Outing to see a World Cup game televised in a Mini Stadium
World cup fever. Everyone here has it. Even I have picked up a case, although I'm usually relatively immune to sporting events. One evening Ulman Lindenberger, the director of the "Interactive Brains, Social Minds" project, treated a group of people from the MPI to tickets to see a World Cup game televised in a special mini stadium that was built just for these games.
We took the U-Bahn subway to Potsdammer Platz and exited to see that the fans were already gathering. If you can't guess, Sweden's colors are blue and gold. The police colors are white and green. While the doors to the paddy wagons remained open, I think it was more as a reminder than anything else
I mean, who wants to mess with the German Polizei? Looks dangerous to me.
Clearly people were here to have some fun. And to wear extremely silly hats.
On the way to the arena we passed by the Brandenburg Gate. So did people wearing Mexican flags.
The Brandenburg Gate was decked out in a giant TV screen where a large group of people were drinking beer and getting ready to watch the big match.
The Mini-Stadium was located on the Platz in front of the Reichstag. A festive mood was in the air with people chanting and singing.
The fans lined up to get into the area. Some of them appeared to be "Super Fans" with dyed hair, painted faces, and capes made from flags.
Finally we were at the arena. It was hung with cloth painted to look like stone. Quite impressive for something that only will be used for a few weeks.
The crowd included some famous psychologists: Fredda Blanchard Fields was just named editor of Psychology and Aging this week.
Chris Hertzog was there, doing his impression of a rock star.
And mathematical psychologist Timo von Oertzen was there as our MPI guide.
Inside the stadium was pandemonium. People dancing, singing, shouting and whistling through the night.
Oh, and there was some pretty good soccer too.
On the way back, we walked north to the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof, the central train station that just opened a few weeks ago. It was lit up with spotlights into the night air so you could see which way to walk from miles away.
This station is just huge. But it sure is beautiful at night.
The weary psychologists and many people wearing flags from all over the world head back home after seeing Sweden win in the closing minutes of the game.
|
(c) Copyright 2006
|
|
Hecho a mano en ciberespacio