I'd been told that Dresden was a beautiful city, but the way I'd initially planned my travel meant I had no time to find this out for myself. Cue a change of schedule covering the entire week! After the USA v. Brazil thriller, I stayed on in Dresden until mid-Monday afternoon, and booked myself on one of those hop-on, hop-off open-top bus sightseeing tours which cover the most noteworthy features of a particular location. 20 Euros well spent, believe me! There are some stunning buildings in the easternmost city of my German adventure, and when you consider that the vast majority of them had to be rebuilt following the RAF raids during the Second World War - Dresden suffered a terrific amount of damage - they have done a quite incredible restoration job. The train trip back to Frankfurt meant I was in my hotel there around 9pm, and here I will be based for the remainder of my stay. (At last! No more lugging bags around here, there and everywhere). That doesn't mean to say I will be staying put, however. Not when this wonderful railway network can take me to and from places 600-plus kilometres away in a single day, and afford me time for more sightseeing tours as described above. Cue an early start on Tuesday, destination Berlin. The land of Checkpoint Charlie; the Brandenburg Gate; the chilling Holocaust Memorial - in honour of all the Jews who died before and during the war; the most notorious wall of all time, part of which still stands as a memorial to what was, until as recently as 1989, a divided city; and yet more stunning examples of the finest architecture and detailed masonry work you could ever wish to see. Visiting places such as Berlin and Dresden for the first time certainly helps you appreciate and understand their significance in history. No longer are they mere place names on a map to me - I now have a series of personal images in mind which I can associate with these locations on those occasions when I'm going through the history books or reading a Cold War - linked thriller. Wednesday was semi-finals day at the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals, with France playing the USA in a mouth-watering tie in Moencengladbach, followed by the game I attended in Frankfurt, between Japan and Sweden. Both ties were evening kick-offs, so what to do during the day? Stuttgart is 186km and eighty minutes away by train, and any car nut worth their salt knows that this city is the home of Porsche and Mercedes Benz … it's kid in a sweet shop time again! The Mercedes operation was pretty slick - eight floors of displays, beginning on the eighth floor with two cars from 1886 and working your way down to today's models, the souvenir shop, restaurant. It's 125 years since the first car came to be this year, and Mercedes are leading the celebrations in a big way, 'cause it was their car which kicked everything off. There are plenty of highlights in the Mercedes Benz Museum, but the "Races And Records" feature is particularly cleverly done, with a whole range of vehicles - including Juan Manuel Fangio's Silver Arrow and Lewis Hamilton's F1 car from last year - set out three abreast as if on a race track. The new motors are very tidy, of course, particularly the 220 SLK Cabriolet … mmm, very nice!! To get to Mercedes, you get the train from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof to the Museum station and follow the signs from there. It takes about seven minutes. On leaving, and to get to the Porsche Museum, it's the train back to the Hbf, and change to the one which takes you to Porscheplatz, an eleven minute run, upon the conclusion of which you get off and there's the Museum right next to the platform! Three floors chock-full of displays - at least eighty, with every Porsche you'd care to think of on display and then some. Plus a real treat for F1 fans - the 1986 title-winning McLaren MP4/2, one of the greatest F1 cars in history, which was powered by the TAG Porsche engine, and driven by my favourite driver, "The Professor", Alain Prost. Defo one for my all-time-favourite photos collection!! A wonderful exhibition was followed by a wander over the road to Porsche HQ. It just so happens that they've launched the new 911 range this week … timed that well, didn't I? An all-time classic car, and an absolute joy to sit in and savour - particularly the 911 Turbo Cabriolet … bliss! From there, it's back to Frankfurt on the Munich to Berlin express - 8 hours 42 minutes covers the entire 1004km journey - and off to the stadium which will host the FIFA Women's World Cup Final on Sunday night, and the Japan - Sweden semi-final tonight. "Houston, we have a problem". Meine Damen und Herren, it's raining. We're not supposed to have New Zealand weather here! But in both Frankfurt and Moencengladbach, water reigns! As, in the latter venue, did the USA, getting past France 3-1 in the semi-final to advance to their third final, and maintain their record of finishing in the top three at all six FIFA Women's World Cup Finals - that sort of consistency just cannot be denied. Lauren Cheney gave Team USA a ninth minute lead which they retained until Sonia Bompastor, who earlier hit the crossbar, battered one in via the far post ten minutes into the second half. France outshot the USA in the match, but it's about accuracy in finishing, and goals in a three-minute spell from Abby Wambach - another header - and Alex Morgan inside the last twelve minutes clinched the tie, and condemned France to the third place play-off in Sinsheim on Saturday. There, they will face Sweden, who found themselves

