Well, the flight to Portugal left something to be desired. The service was lacking and there were no updates from the pilot for the entire flight, which made for a boring, long flight. It’s only saving grace was the fact that it was free. That’s the last time I’ll bring that up, I promise. 
Oh, and some woman who couldn’t be bothered to slide a latch yelled at me when I assumed ‘Vacant’ meant exactly that and opened the lavatory door. Believe me, lady, I could have done without the horrible image of an old woman, mid-wipe.
As soon as Portugal knocked the Dutch out of the World Cup, we began to look forward to arriving here to watch Portugal play England in the quarter-finals. Although, I knew it would be pretty cool to sit at a bar and watch the game surrounded by locals, I was still somewhat unprepared for what we experienced afterward. The game was a gut-wrencher, with no goals through regulation and two overtime periods. There was one goal by Portugal, actually, late in the game, but it was disallowed because someone was offsides. Anyway, I was in absolute agony. I was so afraid England might break through and score the 1st goal. In the end, they were again sent home on penalty kicks! Portugal pulled off a huge win, and the locals went nuts!
I went somewhat hoarse screaming along with all the portuguese in celebration. I met someone today who apparently screamed his head off, he could barely talk a day later.
Mira de Aire, the town my father-in-law is from, went crazy happy. People began driving through the streets honking their horns, people hung from car windows and sunroofs waving flags and banners. There were fireworks being set off. It was pretty damn cool. Bri was taken aback by the whole thing, I had to remind her that the rest of the world is absolutely fanatical about soccer (football).
For now, since I´m running out of time, I´ll post some pictures right here. I have a short video I´ll post when I have more time. More to come later….
Entries (RSS)
Can’t say, that there’s no patriotism there. Wow! that’s great! It’s like the anthem says:
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Heroes of the sea, noble race,
Valiant and immortal nation,
Now is the hour to raise up on high once more
Portugal’s splendour.
From out of the mists of memory,
Oh Homeland, we hear the voices
Of your great forefathers
That shall lead you on to victory!
CHORUS:
To arms, to arms
On land and sea!
To arms, to arms
To fight for our Homeland!
To march against the enemy guns!
Unfurl the unconquerable flag
In the bright light of your sky!
Cry out all Europe and the whole world
That Portugal has not perished.
Your happy land is kissed
By the Ocean that murmurs with love.
And your conquering arm
Has given new worlds to the world!
CHORUS
Salute the Sun that rises
On a smiling future:
Let the echo of an insult be
The signal for our revival.
The rays of that powerful dawn
Are like a mother’s kisses
That protect us and support us
Against the insults of fate.
CHORUS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great pics!!!
Isn’t it amazing!! You got the FIFA bug! It’s the best going to portugal when the cups are going on!! I’m jealus!! Love the pics! Miss you guys!
Thats wild Dave, hope you guys are having a great time.. We are off to AZ this month…