Monday, July 23, 2012

Blackpool and The British Open Championships

If you want to know what was cool 30 years ago.... go to Blackpool, England. 

If you want to see what Atlantic City, Coney Island and Dirt look like after being deserted for 30 years.... by all means, go to Blackpool, England. The town gave me the creeps but what was worse was our hotel! I thought we were in a mental institution! It was like a haunted house mixed with old crazy people and the mentally insane. It was like if you crossed One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest with Shutter Island with Girl Interrupted and Hostel all in one. We were in a basement room which the hall way was recently painted and smelled awful! It gave you a headache just walking to our room down the stairs! We're also 99% sure that there was a bloody napkin or tissue in the corner of our room. The place was definitely haunted and some of us were so scared, instead of sticking just two people in a room we one night had four of us in our room cause they were too scared to sleep in their room. Do not go to Blackpool, England if it can be avoided and if you do, DO NOT stay at the Metropole Hotel.... the Travelodge across the street looked real tempting and I almost booked myself a room.

Besides the hotel.... the town was kind of creepy but it was fun at times. We went to the restaurant called Walkabout, which was an Australian place (we tried Kangaroo.... not bad, like steak) where they had "Mad Mondays" at night with games and competitions in the pub. So we went back at night and some of the people in our group participated in dance competitions on stage - a few involving smashing eggs on each others heads and if you got the hard boiled egg smashed on your head you were the winner.... one of our guys won and he won a pitcher of cider.... one of guys lost the dance and egg competition and got yolk all in his hair and his shirt. It was a fun night but definitely an eclectic crowd in Blackpool. 
The next day we went to the practice rounds of the British Open where we had pretty good weather for most of the day but then in the afternoon it started to rain and that was no fun. We saw a lot of famous golfers which was awesome. Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and Ricky Fowler. I got Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson's autographs after wedging my way through crowds! I only broke my umbrella to get to Phil but it was worth it! Nice day out on the greens! We got a huge shout out from Jim Fuyrk when he saw our U of A flag (U of A alum). He came over and talked to us for a long while. He talked to a few people in our group for about 10 minutes while signing other peoples autographs! He loved that we were there!
Tomorrow we are heading out to Manchester to go see the Manchester United (My favorite premier League Team!) famous stadium Old Tafford and the watch the Men's and Women's USA Basketball exhibition games for the olympics against Great Britain!! Cannot wait to see the Dream Team!


Blackpool Pier

Walking the Pier


Our Hotel.... sketch



Kangaroo Skewers 

The Open Championship

Tiffany and I ready for the day

Bubba Watson on his practice round on the 18th

18th hole

Bubba talking with me and signing my ticket!

His autograph... and thumb print

The 16th hole on the course... I think

Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson and Ricky Fowler practicing together

Jim Furyk (Go Cats!)

Kendall getting Phil's autograph and telling him she goes to ASU (his alma mater) so that he'd come talk to us! Felt awful yelling "Go Sundevils" with him.... felt so wrong.

Cheers!

Dublin 

The Homeland, best weekend of the trip, and my favorite city we’ve been to!


Travel and the Stadiums:

I was so exciting to go to Ireland. I am very Irish and it has always been a dream of mine to go to Ireland. Being of Scottish, French and Irish ancestry, I have had the chance to visit Scotland and France but never Ireland. Needless to say, I was very excited to visit Dublin. We left Coventry at 5:30 am and arrived in Dublin around 9 am that morning. Upon our arrival, we rode straight over to the famous Aviva stadium, which is home to the Irish national football team and the Irish Rugby national team. The stadium we saw was the new stadium, which was recently opened in May of 2010, after they demolished the old stadium in 2007. The new stadium at its max capacity manages to fill 51,700 fans in the stadium on a game day and 65,000 for concerts. The arena itself is beautiful. We have seen many arenas on this trip and from my own experience; I say confidently that it was definitely one of the top 2 stadiums we have seen. From the facilities to the tour guides, everyone was friendly and accommodating. We got to listen to the stadium manager, Martin Murphy, discuss the progression of the stadium and the operations of the grounds. It was very interesting sitting there in the press conference/media room listening to the manager discuss the ins and outs of the stadium’s day to day projects as well as the operations on game day. He described the rebuilding of the stadium and it costs them $410 million euros to build the new, beautiful stadium. It turned into a government-sponsored project quickly once they realized the communities demand for a new stadium in the same great location. With the new and improved stadium, they now hold anywhere from 19.5 events annually between concerts and game events. Mr. Murphy explained how customer driven the arena was with their new entrance and exit ways, the number of police and staff on game days and have over 70 people working in the stadium daily (compared to the 3 before). Their biggest objective in driving a stadium completely customer based was that they wanted to make sure that the benefit of seeing the game live outweighed watching the game at a pub or at home. With this mantra as their drive, they have created a friendly environment and a stadium more successful than ever before. They had an amazing presentation for us, which was confidently delivered and was very persuasive in the stadium’s capabilities. They were very accommodating to our group, letting us see their conference rooms, media rooms and live studio sound stages. I think this was best stadium we have visited yet.

