I think I may have had one or two (many) beers last night at Stuttgart

Well that was a fun 24 hours in Stuttgart. Starting and ending with the perfect timing of the DB (nope our old Dutch master hasn't got his own train company - mind you he should do with his fear of flying) train service from Basel. Can you imagine a UK train connection that allows a mere 8 minutes between train arrival & departure at the connecting station! Anyway I had a little wander around the town and can heartily recommend a visit there, particularly the Schlossgarten, a beautiful sight (& sights!) on a very sunny day.

I'd made contact with a Stuttgart fan, Oliver (the one to the left of me as you look), via good old AWIMB and after a few phone calls we met up next to the ground at the wonderful Polizeisportverein (PSV) where you can drink and get a wurst with major queues. When I arrived there was even a "veterans" game taking place on the sport club's pitch. As kick off approached we all went to the ground but, unfortunately, the away gate was a 500m detour around the houses and so I just made it in time.

As for the game itself, it wasn't too bad for a pre-season friendly and it was good to get a look at some new faces (Nasri, Vela, Wilshere etc) and some old ones (big wave to Adebayor who looked the worst of all our strikers last night but the others had more training and less talking to their agents). After a sluggish first half the game came to life after Stuttgart scored and taking into account the fact that the opposition had started competitive fixtures already (Intertoto, it was an impressive 3-1 win. At half time I even swapped shirts with a Stuttgart fan who was desperate to get one of old kits. In fact, I was amazed by the number of German gooners I met - every time I said hello to someone in an Arsenal shirt it was invariably a German accented response!

So, all in all, a truly great time was had by all. I suppose we should thank Mercedes Benz as it was their new sponsorship of the stadium (much to the disgust of some Stuttgart fans) that led to this fixture. Anyway off to watch the highlights from last night's German TV (SWR) and fingers crossed for Basel in the draw tomorrow (currently they are 1-1 after the away leg).