Wednesday in Mainz 05’s ancient Bruchweg stadium to see a pre-season test game against Lazio Roma.
2 of Christoph’s 7 grand-kids (Grace and Freya, 7 and 5) had turned up from Ireland at the crack of dawn and I’d got 3 ace tickets (3 rows back, almost on the centre-line) for Grace’s first ever live football match.
Christoph and I had a quick beer (not quick enough for Grace…) and zipped up past the VIP lounge and down and down and down to RIGHT NEXT to the Mainz substitute bench and trainer Martin Schmidt whose highly vocal and gesture-rich instructions to his players we were able to enjoy over the next 90 minutes.
Plus the sotto voce asides (“bloody idiots, don’t they listen…”) to his trainer team. 
Grace thoroughly enjoyed herself, clapped at the right times, said “Wow” every time Mainz scored, but we could get her enthused enough to join in the singing, despite her being fully bilingual.
Maybe “Wir sind nur ein Karnevalsverein” was a bit of a stretch.
Asked her to tell me the 3 best things of the evening
“The seats, the goals, ummmm”
“How about seeing Miro Klose, the goal-scoringest ever World Cup pl;ayer” I said
“That would be it” she said…
Grace at 2 months, jb at old fart mode, having lost 300gm of useless bone, joint and cartilage and gaining 500gm of shining hip joint titanium in 2008
Mainz Daily Photo 
Grace is growing up!
Grace is already a diplomatic young woman. The photo of Grace snuggling up to the honorary “uncle” must have helped ease the pain of that new titanium hip joint in 2008. Truly a moment full of grace.