Real Madrid's Stadium Santiago Bernabeu

     Today my friends Ryan, Bruno, and I went to Real Madrid's Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. I wasn't sure what to expect when we decided to go tour the stadium, but I knew it was going to be a cool experience. We got onto the metro and headed out towards the stadium. Once we got off this was the first thing we saw.

      We made our way to the top of the stadium and there were some cool views of Madrid's skyscrapers.

      We were able to check out Real Madrid's numerous trophy cases. They had over 10 huge cases completely filled with a variety of trophies and awards. This is my friend Ryan "holding" the 1908 The Origin of the Legend Trophy.

This photo shows how Real Madrid's logo has changed since 1902.

Some of the current players' jerseys. Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely the fan favorite here in Madrid. 

      This doesn't come as much of a surprise because Cristiano has won many awards including this Golden Ball awarded to the FIFA World Cup's best player. In fact, he has won it twice.

       This statue is of Santiago Bernabeu, the person that the stadium is named after. He was the president of Real Madrid. 

     Ronaldo heard I was coming to town so he stopped by the stadium to take a photo with me.

       The tour was incredible. It was completely self-led and we were able to see everything including the view from the nosebleed seats, the presidential box seats, the locker rooms, the bench, and the press room.

       I was pretty excited when we got to check out the locker room. I had to take a picture of Cristiano's locker.

       When a player subs in during a game, they have to enter right here at the center line. I can only imagine how amazing it would feel to have 85,500 people cheering you on as you walked onto the pitch.

       My friends and I waited for awhile, but coach never put us in. I guess we are just some bench warmers.

        It was a sad day for Bruno. He had to announce his retirement from Real Madrid today in the press room.

       The total cost of the tour was 19 euro and it was more than worth the experience. One of the coolest things was that the stadium had WeeFee (haha) and I was able to share the experience with some friends through Facebook's video chat. I had to show it to my friend Hunter, because I have beaten him oh so many times in this stadium on FIFA 2015.
      Overall, today has been a great day. After leaving the stadium 3 hours after arriving, we walked back to the metro and headed home to get ready for a night out on the town.

       The weather has been so beautiful the whole time I have been here. I snapped this photo as I walked around by myself exploring a new section of the city. I couldn't be more excited about how great my time in Madrid has been so far. 

As always, thanks for reading.

        RCE