It was a tough travel day as we had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to catch the ferry across the La Plata river. We got to Montevideo at about 11:00 A.M. and immediately got going on a city tour. The city is beautiful with great historical landmarks, government buildings, parks, friendly people and the coast line. We had a new tour guide, Monica, who was very patient with a hungry, tired group!
We saw some great monuments and sites. Here are several of the girls in front of the old Presidential House that is now just used for inaugurations and other ceremonies...From left to right: Danielle Sample, Jen Christoffers, Chelsea Card, Leslie Weeks, Paola
Marsenaro, Laurel Roderick, Amanda Sanchez.Then we headed to one of the most famous soccer stadiums in all of the world, El Centenario. The stadium was built in 1930 for the first-ever World Cup. Uruguay had won the Olympic soccer tournaments in both 1924 and 1928, so they were selected to host the first World Cup. The stadium used to hold 80,000 people...it was rebuilt and the capacity was reduced in 2001 for safety reasons. Uruguay won the first world cup, beating Argentina in the final, 4-2. We toured the World Cup museum there and saw some great artifacts. And the stadium is majestic, for sure.
After another quick bus ride, we drove to the coast, to Punto Gordo. Montevideo is very flat,
and this area is the second highest point and gives a great view of the city. The players were excited to get to see the coast in person. And, after the game tomorrow, we will be heading back for some relaxation. Tomorrow's kickoff is at 10:30 A.M. as we will fact the national team from Uruguay. After the game, the Uruguayan team will host a lunch for us and we will again hang out in the city until catching the ferry back to Buenos Aires at night.
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