Friday Night Luces

It's been a busy week.

I was pulled into a competition a week before the deadline, so I ended up working a lot on that housing project, mostly drawing plans and then doing the renderings. Friday I excused myself relatively early and walked down the hill to the Schlossgarten Biergarten, where there was a big screen set up. It's become the de facto public viewing place since this year the Stuttgart government decided to not broadcast it in the Schlossplatz, a much bigger public space.

One cannot ask for more lovely weather for this event. Late afternoon sun, warm, green, and the park was filled with people bicycling, sitting on the grass, and simply strolling around.

I arrived just as Mexico scored their first allowed goal, and there was a small but vocal contingent of Mexican fans up at the front, right in front of the screen, which erupted into a jumping and singing crowd. It was there I found Saori, hanging out with Alejandro and her worker Alfredo, wearing a Mexican flag as a cape. I bought us plastic liter cups of beer and we settled into a Mexican victory.

After the game ended, we were invited to a nearby apartment for a houseparty and asado to watch the Netherlands take on Spain. We trooped along with Alejandro, Alfredo, Francois, Saori's French coworker, and a German woman who spent a few years in Mexico, plus a few others. Our hosts were also architects from Mexico, and they cooked us all grilled steaks and a mountain of chilequiles.

After the Schlossgarten bier we were pretty schlossed, but we had our own beer and radler as well, so we broke that our and our hosts also provided us with more beer (and much later, tequila y mezcal. All of it premium stuff. Where did you buy it?? Mexico. All imported.

Anyway, Alejandro invited Toli and Yanni, our two Greek coworkers, and they took turns chatting with Saori out on the small and crowded balcony. It was actually a really nice loft attic apartment, and Saori and I were really jealous.

It was very late when we left and Toli and Yanni kindly offered to give us a ride back to Saori's place. Five of us crammed in to their small car and hit the road. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a heavy policing night, so we were pulled over. Yanni was asked out of the car and they questioned him. It turned out he didn't have his German drivers licence (but he did have his Greek), and then they gave him a breathalyzer test. It was a nerve-wracking time for me in the back seat, I sat there thinking, shit, shit, shit. All this because they were kind enough to give us a lift.

So everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Yanni got back in and said that the test was 0.0 for alcohol. They just wanted him to scan and send them his German license that night. We ended up crashing in bed a little after 3am.