A couple of Dresden's amazing buildings - the degree of detail is truly exquisite Gatecrasher! The Brandenburg Gate and a spectacular water fountain display in the background Can't keep Rangers fans away from anything - they've even had a go at the Berlin Wall!! Juan Manuel Fangio's title-winning Silver Arrow Lovin' my Merc! With 25 wins in three seasons, this is one of the greatest F1 cars of all time Behind the wheel of the brand new Porsche 911 Japan parade their banner thanking the fans after destroying Sweden in the semi-final

subjected to a mesmerising come-from-behind display by Japan, who absolutely destroyed the Swedes 3-1 in Frankfurt, where the roof was closed for the duration of the semi-final. How Japan deserved it. They served up an object lesson in possession football, strangling the life out of the Swedes, who took the lead when Josefine Oqvist pounced on a stray Homare Sawa pass in the tenth minute. Nadeshiko equalised in stirring fashion through Nahomi Kawasumi nine minutes later, after which they simply dominated the game - there was a spell in the first half where the ball was inside Sweden's half for three solid minutes! After Shinobu Ohno had hit the crossbar just fifty seconds into the second spell, Japan scored the goal their dominance so richly deserved through Sawa on the hour, and confirmed their superiority five minutes later when Kawasumi despatched a sumptuous thirty yard volley into an empty net. It's a fabulous result for Japan as a country. The inspiration the earthquake-affected Japanese country-folk will take from Nadeshiko's efforts cannot be underestimated. Before and after every game here, the team has paraded a banner thanking the world for their support, and the world will now see it on the biggest stage of all - Sunday's FIFA Women's World Cup Final, here in Frankfurt. Something I neglected to mention in my previous travelogue was a pretty significant event, as these things go. England lost a newspaper - the 168-year-old "News of the World" is no more. It was certainly a dramatic demise, but after what has gone on, and, more significantly, the methods used and the blind eye turned by certain authority figure members to allow it to continue for so long, I can't say I'm disappointed. Little wonder the English tabloids are widely regarded as gutter press when this sort of behaviour is allowed to go unchecked. I bring this up because while on my travels this week, I've been reading a great feature on media issues arising from this debacle in the latest edition of "The Economist". It's not a magazine I usually pick up, but when you're in a foreign country for a lengthy period, you grab anything in your native tongue which your hotel provides free of charge - a quality read, and one thoroughly recommended, given the way the news we receive these days is changing. The heading on the cover reads "Back to the coffee house", and the graphic which accompanied it tickled my sense of humour as that's how Lloyd's Register, my employers, started out in 1760, at Edward Lloyd's Coffee House in London. Lloyd's Bank and Lloyd's of London, the insurance people, started life in the same place. And amid all the German TV channels available here, I've been delighted to find a couple more British institutions, BBC One and BBC World, as well as Eurosport, of course. I had the rare pleasure of watching "A Question Of Sport" on Monday evening (why that can't be shown in NZ is beyond me), while there was a documentary on John Lennon on Tuesday night which I greatly enjoyed watching, highlighting his time in New York. Before concluding, a couple of observations about the German people I've come across. They have been really welcoming, and very accommodating when they discover Deutsch isn't your first language. And I have to say it - there are some stunning looking young women here in Germany. It's not hard to see why two of my all-time favourite models, Heidi Klum and Claudia Schiffer, hail from this area of the world. As ever, the old antique shop sign is to the fore - "Touch me with your eyes but not your hands!" It's stood me in good stead over the past 25 years in women's soccer, that one. But Lord oh dear, do these people know how to smoke!!! I dread to think what the lung cancer rates directly attributable to smoking cigarettes are like over here, so often do you see those white cancer sticks in use. One of the American media chaps I've been working alongside asked one of the FIFA WWC volunteers why so many Germans smoke, and got a blank look in response. (Perhaps because the volunteer herself was foreign - they have been drawn from 48 countries, the volunteers, and are, as usual, doing a great job). To give you an indication of how great people's need to smoke is, on every railway station platform, there are designated areas for smokers to use - 3m x 2m marked zones every 200m or so. Of those I've seen, they have on average been occupied by five people, all merrily puffing away … it's certainly something you notice when you come from a country which encourages a smoke-free environment. It's off to Munich on Thursday, and the BMW plant in particular, while Friday will see me heading to Ingolstadt - not the most famous place name on the German map, but home to one of its most famous exports, Audi. Saturday sees the third place play-off taking place in Sinsheim, to where I'll be heading early in the day, in order to visit the Technical Museum - the one which boasts the world's foremost collection of Formula One vehicles, not to mention the odd Tupolev 144 and Air France Concorde among its static displays … there are lots of sweet shops to visit on this trip, eh? Semi-final details: France 1 (S. Bompastor (55)), USA 3 (L. Cheney (9), A. Wambach (79), A. Morgan (82))  HT 0-1 Japan 3 (N. Kawasumi (19, 64), H. Sawa (59)), Sweden 1 (J. Oqvist (10))  HT 1-1