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Who Dey in the UK - 2019


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I didn't get a chance to post photos while I was on the road, but for those living vicariously through me...

 

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Lisa and I stayed at the London County Hall Marriott.... on the Thames, under the London Eye, across Westminster Bridge from Big Ben and Parliament.
Actual photo taken from my cell phone... not a post card.  :)

 

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View from our room.   Except for a brief beautiful blue sky morning on Friday (which lasted only until about 10am), the weather every day was just like this.  Gray, overcast, depressing.

 

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Almost a Full English breakfast.  Missing the tomato, and for some reason I got scrambled eggs instead of fried.  The mushroom, sausage and rashers were terrific, but I wasn't sold on the beans.  And I only took a half-portion of everything - y'all know all about that bariatric surgery I had 3-4 years ago.

 

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Went to pay a visit on the Eastern Hemisphere at Greenwich.  Decided to skip the Royal Observatory - $50 admission for two just to take a photo on a line that extends all the way to the poles seemed wasteful.  Particularly when there's a plaque, line, and a pub, just outside the Observatory grounds in Greenwich proper.

 

Speaking of the pub....

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We then hopped the DLR and went to the Bengal's Pub - the Admiralty - on Trafalgar Square.  Where we had more beer and tucked-in for supper.

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We flew overnight from CVG to Heathrow via JFK, getting in on Thursday morning.  We spent most of Thursday recovering from the flight and the timechange, doing only Greenwich and the Admiralty before taking a walk along the South Bank and hitting the sack early.  Slept for 12h, had breakfast, then went sight-seeing.  Friday was Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, then we Tubed to Piccadilly Circus and walked around Soho.  Lisa found a Doc Martin's store (we ended up going back on Monday so she could by some shoes), I found a used vinyl store (Monday - picked up several vintage records by ELO and The Idle Race), and we ended up meeting friends for dinner at a nice Indian restaurant in Covent Garden.

 

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Changing trains at Green Park - we ended up changing trains a Green Park a helluva lot on this trip.  Lol.

 

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"Winchester Cathedral!  Oh, oh how I love ya!"
(Duh, that's Westminster Abbey!)

 

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Masala Zone, Covent Garden.  Geoffrey, Amish, Heather, and Lisa.   Geoffrey Simon [Wikipedia] is an internationally-renowned Conductor, originally from Adelaide (Australia), who founded the Bloomington (IN) Symphony Orchestra when he was a grad student at IU.  2019/20 is the 50th anniversary season of the BSO's founding, I'm the Orchestra's President, and we're bringing Geoffrey back to Indiana to guest-conduct in March... the least I could do while in London was buy him and his g/f dinner.  Oh, and Heather just happens to have been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia by HRM Queen Elizabeth II in 2014. T Talk about a couple of heavy-weights at one table - whoa!

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Sunday was game day.

 

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Arriving at Wembley Park underground station and THIS is the first sight you see.   Damn, this is pretty fucking impressive!

 

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I took a panoramic photo from our seats.  Couldn't monkey around with the white balance or exposure level in this mode, which is why everything is oversaturated.  We were in the lower part of the upper bowl, mid-field, only 11 rows up.  Terrific view.

 

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Here's a better shot taken right after we arrived and before folks filed in.  The scarf is horrible... more on that later.

 

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The week of our trip was the beginning of the annual Poppy Drive in advance of Remembrance Day.  As in 2016, we donated to the cause and got our poppies.  I didn't have a lapel collar or an obvious place on my jersey to pin it to, so it went on my cap.  It's still there today, as is the 2016 poppy that's still pinned to my Krumrie jersey.

 

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Lisa, Heather's friend Eric, Geoffrey, and me.  We weren't losing yet at this point.

 

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On our way out.  Still hella cool to see Wembley sporting Bengal colors.

 

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The thing I'm proudest of - after looking for one of these beauts all week, and having hit FIVE different souvenir stands without any luck at Wembley, I found the very last Bengals Union Jack cap at the sixth stand and bought it immediately.  I'll be wearing this next Sunday when we lose to the Rats.

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Here's another view of the scarf....

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Its a horrible knock-off scarf sold outside of Wembley, and outside of the NFL's controlled areas. Just look at it... The colors are right (orange, black, yellow, blue) but that's just about it.

 

The helmets are hilarious, and "American Football Bowl" is absolutely priceless. It's SO bad... But I had a chance 3 years ago to get its twin and I declined, having regretted that decision ever since. Even standing at the knock-off booth I was hesitant because its so horrible... But it was only £20, the absolute most I decided I was willing to part with, so now its mine. 

 

I did get the "official" scarf inside the stadium. It was only £15. Lol.

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Monday was a scheduled "down" day.  A chance to do any last-minute shopping or sightseeing that we missed, and a planned early bed time for our early Tuesday flight home.

 

We started the day at the Tower:

 

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And ended at Skygarden:

 

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Panorama

 

 

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Flew home Tuesday to CVG (via Chicago), crashed at the Residence Inn, then came home Wednesday. ...... exhausted, but with lots of great memories.  

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Nearly forgot... here's the "official" scarf for this game.  It's designed to appeal to fans of both teams, or fans of neither who just want to commemorate having been there.

 

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Still think it's hilarious that it was only 15 currency units for this beauty, when the horrible knock-off pirated scarf was 20.  But I'm happy I got both.

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A brilliant time, paisano. Happy for you and Lisa to experience! 

 

Couldn't shake the time for a go at Gunners Pub, but that's understandable. 

 

Like I have said, my first go at London will be like this: seeing lots of dead people and walking across Abbey Road. 

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On our way to Wembley on Sunday, which was a direct run up the Jubilee Line from Westminster Station to Wembley Park Station, we stopped at Baker Street and St John's Wood.

 

- Baker Street was to find 221b.... it's not here, but there -is- a Beatles Museum (essentially, a glorified gift shop) on that spot now.  And we ran into Captain Obvious, who was heading to Wembley with his peeps.

- St John's Wood -was- to visit the Abbey Road crosswalk.  : )     I dd the xwalk with my kiddo 3 years ago, this time it was for snapping photos of my gal, who had been talking about doing that for WEEKS.  

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