Today I had another Tweetup planned - we got some vouchers for a football stadium tour and we decided to go to theEmirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club in London, United Kingdom. I was going with my buddies Frank and Theo, and my assistant Di and Ancient Assistant Noreen. We were going by train so caught the 7.55am train to London - we were going first class! Which meant free tea, coffee, Pepsi, orange juice and a snack bag of egg mayonnaise bun, cheesy biscuits and Cadbury's chocolate fingers. Score! Oh yeah, and a bottle of water. On the way there, Theo checked out the view for anything interesting.
We took the flatties with us too - these are the pictures of my Twitter pals who like to travel with me when they can't go in bearson. This trip we were meeting up with my good buddy Reddy (@reddy1408) and his mum, dad & human brother, Rosie (@Rosiebear90) and her friends Lizzie and Ba, as well as her mum, Martha (@MarthaBBear) and Emily and her humans A and V and all the way from the Isle of Wight, mini Kolo (@Kolo_Martin) and mini-Breeze with his person and manperson. We were meeting Reddy at London Euston station and, as we'd travelled first class, we could go into the Virgin Trains first class lounge. More drinks and snacks for us! Oh, and free Wi-Fi.
Once Reddy had arrived, we headed down the very long escalators into the depths of the London Underground and we headed to Highbury and Islington where we were all to meet at Temptations Café on the Holloway Road. It wasn't too busy on the Tube we were on.
We spent five minutes outside Highbury and Islington station, trying to figure out where to find Temptations Café and wandered around a little aimlessly, staring at phones, trying to make sense of where it was. Then Reddy looked up and saw the café was about fifty yards away. Oops. We headed straight there to find Rosie was already there, buying a coffee. I got a latté and a piece of carrot cake but it seems I may have eaten it too quickly to get a photograph (can't afford to wait too long in the company of this many cake-eating bears!)
Kolo was running a little late, having trouble getting across the city, so we agreed to meet him down at the Stadium and we set off to find it. It wasn't that hard, although at one crossing we saw arrows pointing at one hundred and eighty degrees to each other! D'oh! Maybe someone's idea of a joke? Undeterred, we found it! We had a look around the huge store - The Arsenal Armoury - that's it behind me, underneath the second A of Arsenal. By the time we'd done a little shopping, mini Kolo and his entourage had arrived!
We booked in for our tour, entered our names in a machine to get a certificate and picked up our audio guide, with included Arsenal headphones. A quick bag check and we followed the signs, crossing through the car park and into the Director's entrance. Here they had some of their many trophies on display. We climbed up the stairs.
In the Director's entrance there was a statue of Arsene Wenger - the team Manager. Oh yeah, and more trophies.
Another climb and we were in the Director's Box. Ooh, it's posh up here! A nice bar, tables and chairs, but outside is better!
There's a great view of the ground from up here, and more importantly - comfy chairs!! This is the only way I like to watch football.
Below centre you can see the players' tunnel. They even have white seats amidst the sea of red, making a cannon shape - looks great!
As we left the box I spotted all the tables had the cannon logo on them too - nice! Found yet another trophy and a Woolwich Arsenal logo on the floor of the lift.
We then headed into the Diamond Club - we found Mr Wenger in here too. This is a nice relaxing area I'm sure. Used by the rich and famous, I believe, though I've never been before!
Another cannon, and this time Dennis Bergkamp - they tell me he was a good player
As we headed down to pitch level we found a time capsule. Not sure what's inside it though. Theo wanted a closer look!
It seems Mr Wenger wasn't thrilled with Frank's team selection tips. Nor Reddy's!
So much so, in fact, that this happened in the away team's changing room. Heehee.
The home team changing room were way nicer though. More cannons on the wall and take a look at this bath! Though you'll not catch me in there.
They had a nice physio suite and this tile wall looks good too. They had the player shirts out on display but the other visitors wouldn't shift so we could all sit in front of one. Pesky people.
We had to make do with just a couple of shirts.
It was time then to head out to the pitch. We made our way through the tunnel. I'm told we should have been in single file but we all like the limelight too much as we exited! What fun it was to run out like this though.
As VIBs we got special disbearnsation to actually go and sit ON the pitch. The humans had to stay behind a fence, but the nice chaps standing guard helped us over - although we were all a bit overcome by the excitement!
The assistant thought she'd try one of her panorama shots - it's all a bit wibbly wobbly, but I think that's a feature - she said! It spins through about 270 degrees so has most of the stadium on there. It shows the friendly chaps too.
