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Paris et Les Invalides
I arrived from London at the Gare du Nord train station.
Stepping onto the pavement, my big backpack on my back, I found the streets around the station partially peopled by festive fans en route to...
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Zidane, Ribery, et le Trocadero at Midnight
"Welcome to Paris," cried Lourdes Gutierrez, throwing open the door. We had never met. Her accent was American; she had flowing brown hair and an enthusiastic smile. Her astonishing apartment opened u...
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Aller a Strasbourg
The next morning I had to hurry. I boarded a train to Strasbourg, a small French city near the German border. Sun and rain and lush lovely green countryside flowed by before my eyes. At the Strasbourg...
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The Autobahn and the Art of Happiness
A week went by and I crossed into Germany, stopping in Berlin and Nuremburg, traveling with Noémie, a social worker and party girl whom I'd met at Burningman 2004.
Noémie and I zippe...
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What Happened in Berlin
In Berlin, the heat was torrid, a mockery of itself. No one could move.
And yet in the middle of the sweltering afternoon, Noemie and I found thousands of Germans in the capital city's main park, t...
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My Birthday: Berlin in Summer
It was my birthday. 2006.
A ridiculously hot night.
The oppressive heat lasted well past the fall of darkness. Yet thousands upon thousands of Germans celebrated in the streets in the largest di...
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Back in the Thick of It: Ghana v USA
Before Berlin, Noemie and I had stopped in Nuremberg for what was to be the last World Cup 2006 soccer match for the country whose name I carry on my passport.
Dateline: Nurnberg.
June 22, 2006....
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Sam's Army, Cognitive Dissonance, and Facepaint
We discovered that our seats were smack in the center of the loudest, most colorful American fans. Stars and stripes surrounded us, choking us in lovely patriotic fervor. Shirts were printed red, face...
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Born in the USA
Of course much of me would prefer the Ghanas and Ecuadors and Irans of the world to win. The victims of imperialism instead of its perpetrators. It's the World Cup, the world's biggest event, and one ...
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"USA!" he yelled. "USA!"
It was noncontroversial between Noemie and me that the Ghanaian fans were cooler, more stylish, more interesting, more musical, and more attractive than the American fans. Who would argue? She had eve...
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And our best player left the field on a stretcher.
It was somewhere in between. The defense was playing well, and Claudio Reyna was again proving to be the best American player on the field. But something was still missing: the hunger we showed agains...
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We watched happily as the scores of passing Ghanaians celebrated with songs, chants, whistles, trumpets, and festive dance.
The second half held only disappointment. Exclusive contracts were to be the only American triumph in this World Cup. The Americans showed great heart and came close to tying the match several times: ...
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