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| Stamford Bridge aka the Heart of London (photo by TravellingFool.com) |
I awoke this morning in a panic. Since I started sleeping without an alarm clock I've been judging the time of morning by how light it is outside. Still dark? It's probably around 6. Bright? After 8. When I awoke it was bright AF. We needed to be out and on the road by 10:30 at the latest, and since my iPod died in the middle of the night I had no idea what time it was. I got out of bed and grabbed my brother's phone to find out. Sure enough it was 8:30am. While it was earlier then I intended to be up I figured why not take my time and get dressed. EJ took this as, you need to hurry up cause we are late.
By 9:30 we were climbing down from the ivory tower that is our room on the 5th floor of the hostel (which is really like the 6th or 7th because two of the floors have a double flight of stairs and 8th floor if you come up from the kitchen in the basement). With time to kill we stopped to get breakfast in a cafe. EJ got egg and turkey bacon on toast and I got ham and a mystery nearly non-existent cheese on a delicious toasted crossiant.
Then we walked down to the bus, hopped on and road it to Stamford Bridge aka Chelsea FC stadium. If buses in New York had a second level life would be so much better. Then again the tourists might ruin that too. Anyway we made our way to the stadium and it was amazing. There are two hotels built right into it!
We got to go to the museum before our tour which was filled with trophies and the history of the club which was interesting given it's success through both world wars. They even had an Xbox one with FIFA that you could play.
The tour started off with going into the stadium and sitting in some of the supporters slash season ticket holder seats. After that we climbed our way to the press area and got to sit behind the mic. Then it was over to the visitors locker room which was so small and bare that I wondered how any team could fit in there much less prepare properly for a game. EJ said it made sense now why their home record was so good. We went to the Chelsea locker room after and what a difference! They had a lovely locker room, smart board and strategy room, toilets that had privacy, and even a TV and Xbox. The tour guide said that the players set up their locker wherever they like and interpretors are not allowed in their meetings which are all conducted in English. It creates interesting cliques that in turn show up on the pitch.
After the tour, like any good business, the guide dropped us off in the gift shop. Chelsea calls it the Megastore. Blue everywhere. Anything you can imagine with a Chelsea logo on it. EJ got a cute hat with a pompom and a phone case and street sign. I almost got the Chelsea scarf but then decided against it since it would just mean that people would see it and assume I have more then cursory knowledge about the team.
Purchases in tow we slowly made our way out of Chelsea FC headquarters. It was still pretty early, even though the sun was perpetually in the sunrise position in the sky, so I said let's go to this winter carnival that my coworker had been raving about. Back on the bus, napping through traffic, we made our way through the city to get to Hyde Park and Winter Wonderland.
By 9:30 we were climbing down from the ivory tower that is our room on the 5th floor of the hostel (which is really like the 6th or 7th because two of the floors have a double flight of stairs and 8th floor if you come up from the kitchen in the basement). With time to kill we stopped to get breakfast in a cafe. EJ got egg and turkey bacon on toast and I got ham and a mystery nearly non-existent cheese on a delicious toasted crossiant.
Then we walked down to the bus, hopped on and road it to Stamford Bridge aka Chelsea FC stadium. If buses in New York had a second level life would be so much better. Then again the tourists might ruin that too. Anyway we made our way to the stadium and it was amazing. There are two hotels built right into it!
We got to go to the museum before our tour which was filled with trophies and the history of the club which was interesting given it's success through both world wars. They even had an Xbox one with FIFA that you could play.
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| Can't get a ticket to the match? Stadium Tour! (photo by TravellingFool.com) |
After the tour, like any good business, the guide dropped us off in the gift shop. Chelsea calls it the Megastore. Blue everywhere. Anything you can imagine with a Chelsea logo on it. EJ got a cute hat with a pompom and a phone case and street sign. I almost got the Chelsea scarf but then decided against it since it would just mean that people would see it and assume I have more then cursory knowledge about the team.
Purchases in tow we slowly made our way out of Chelsea FC headquarters. It was still pretty early, even though the sun was perpetually in the sunrise position in the sky, so I said let's go to this winter carnival that my coworker had been raving about. Back on the bus, napping through traffic, we made our way through the city to get to Hyde Park and Winter Wonderland.
