One of my smaller design projects this week, an illustration and design for a book cover.
I was a bit chained to my virtual office this week, a large project approached crucial deadlines, other work had to be done as well, it was crunchtime. So I worked long days and nights, and much sleep was postponed.
But I managed to slip out for a 2nd-tier Bundesliga soccer game on Thursday evening. It was Hertha Berlin against my native town of Cologne. The game was hyped on the radio as a fun one with an old rivalry between the opponents.
The funniest thing was probably when a couple of guys from Cologne behind me in the food lineup at halftime debated whether they should stoop to ordering a “Boulette” (the Berlin word for “meatball”) when clearly the correct word should be “Frikadelle” (the Cologne word for the same).
Berlin soccer fan products are being sold as you’re getting off the subway.
The Berlin Olympic stadium. It’s an impressive building, even though it is infamous for the 1936 Olympics.
That’s the ticket! I had only ever attended one Bundesliga game, back when I lived in Germany as a child. So this was my second one. And the lineup was perfect for me: Berlin, my temporary home against my home town of Cologne.
The game ended in a 1:1 tie. That was not a bad result for Cologne. I recorded the singing of the Cologne fans on the S-train home.
I came for the game, …
… but I stayed for the fans. This is the Hertha Berlin curve.
This is the 1. FC Köln fan curve, a bit thinner than the home team. The noise from both sides was deafening at times.
