World Cup Final – 13 th of july 2014 – Maracana Stadium

Yes we have been in the stadium, yes we have seen the German national team win the World Championship, yes it was amazing, awesome or what ever other superlative you could possibly think of! But lets start at the beginning…

Besides Neymar every single Brazilian was cheering for Germany before the game. Brazilians were even more friendly than they have been the last days (as far as that’s possible). But there have also been way above 100.000 Argentinians reported by officials in Rio de Janeiro at the day of the finals. They were everywhere and not all of them have been friendly towards Brazilians 😉 Most of the German fans met up at the northern end of Copacabana. From there we walked together to the next metro station, taking the train to the stadium. The atmosphere on the way and in the stadium was amazing. I guess everyone has seen the game itself, so no words will be lost about the ref, two yellow cards in the first half, off-side goals and so on. Lets put it that way: we nearly died 😛

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Making friends with some agentinianIMG_20140713_140042IMG_2188 IMG_20140713_142701

Meeting with with my colleague Maik IMG_20140713_151806 IMG_20140713_184413

Long after the gameIMG_20140713_194955

There is nothing more to say…IMG_20140713_194427

Rio de Janeiro

Rio, where should we start? It’s a fantastic city with the most spectacular settings we have ever seen! The people are among the most friendly we have met so far, its flanked by gorgeous mountains, white-sandy beaches and forests. We stayed 250 m from the Copacabana close to Ipanema. The city itself is very green. The world-famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanama are truly amazing and the scenic outlooks of Corcovado and Pão de Açúcar are breathtaking (two posts will follow the next two days :).

Morning sun at the CopacabanaP7150114 P7150118 P7150119

Rio is soccer!IMG_20140711_143133

Ipanema BeachIMG_20140711_144308 IMG_20140711_151638

A street in Hamburg? Nope… its Rio! IMG_20140712_162321

Nice view of Rio: Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon IMG_20140712_163247

A night out with Helena (she saved our lifes by guiding us to the supermarket) IMG_20140711_224555

Baule in his chair/bed in our cozy apartment 😉IMG_20140710_134428

The world famous AusländerIMG_20140711_172301

Party at Playa del Carmen

What is there to say about Playa del Carmen? Lust and vice everywhere! I guess god turned his back on this place – luckily he did: the parties are amazing!

CocoBongo is one of the most famous clubs in the area and we got to found out why. Besides the fact that you get all drinks for free they have a fantastic show which starts at 11 pm and goes onto the early morning. Well I guess that’s what you get for 70 USD p.P. (+ 30 USD p.P. for a table 😉

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Whhaaaa how is that guy?! IMG_3967

Ohhh its me “Rob” 😉 IMG_3961

A great show with flying acrobats, ballons, confetti and much more…IMG_3960 IMG_3953

Whats Mallorca for germans its Playa del Carmen for americans IMG_20140705_124249IMG_20140705_121900 IMG_20140705_124628

Snorkling with Whale-Sharks

On my bucket-list: snorkeling with whale-sharks Whales-sharks are a slow-moving filter feeding sharks and the largest known fish species (yes the largest! They can grow up to over 14 m (46 ft) with a weight of around 30 tons!). They have  a lifespan of about 70 years and they feed mainly on plankton. But enough facts for now. After a one hour boat ride from Cancun we spotted the first whale-shark. Suddenly our guide told us to jump in the water and within seconds we and Dina were swimming towards something we only new from documentaries. Directly 2 meters in front of us the whale shark mouth appeared and scared us to death – those animals are massive! We swam next to it for a while before it disappeared in the widths of the ocean. Two more times we got the opportunity to snorkel with whale-sharks before we left the area heading of for a lunch stop at “Isla de Mujeres” where we enjoyed lunch in the fantastic water. P7040339P7040340

IMG_2067Niels and Diena liked it 😉IMG_5359Lunchbreak at Isla Mujeres IMG_2109