Europe's largest terrace: 2-5 May 2008

FRIDAY MAY 2ND: BORUSSIA DORTMUND V 1.FC NURNBERG

The fifth, and final overseas trip of the 2007-08 season promised to be the best of the lot. Our trio of games included a visit to one of Europe's largest grounds, a Westphalia derby and another visit to the Tivoli.

Different places maybe, but there was the usual early alarm call. Just in case one clock broke I set three.

Most of our group had chosen to fly over, but Olly and myself went by Eurostar. I'd booked the first train from London, which meant catching the night bus into town.

St.Pancras terminal had been upgraded since we were last here, with the introduction of big screens with Google Earth on. We had a look at where we we heading:

Dortmund (the Westfalenstadion is in the top left corner):

Bielefeld, pretty nondescript:

Aachen:

For good measure we found the Underhill Stadium too!

Soon enough our we were ready to go.

A couple of hours later we hit Brussels. The graffiti on the trains was quite artistic. Talking of art, someone had just left a painting on the platform.



But we hadn't come to admire the art. We stocked up on the usual range of fruity beers for the journey ahead.

At Welkenraedt, we had a half hour wait so we found a bar near the station, before heading onto Germany.






This was my fourth time staying in Bochum, and once again I stayed in a different place. Again, the hotel was very good. Here we met up with Pete, Carpy, John & (for the first time) Hayley.

After a quick shower it was back to the Hauptbahnhof. Alex joined us for the short trip to Dortmund for our first game. Carpy & Pete got some beer while John & Hayley went to Mr Clou.

Soon enough, we arrived in Dortmund. We got there in good time so had a bit of a look around.

We hadn't as such got tickets for this game. After major amounts of effort, involving special deliveries which didn't deliver, I arranged to meet a fan rep by the entrance. We asked around and waited, and waited...

As time ticked on and we were sent from pillar to post as the realisation dawned that we might not get in. Finally, at 8.15, we managed to track down the tickets and took our places in the ground.

I am not sure if the Sudtribune, Dortmund, is one of the seven wonders of the world, but if it isn't then the others must be pretty special. With room for 24,454 people, it is the largest standing tribune in the world.





Before the game, the pitch was covered with people waving big flags.










The half-time 'entertainment' was a bit surreal.

The 3,000 or so Nurberg supporters were some of the most vocal I have seen in Germany, with both excellent voice and variety in their singing. With the team in the bottom three, they really needed a result but despite dominating the game had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

A trip to Dortmund is certainly an amazing experience. Despite both teams being in the bottom half of the table and the game being televised, more than 70,000 people turned up. There can't be many clubs where so many people would turn up to watch such a poor team.

SATURDAY MAY 3RD: ARMINIA BIELEFELD v VFL BOCHUM

Saturday was derby day. The posters around town advertised the clash with Schalke, but we were headed to Ostwestphalia to see if Bochum could strike a dagger into Bielefeld's survival hopes.

The trip from Bochum to Bielefeld is one that takes you from the industrial heart of Germany to the rural hinterlands. On our way to the station, we passed this mine.

There, we met up with the Bochum crew and stocked up with a few beers for the journey ahead.

It had been designated crazy bottles day. You can't get much crazier than Beer and Cola.

Or so you would think. Anyone for washing up liquid? Actually it wasn't, but the replacement was just as nasty.

Look at John's face.

Arrival at Bielefeld Hbf.

The local police provided us with an escort to the stadium. It was all a bit pointless really but they like to show their might.

On the approach to the ground, it was easy to see why it is nicknamed 'The Farm'.

This time we didn't have to wait 1.5 hours for our tickets, but still needed to walk all the way around the stadium to pick them up.

The Almstadion has undergone something of a transformation recently, with the building of a new double decker stand. Almost as an afterthought, a small visitor terrace had been tacked alongside. It can be be seen here on the left side.

The stadium had plenty of character:

The Azzurro made their mark

Views from the stadium:

Krombacher, makers of probably the best beer advert in the world, are the club sponsors of Arminia Bielefeld. Rather disappointingly though, this had been designated a no beer game so it wasn't possible to tell if die Perle der Natur was the best tasting. So I had to make to with Fanta.

The mascot

There was good support both from Bielefeld:

And Bochum:

Sektion Polizei

Some cheer was provided when Schalke went behind.

Alas, Bochum played poorly and went down 2-0, a result that helped propel Arminia to safety on the last day.

And so we headed back to the station, this time without the march. We stopped by en route and bought some bottles for 35cents.

The train back was a special one for the football so once we got moving we were back in Bochum fairly swiftly.

Back in Bochum, we found some light entertainment in town before heading back to the hotel for dinner.

We are obviously getting more civilised having progressed beyond Mr Clou to eating with a knife and fork.

SUNDAY MAY 4TH: AACHEN v AUGSBURG

One of the disadvantages, it seems, of taking the Eurostar is the need to always track back to Brussels. And so it was that as the flyers headed south to Offenbach, myself and Olly went to Aachen, which was on the way. The train took the usual and now familiar route past Cologne, with its giant Catherdral.

Every trip to Aachen inevitably ends up in the sun at Konig City. This one was no different.

Despite having been to Aachen several times, I still managed to get us lost. Never mind, we saw the amazing folding scuplute which this time was open.

And so to the Tivoli for my final game of the season against Augsburg. This time there were no ticket worries so we took our places on the Wurselener Wall. It was hot. Very.

Aachen ran out 3-0 winners, whilst at the same time Offenbach crashed 1-7 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach. Without a roof on the terrace, we got ever more sunburnt making this one of the most uncomfortable games I've ever been to.

It was with some relief then that we headed back to the station and caught the train onto Brussels, via Liege.

At Liege, we found some more fruity beer and soon enough were back in the Belgian capital.

In Brussels, we had the usual indulgences of waffles and beer, before heading back to the hotel, where Olly managed to pull down the shower rail.

Monday 5th May 2008 - Brussels to London

As usual, it was an early morning start as we walked down to the Gare du Midi. We didn't pass any tramps on the way, which is quite unusual for Brussels. Soon enough, we were back in London for the end of not only the trip, but the season.

This said, the after effects of the sunburn lived on for days.