FC Nürnberg Experience

 My birthday gift to Jared were tickets to a soccer game for his favorite team.  It is FC Nürnberg. He has loved this team since he can remember.  I have not got to a game with him yet and we wanted to do this together before we move.

There you can see the team hat his kids gave him.  The funny thing is that I told Anne and Alicia  what their gift was for their daddy.  I made sure they knew it was a surprise.  Jared was quizing them on what his gift was...really being cruel and trying to trick them.  At first they were really good about not saying anything.  Then Anne thought she would be funny and tell him.  Not so funny!! She got a dirty look from me. 

I was keeping my gift as a surpise for the actual day of the game, but he figured it out, so I just gave him the tickets with the other gifts.  I couldn't a good picture of the cake, but it was red and white themed to cooridinate with the team colors...I realized this as I was making it.

We were going to eat at one of our favorite restaraunts in Nürnberg, it was so packed we went to the next best thing.  We took the public transportation to get to the stadium, because our tickets also covered this.  I knew people loved this team, but it was fun to see how much and to get into the spirit of it. First we stopped at the fan store and had fun looking around.

 Just some shots during the game.  I love this one,  They bring tons of huge flags onto the field.  This one has the crest of Nürnberg city.  That bight stuff in the back is actually them watering the field.  I had no idea that was done before soccer games.  Apparently it makes the ball move faster.

You can barely see it ,but those are red and yellow flags that have the symbol for the team's club on it.  They all sit in one area.  There are people who stand on platforms and lead them in chants and cheers.  No one sits. Jared likes getting tickets in this section, but he knew I wouldn't do that, so we got nice seats to rest our tushies. 

You see that scarf that the man is holding up. This is a major thing in soccer and has carried over into all European sports. They have the team name and logo on it in differing styles.  They hold them up during the team anthem and wave them around when they make a goal.  Jared informed that you can actually get 15 all over your body.  They even wrap them around their wrists.  I got my first one!!!  When we move to Utah in the spring I am going to get them framed. We now have almost 10.

 I have no idea why they were waving the Confederate Flag.

 The team came out and were warming up right in front of us. It was interesting to see the things they do to warm up. They must be very confident men to be able to do that in front of hundreds of fans.

This kind of gives you a feel for how the fans dress up. He has a hat, 4 scarfs and a jersey on, all from the team.  We lost the game, but only because the ref was biased and made several bad calls.  The fans were not happy.  When the refs ran inside at the end of the game, they had to use umbrellas when they walked past the fans, because of the beer being thrown at them.

Even though they lost we had a great time.  On the way to and from the stadium we got to and in 1st class, because the train was so packed with fans.  I am glad we did that rather than taking our car.  It would have taken us for ever to get home.

Happy Birthday, my wonderful man!!!!!