We were at the World Cup stadium in Gelsenkirchen for the soccer game United States vs. Czech Republic. Before all the people were seeping in, I snuck through security into the high-priced section to take a picture of the "FC Schalke 04" slogan that is embedded into the seats.

This is a view of the Fanfest in Leipzig during the World Cup. Every city that hosted World Cup games also had a place for all fans to watch the games for free and, of course, celebrate. The fanfest in Leipzig was on the Augustusplatz, right infront of the opera house, which you can see in the background. The game that is on at the time of the picture being taken is Spain vs. Sweden, which was played in Leipzig.

These were my companions for the game: Jamie, Silvio, and Mike from behind (and from the left). Jamie and Mike are big fans of DaMarcus Beasley as you can see. Mike was the one, who got us the tickets for the World Cup game through the US Soccer Federation. Thanks! :-)

Silvio and I infront of the soccer stadium in Gelsenkirchen, the famous Arena auf Schalke.

For a party later on during the World Cup, I dug out the little German flags to decorate these melon balls. The flags were actually leftovers from the European Soccer Cup two years before...hey, who said keeping stuff doesn't pay off! ;-)