Barcelona 5 - "Simon, no one doubts your commitment to the Spanish National Team" - Paul Michel

In our final day in Barcelona, we, along with the rest of the city, spent all day counting down the hours to the World Cup Final. Our preparation rituals involved spending the day going up to very high places and looking down on the city of Barcelona panoramically. First, we hiked up a combination of escalators and steps in the hottest weather Barca has to offer and climbed up to Park Guell, a beautiful mountaintop park designed by Antoni Gaudi.

The Park Guell was like nothing that I've ever seen before. It was a combination of a weird Disney World Park and the set from Pan's Labyrinth. We wandered around the park for some time and also saw the home of Antoni Gaudi and also used the height of the park to get beautiful views of the city.

We then descended from the park and took the metro over to the Barcelona Castle which sits upon a mountain on the opposite side of the city. We toured the castle and the mountaintop and took a second chance to look down on the city.

After our two mountaintop excursions, we took the bus into the city and to Plaza Espana - the giant city square where the game was being broadcast. We got there about two hours ahead of gametime but already the crowds had assembled. We made our way to the front and then staked out our spaces near the giant screen. We had, however, somehow stumbled into a rather nationalistic section of the crowd. Their were two annoying teenagers behind us who kept poking us with their water bottles and when we finally confronted them about it, they asked us if we were Spanish. We told them we weren't and they told us to get the --- out of there. We told them that we were cheering for their country, for Spain, but they continued to aggressively tell us to leave. We finally moved up away from them but found ourselves closer to a group of drunk, shirtless and rather intimidating looking Spanish guys who were play-fighting with one another and also setting off fireworks in the middle of the crowd. They started harassing a tourist who was standing next to us and we grabbed our things and moved to the left side of the plaza, luckily finding a much more gracious and accepting group of fans. Still, we got a little uneasy every time we heard the Spanish ballad "Yo soy Espanol" (I am a Spaniard) as it was repeated over and over by the teenage goons behind us and the rowdy, drunk shirtless guys.

(This was the one shirtless guy we appreciated, representing Paul the Octopus' streak of correct predictions which now stands at 8)

From that point on, we thoroughly enjoyed the game. In fact, I was cheering so excitedly that Paul had to settle me down, telling me that, "No one doubts your commitment to the Spanish National Team." Indeed, we decided that just in case, it was better not to draw attention to ourselves.
The game was scoreless after 90 minutes but Spain definitely had the upper hand and the Dutch team had to keep fouling and getting yellow cards just to slow Spain down. Spanish control continued in overtime but it wasn't until the 115th minute that Spain finally broke through. A Dutch defender had gotten his second yellow card and was sent off for a dirty foul a few minutes earlier and Spain was using their man-up advantage. Fernando Torres' strike caromed off a defender and fell to Cesc Fabregas who passed it to Spanish maestro Andres Iniesta who was streaking of the right wing. Iniesta gathered the excellent pass and sliced the shot past the Dutch keeper's far side. It was an amazing goal and as the ball hit the back left corner of the net the crowd erupted. Think the US-Algeria game but on a scale 1,000 times greater. We joined in the celebration, jumping up and down with the Spaniards and singing "Ole, Ole, Ole!" 

After the referee blew the final whistle the Spaniards rejoiced, having won their first World Cup in history. After a few minutes of celebration, we decided to get out while we could and held on to each other for dear life as we navigated the giant mass of people.

We got splashed with beer, water and water from fountains and people had gone in them to celebrate but we kept hold of one another and made our way down to the metro station and then finally the right trains to get back to our hostel.
Now we are packing up our things for our early train to Seville tomorrow morning and are thoroughly exhausted.

Viva Espana!

-Simon, Matt and Paul (happy to be home in one piece)