Trying hard to fall into sleep and still awake at 5:30 am, this is a sleepless blog. Probably got too used to the Euro2004 clock, I just don’t feel sleepy, damn. Or should I blame the Henman v Philippoussis match, for it’s too exciting and too long? What am I supposed to do now? What about a morning run along the seashore? Or making a fatty morning snack that could make me sleepy? Blogging here definitely isn’t going to help, well, I better off now.

Heart-breaking. This is the only word to describe my feelings right now. After leading 1-0 for 83 minutes and draw to 2-2 in extra time, no one should be blamed. Both teams deserve the win. It was just SO close to wrapping up the game, England. Again, penalty shootout (5-6), what can I say? Luck is all you need, England.

Saying goodbye to London today, got to do all the shopping and pack things up quickly. I got more or less the same weight of luggage for my return. It rained today, so we couldn’t make it to the tennis centre for some outdoor exercises, this was one of the things planned but not happened. My flight departed at 21:30, but we were too happy eating dinner and watching the Spain v Portugal match at the airport restaurant that I almost missed it! I ran like 1000m to the gate and was probably the last one boarding, so close!

On the plane, I watched four movies straight non-stop: Mona Lisa Smile, Monster, Along Came Polly and Something’s Gotta Give, then 4 hours of sleep and I am home now. Very dirty and tired.

Another big feast today, getting up really late and after a Cantonese tea lunch with Paul and his girlfriend, we visited their place in Edgware and watched the Latvia v Germany game. Pathetic Germans. Then we headed out to Chelsea for my favourite food - crab - huge Atlantic Crab for the first time! Anand and Po, thanks for your company, I really enjoyed the dinner, this place is called Big Easy, famous for its crabshack and other seafood. We tried fresh oysters, crabs, prawns, mussels … and many many other things tonight. I couldn’t finish the whole Atlantic crab, Arnold gave me a hand so I still had a little room left for the dessert. What makes this place even better - you can watch EURO2004 live! The Czechs just beat Holland 3-2, well done Nedved!

Tonight’s meeting with William and Flora has been much looked forward to since I came to London, finally I made it! Congratulations to their engagement, I am so happy for them! For those who don’t know them, William is my old schoolmate from St. Stephen’s College. He moved to the UK after Form 3 and we only met twice in London (last time during my 2002 Europe trip) and once in HK since then. William and his fiancee Flora are such a charming, admirable couple, it’s very kind for them to invite us to their new home in the Docklands for a home-made Chinese dinner. Visit their wedding site, well done William - you lucky man!

Definitely need some rest after returning from Madrid. Working on my laptop and watching TV for much of the time, thank God there is Internet access here, at last! The most important thing today is, of course, England’s 3-0 win over Switzerland. I really enjoyed seeing them play, their performance was not as good as the one against France (still good!), but luck was finally on their side! The scoreline was therefore a bit flattering, Switzerland wasn’t that bad actually. Go England!

We just got a little time more than a lunch before we caught the 4 pm plane to return to London. As I hadn’t tried the well-known Spainish rice dish Paella yet, we had it today. We just bumped into a restaurant nearby and ordered the fried squids, a seafood paella and a jar of Sangria. What a meal! I was so full and drunk in the end that I threw up twice in the metro station and remained quite unconscious until the plane arrived London! It was lucky for me to get through the customs… no regrets though.

Goodbye Portugal! We left today by air, returning to Madrid and on our way home on the same route. It was quite late when we arrived in Madrid by easyjet, this time we stayed in Husa Moncloa Hotel which was located in the business centre of the city. I felt a bit exhausted after the travelling, didn’t do any sight-seeing at all. We had a huge late-lunch at El Corte InglÈs and bought some beer and snacks there for the games tonight. It turned out that we didn’t go out and had room service for dinner, yummy lamb and sardine!

Yeah! Today is the day! The Denmark v Italy match kicked off at 5 pm, we got there around 3 pm and finally collected our tickets! Then had a quick lunch and stuffed in the queue to enter the Est�dio D. Afonso Henriques stadium under an extremely hot sun. The atmosphere in the whole city was overwhelming, we saw so many supporters for both teams, all people were enjoying themselves so much, the streets were filled with fans with painted faces, funny costumes, cheering faces and singing voices. The Danish supporters completely out-numbered the Italian ones, so there were waves and waves of red inside and outside the stadium. The security was tight, we had to be searched all over our bodies and belongings, I am still puzzled at their request for dumping the lids of our plastic water bottles. The stadium was great and the weather was great, our seats were located right in front of the TV cameras and next to the journalists’ zone, spectacular view!

Unfortunately the game ended in a goal-less draw, we however enjoyed seeing the hard-fought performances from both sides, in particular that from Denmark. I think they deserved a win actually. The Italian team was a bit disappointing and I guess both teams suffered much from the heat. We never stopped taking photos throughout the match, I felt very very excited, this was the first time I ever witnessed an international football match, if time and money (and ticket availability) allow, I would really love to stay for as long as the competition lasts.

It’s our second day in Braga, we got to get everything ready for tomorrow’s game. We strolled around to find our ways to Guimar�es - where the game would take place. It’s a 45-min bus ride to get there, it wasn’t too hard to locate the stadium. We went straight to the ticketing office and tried to collect our tickets, unfortunately due to some unbelievable delays on the administration part, our tickets (among others) have not yet arrived. We were told to go back there later in the afternoon to try our luck. After a lunch and some aimless wandering around, no luck yet, it was quite frustrating because it was them who told us to come before the game to collect the tickets. The staff assured us that the tickets would definitely arrive tomorrow, what the…

We gotta go back to hotel in Braga to watch the France v England game, so we spent little time in Guimar�es sight-seeing, I can’t help feeling that today has been wasted. After watching the heart-breaking game, we had a McDonald’s dinner and walked around the place to enjoy the late night festival and beautiful lightings. Amazed by the long-lasting energy of the people, there were still crowds every where after midnight.