We stayed in Nuremberg for another couple of nights after the T&T game, relaxing in the sun, and watching some of the games. On Saturday Nuremberg was taken over by Croatian and Japanese fans prior to their game on Sunday. Sunday we headed up towards Cologne and stopped in Heidelberg for the night, where we watched the Brazil game with lots of Aussies and Americans, boy they talk a load of garbage when it comes to football. On route to Cologne we drove past the Brazil team coach, unfortunetly it was empty. Of course we continued to see masses of england fans on the roads all heading up to Cologne for the final group game. Monday we arrived late afternoon into Cologne and headed straight into the centre for a drink, and the whole city was overrun with england fans. We sat in a street full of bars, any none english fans walking past got plenty of banter and songs. My favourite been "If it wasnt for the english you'd be krouts" directed at some french fans. There also seemed to be lots of Sheffield fans here for this game. We met up with some friends of Dave & Jills, and Dave & Pat from Craigs work. Cologne has a huge cathedral in the centre, however the rest of the city is just bars and shops, not as picturesque as Nuremberg. Tuesday we got the river taxi down the rhine to the centre, with our flag waving in the wind. Along the banks of the river, hundreds of make shift camp sites had been set up for the english. We spent the day wandering round the various squares, getting our sun freebies, and mixing with lots of fans from various other countries. Unfortunetly we weren't able to buy any tickets for the sweden game, cheapest we got quoted was 800euros a ticket! So we headed to the england fan fest that had been set up at the side of the river. 3 fan fests were set up in the centre but could only hold 7000fans each, so they had to set up this additional one for the english which held 30,000. We chilled out before the game in the heat, and then the atmosphere started to build, lots of singing, and some fans wearing bizarre outfits. We manged to get near the front of one of the big screens so I could see. Kick off, once again not an amazing first half display, but a quality goal from Joe Cole. The celebrations for the goal were spot on, a flare was unleashed right behind us, so we got to go mad european style, although Craigs england shirt is now sporting lots of burn holes! Half time the fun continued with music and peter crouch style dancing. Second half, oh no what had Sven said to the players, 1-1, and hanging on. Very nervous, and disappointing performance. Then against all odds up steps Gerrard with what we think is the winner, and time for another flare, and everyone to go mental, pints of beer(hopefully) getting chucked into the air. Then time for some comical defending, and final score 2-2. Probably a fairer result to them, however the poor display didnt damper spirits too much and the party continued long after the whistle. Once again the england fans did us proud, lots of fun, and quality support, and no trouble in sight. We were one of the last to leave the fan park about 1am. We've had a fantastic 2 weeks, we wish we could stay on longer, but dont think the bank manager would approve that. Big thankyou to Dave & Jill for letting us tag along with them and doing all the driving. A wonderful end to a wonderful year, fantastic, amazing, dream come true etc, it really has been emotional.