On our second day in Dublin, we walked from our hotel over to Croke Park. Croke Park is the famous stadium in Dublin, known for being home to the Dublin Gaelic Football team and the Dublin hurling team. We came to find quickly that the stadium is very proud of hold these historic Irish traditional games. When we arrived, we first went on the stadium’s Skyline Tour. The Skyline Tour was beautiful and exceeded all of my expectations. The breath taking views of the city, the Irish Sea near by and the rolling green hills in the distance, made for a picturesque tour of Dublin from atop the stadium. Although the harsh wind and cold made for a freezing hour or so, it was worth every moment to see the views we saw that day. Once our tour came to an end, we returned our harnesses and returned to the stadium tour. Our tour guy, filled with attitude, gave us great descriptions of the history that was laid in the historical grounds of Croke Park. The stadium was built back in 1884 and has since been the home to the Gaelic games and is the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). We were taken in to the locker rooms of the grounds and got to see a bunch of the Gaelic team jerseys that are involved in Gaelic football and hurling. Along with the museum and exciting games, he went into depth about the history of the stadiums building and story. I had heard of Bloody Sunday but I did not know that Croke Stadium was where the sad event took place. It was shocking to hear that we were sitting in the very same seats that were attacked that day back in 1920. One of the things I also found to be interesting was that standing area of the arena seating. In America, I do not think you would ever find a big time stadium with designated standing seats where people would stand for hours to watch a game, if they could go watch the game sitting down for free at a local pub. But apparently in Europe this is a common accommodation to have in stadiums. The “seats” are cheaper but you do have to stand for the duration of the game. The standing zone itself looked big, but rather small in comparison to the stadium as a whole. I would stunned to hear him say that it held about 15,000 people! I thought it held at most 3,000 and that was a lot in my mind. Ultimately, the stadium of Croke Park may not have proven to be as extravagant as the others we have seen such as Arsenal, Aviva or Wembley, but the story behind the stadium was far more interesting than most of these modern, decade old stadiums we have had a chance to tour.

Dublin Night Life and Free time:
Aside from Stadium Touring, we stayed at the Gresham Hotel right in Dublin which was the best location. It was central to great shopping, the river that ran through town and Temple Bar Street. We had the most amazing food in Ireland. My first night there a few of us when to Quay’s Restaurant and I had Irish Guinness Beef stew which was AMAZING. I ordered a Smethwick’s beer to go with it and it was superb. After the restaurant we went downstairs to the Quay’s pub and hear some live music, which was honestly some of the most amazing acoustic live guitar I’ve ever heard. I was very impressed by their skills and it was great to hear. The rest of the night we checked out some of the famous pubs on Temple Bar street. We were in Dublin during Temple Bar’s Beatles Festival so all of the bars had live bands blaring the Beatles. It was a great time just traveling up and down the cobble stone streets listening to music and seeing the nightlife. Our whole group actually met up at this pub called The Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Dublin. It was built back in 1198 and was a fun atmosphere. We actually ran into some Alpha Delta Pi sisters from Georgia Tech there and talked with them for a bit. Fun running into sisters in another country!
The next day we went to the Guinness factory for a tour, which was an experience unlike any other. We traveled through the whole Guinness making process and made our way up through the tasting to the 5th floor which was a gravity bar with amazing 360 degree views of Dublin. We also learned how to pour Guinness at the Guinness Academy, which was so cool because I never knew there was an “Art” to pouring Guinness and perfecting it. Very weird but it was a great experience. Before we went to Ireland we all decided to try a Guinness in London and compare it to Ireland. We heard they were extremely different tasting and believe me, I do not like Guinness but it tastes SO MUCH BETTER in Ireland than anywhere else. They explained to us that it is the “Shannon River water” or that it doesn’t travel well. It is also manufactured in the states by Budweiser and tastes 100% different than it does in Dublin.  Go to the factory if you can – it was very fun. I already miss Dublin so much it was my favorite city so far and I wish we could have stayed longer! I’d love to go back for longer very soon if I can! It’s an amazing and beautiful city with the nicest people!

Gaelic Athletic Association crest at Croke Park

Gaelic Football and Hurling kits at Croke

Croke Park

Kyle and I on the Sky View tour on top of Croke Park

Views of Dublin from Croke

SkyView tour

View of the Irish Sea from Croke

Me over Croke

Croke pitch

Arrival in Dublin!

