Berlin (Germany): Never ones to miss an excuse for a beery booze up among friends, Germans and their guests will take to the streets during the soccer World Cup to watch matches at thousands of open-air venues.
Soccer fans without tickets need not worry about missing out on the action as towns and cities across the country set aside parks, squares and public buildings to host open-air parties.
Even landmark buildings in the German capital of Berlin will not be spared from football fever, with the famous Brandenburg Gate becoming the backdrop for a huge TV screen and dance stage.
"The Berliners, as you will notice, like to be outside," said a spokesman for the Berlin mayor's office Hans-Friedrich Mueller.
"In the Tiergarten, in the summer every day is like a barbeque with or without, the excuse of the World Cup."
On the fringes of the Tiergarten, Berlin's equivalent of Central Park, families lounge on the grass on sunny days, playing frisbee and grilling meat.
Organisers of Berlin's Fan Fest want to capture the spirit for visiting football fans.
"We wanted to use the tendency that the Berliners have towards being outside and offer them an opportunity to watch football somewhere other than on television,” Mueller said.
"This is going to be the biggest public viewing platform in Germany."
The venue will have capacity of 70,000 to 100,000 people a day, stretching from the Brandenburg Gate - once the symbol of divided Berlin - along an arrow - straight boulevard through the Tiergarten to the Siegessaeule or Victory Column.
Offering a 60-square-metre video square at the gate itself, as well as a further three huge screens along the length of the park, the venue aims to create some of the atmosphere that has made lesser-known sports like beach volleyball such a success.
In the words of its mayor, Klaus Wowereit, Germany's federal capital is poor, but sexy - begging the question of who is stumping up the to be needed to host the party.
Battling a budget crisis and an unemployment rate of around 20 per cent, Berlin is determined to nevertheless put on a decent show for the thousands of German and foreign fans without tickets for World Cup matches.
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In addition to the party in the Tiergarten and at the Brandenburg Gate, a huge stage has been erected in front of the Reichstag and the famous globe-shaped lump on the city's television tower has been turned into a giant football.
The other 11 German cities where matches are being played will also host their own parties, laying on giant screens, artificial beaches with cocktail bars, massage tents for tired fans and test-your-speed goal-shooting alleys.
While many Germans gear up for the event, which begins on June 9, not everyone has been moved.
Some have criticised the government for having come too close to private interests in allowing German sportswear and soccer boot maker Adidas to erect a huge stadium on a square in front of the seat of parliament.
"The state has a duty to keep this public space public," said the president of the Berlin Arts Academy Klaus Staeck.
Talk of terrorist attacks have also loomed over open-air events, revived after a magazine cited a leaked crime office report which suggested that at least 21 matches, including ones involving the US, were at a high risk of attack.
"All the security measures have been taken," Mueller said. "It will be similar to the security measures at the stadiums but obviously there is no need for tickets."
Those measures should also keep out other troublemakers, after another threat raised its head in recent weeks - that the World Cup could become a target for right - wing extremists intent on targeting foreign fans.
There are fears that demonstrations organised via internet forums and aimed at open-air events could spring up during the tournament, when police are most stretched.
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