Elsterbecken

RB Leipzig!

Since the World Cup, the boys have been pretty obsessed with football. A premier match in Europe was a must. To afford tickets to a Chelsea game in London would have required us selling one of the boys, so the Bundesliga was a great option.

We managed to get some great tickets to a match in Leipzig, which is about an hours' train ride from Berlin. The atmosphere as you walk from the train station to any sporting event is exciting, and this was no exception.

Jack's spending money was burning a hole in his pocket, and he knew from the outset that his adopted team, RBL would be one place he'd spend it. A quick stop at the merchandise store and we looked like we'd be RBL fans for life. We then made our way into the 50,000 seat stadium and soaked up the chants, songs and pre-game hype.

The game, while high quality and exciting, did not go as planned for the home side. Mainz, the visiting underdog, got the job done with a goal in the first half, and two more by full time. A 3-0 defeat was not ideal, but the experience for the Bilkeys was fantastic. As always, purely for research, we needed to test out the food and beverage offerings and were not disappointed. The Wurst hotdogs were the best, and the beers were excellent. I needed a few to make sure. I can now confidently order 1, 2 or 3 of something from a menu. As I don't know the numbers 4, 5 or 6, it forces us to diversify in what we order...

On our walk back to the train station, Fred was pretty pleased to see that Germany accommodates for Fred sized people with their own doors. Either that or there are elves living in many of the buildings.

After a long day, the train ride home was pretty quiet, and as I'm sure we'll discover more and more, anywhere is a good place to have a nap.Read more