Futbol Pilgrimage and Pictures

I had a chance to watch one football game in Brazil. The game was originally scheduled to be in the Maracana (the largest stadium in the world). But the Police had a concert so the game was moved to a smaller stadium. I reached the stadium an hour before. The ticket was about $7 for the best seats. There was live samba music outside and inside the stadium. And people were singing samba songs throughout the entire game. About a third of the people were dancing. The game was an exciting 3-0 victory. The experience was amazing. The energy level was unbelievable. There was a trophy museum for the team. Some of them went as far back as 1915. I’ve not seen so many trophies in my life. This is their sport. That's why they are the king of Football.

I met a girl from Belgium at the game. She is a 767 pilot at the age of 26! She started taking flying lessons at the age of 17 before she was able to drive. So her mom had to drive her to the airport for her to fly. Irony! The two of us visited the Maracana the next day. We got a little lost, went around the stadium, jumped over a construction site, went down a fence, and found ourselves on the field! A few people were preparing for the Police concert. Finally, somebody approached us and told us that we should not be here on the field and asked us to leave. He tried to sell us VIP tickets to the concert with a backstage pass. We later found the Futbol Museum.

See the photo gallery below. There are a few short videos to give you a sense of what it was like.