beer, brats, and bohemians

as the world cup drew down to it's final weekend of action, mfd decided to milk it for all it was worth. for the 3rd place match (germany v portugal), mfd decided to head out on the n train to astoria, queens to cheer on the deutschland football/soccer team in the largest beer garden/bier garten in the states. we had a grand old time and for a few minutes here and there we actually felt like we were back in the old country. the place was filled with german fans who were happily cheering in their mother tongue (thanks to lessons by our german hosts several weeks prior, we were able to cheer along!). we were delighted to learn that in addition to the great atmosphere there was also a plethora of tasty european brews ready for our consumption. in particular, we enjoyed pilsner urquell and starapromen (both from the czech republic) in large old-world mugs, along with a few other libations with names so full of consonants no western tongue could manage to pronounce it. as is the case with a long day of watching football and drinking beer in the summer sun, food was a must...and did the bohemian beer hall ever deliver. orders of sausage and pierogi were plentiful and savory. as for the match, we were quite happy to see the host nation take a much deserved 3rd place in the wc. as we picked ourselves off the garden floor at the end of the game, a wave of sadness washed over us, as we realized that it was to be 4 more years before we would see a party of the magnitude of that which we had heartily enjoyed over the last month.