Not all pubs in London are cool!

If you can't read the sign in front of this pub, located right in downtown London next to Leicester Square, it reads:
Enjoy Our Sports Free Atmosphere.
I actually saw a handful of signs like this whilst walking around Central London. The backlash might stem from the prolonged excitement that was generated during the World Cup.

Needless to say I did not, and will NEVER go to this pub.

Reading

For those of you that don't keep track of my myriad sports loyalties on a daily basis, I have adopted the Reading FC as my English Premiership squad to support. I have actually been following the Royal's (their nickname) for a few years now because they have two Yanks, Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey, on their squad. Hahnemann is the goalie and grew up in Seattle. Played for Seattle Pacific University, so a local boy makes good story for sure. Both are national team players.
Marcus:

The football club is actually a really good story. This is the fist time since the club was established in 1871 that they are playing in the top division. Last year they won the Championship and because of that they were promoted to the English Premiership, this is the highest league in England. So I am definitely cheering for the underdog.

During our trip to London last week I took the time to take the train out to Reading and then took a bus to Madjeski Stadium. It was pretty cool. A nice stadium. I took a few pictures:
The Stadium:


And because I am me, here is a picture of myself in front of the stadium in my new Reading kit(English for jersey):


Downtown Reading, it is actually a nice town. Mid size city actually. Reading is about a 1 hour 15 minute train ride outside of London. That seems quite a while, but the English national rail trains don't really move that fast.

Again because I am me here is the warm up jacket that I just 'couldn't resist'. I know, I am pathetic but at least I realize it.

Toast

Last night we each raised a pint of Guinness for a friend:

Well, I had a pint and Paty had a half, but that still counts.

Golf and Soccer Update

Okay, today I became an official member of the Bhearna Golf and CC. I played the first nine holes as well today. Also my first 9 holes in Ireland.

Why only nine holes you ask? Well, it had something to do with the sideways rain and the 25 mph wind that came along with it. Plus it has rained all night the last couple nights and the course was really wet. I played pretty well and only shot a 47, par 36 for the front.

Brutal conditions, if it is always like this one of two things is going to happen.
a) My 400 Euros is going to turn out to be a bad investment
or
b) I am going to get a lot better at golf to survive because this course is tough when dry. And impossible when your ball has zero roll on every hole. Makes it play really LONG.

The soccer last night went well. We forgot the camera, so no pictures. Not much to take pictures of though. Basically over here it seems like they train during the week and then have matches on weekend. What that means to us Americans is that they practice during the week and only play games on the weekends. The Irish really need to hear about the adult Tuesday night league.

So as far as practice goes, I did well. The fields are kind of weird. It is indoor size fields with smaller goals. The goals are a little wider than what we would think of indoor, but only about waist high. And it is 5 v 5 on the pitch as opposed to 6 v 6. The fields have boards, but are perfectly square as opposed to rounded edges. They are all new field turf and the complex has 8 fields! The only thing is they are outdoors. So basically what we would think of indoor soccer, but outside. Kind of strange.

I did get an invite to another team that trains on Tuesday and Thursday and has matches on Saturday's. But I am reluctant to commit to weekend games as the concept of having every Saturday spoken for is going to fly like a lead balloon with Paty. So I might just train with the other team and see how it goes.

Football Tonight

So I was able to wrangle an invitation to play soccer with Paty's office mates. I guess NetIQ (Attachmate is still called NetIQ here in Galway) has a house team that plays every Thursday at 7 pm. It is outdoor, but 5 v 5 on turf. I am not really sure about the set up, but I am anxious to play. It has been a little over a month since I last suited up for Barca Indoor.
One little problem is that I did bring all my gear to Europe, but we had to leave a suitcase each in Brussels. The suitcase I left has all my gear. So I am going to play tonight in my 'runners'. But I need to borrow or purchase some shinguards and socks today.
The other little problem is that I have continued my efforts to go running most days. Yesterday I went almost 5 miles, don't laugh you have to start somewhere. But when I got home I guess my right foot is protesting the excessive pounding from this newly found running enthusiasm and has decided to protest by swelling some above my arch. It is kind of like I got kicked really hard there. No pain, just a weird swelling like maybe I hurt one of the bones somehow. So I am a little nervous about how it is going to react to kicking a soccer ball. I might have to play entirely left footed tonight!
Since I am playing with her coworkers Paty is trying to portray the loving and supporting wife, thus she is going to attend with me. I will have her take some pics of the 'action'.

