So we're into day three in Lisbon, as pre-season preparations continue with the Cardiff City squad, covered by Bluebirds blogger (I've been called worse) and all-round media monkey Barrie McAuliffe. Here's a round-up of the past twenty four hours.

DAY TWO: MONDAY July 13th 2009

Following the long first day of early doors travelling, day two was set to be more straightforward in Portugal. Everyone and everything was in place, so it was down to work for the first day of many double sessions - something that doesn't generally occur in the throes of a season.

Waking up at 8:30am was a blessing for me personally. I've got three kids under six, and while I know I'll miss them on this short trip, the serenity of only room-mate Jamie's occasional grunts (single beds ok) was a 7am rarity I had to appreciate. I woke up of my own accord, set to do my part in keeping you lot in the loop on all things Cardiff City, venturing down one level to the breakfast room for my morning munchies.

I didn't cover this yesterday, but when a football team travel away to a hotel for anything longer than a night, it's general practice to commandeer one of the larger function rooms (or a few based on the hotel) to base operations from. There has to be a common place where the lads know where to pick up and drop off daily gear at numerous intervals, a place which can also double for the masseur's treatment area while also able to host three meals a day for thirty five blokes.

This year we're in the situation of a one stop shop, with everything in one large room, set-up with round tables to cater for ten. Meals are similar to a combination of a restaurant buffet and school dinners. The school reference comes in that the pockets of people works in a comparable way. The football staff sit together, the established mates sit together, the new boys pitch in where there's room or a past connection, while media boys have the access all areas pass to pick up the last seat on any table. It's ok, we're house trained.

Breakfast saw a regular pre-season occurrence, with a new face introduced for the day as a trialist picked up some training gear ahead of the morning session. Travelling in Europe, players often come in and out of sessions based on recommendations, DVD's or other scenarios. It's a gamble worth taking as some may stick and prove to be a real find or bargain.

The walk to the morning session was brisk, where again the squad looked impressive. Stand out contributions came from Chris Burke and Adam Matthews - check Jamie's Cardiff City World piece for proof, trust me. Saying that, morning merit was deserved across departments. It's premature, but things do look very good at this stage.

The session wasn't without incident however. Our trialist unfortunately fell awkwardly, but not too seriously on his ankle after some nice touches to cut short his involvement three quarters through, while Peter Enckelman was also seeing stars after Martyn Margetson smashed a ball at one of the training dummies so hard it snapped the head off, flying to and off Enck's chin. He was temporarily dazed and confused, but ok to continue without complaint.

Midday signalled the end of the first session, to which it was time to report back for lunch, whereby my stock rose slightly with Ross McCormack and Peter Whittingham on my admitting to bringing season one and two of the Inbetweeners on DVD.

Lunch was followed by a three hour break before session two, where again, some kicked back to rest or watch DVD's, some flew to a swift nine holes. I can't tell you every option taken as I'm not a stalker you see. Personally I did some work in the hotel room before taking to an all too rare stint on the treadmill, making three point five kilometres for my first run in a few months. Not good, definitely not great, but a start.

The afternoon session was a different one, in that we remained on-site at the hotel for some core fitness work. The lads were broken into two groups to be administered punishment by leaders Sean and Dave. Nice man Sean looked after stretching exercises, while Dave was the taskmaster with more vigorous elements - and I bet he'd admit he enjoyed it, if just a little. In fairness though, he also joined in, more than I did sat behind my camera in paparazzi mode. Thanks again to Wayne of www.tontan.com for the super wide angle lens.

After the mild torture, the order was to hit the outdoor pool to loosen up. I took a few snaps and then interviewed Sean for World on how things had run to date. Sean as ever was good form. Check it out on World later today.

The evening opened the chance to pop out to pick up some creature comforts. Word from some was the possibility to catch new flick Bruno as the local cinema ran English language movies with subtitles, not dubbed.

Jamie and I left the football staff to their plans, based solely on my need to get my flip-flops back (Jamie leaving numerous items at home requiring a shop stop). We picked up the cab behind youngsters Aaron, Josh and Adam, joined at the last minute for the taxi ride by Ant Gerrard with his own shopping agenda.

The Lisbon mall is a fair size and quite posh too really. Our mission was completed after some over long shoe browsing for my liking, reminding me of being dragged around by my mum in my school days. But saying that the trip ended with Jamie and I taking a single beer on level three, just reward for our efforts.

Day two ended with a return taxi to the hotel, where work began on this very blog. Check back tomorrow for the latest from the tour, including details of the Cardiff City rooming list. And don't forget, you can chat about this blog and all things Cardiff City on our official messageboard now.

Visit www.cardiffcitystadium.co.uk/mb now to see exclusive tour pictures and more