Giant Dortmund fan camp opens to bewildered guests

DORTMUND, June 8 (Reuters) Excited staff at Dortmund's 4,000-bed fan camp welcomed their first World Cup guests today, 24-year-old Swedish twins bewildered by the attention after an all-night drive from Gothenburg.

''We had no idea we'd be the first,'' said a tired-looking Philip Gunnarsson, wearing a bright yellow Sweden T-shirt.

''They've kept us busy all morning, posing for photographs, meeting people. I'm feeling a bit tired now,'' he told Reuters as organisers whisked him off to a celebratory lunch.

Dortmund's vast Westfalenhalle exhibition hall, fitted with bunk bed frames and temporary walls, may still look like emergency accommodation but organisers say by the weekend it will be buzzing with fans from 30 countries.

It is unique in Germany during the World Cup and will form one of the largest accommodation sites for fans.

They have ordered 100,000 litres of beer to keep things merry as well as 30,000 Bratwursts and 8,000 kilos of chips.

The hall's fork-lift trucks are parked behind a temporary screen and flags decorate the 1,500-seater breakfast room.

''We came here for the atmosphere and because it is relatively cheap,'' said Johan Gunnarsson.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT A place costs 35 euros a night and includes travel on local public transport to World Cup stadiums in Dortmund, Cologne and Gelsenkirchen.

''I'm hoping to meet lots of people and mingle with other nationalities,'' said 39-year-old New Yorker Sharleene Smart, originally from Trinidad.

''I'm looking forward to German men and the beer,'' laughed her friend Shay Collins, 34.

Men and women are segregated in different areas of the hall, although there is a mixed area for established couples.

''We didn't want men's darts societies booking themselves in to bother women,'' said fan camp spokesman Andreas Weber, adding the number of bookings from men vastly outnumbered those from women.

''Those separate areas don't bother me, we'll meet men outside,'' laughed Collins, excited about her first World Cup.

Fan camp offers on-site entertainment every day of the tournament, inspired by the cultures of the World Cup participants.

''We'll teach those Germans how to grind,'' said Smart, gyrating her hips and laughing.

REUTERS DH PM1954