"The World Cup" a Germany Travel Page by SharrieShaw

Aug. 27, 2006.

It seems so long ago.
Early June I arrived in Berlin.

One of my saddest trips. Here in Berlin I found out a dear VT friend of mine, Armando from Sintra, passed away through an email from another VTer. It was a shock for me when I read that email on June 2. A stupid accident at work I was told. Armando was such a sweet & funny guy. He was the best VT host I've ever met with, one who took the pain of sending me off to the airport even when he was living in another city, about an hour from Lisbon. & he did show me a great deal of Portugal when I was there. When we parted, we even planned to meet up in China or Japan one day. Little did I know that would be the first & last time I'd see him again. I feel really sad even as I wrote this. That had to be the saddest time I've ever been on a trip. The month before, another new colleague of mine (29 years old) died at work. Though I've never met him in person, it was a shock to know people who literally worked at the same place could be gone the next day. Last week, another colleague (50 or so) passed away during the weekend. He died of heart attack. There had been many deaths since April this year. A very good natured client of mine died too while playing football in New Zealand. He lived there & was only around 40 years old! Again, heart attack.

Football - I didn't come to Germany for football though it was the World Cup Season. Italy won the final in Berlin. I planned the trip before I even knew there's going to be football playoffs! Well, I'm not a football fan. But boy, were they plenty of men around Germany last June. It was quite a spectacle to see them all excited & in high spirit. Unfortunately, that didn't lift up my spirit at all! I went about visiting the "sights" but my spirit simply wasn't there to enjoy whatever this marvelous city has to offer. Berlin is a great city; very unique & very vibrant in its own way.

This recent trip to Germany was a memorable one. Very peculiar for personal reasons. It's definitely a trip I'd remember for a long time to come.
Had circumstances been different, I'd have enjoyed my time here a lot more! Still, I hope I'll return soon in the future, with a loved one :) That might be the only way to take away the 'gloom' associated with my last trip!