Afterwards, Frank gave an interview, attempting to explain the furry pitch invasion. He sought help so the gang all decided to give a press conference - it was a bit of a free for all! The audience didn't seem hugely interested.
Along the wall of the media suite there is a bit of a history of Arsenal. I spotted Bob Wilson there - I recognised him! There are a lot of desks here where I guess media folks work to submit their stories, etc.
After that, we returned our audio sets and headed back into the store where we could pick up our certificates that showed we had visited the Emirates Stadium. It's a shame they didn't bother to line up our names into the white space rather than overtype the writing on the certificate but what do you expect when it's "free" (oh yes, it's not free, it's included in the £20 admission fee).
We headed outside to walk around the stadium to the Arsenal Museum. They have a statue of Tony Adams, apparently the most successful Captain in the team's history.
The Arsenal Museum was a little tucked away but eventually, at the top of a ramp, we spotted an arrow on a flag. We headed inside. According to the sign outside it is £8 to go into the museum without the tour. In hindsight this seems a little steep as there's not much to it, as you'll see. After another quick bag check we headed downstairs - there is a lift, but make sure you know which floor to get out on! We may have temporarily lost the Ancient Assistant and Martha's humans! Oops!
In 1886, workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich created the team which would eventually become Arsenal Football Club. In 1893, they became the first southern team to enter the football league, in the second division. Architect Archibald Leitch was hired in 1913 to build Highbury - their original stadium. Arsene Wenger's 2003 BBC Coach of the Year award is in the display case. The football strip belonged to player Alf Kirchen, who played for the club in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the case (below left) they have trophies for the Ladies FA Youth Cup and the FA Women's Cup. Arsenal are the current holders of both these titles. The shirt (below centre) has the famous white sleeves that were introduced in the 1933/1934 season - it is signed by the manager and players of that season. The shirts (below right) belonged to Robert "Bob" John, who played for Arsenal between 1922 and 1937, including playing in the three FA Cup finals in which he wore these shirts.
The yellow shirt was worn by Alan Smith, at Anfield, in 1989. Mr Wenger holding yet another flippin' cup. There's a bunch more memorabilia in these cases, but I know you don't want specifics - go visit the Museum!
Below left are some international penants. Mementoes from the League and FA Cup wins in 1993 are below centre. Below right is a collection from Charlie George (even I have heard of him!)
The plaque is for their 1933 Football League Championship win. The shirt (below centre) is a combination of shirts from the last twenty years. Then, oh look, more trophies - who'da thought? Well, that was it. It's not a big museum and I guess of more interest to footie fans, particularly of the Arsenal persuasion.
On its own, the Museum costs £8, which seems pretty steep to me, but for £20 you get the Stadium Tour and the Museum. That doesn't seem so bad - you get a good tour, with quite a bit of freedom (well, sort of), a set of Arsenal headphones to keep and a badly printed certicate. You don't even have to be an Arsenal fan to appreciate it! Mind you, if you can get ten "free" (rewards points on a credit card) two-for-one tickets, it's even better value! We saved £200 in entrance fees!
After our visit to the Emirates Stadium it was time for food! We decided to call at Piebury Corner on the Holloway Road, on the way back to the Tube stop. It's not a big place but they had a few tables out front and quite a range of pies! With or without mash and even some craft beers and cider. Frank and I had a cheddar, garlic and potato pie which was really good.
Meanwhile Theo checked out the Old Rosie Cider (don't worry, we gave him some pie too). Have to say that, while the service was friendly it was a little slow (partly because they were baking some pies, I think) but they also messed up the order a little so I dropped them a Ted. Not sure it's the place to go on match day if you are in a rush, but any other time they are worth a look!
It was time to head back to Euston so we all said our goodbyes on the Tube and went to our different stations. As we had some time before our train, with Reddy's lot we headed to the Cider Tap - just outside the station - for some lovely cider. I had a Lilley's Bee Sting and Frank went for the Orchard Pig Reveller. The Cider Tap is sister pub to the Euston Tap which has craft beers and you can take one from the other so, as the Cider Tap is usually quieter, we sat in there and had time to chat about our day, which had been a good one.
We headed back to the station in time for our train which actually ran on time. We got our reserved seats without any problem and ate some baguettes we bought at Upper Crust on Euston Station. They made one for Di as she doesn't like slime (mayo) which was great!
We were home about 9.30pm having had a really fun day out with our Twitter pals.
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