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Published: March 31st 2008
Go Team NZ!!!
Our boys heading out for the raceWith a bit of touch-and-go, Leah, James and I finally made it to Valencia, and hadn’t missed out on the all important America’s cup race - thank goodness for no wind! We’ve even managed to re-gig our itinerary so we can stay for Tuesday’s race.
After actually getting here, the first place we wanted to see was ‘Port America’s Cup’ and headed straight for Team New Zealand’s base with its enormous NZ flag flying proud.
After a bit of a goose chase, we found ‘The Woolshed’, where apparently all the kiwi’s hang out to watch the races, so we know where to go on Tuesday. We had a look around the rest of the impressive port area, where all the fancy restaurants and bars are and grabbed an ice-cream for dinner (food of champions!).
We spent Monday sightseeing, starting at the Central Market; I love being able to buy fresh fruit and bread straight from the markets. We had a wander through the old part of the town, including Plaza Ayuntamento and the town hall, plus some old Roman ruins were we found a bibliotech (library) but more importantly: free internet! - what geeks!
We found the
Choo choo!
Hannah, Leah, James: On the Train to Valencia, bringing down the class in First Class! Photo taken at the time of the start of Sunday's race - when we thought we'd missed it! old city gates with its tall towers each side to ambush unwanted guests, and then headed over to the East side of Valencia.
We had a look at Marqués de Dos Aigües Palace, the National museum of Ceramics, referred to as Valencia’s most extravagantly baroque palace. This beautiful building from the 18th Century is covered in elegant plaster work, making the building itself a piece of art.
We found the Cathedral of Valencia, and the Miguelete, with a lovely square and fountain behind, and were able to have a look through both buildings. We headed back to the train station, which was surprisingly busy, to find out that a bridge had collapsed near Madrid, with no alternative track routes and no trains were expected to be departing until Saturday!
Thankfully we were able to organise a bus and headed back to the gorgeous square behind the Cathedral of Valencia for dinner - check out the night time photo!
Tuesday = Game on. We had an early start to get ourselves sorted and down to Port America’s Cup to claim our vantage spot with our NZ gear, waving our NZ flags, and cheered our boys out to the harbour
Valencia
Plaza Ayuntamento and the town hall to do their business along with a hundred or so other kiwi’s.
Then it was time to rush back to the woolshed to get our seats in front of the big screen, and where Grant, Katie and her family meet us.
The race was fantastic! I’ve never seen such a close match! We crossed the start line almost at the exact same time as Alinghi. Team NZ spent most of the race ahead, but only less than 100m and a lot of the less than 50m!
Somehow Alinghi managed to force a plenty against us, by pushing us into a corner, and there was no where for us to go!
At the end of the last leg, just when we though it was all over, Alinghi had a problem with their mast and Team NZ were not only able to catch up, but pass then by 100! We did our penalty turn right in front of the finish line, with Alinghi catching up!
The whole woolshed was in hysterics! Leah and I could not scream any louder - although we tried - I thought I was gong to explode!!
We finally finished our penalty turn, and headed for
The Cathedral of Valencia
My favouriate place in Valencia - the sqaure behind the Cathedral - what a neat place to sit ouside and have dinner :) the finish line which was no far away, but we had no momentum! Alinghi and Team NZ seemed to cross the finish line at the exact same time! - Only a two second difference, but to who!? …..it was Alinghi arhh! - the whole woolshed was devastated! 😞
We rushed back out to our advantage point to wave and cheer our boys back in. You could see in their faces and body language that they were completely gutted by the result - but all of us were still very proud of them anyway!
We hung around to watch the presentation of the cup to another kiwi: Brad Butterworth and the crew aboard Alinghi… referred to around here as the NZ B Team.
Leah, James and I had to high-tail it out of there to get our bus. We said goodbye to Grant, Katie and crew, and rushed to the central bus station with only minutes to spare for our departure to Madrid - p.s. running in the heat of the Spanish summer with big packs on is not as much fun as you might think!
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