Real Madrid WON!!!
2-1 Woohooo!!! European Champions! The city is now going crazy. If you've never been in a European city when they win a big championship, it's much more celebratory than in the U.S... Soccer is such a part of life and the city is so small, it's like EVERYONE is celebrating.
We had our windows open during the game and you could hear all the neighbors and guys in the bars (there's lots of them here) cheering and blowing horns when Madrid scored or screaming at close plays. And we're in a relatively quiet corner of the world - well outside the center. In Madrid it's tradition to gather at one of the big fountains downtown when Real Madrid wins, so right now the news is all have live feeds from there - a fountain called Cibeles and it's PACKED. Here in my part of the city, the people are passing by and singing, cars are honking the "da-da-dadada" victory toot. Everyone sounds very excited. ;-)
My entire family got caught up in the celebrations last year when Real Madrid won the Spanish league. It was a night after our wedding and we were still in town because everyone was booked to leave the next day (including us on our honeymoon). My parents were staying in a hotel downtown and when the team won, they closed off all the streets leading to Cibeles and suddenly people appeared out of the stadium and their houses and all went to the fountain. My parents were in the center of it, enjoying it all (not speaking a word of Spanish and having no idea what was going on) and my Aunts thought there was going to be a riot. ;-) A riot with bubble machines? Probably not...
HOLY SHIT. The big fucking FIREWORKS don't make me very happy. Damn, those are scary just outside your window. Especially here in Madrid. Ana just about had our baby. Heehee... Actually, he's a couple days over due, maybe a few more wouldn't hurt speed things up.
-Russ