After our first day’s fairly astonishing events, everything else was destined to be an anti-climax.

We did however wake up IN the England hotel – apparently at some point I had taken a room – and we were consequently treated to a genuinely stunning view at wakeup.

The only thing missing was the England bus… which had seemingly departed (along with the England team) for Manaus. At least we’d be able to get access to the…er, gym.

While we contemplated how we’d managed to sleep until noon, and why we so rarely ever visit a gym, we negotiated a 2pm checkout and went looking for lunch instead.

After a quick bite, and despite the dicey weather, we ventured out to the pool area. Eli set to work practising his penalty kicks on the custom England training ground.

Frolicks in the pool followed…

… and before long it was time to leave the hotel… but not before a quick family selfie.

We jumped in a cab back to the city – just as traffic was building for the first World Cup game…

And retraced our steps from the day before…

Before long we were back at our apartment and it was time to find a bar to watch the opening game. We decided upon our neighbourhood drinking hole – a friendly little establishment called Escobar.

Here’s a quick video I slapped together of the evening’s festivities.