If you have never been to a World Cup before, it really is a quite extraordinary sight. Germany resembles a country in transit - its airports and train stations are a colourful cavalcade of fans in replica shirts, weighed down by backpacks, or hauling suitcases on wheels. A snapshot on Monday morning: Frankfurt railway station was the scene of friendly rivalry between hordes of Aussie and Japanese fans heading towards Kaiserlautern. A couple of hours later at Nuremberg central station, a handful of England fans arrived, while scores of Mexicans headed off to their next World Cup base.
It's too early to call the World Cup winners just yet - but one set of victors has already clearly emerged. "A time to make friends" is the mantra from Fifa. For once, this self-important organisation is not guilty of hype.
The winners are the hosts. If you are here in blisteringly sunny Germany, you will undoubtedly agree. The smiling, polite, helpful approach of the hosts is beyond reproach: in hotels, taxis, bars, restaurants, shops, railway stations - even German police officers, provoked to an extreme degree, have joined the welcoming committee.
If you are an English fan, whose German hasn't progressed much beyond "danke schön" and "ein Bier, bitte", it does not matter.
After five days in Frankfurt - where, whisper it quietly to my news editor, I managed to bunk off for an hour to the city's fantastic art gallery - I want to return for a weekend break. Nuremberg, on the evidence of an afternoon of getting my bearings, is a stunningly picturesque and vibrant city.
The massive influx of English fans can only be good news for the German tourist board. Once the World Cup is over, and cheap flights are back on the websites, expect a bonanza of weekend breaks to this lovely - and, until now, underestimated - holiday destination.