Aviva Stadium (with a covered pitch to protect the grass from too much rain....it was POURING)

Aviva


River Liffey that runs through Dublin

River Liffey in town

The REAL Auld Dubliner (not the one on University in Tucson)

My AMAZING Irish Guinness Beef Stew at Quay's Restaurant on Temple Bar Street

My first Smithwicks so good

Original Irish Guinness

Live music at Quay's Restuarant 

Original Temple Bar Pub

Famous Temple Bar Pub

Meeting ADPI sisters from Georgia Tech in Dublin at The Brazen Head

Nate and I at Fitzsimon's on Temple Bar listening to Beatle Tribute Bands

Guinness Factory 

Factory tour

How they turn the water that will eventually become Guinness

Past advertisements for Guinness

Guinness bottles over time

Where I learned to pour Guinness like a Champion at the Academy in the Factory


Cheers!

Cricket Match – Let the z’s begin…. Yawn.


So cricket…. And I’m done. This post is over. Thanks for reading.

No but really, I do not understand this nations obsession with cricket. We took the train to Birmingham (about a 15 minute train ride) and caught the Birmingham team play. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  Someone needs to explain to me how a game that can last for days, where both teams wear the same outfit (so you can’t differentiate them if you tried) and attempt to slap a ball with a flat board anywhere on a circular field is fun? The most physical exertion we saw all day was when one of the hitters actually hit the ball and him and his partner did the weird running back and forth thing about 14 times while the other teams players (I’m guessing, couldn’t tell by the outfits) got the ball back to their Bowler (aka a pitcher). I was worried for about .2 seconds that someone may have broken a sweat and ruined their white cable knit, but don’t worry, everything was fine. That about wraps up cricket. There were barely any people in attendance since it was a day game. We talked to our tour guide and he told us that the day games are usually filled with old retired people and explained to us that the game we were witnessing was day 5 of a cricket game. He said that usually with lots of fans and an exciting opponent at a night game, they were more fun. I just do not understand. I tried to be open-minded and take it in but I’m sorry…. I do not like or understand cricket. The physical sport of it is easy to pick up watching it for 3 hours….. which we did….. but the rules are what gets you. Look them up and I guarantee you, you will see how this game is confusing by non-cricket playing countries. I use to think baseball was boring but oh my god I was begging for a fun baseball game after watching cricket for 15 minutes. That about wraps up my cricket experience. I’m fairly certain that was my first and last cricket experience but to any of you haven’t been to a cricket match, don’t knock it til you’ve tried it. I know it sounds boring but please go, because no matter how hard I try to form my emotions into words right now, I do not think it’s physically possible for me to describe the mind dulling and excruciating boredom that is the act of witnessing a cricket match.



Cheers!

Wembley Stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium 

Why am I not a pro football star?

            The next day we visited Wembley stadium and Arsenal FC stadium. Those stadiums are both amazing! I loved that at Wembley stadium, I was able to pick up and touch the FA (Football Association) Championship cup and hold it like so many famous players had done before me. The stadium itself was massive but does not hold a regular football team. It holds concerts and huge sporting events but is not host to a particular team like the other stadiums we have seen. Holding that cup made me miss playing soccer more than ever. The thought that I would never be able to hold that cup as a winner made me sad and so did staring at the pitch without even being able to kick a ball on it, yet on the other hand, it made me happy knowing that a sport I love so much which isn’t big in our nation, is huge here in London and I felt apart of it for a moment. A true Bend it Like Beckham fantasy I had that day.  We saw the locker rooms, the press/media room, and walked out of the tunnel at Wembley onto the field area to the soundtrack of a real game opener. It made me so nostalgic for the game and it was an awesome experience. Later, we took a train over to the Arsenal where we had a great tour of Emirates Stadium. I think this was one of my favorite stadiums we have seen this whole trip. It was beautiful, way more astounding than Wembley was. The locker rooms, the venues in the arena, the pitch, the arsenal canon in the seats, and even the emirates tunnel which the players run onto the field in was amazing. They taught us at this stadium that block shaped rooms give people a negative perception. Knowing this, the Arsenal architects made the Arsenal players locker room a nice U shaped design so everyone could see each other and the white boards in a relaxing room. Also, having this knowledge, the architects made the visitors locker room a very square shaped room with lots of square shaped objects in it. We learned that day that psychological warfare is simple yet effective and deadly. Not to mention I just love the Arsenal kits - they are so good looking compared to a lot of jerseys in the Premier league and the organization seems to know how to sell Arsenal so well. I would love to go back one day and watch a match at the Emirates stadium!

Wembley Stadium!

The old Olympic Stadium from the 1948 games and this year will host some Gymnastics and other events!

the Wembley Stadium pitch

Beckhammmm

Ben and I in the stadium

Justin and I in the press conference room

Wembley - the dream pitch


The FA (football association) Championship Trophy! I got to hold it!!

Beautiful...

The Emirates stadium that homes Arsenals field

Arsenal!

The Arsenal Pitch!

the pitch and the famous Arsenal cannon!

their shield!


Locker room at Arsenal

The Arsenal time capsule that holds a roster of every Arsenal player in their history, old jerseys, socks, football boots and such.


Cheers!