Ingrid Free, Spanish Cup, Energy Snake and Valencian Visit

Something amazing happened this week. After six years of captivity, the presidential candidate for Colombia, Ingrid Betancourt, was freed. This high profile hostage was one of the Farc's best bargaining pieces, but she was rescued by the Colombian army pretending to belong to an NGO without a single shot being fired. Of course one cannot forget the other 14 hostages that were also rescued in the raid. You should really see the video that the BBC has of the raid - very moving. After the loss of many of their leaders, and now this, it is looking ever more likely that their war in Colombia might finally come to an end. Here's hoping...

Not many people predicted what happened in Euro 2008. After a lacklustre game against Italy, they really motivated themselves and managed to play an amazing game against Germany in the final. It really was inspiring how they moved the ball around the pitch with such ease, despite the game being spoilt later on by various bad fouls. You could imagine the noise which took place that night here in Mainz. Well, maybe you can't. As the end result finally sunk in we were making our way by train to the main station. On the platform various Germans started arriving from one of the many public viewings, most wrapped in their national flag, some just sat on the ground and started crying, others coped differently by either attacking the billboards, timetables, glass dividers or trying to shake the poles holding up the roof. We decided not to speak Spanish whilst waiting for the train...

The opening of the waxwork museum in Berlin had a little hiccup, as the wax sculpture of Hitler was beheaded by one of the visitors. One has to remember that in Germany anything to do with him or the Nazi party is strictly forbidden, so the opening wasn't going to be without controversy.

Next time you're swimming in the ocean and think you see something in the dark depths below, don't presume that it's a shark, as it could also be one of the 200m anacondas. No, not real live ones, but rubber ones which are meant to be able to produce a lot of energy from the movements of the water.

Gemma, Victor and Alejandra came over last week for their annual topup of Kebabs, sauerkraut and German culture. Of course any visit isn't complete without a meal at the Eisgrub, where we were also joined by Mar.

Then yesterday was the A4 and friends Summer BBQ. Much meat was eaten, and beer drunk (after being cooled to exactly the right temperature using machinery from the particle detectors...) and the meal was finished off with Nougat from Valencia. Yum!

Stay free..