Happy Birthday to Me!

In preparation of the big birthday, I spent quite some time on Wednesday plucking all the gray hairs off of my head, so that I could wake up on Thursday feeling not a day over 29! Chris and I headed for a birthday treat at our favorite coffee place, Kaffeebaum, where we got to see the owner for a first time in months (since she no longer works on weekends, when we usually go).

Charged with some delicious coffee and chocolate, I was ready to take on some birthday shopping. We figured Schildergasse wouldn't be that crowded as it was a Thursday, but boy were we wrong. It must have been high school trip season to Köln and most of the kids had moved from the Dom to the shopping. I had my heart seat on buying myself something from Forever 18, it just seemed too perfect of an opportunity to miss. I only could find one contender, and in the end I didn't think I had the guts to wear it if I bought it - it was a black t-shirt with pink lettering outlined in silver sparkles that said "I'm Germany's Next Top Model" (sadly the Forever 18 online shop doesn't have a picture of it).

Later that evening we had a great seafood dinner across the river. We were both excited for some ever so missed seafood, but were trying not to set our expectations as high as any one of your standard Seattle seafood joints. As expected the restaurant was very quiet since the Germany-Portugal Quarter Finals started at 8:45 pm. Chris often gives me a hard time about every picture of me looking the same. I think this one from after dinner is vastly different than the one from coffee earlier in the day.
The football match was starting just as we finished dinner. By the time we got to Neumarkt, we realized that our tram home was not running, since the Polizei had closed Zülpicherstrasse to cars and trams. Walking down the street, we caught the second half of the game, since every bar/restaurant/kiosk-front had tvs inside, as well as tvs facing the street, and the crowds spilled out from the bars. To our surprise Germany was actually winning 2-1. By the time we reached the pub on our corner, Germany was ahead 3-1, though in the moments we looked down to find money for drinks, Portugal managed to get another goal. But that was the last one, Germany advanced to the Semi-Finals, and the city went crazy!