Girl's 94 Ohio South ODP - trip to Germany

How best to read this blog

2009-04-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

This blog goes in chronological order. You can go to the bottom and click on "older posts" to keep going through the blog or you can click on "2009" on the right column and the whole blog will load up with the first entry at the bottom. Therefore it is meant to be read from the bottom up.

Additional pictures can be found here from my pics.

Read German Article (with picture of Claire Albertz) from Bad Neuenahr game from Bad Neuenahr website here.

Lots of pictures from game with Fortuna Dilkrath on their website here.

Last Dinner

2009-04-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

A last dinner at a restaurant at the Deutsches Eck. One last taste of Schnitzel before we went home.

Adults just want to have fun

2009-04-07T06:46:00.001-07:00

Not sure if I can tell you why one of the boy's coaches (Jeff) and one of the boy's parents were photographed getting out of Polizei vehicle but....... well ok they just got lost when we switched the meeting place, nothing too risque.

Frankfurt v Cottbus Bundesliga game

2009-04-07T06:43:00.001-07:00

Our last excursion was to see a Bundesliga game. We were all impressed with the fan participation - they had their own Dog Pound.

Frankfurt

2009-04-07T06:40:00.001-07:00

Various architecture in Frankfurt. The hole in the wall building can be seen in the background left of the sight seeing bikes. The hole in the wall building and the pruned trees make for an interesting picture.

Off to the big city - Franfurt

2009-04-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

This was NOT the Hotel we stayed at

Game Time vs Bad Neuenahr

2009-04-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Bad Neuenahr has a team in the women's Bundesliga and is an all female club. Here is a picture of the field we played on, the same one as the Bundesliga team plays on. We were up 2-0 at the half but let them tie it up in the 2nd half 2-2. These were the only goals scored on the defense the whole trip! Afterwards we had a dinner in their clubhouse with the other team - the food was delicious (lasagna) and some creme dessert with raspberry sauce on top (I had two large helpings).

Berlin Wall at Deutsches Eck

2009-04-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

Some pieces of the Berlin Wall displayed at Deutsches Eck

Deutsches Eck

2009-04-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

Where the Mosel(left) runs into the Rhein

Marksburg Castle

2009-04-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Friday we went to Marksburg Castle, this was amazing and too many pictures to post here. I will put them on photobucket or picassa and put the link in here

Then we went to the Deutsches Eck which means German corner. This is where the Mosel from France runs into the Rhein. A lot of great pics from here too.

Then on to the girl's game where we played a club that is female only and they have a team in the women's Bundesliga. We played in the same stadium that they do and ended up tying 2-2 after a 2-0 halftime lead. A great dinner followed in the club house.

Transfer day

2009-04-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a busy day as we moved out of our hotel in Straelen and we moved to Koblenz. Along the way we stopped at a service area and most ate Burger King while some others got local fair - schnitzel again, yeah! We got to the hotel and unpacked and then went to the boys game where they won 2-0 on a clay field. Afterwards we went to a local farm restaurant where the boys and girls ate with the local team's boys. The girls stole the show and had a great time with the German boys. We left too soon and the boys wanted to come see the girls at their game on Friday. Don't worry there was plenty of supervision.

Gametime

2009-04-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

We then travelled to Borussia Mochengladbach's youth fields to play their U15 team. They had a few 93's as well as 95's on the team and the game was very physical with a lot of slide tackling. OS prevailed 2-0, not scoring until the 2nd half. Afterwards we were treated to wursts with brotchen, a drink and salad by the host club. The boys played first followed by the girls so this was the first time we were able to watch each other's games. The families pay about 30 euros per year to be on the team, this is about $40.

Borussia Monchengladbach

2009-04-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

We were extremely fortunate to get a tour of Borussia Monchengladbach's stadium. They play in the 1st Division of the Bundesliga. On display were their UEFA cup, Bundesliga Championship and another trophies.

