"It's almost like a mid-summer night's dream, with a bit of Woodstock thrown in," the Green politician told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Furthermore, "the weather is Mediterranean and the people suddenly are too," he swooned. Even Chancellor Angela Merkel fell into the arms of organiser and German legend Franz Becken-bauer after the win over Argentina.

Bad for business
The World Cup "feelgood factor" is a myth and there is no link between how well England do in the tournament and the performance of the British economy, research by the Halifax building society says.

According to a study, the economy tends to do better in years when England have been eliminated at the quarterfinals stage, but performance has been relatively weak when the team has progressed beyond the last eight. It added that World Cup years also tended to be poor ones for the stock market. The study says growth in consumer spending also fails to receive a boost from the event, rising by an average of 2.7% in World Cup years, in line with the long-term average.

Handbagging
Former British leader Margaret Thatcher put her deadly handbag away 16 years ago but they're doing a roaring trade in the trendiest versions where England's spendthrift wives and girlfriends have been based in normally laid back Baden-Baden. Since the England squad arrived in the spa town on the edge of the Black Forest four weeks ago Baden Baden has not really lived up to its guidebook tag of "ageing and elegant."

The manageress of Hermes in Sophienstrasse has seen handbags at 2,000 euros (2,500 dollars) a piece flying off the shelves.

"They are very pretty girls and they like to shop," the Times quoted the manageress as saying of the England entourage.

"Many English journalists come here, too, but they only take pictures and ask questions," she added, clearly insouciant of the slight gap in spending power.