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| Winter Wonderland is crazy! (photo by TravellingFool.com) |
I had thought it would be like Bryant Park. It was more like if Bryant Park and Adventureland had a baby then that baby was chilling in the middle of a huge park. There were little shops and tons of food and some crazy rides. Giant swings and full size rollercoasters.
We made our way through the whole park. I had delicious curry fries, garlic bread, and a hot chocolate. There were more bars or places to grab a drink then I could count (and from what I overheard sitting here in the hostel kitchen there is a nightly bar crawl). There was even a bar in the middle of a carousel - if only Binghamton could have invented that!
We had our fill of the festivities but it was still pretty early. There was a decision to make - do we take the bus back or walk 1.5 miles through the park? The sun was just starting to fall again in the sky, only having made it a third of the way up to begin with, so I said let's walk. It was a lovely, albeit brisk and sometimes slippery walk. We found an art museum in the center of the park and another house with an expensive car parked next to it.
Our long walk went a bit further as we headed to the pub that we couldn't get into the night before. It turns out it was part of the same chain of pubs that we had already been to! Too tired to try going anywhere else and without many non-ethnic eateries in the area we decided to stay. We slowly watched the pub fill up, and EJ saw two Trump supporters come in and declare how our orange in chief is going to save the world (thankfully they were kicked out).
After the pub we went to Boots, my co-workers other favorite spot, picked up some soap and vitamin c since EJ was concerned about staying in a crowded room with someone who was coughing up a lung (I'm pretty sure it's just smokers lung). We stopped in Sainsbury after to get a water and a couple beers where we ran into our South African roommates.
Bryan told us the tale of their adventure finding a club that was pretty good, and how they fell asleep on the night bus so it took them two extra hours to get back to the hostel. His friend asked what we did for the day and when I mentioned the Chelsea tour told us that they had tickets to Saturdays game! So jealous but those tickets were so much money we couldn't justify it. Bryan raved about this drink called Pims (and later apologized because it wasn't as good in the can as it was when he had it in a punch).
Now we are in the kitchen of the hostel, watching a guy from Melbourne do a magic trick with cards with a college student from Boston named Jason and the annoying girl from NJ. The South Africans are trying to figure out where they are going tonight with their other hostel friend and EJ and I are enjoying our beer before bed. Tomorrow we move to a new hostel and get to start meeting more new people and exploring a new part of town.
We made our way through the whole park. I had delicious curry fries, garlic bread, and a hot chocolate. There were more bars or places to grab a drink then I could count (and from what I overheard sitting here in the hostel kitchen there is a nightly bar crawl). There was even a bar in the middle of a carousel - if only Binghamton could have invented that!
We had our fill of the festivities but it was still pretty early. There was a decision to make - do we take the bus back or walk 1.5 miles through the park? The sun was just starting to fall again in the sky, only having made it a third of the way up to begin with, so I said let's walk. It was a lovely, albeit brisk and sometimes slippery walk. We found an art museum in the center of the park and another house with an expensive car parked next to it.
Our long walk went a bit further as we headed to the pub that we couldn't get into the night before. It turns out it was part of the same chain of pubs that we had already been to! Too tired to try going anywhere else and without many non-ethnic eateries in the area we decided to stay. We slowly watched the pub fill up, and EJ saw two Trump supporters come in and declare how our orange in chief is going to save the world (thankfully they were kicked out).
After the pub we went to Boots, my co-workers other favorite spot, picked up some soap and vitamin c since EJ was concerned about staying in a crowded room with someone who was coughing up a lung (I'm pretty sure it's just smokers lung). We stopped in Sainsbury after to get a water and a couple beers where we ran into our South African roommates.
Bryan told us the tale of their adventure finding a club that was pretty good, and how they fell asleep on the night bus so it took them two extra hours to get back to the hostel. His friend asked what we did for the day and when I mentioned the Chelsea tour told us that they had tickets to Saturdays game! So jealous but those tickets were so much money we couldn't justify it. Bryan raved about this drink called Pims (and later apologized because it wasn't as good in the can as it was when he had it in a punch).
Now we are in the kitchen of the hostel, watching a guy from Melbourne do a magic trick with cards with a college student from Boston named Jason and the annoying girl from NJ. The South Africans are trying to figure out where they are going tonight with their other hostel friend and EJ and I are enjoying our beer before bed. Tomorrow we move to a new hostel and get to start meeting more new people and exploring a new part of town.
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