The 2014 World Cup and Germany’s great showing so far have brought out the question by some travelers if the Fan Mile will disrupt the tour route, or if tours are perhaps even cancelled. Not to fear!
Indeed, the Fan Mile with its numerous giant screens by the Brandenburg Gate and along Strasse des 17. Juni are designed to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. However, we learned how to navigate the city during what was surely one of the most disruptive times for normal traffic: The World Cup in 2006. Germany hosted the event then and many big games, including the Final, were in Berlin. All of the Tiergarten Park was off limits, as was the Platz der Republic lawn in front of the Reichstag. If we could pull off doing tours during that level of controlled chaos, then this World Cup elimination round will be easy.
Should Germany win and have the anticipated celebratory parade, here too we will find a work-around. Many of our customers relish taking part during such events because it adds such a distinct and acutely local flavor to the tour. Any delay or rerouting is surely outweighed by the benefits. Plus, it’s our job to take care of the logistics and if things go as planned you won’t even noticed that perhaps we took a side street extra or two to get to various sites.
So come live it up! Celebrate the World Cup and see how seriously the Germans take their football (ahh, soccer, for some of you).
