After we last posted, Jason and I headed off for a proper football game via the tube or London Underground. When we got to THE KINGS CROSS STATION a large group of Newcastle United fans loaded on fresh from a 3-4 hour train ride to go to the same game that we were. Some gents, spent the entirety of the train ride singing the teams songs. Got a video that I'll post to Facebook. Wanted to remain conspicuous so I only took one video but the boys were sloppy drunk. One even had a can in hand.
Additionally, an entire family of Newcastle United fans came on too. Looks like a brother and sister, their father, uncle and grandfather. So adorable to see the lineage of sports.
After we got off the tube we walked en masse (some of us escorted by police!) through East End which was picturesque at moments ...
Here is our first look at the stadium. I noticed it was next to a catholic school. Hopefully on week day games the fans behave better than they do on weekends. There was some of the foulest cursing I have ever heard even in the songs right in front of children. Ugh!!
As we walked to the ticket window we passed what were clearly the players cars. Notice the lambo! There were also some fords. J said that those were the trainers. Lol
This is the entrance. I originally took this picture to laugh at how small the opening was but I think they do that because the seats are even smaller. It's like, if you can't fit through here good luck up there!!
J was so excited to be at a real premier league football game. We went in to the official kit shop and as we were leaving the sensor went off. The security officer made a big deal of stopping all the traffic and moving us out of the way. I'm pretty sure he then forgot about us because he let about a thousand other people exit, dealt Another alarm, turned to us and said "right, what?"
While we were QUITE far up, we had pretty good seats to see the whole of the field. I sat with one shoulder behind J to avoid touching the stranger next to me... Ugh. I fell asleep about 4 times from sheer exhaustion. After halftime J went to the loo and brought back a scalding hot cup of crappy coffee for me with 1 cream, 1 sugar and 1 stirrer that he dropped as he handed it to me. So I dumped it all in rolled up the sugar packet and stirred as best I could, praying nothing significant would happen in the game. If it had, and it did about 5 seconds after I finished and popped the kid back I in, everyone stands and yells and I would have worn the 200•F coffee. It literally taster terrible but it helped warm me up and wake me up again. (30 hours awake)
When the game was over we stopped for a picture with the building behind us which turned out to be a pretty terrible idea as we ended up being 4 blocks behind the entrance to the tube in a blockaded standstill line of people waiting for the same freaking train. Eventually we got directions to the next station and followed about 20 people there. About 10 yards in I realized we were heading for the next train down the line and would be boarding a train stuffed full of the people that remains at that station. We passed up 4 trains before we were able to get one.
We decided to get off pretty arbitrarily (J claims he saw a lot of restaurants around here on yelp) apparently around London's Central Uni and quickly gave up for the warmth of the tube and decided to just eat nearer our hotel. After getting on a different line, switching a few times, we found ourselves at a pub just off Praed St. (The main road our hotel is on) and we grabbed a table. In England (as this is true in Wales as well) you order at the bar, then they bring it to you. Sometimes you just get it yourself (at the real down home establishments as we would say).
Even at the cafe to which we went for breakfast this morning: we went in, picked out what we wanted, they brought it out. This place was clearly particularly French and they didn't like talking about payment. We awkwardly asked when we paid and he said "later."
As we walked back to the station we passed so many fine dress shops. I had to take a picture of this, it's clearly one of the more posh parts of town.
I was totally wrong about Paddington. What I saw before was nearly the exit for the underground, when I saw how gorgeous the station itself was I knew Pop Pop would need to see it!! We camped out there for 2.5 hours because check out was at a whopping 10 am, they charge to keep your luggage, we didn't have a lot of time to go do something and come back for the luggage and Oh yeah!! Couldn't afford any of the above either. Le ugh. The station is totally open to the elements. Trains pull in and out on the main floor and pigeons fly above your head. We plopped down in the first seats we found and read for about an hour before J needed to walk. By the time he came back I was pretty freaking cold again and I went off to find the Starbucks that belonged to the litter I saw around our seat. (There is a shocking amount of litter. Like NYC, levels. If I lived in a town as historic and beautiful as London I would be fighting everyday to clean it up!)
What I found was a section RIGHT BEHIND US that was enclosed and therefore WARM. Got myself a VENTI skinny hazelnut latte (thankfully they took AMERICAN gift cards so it was free for me, thanks Aunt S!) and made J come sit inside where it was warm. We decided to sit on the stone surrounding th Paddington Bear statue. Adorable English kids came up for photos and hugs. One said "I love you, Paddington Bear." Adorable!!
Finally we went to platform 4 and No Quarters and awkwardly boarded the train. We didn't know which of the 6 pieces of paper were our tickets when we checked in but we were lucky to board early and had space to put our heaping luggage. Yippee our first proper train ride!
My phone filled up quickly after the videos I took of the countryside. So my last pictures are of our first stop Reading!! Pronounced Redding!!! Cute name for a pub and/or shop at the station.
The other photos I've snapped on J's phone so I'll have those up later after he's emailed me. Now we must unpack and find dinner. Hello Cardiff!!!
Love and cheers,
Brooke
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