Germany here we come!

Well, about 38 hours until we hop on the plane for our World Cup adventure! I just realized that I've yet to post our tentative itinerary here so here goes: Thursday: leave STL, fly through Chicago to Paris. Friday, Saturday and Sunday: Paris. Sunday: train to Essen to see Cody's relatives. Monday: drive to Gelsenchirken with Cody's cousin (Patrick) to see USA v. Czech Republic that night, then drive to Berlin. Tuesday: Berlin - watch Brazil v. Crotia - train to Munich. Wednesday: Munich - watch Tunisa v. Saudi Arabia - train to Hamburg. Thursday: Hamburg - watch Costa Rico - train back to Berlin. Here's where it gets more speculative. The rest of the trip we're going to try to hit Berlin (again, because one day just isn't enough to see Berlin), then Krakow (Poland for those asleep during geography class) and Auschwitz, possible Prague and Vienna, then back to Munich (again, can't see this one in the one day we'll be there for the game) and Neuschwanstein (the castle Cinderella's castle at Disney was modeled after), then up the Rhine River to see the castles and wineries, only to arrive at Brussels to eat some chocolate and waffles and fly out. This WAS our plan until we realized that of the 18 countries on our Eurorail pass, Poland is not one of them. So it's stupid for us to pay to go there when there are 18 other countries we can travel by train to for FREE (well, not free but we already paid for them). So now we're back to square one - where to go in the eastern portion of Europe that will take our passes and still be cool? Humm.... Things to ponder on the plane ride over. Good thing no one we're going with is really up on the planning thing . . . .