Irish Coastline

For those of you keeping track at home, WE FINALLY GOT INTERNET!
And as an added bonus we also get digital cable included with the internet. The offshoot of this is as I am typing up this entry I am watching the riveting ICC Champions Trophy match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Yes, I am watching Cricket. I am still trying to figure out the rules in full, but I am starting to get it.
To celebrate the cable hook ups, I figured I needed to do a blog post. But I realized that I really had no content as we are finally starting to settle in to the routine of living in Galway.
So I took a drive up the coast a ways and took some pictures. The only problem with this is that it was horrible weather yesterday. The coast road was flooded in places and the picture taking basically entailed jumping out of the car keeping the camera under my coat. Seeing the picture to take, whipping out the camera, taking three pictures or so as quick as possible and then running back to the car. Not exactly Ansel Adams.
Don't get me wrong, even with the weather 'issues' it was a beautiful drive and worth the effort.




See, I really was there.

I had a double mission yesterday; I was also trying to find a golf club to join and wanted to check one out in Bearna. This is a town about 10 km up the coast from Galway City.
I planned my strategy well by dressing in pants and a golf shirt and going to the club on the day when no one could golf because of the above mentioned weather.
The golf course had a total of one car in the parking lot. It turned out to be the club secretary. This was good since he is the one person I could negotiate with. For a nominal fee I am now a temporary 6 month member of the Bearna Golf and Country Club!
My club:
http://www.bearnagolfclub.com/


Post Note; in response to a comment the 'nominal fee' includes all Green Fees for 6 months. And the secretary also turned out to be one of the club's owners so everything is on the up and up.

Galway Night Life

Just getting ready for a typical Friday night in Galway. I don't even think this bar is very cool, but apparently it is busy!

For those of you keeping track at home, we got a phone yesterday! It is a cordless type and needed to charge for 24 hours before use. So we have not tested it out yet. But by the end of the day we should have a outside phone line. E-mail me if you want the number. I would put it on the blog, but as I have gotten a few random comments that needed to be deleted I don't really want it to be out in the open like that.

As for the internet, supposedly they are coming on Tuesday between 1 PM and 6 PM. I have my fingers crossed.

London Post

Okay, still no internet at the apartment. Supposed to be Tuesday. Thus I am back at Mocha Beans. I would go to the pub with wifi, but I have to pick Paty up from work as she has still not ventured onto the left side of the road in our Nissan Micra.

We arrived in England Monday around 2 PM. A driver that Attachmate had arranged picked us up from the London Gatwick airport and took us to Staines. That is the city where Paty's office is located. The city is officially called Staines on Thames because it is on the Thames River (the same river that runs through London proper). Staines is about a 35-45 minutes train ride from London's Waterloo station, basically downtown London or close enough to walk there.

We arrived in London around 5 PM after picking up a bite in Staines and dropping our bags at the hotel.


I wanted to see the Premiership Football (soccer) game at Fulham. Craven Cottage (Fulham’s home pitch) is only about a 10 minute tube ride from Waterloo station and they are lead by USA Soccer veteran Brian McBride. I was pumped up as England always has one of their 10 weekend Premiership matches on Monday. This is the British version of Monday Night Football, thankfully without Hank Williams Jr. Paty on the other hand wanted to see a play since we were within walking distance from the theater district. Thus:

Yes, we went to see The Producer's. It was pretty good, but McBride did score in the 2-0 Fulham victory. I'll let it go now. I’m not bitter…….
On the way to the theater we ran into some type of invitation only black tie affair at the Royal Something or another. It came with the cool guards. I think it was a Royal Museum of some sort as the sign said it was normally open to the public:

Some pictures of London at night:


That is basically a photo looking both directions from the Waterloo Bridge. The cool bridge that is lit up is the Centennial Bridge. It is for train and foot passengers only. In the background you can see the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben and at the very back Westminister Abbey.

The next day Paty had her Siebel training class all day. She met the other two trainers at 8 the next morning. She was conducting/helping with the training not in the class.
As I had nothing to do all day I decided to take the train again into London. It has been unseasonably warm all throughout the UK and Ireland. Consider that I was sweating whilst walking around the city in only my rugby shirt. It was somewhat funny to see everyone all bundled up when it was in the mid 60’s. I think that everyone just sees the calendar turned to mid October and knows that it should be cold. They are dressing for the calendar, not the actual weather. I took a bunch of pictures as I really didn’t have anything else to do all day. This is basically the same picture as last night but in the day. Centennial Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament and a whole bunch of ministry offices on the right along with Scotland Yard.

