111. ChChFCOBTC at the match - 2nd half

112. The next generation

113. A rare 2nd-half Union attack

114. And so it finishes 1.FC Union Berlin ZWEI, FC Dynamo Dresden EINS

115. The exhausted Union players acknowledging the fans after the final whistle

116. Sash and Sticks acknowledgign Hicksy there

117. Average number of police vans

118. A few quiet beers with our hosts in the sunshine

119. And a few more...

120. The Union supporters' bar in Wilhelminenhofstrasse, Oberschoeneweide

121. The beers are going down well

122. Oberschoeneweide

123. Sticks keeling over

124. Fluppi abuse

125. Even the disabled are joining in

126. Looking more sinister from this angle

127. Gav love

128. The biggest smile in the house

129. Yes, Dan, in beer veritas

130. Sterni and Jan

131. Gav thinks it's a rave

132. Singing... what are you singing...

133. Seriously...

134. Sticks doing something inapproriate again

135. Ian - a jolly good fellow

136... As everyone knows by now

137. Not even looking that pished...

138. Erwin

139. Jan and his mates

140. Nice hats, chaps

141. That bar will change shortly...

142. Ambassador Reeve

143. What are you strange English lot gonna do with that sherbert

144. Put in up our noses, obviously!!! Through rather long straws...

145... And then dance on bars with dolphins

146... and without

147. Long-lasting effects of Lilly's encounter with the sun

148. An athletic-looking lady

149. F***ed - Stef

150. F***ed - Pikey

151. F***ed - Tony

152. F***ed - even the locals

153. 29 Apr 2007. Party on in Kulturbraurei, Prenzlauer Berg

154. Roger's honesty backfires spectacularly

155. Grooving, for shure

156. Absolutely nothing wrong with that photo

157. F***ed - ChChFCOBTC

158. Back to the cultural part - Brecht's land

159. Brecht himself

160. Amazingly there was a US Army checkpoint named after our friend Charlie

161. Kaiser- Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche, off Kurfuerstendamm

162. Sash (and Jemima the Pink Mouse balloon) outside the Berlin Zoo

163. Important flag consecration ceremony

164. An idiot

165. Dubbs loves Germany

166. Jemima and friends

167. Do you know this man?

168. And it the meantime, outside the Reichstag, Sticks is mesmerising the crowds

169. Before becoming Gav's next victim

170. ChChFCOBTC preparing to do their bit

171. Well, the German Parliament has never witnessed anything like this

172. Heroic... tramps

173. Surrounded by pink in the curry house

174. Whilst Dan meets a family member

175. And the travel team sign the flag

176. After whuch Dubbs pulls a lascar face

177. Alphabet for total mongs

178. In Tacheles Sash really got the impression he was being followed

179. Signs everywhere

180. PC World (circa 1987)

181. ChChFCOBTC in PC World (circa 1987)

182. The mouse moves on

183. A corridor in Tacheles

184. A random staircase in Tacheles. Those lads either side are definitely not ours

185. And another reminder of the score...

186.... Dan's favourite pastime...

187... and who our groundsman is.

188. 30 Apr 2007. ChChFCOBTC flagging perhaps

189. Seriously not

190. Really awake

191. Causing chaos

192. Meeting short people

193. and Lithuanian females...

194... whilst being wedgied by your dad

195. And being peeped upon

196. But still wanting more

197. A tragedy strikes

198. Despair and death

199. ChChFCOBTC Homs

200. A pariah with a shirt

201. How shirts should be worn

202. More from the homs

203. You might think it's s*** but it's...

204... PIKAO!

205. Hey, kids, listen to Uncle Nick, a'right!

206. Beautiful!

207. The 6.30 am survivors' photo in Reevo's flat that Pikey seems to have made via a mental institution

208. Reichstag. 8.50 am. These people are NAILS. (Phil did cheat, though)

209. Reichstag. 8.55 am. Pile-on

210. Reichstag. 9 am. A Federal offence being committed

211. Outside the Reichstag. 9.15 am. These people are murked

212. Foster's dome on the Reichstag

213. Looking West

214. Looking East

215. And towards Potsdamer Platz

216. Sash and Reevo on their last legs

217. Pikey and Reevo on the floor

218. Alexanderplatz

219. War damage on the buildings opposite the Pergamon Museum

220. Another triumphant voyage to the Continent

221. Sums up the mental age of the participants by the end of the trip