Twickenham - All Blacks v (smash) England

Dean's manager at work is a member of a local rugby club so was able to go in the ballot for tickets to this game on our behalf. They were pretty reasonable at 56 quid each.

The All Blacks played pretty well - we were disappointed at the crowd who drowned out the haka (being slightly home sick kiwis we were really looking forward to it) and at the poms behind us who asked us to stop standing to cheer everytime we scored, cause they couldn't see.

Glad we've done Twickenham and can cross it off the list - despite being really close to home it's a bit of a pain to get to as the trains are packed, and the crowd didn't really encourage us to come back. Not like Scotland where the crowd was almost as excited as us when the ABs scored!




Dean with a very very cheesy smile before the game started

The Artillery

An old mate from VUWAFC, Glenn Phillips offerred me tickets to Arsenal vs Dinamo Kiev in a Champions League Group game. His company is able to get numerous tickets to Arsenal games, so before he took his long trip home I thought I would get in on the gig.

Having previously gone to Highbury in the mid-90's, it was quite a difference going to the new stadium. Highbury felt more impressive with Emirates being more of an open, corporate feel with less of the close packed crowd atmosphere. Being a Champions League match there were no alcoholic beverages on sale, which was puzzling and even more puzzling was the huge queues for food and tea and coffee at half time.

At the game, I was struck by the nature of the crowd. It seemed that there were a lot of people more interested in being there for being there's sake, rather than there for the football. Our seats were right down behind the goal, almost at pitch level and whenever there was a corner, or a deadball situation near the goal, the masses would get out their cellphones/cameras and click away rather than focus on the action. However at least there was a few real fans who would sing along with the chants, probably the most limited so far with only two discernible different ones.

Clearing the stadium was pretty good, and easy to get to the tube then home inside an hour. Pretty good really for being on the other side of London.
That makes the grounds attended: Millwall, Charlton, Fulham and Arsenal. Remaining are: Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Watford, Queens Park Rangers, Leyton Orient, Barnet, Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge.

All Blacks in Edinburgh

Enjoyed a weekend in Edinburgh in November 2008 with a group of friends to watch the All Blacks play Scotland. Lou couldn't decide who to support (being half Scottish) but backed the winning team.
A good taster for Scotland with more trips sure to follow.


Here's the gang outside after the game



And Lou being a poser.

Weekend in Madrid

We spent a lovely weekend in Madrid with Lou's brother and his fiance Hannah at the end of November. With snow falling in London it was great to be in a warmer city. We had a great time, didn't overdo it (tired wee kids as we are) but the Spanish weekend has certainly made us decide to move Barcelona towards the top of our "must visit" list next year.



We saw plenty of the sights by jumping on a bus tour, went to a Flamenco dinner/show which was amazing, and visted the Museo del Prado. With only a couple of hours there we focused on Spanish artists including plenty of Goya and really enjoyed some of Flemish artist Bosch's weird and wonderful creations.


Oh and we LOVED the churros and chocolate, just the ticket for afternoon tea.

The side of the Thames

My work manager is a season ticket holder at Fulham, and when he went for a two week holiday back to Australia, he left us his season tickets. A traditional 3pm kickoff with Sunderland the opposition. It was a short bus ride and walk from home which made it easy for Lou and I to get to.

A quick look in the club shop, and we both agreed that there was not enough space to wander around freely, unlike previous clubs, and there was no natural flow through the store. The tickets were located in the Riverside stand, one of the more picturesque locations for a stand. You walk in behind the stand which is right on the bank of the Thames. On a clear autumn day, it was really pretty. Food options were pretty good, and Lou said the bathrooms were classy with lilies displayed, so amenities received a pass mark.

Sitting down, the seats were top notch. Then a most surreal experience, blaring over the sound system was a song about Mohammed Al-Fayed (the club's owner) with some traditional Arabic music and words like "That's his name, Mohammed". Just bizarre.

To the game. Fulham were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw as Keiron Richardson from Sunderland had a free kick hit both posts, and another free kick that scored but was ruled out for a foul by one of his players interfering with the wall. The Fulham left-back Paul Konchesky was impressive, a good solid performer.

The walk home along the bank of the Thames was a nice end to the day out.

That makes the grounds attended: Millwall, Charlton and Fulham. Remaining are: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Leyton Orient, Barnet, Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge.

Trips to Tottenham and Arsenal are potentially in the pipeline, and Sarah may have a route to Chelsea so some of the harder tickets are lining up.

The hometown tourist

We are starting to really feel at home in London but that is not diminishing our desire to get out there and do some of those classic tourist things.


Summer in London gave us a(!) good sunny day, so we maximised the opportunity and headed off with the intention to see one of the things at the top of the list, the Changing of the Guards. Normally it is hard to see the Changing of the Horse Guards (down at Whitehall) and get to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace as they are only 1/2 an hour apart, and a wee bit of a walk, but Sunday allows a much more sensible 1 and 1/2 hour gap.


Horse Guards - Just down the road from 10 Downing St is the Horse Guards. Changing of the Horse Guards was a small affair, due to the Queen not staying in London, so it was a bit underwhelming. Some tourists were a bit cheeky, feeling the bearskin shakos of the guards and rubbing their backs. Probably not a wise move, given their weaponry.




Changing of the Guards - Lucky for us the short Horse Guard changing allowed us to get to Buckingham Palace with an hour to spare. We certainly needed that time to get a prime position, right on the pavement where the new and old guards marched past on their way to and from the 'changing'. Had we been much later, we would have lived up to the Lonely Planet saying - if you are lucky you will be able to see the Changing of the Guard behind 5 or 10 rows of people! I think next time we would try to get a place up against the railings so we could observe the actual changing inside the gates.


The soldiers that guard the Queen, while maintaining the traditional uniforms, do have a touch of modern warfare with their sub machine guns, as opposed to the Horse Guards with their sabres. We were quite impressed with the police, who really stepped up their tourist herding about 45 mins before the Changing, constantly admonishing those climbing the Queen Victoria monument for a better view, and reminding people to keep their eyes on their valuables, and all the time remaining calm about those trying to walk the wrong way.




During the Changing, the brass band played a range of classy musical arrangements, including some more modern pieces, all very entertaining. We were glad to have done it and experienced one of the quintessential tourist experiences.






Other bits and bobs from Londontown - The von D parents stopped into London for a few days at the end of their trip. We enjoyed a trip to Hampton Court (and we signed up to be members of the historic places trust which gets us unlimited entry into 5 royal palaces for the next year, we’ll definitely make the most of that).







We also went to the musical Wicked which was the best one we’ve seen so far. Not far behind was Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat! Lou took some time off work and joined her folks at St Paul’s cathedral, with the amazing whispering gallery (you climb a couple of hundred steps in the dome and can whisper against the wall – the acoustics are so good that the whisper can be heard clearly from the other side of the gallery), the Victoria and Albert museum, and the Transport museum. Lou also went on an evening Jack the Ripper themed walking tour.