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After months of preparation, I’ve finally made it to Berlin.

Note: There are pictures beneath this post.

Here’s what has gone on since I last checked in:

We pulled out of our hotel in Tampa at 7:30 Monday morning for our five-hour bus ride to Miami. There’s nothing like a little pre-trip trip to get things started off on the right foot. Or not.

About 20 minutes down the road, our coach gets a call. The bus had left one of our players at the hotel. Or, more accurately, one of the players failed to catch the bus before it left. Coach, being an old-school guy, said, “Keep driving. Screw him.” Fortunately for this player, he was able to catch a flight from Tampa to Miami and actually beat us to the Miami airport.

So we pull into the Miami airport at about 12:30, got checked in by 1:00, and waited. We like to be early. Our flight wasn’t supposed to board until 3:40. And it certainly didn’t.

In the first 30 minutes of those three hours, I blew the $15 per diem I got for the day. Airport food is expensive, everyone. That money didn’t go far at all. Of course, the $4 that went to gum and a king size Snickers was probably not the most economic route. But I digress.

By the time our flight boarded, I was well over halfway done with The Perks of being a Wallflower (thanks, Caitlin). So the long hours were good for reading at least.

Our jet was easily the largest one I’ve ever flown on. It had the upstairs first class penthouse. Needless to say, I didn’t catch a sniff of that. I did have an aisle seat, though. And they served free drinks. After a glass of wine, a Sprite & vodka, a bit of Bailey’s and a Warsteiner, I thought I’d go right to sleep. I was sorely mistaken. I rested my eyes a bit through Walk the Line, but never really slept. When the second movie came on, I dozed off and on throughout until our quarterback, Lang (pictured below), walked by and kicked my foot. On purpose. Bastard.

When I woke up, I got started on A Generous Orthodoxy—no small accomplishment given the fact that it was 5 a.m. and my body was telling me it was 11 p.m. and I was all kinds of confused. Our flight touched down in Frankfurt at about 6:30 a.m. local time. We had a layover, so Rich (also pictured below) and I went wandering around the airport to stretch our legs. We were fascinated by the bicycles careening up and down the terminal and the smoking stations near some of the gates. I’m not sure if that’s actually interesting or it just was to us because we were just really tired.

So our final flight took off about 9:15 and we were in Berlin by 10:30 or 11:00. The team was greeted by throngs of fans… or at least dozens of fans… OK, it was about 10 or 11 fans. Some local media and team cheerleaders were there, too.

After dropping our luggage and grabbing a bite at the hotel, we were off for our day tour. Basically, our Marriott here in Germany can best be compared to a Motel 6 back home.

Anyways, we first stopped at the team’s facilities. It was quite different than the Browns, for those of you who visited me there. It’s an old brick building with the offices on the right portion and a locker room and trainer’s room on the left. The “gym” is three rooms in the basement with weights and cardio equipment crammed in. The best part is the dank concrete stairwell that leads to the basement.

What’s lacking in the daily facilities, though, is more than made up for by the stadium. Olympic Stadium is easily the most impressive athletic facility I’ve ever seen. Of course, its history is fantastic as well. Olympiastadion, as it is called here, was originally constructed for the 1936 Summer Games under Hitler’s watch. Of course, Jesse Owens won four gold medals in track events at those Olympics, throwing a bit of a wrench into the Third Reich’s whole white superiority deal. The torch from those Olympics still sits in one end.

In addition, the stadium has had a ton of improvements recently looking ahead to this summer’s World Cup. It will host several matches, including the final. Like I said, it’s fantastic.

After that, we went on a bus tour of the city. We stopped at Brandenburg Gate and took photos and such. Some local media was there, so they got to take pictures and have some interviews.

After that, we drove around for what felt like forever. Honestly, I love seeing all this stuff, but none of us could keep our eyes open. The first time I saw the Berlin Wall, I was half asleep, but was awakened by hearing the tour guide say “Berlin Wall” somewhere in her ramblings. I stayed awake to catch a couple blocks worth of it.

Next, we stopped at Checkpoint Charlie. I got out just to wake up in the cold. It worked, and the site was pretty interesting, too.

Then we went somewhere very exotic for dinner: Hard Rock Café. What a cultural experience.

I was in bed by 9:00 and slept hard all night. I’ve had to keep myself from taking a nap all day today so as not to throw off my sleeping pattern.

I didn’t do much but go out to a store for a bit. Highly exciting, I know. I’ll get to bed soon and hopefully will be back on some sort of regular schedule.

Peace.