Back to Madrid for one reason and one reason only...

After a glorious three days in Lisbon, I found it very hard to leave Portugal. I would have loved to have stayed longer if we could have and could have easily spent another two weeks exploring this country, as there is so much to see and do. The small ancient towns, fantastic food, killer costs and the many national parks even made Chris and I contemplate our travel schedule and at one point, we were even thinking of going back to Portugal after Madrid before heading to Italy. In the end, we realized, we would be cutting time from Italy and Greece, two places we have both very much been looking forward to and that it is just not possible to see and do everything on this trip. So we’ll be back to visit Portugal for a two or three week vacation in the near future.

After reluctantly getting on yet another overnight train back to Madrid, our focus turned to the main reason we were heading back to Madrid…the SOCCER!! As I’m sure you all already know, we had a hell of a time trying to get tickets for the game on the 26th versus Dynamo during our first stint in Madrid and were hoping our luck would change the second time around. We arrived in Madrid the morning of the 25th tired and half-asleep, as the overnight train from Lisbon was rather an uncomfortable one to say the least. We quickly discovered that we were not sitting together and instead had two aisle seats across from one another but the worse part was that we were sitting in a group of four where there are two people sitting in front of you facing you instead of two to a row where there are two seats in front of you but their back is facing you. For those of you who haven’t taken a train, will not understand the DIFFICULTY this causes. If it’s your friends you’re sitting with, not so bad, you can put your feet up on the chair in front of you or stretch out without having to worry about hitting each other but when you have a stranger sitting beside you that you can’t lean on during the night and two strangers in front of you facing you who are VERY TALL and seem to take up all the leg space, it can be a rather uncomfortable sleep. Let’s just say Chris and I rarely got any sleep that night. Anytime I would look over at him; he would be awake and just smile. Trying to find a “comfortable” sleeping position did not seem possible – more time for us to think about the soccer game that we both wanted to go to.

We checked into the same hostel we had stayed in the first time and rather than sleeping decided to hit the streets and visit the Prado Museum before heading to the stadium in an attempt to buy tickets. We made our way to the museum and of course, as luck has it, we were told the museum is closed on Mondays and would be open the following day. Yet again, disappointed. We were hoping this wasn’t a sign of what was to come for the rest of the day. Rather than heading back to the hostel, we walked around the town (yet again), ran some errands, and slowly made our way to the stadium. We figured we’d show up early and start a line up if need be but I guess we weren’t the only ones thinking the same thing. When we arrived at the stadium at 2:15pm, 45 minutes prior to tickets going on sale, there was already quite a long line up that had started. We both looked at each other and could only shake our heads. We stood in the blaring sun and heat for 45 minutes not knowing what the outcome would be but hopeful as the line up behind us kept getting longer and longer. Did we get tickets you ask?? See below!!

The line up when we arrived

We better be getting tickets…

OH YEAH BABY….we’re going to a Real Madrid soccer game!!

Suffice to say we were both ecstatic that we got tickets to a Real Madrid soccer match. Chris was happy to be able to watch a match live in Spain and I was just happy to get the chance to see Beckham in person – I’m sure the ladies can understand where I’m coming from. Surprisingly enough the tickets were not as pricey as we thought they would be and we got killer seats. We managed to get seats on the west side of the building (facing the players when they come out), row 8. Yup, row 8 in the bottom half of the stadium.

The game was AMAZING. The stadium, the hooting and hollering fans, the players, and the game itself of course. Real Madrid won 5-1 vs. Dynamo and it was a well deserved win (Ton & Guido – You would have LOVED it, we kept thinking of you guys and wishing you were there with us to enjoy the festivities and a brewskie of course). We saw it all..amazing goals, BECKHAM, great plays, a yellow card, fake injuries, BECKHAM, some atrocious hits, even a red card and yes, BECKHAM!! I went a wee bit camera happy when Beckham came out the 2nd half of the game but hey, it’s not everyday I’m going to get the chance to see him playing his sport in the flesh. It was a wonderful evening and one we are not sure to forget anytime soon. Enough writing, here are some shots from the game.

Signing off…

Ravy the Roamer

Inside of Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

Warming up

Let’s get ready to play some soccer…or as the Spanish call it “futbol”

Real Madrid’s first free kick

#3 Carlos shoots…

And SCORES!!!

And the fans go crazy!

Ouch…that’s gotta hurt

Half time

Helllloooo…..#23 is on the field warming up for the 2nd half

Who knows what he’s doing, who cares, it’s Beckham

Getting into the action right away

A definite action shot

And there’s the red card, we got to see a little of everything at this game

Great save

#9 Renaldo on the field for the last 15 minutes of the game..hard to miss with those bright yellow shoes

Injury time

Well worth every penny

Beckham waving goodbye to me…..what???

#1 Me boyfriend sporting a Real Madrid scarf – Ton, this one’s for you, hope you like it

Definitely our favorite night in Madrid