Well I'm pretty much up to date with my adventures and this all happened yesterday . Another rainy day but we made the most of it by starting off with some site seeing and went on a trek to to Castelo de S. Jorge which is a National Monument and is quite the interesting castle overlooking Lisbon . It is only about a half hour from our hotel which is at this point driving me crazy because it's under construction . We wandered around the castle for about 1.5 hours then made our way back to Hotel Mundial . I'm really going crazy trying to concentrate or sleep here ARGH !
It is really wet here with the constant rain bogging us down everywhere we go but we are troopers and we will march on lol ! And march on we did after an afternoon nap . It's hard work travelling especially with all the walking we are doing . Actually it's a good supplement for the gym since I am not doing any other exercising on my travels unless you consider those heavy bottles of beer that I'm lifting to my lips :)
When we woke up we had to boogie as I overslept by a half hour and we are very hungry . What better thing to eat in Portugal then Churrasqueira ? Portuguese chicken cooked on a spit and apparently the top place to go is Bon Jardin , this was suggested to us by more then one person and it is on the way to the subway station which we need to get to for the Benfica match we are heading to ! When we arrived it was quiet in there with one other couple enjoying a meal and we quickly placed our order .... Before I could even bite into the piece of bread on the table our meals arrived ... Oh it was SO yummy !!!! I'm not even remotely doing this food any justice when I say this as it was absolutely scrumptious . That chicken never had a chance with me sitting at that table hahahaha !!! It was gone in minutes and seriously I doubt that we were even there for 20 minutes . I highly suggest eating here if anyone is ever in Lisbon .
After our fabulous meal we found our way through the subway system which puts Toronto's to shame , that being said I have never seen anything as bad as Toronto's transit system . It took us 20 minutes to get to Estadio do Luz where Benfica calls home . When we arrived it was still raining and we had to find the ticket booth where we bought our tickets which were €25 each to watch the game vs. Maritimo which I must admit I have never heard of but currently are mid table in the Portuguese Primera Liga . We were in time to see the eagle soar around the inside of the building and thankfully the stands are covered so we didn't get soaked . The fans were all wild as today the club marked the passing of their heroic legend Eusebio ... The Black Pearl . I almost shed a tear during the moment of silence :( there was an energy about and Benfica would not disappoint as they pounded their opponents 6-0 and it could have easily been worse ... We left at the 75th minute so I could get back to the hotel to get ready to meet Mauricio Xavier . I must admit I have never seen a thumping like that at a footie match and as a Villa fan it's nice to be cheering for the winning side :)
Alright so this is where it gets really awesome because I'm finally meeting the President of the Portuguese Ice Hockey Federation . Mauricio picked me up at 11 pm and we headed to Sport TV to do the live on air commentary for the Montreal Canadiens vs. New Jersey Devils NHL match ... In Portuguese . Yeah I know I don't speak Portuguese but I was brought along to join the broadcast ... That my friends was a treat ;) I mean I kinda dislike the Habs and Mauricio is a Habs fan but it only makes it more interesting ... Hold on let me back track for a sec! Mauricio Xavier is the ice hockey federation president and also is the live Portuguese commentator here in Portugal on Sport TV for anything ice hockey related :) how cool is that ??? The hand started at midnight and we were in the booth watching NHL hockey , talking hockey non stop for hours ... Yeah I know it's tough lol ! I had so much fun even though I had to endure watching the Habs win ;) it was funny that some viewers were writing on the Facebook page suggesting where I should go for Ginjinha lol !
After the game we headed to the outdoor rink to check the progress in tenting it as the rain is destroying any chance of skating here :( we were hopped up on espresso anyways as we chugged them to keep awake ... We drove down a couple roads we probably shouldn't have and next thing you know we were at the Praca do Comercio and the cranes were busy working ... The frame was just about up and it was 3 am ... Time to get some sleep , if the espresso will allow me to hahahaha ... Actually it was a fight to sleep because of my sugar filled dreams of finally getting to play ice hockey in Portugal .
This truly was an awesome day !
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