Same pic, but I am on the Centennial Bridge. Notice the new messenger bag (Man Purse):


Before I get too far into this post, let me explain one key fact about London. It is BIG. The city itself is HUGE. I think the whole metropolitan area is among the top 5 largest cities by population in the world. But I am talking about the downtown zone. The area you would think about when someone said they went to London. For me to walk along the Thames from Big Ben to London Bridge would take a half hour walking briskly. Maybe this is one of the reasons that they have developed such an extensive tube system (Mind the Gap). The Olympics are going to be held in London in 2012 and almost all of those events are being deployed in London’s East End. That is a good 45 minutes to an hour walk from where I am taking these pictures. The Londoners are actually really excited about the Olympics, it always seems to be in the news. But the size does not prohibit London from being a good walking town. Exactly the opposite, it is a great city to walk around. Every time you turn the corner there is some cool old building or alley. This is a typical street of no particular interest in London:

The only drawback is that no matter how long you stay I think it is virtually impossible to see everything. There are six major parks in the downtown core. This is St. James’s Park featuring a large duck pond and island in the center:


I don’t think this sign is very effective as these birds are as wild as my cockatiel Porfi, but you have to try:

Eyeballing the map, I think St. James’s is the smallest park but it does have a great location across from Buckingham Palace:

And it also borders Downing Street. #10 Downing Street is where the Prime Minister lives. The rest of the inner cabinet ministers also have residences on this street:

#12 pictured, #10 is actually to the right by where that lady is:

This is the Royal Guard; they actually do stand there all day without moving. Everyone takes these cheesy pictures. I felt bad and just took a picture of someone else so you get the idea:

Apparently he FINALLY got sick of getting his picture taken:

This is Trafalgar Square and the Royal Museum:

Same square, but I am standing on the steps to the museum. You can see Big Ben and Westminister Abbey in the far background. The road pictured goes from Trafalgar Square to Parliament and includes Downing Street, Scotland Yard, The Foreign Office, The Ministry of Defence, The Admirality and the Old Treasury. Basically the heart of the UK’s government.


The duck has migrated!

I thought that was a Seattle tourist original!

Marbella & Costa Del Sol Post part Deux

Marbella has two parts that are tourist areas with nice beaches and restaurant boardwalks and such. One is Puerto Banus, the other is Marbella proper. Some pictures from Puerto Banus:




The Marina:


And some pictures from Marbella:





This was easily the best Italian restaurant we have been to in years if not ever:

It was tucked away at the top of the Marbella walking only area next to a really neat little church. Basically the restaurant had 6 tables inside and then an additional 6 outside in the walking only alley bordering the church.

We had five nights and four full days in Costa del Sol. As we did not have a car, we hung out at the beach quite a bit. Spain is still a predominantly topless beach going nation so this was not really a bad thing. I had to do some editing to make the beach pictures okay for public consumption:






It is kind of hard to see, but that is the rock of Gibraltar way off in the distance:

The Huskies are also representing in Spain:

We also went out at night quite a few times. You saw the best Italian restaurant in the Costa del Sol. But we also hung out at a few other places. This is a sports bar owned by Gary Lineker, he of the English soccer fame. We watched the Reading v Chelsea bloodbath and one other game here:

Obviously Gary has learned the #1 rule of having a successful beach/tourist bar, waitress hiring:

We actually talked to her quite a bit one night; she has to be the #1 MILF in all of the Costa del Sol. She has 2 year old boy and is Polish married to an English guy. VIVA POLAND! I have some things to say about this picture, but currently I can't find a way to say it without getting in trouble, so:


This has got to be the best anti hangover stand ever:

Very good and effective when you have been drinking all night and are:

In summary, the Costa del Sol is a nice place. But there are better places to visit, even in Spain. Marbella itself is pretty and ideally located climate wise, but it is almost obscenely overbuilt. And the building continues mostly unabated. The corruption between the mayor’s office, deputy mayor and the town planner was so rampart that the Spanish federal government (i.e. the FBI) stepped in and in March of 2006 arrested all the above mentioned officials. Plus, they shut down the mayors office and the area is now run by something know as ‘the best man’ government. The old mayor from the 80s through the 90s that was allegedly behind all this corruption was estimated to be worth 2.4 Billion Euros and is one of the richest persons in Spain. Now this might be hard to believe, except that part of the same article said that during the raid the deputy mayor’s safe was inventoried and there was 378,000 Euros in 500 Euro notes. This is the deputy mayor, and that is almost a half million US dollar equivalent. After reading this article, the obscene building projects make more sense. Too bad, as the Costa del Sol could have been the place to be if managed correctly.

When given the chance, visit Spain. It is a GREAT place, but head up the coast to the Costa Brava or the Costa Verde, primarily the beaches south of Barcelona. It is nice in Marbella, but far from ideal.