Venlo

2009-04-01T22:47:00.001-07:00

Venlo - Odd Church

2009-04-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

This church had been turned into a clothing store of some sort. Did not venture in as the crown of thorns on the skull was enough.

Venlo

2009-04-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

Some real food - McDonald's, good thing we don't have a game today so we can have some McNuggets. Oh we do have a game.

Sightseeing in Venlo

2009-04-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning we had a light training session in Straelen and then headed to Venlo, just over the border in Holland. There was a small outdoor market and lots of shops.

Amsterdam

2009-04-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Amsterdam next and everyone went to Ann Frank's house and toured the house, very humbling and no pictures were allowed although some got the outside.

We then were on our own visiting all the little shops and staring at all the odd people. We met up, and then took a boat tour. Sorry for all the building pictures.

Rembrandt's windmill

2009-04-01T00:32:00.000-07:00

Down the road from the Cheese Farm was the windmill that Rembrandt made famous in many paintings. There was a statue of him erected there that the kids posed with as well.

How the wooden shoes are made

2009-04-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

The owner put on quite a show, making a shoe from a block of poplar.

How cheese is made

2009-04-01T00:18:00.001-07:00

This is the vat that the cheese is made in.

Off to Holland

2009-04-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

We went to Holland (Netherlands) on Tuesday. We stopped outside Amsterdam at a cheese making farm. They also make clogs there as well, one of only 4 makers of hand made wooden shoes. The owner put on a great demonstration on how cheese was made and also how they make the shoes. Above is one of the 100 year old copying machines used in producing the shoes.

2nd Game vs Fortuna Dilkrath

2009-03-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Some of the girls were a bit bigger than ours.

After the bike ride we travelled to Venlo to play a local club. They were very hospitable and after the game we went into their club house for a drink (soda for the girls). They had a regional keeper in goal. This team was much better than the previous one but we still won 6-0. We all had a great time. I will add action pics when some of the parents send them to me as I just watched the match and my camera is not good at capturing action shots.

Bike ride

2009-03-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

After training we picked up the parents and we went to Holland (Netherlands) and went to a park where we rode bikes around. This is the largest park in Holland and was a game preserve for a very rich man (fill in his name later, there is a picture of his hunting lodge. At the top is the visitors lodge where we had lunch. It has a thatch roof.

Roomates

2009-03-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

I know you want to see all the beautiful pictures of the fields etc. but also your children too. So here are pictures of the girls with who they are rooming with in Straelen. This will change a bit when we go to Koblenz. Some are in 2 to a room and some are in 2 floor suites with 4 to a room.

Training at the Straelen club

2009-03-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

After breakfast we went from 9-10 to train at the host club.

Off to training

2009-03-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Sitting at the back lobby of the hotel, getting ready to go to the fields to train.

Hotel view

2009-03-30T21:28:00.001-07:00

The view from my hotel window

GameTime vs Straelen

2009-03-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some team pics. Unfortunately I had to ref the game so no pictures from that. The girls were up big at half so everyone was switched around. They played a U17 team but they were definitely not near in competition. When the Straelen team arrived all the girls were talking about how big they they were but once the game started they forgot about that and we were actually the more physical team. After the game the girls went to different players houses and had lunch with them and then attended the men's game in the afternoon. There were a varied number of experinces that the girls came back with.

The first picture is in their locker room prior to the game. Others will be emailing me with game pics and I will add them to the site.

Along the Rhine

2009-03-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

After Rudesheim, we travelled along the Rhine River on our way to Straelen. There were many castles up on the sides of the river bank. It was raining so not very conducive to good photography from inside the bus travelling.

Rudesheim

2009-03-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

The girls went out and about in Rudesheim. There were a lot of little shops. Here are a couple of pics from the town.

We arrived!

2009-03-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Germany with no problems! Flight was fine with plenty to eat and 2 movies. Some of the girls did not sleep at all - just too excited. Here is a picture of the girls when we got off the bus in Rudesheim for a bit of sight-seeing.