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Chapters |
-Getting there
-First impressions
-Ah, Manchester
-Man U - Valencia
-Game on
-On to London
-Art & relics
-Shakespeare reduced, Belushi's gets a wake-up call
-Scams, Hard Rock, & free cheese
-Ciao Bella
-Flowers, mushrooms, slugs & lettuce
-Let it snow, Ice Princess
-Fabric, Yazoo, Frijj
-Euston, we have a problem
-The best half I never saw
-Final thoughts
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Manchester |
Read my journal entries from Europe here. |
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Decided to smuggle my smaller camera into the stadium, since I couldn't miss the opportunity to get pictures
inside Old Trafford [Note: when asking about whether cameras were allowed inside the stadium, I was told,
"well, we don't allow them... but it's up to you"]. I even bought new batteries. 16 freakin' pounds! Well, as
it turned out, they don't really care about cameras. The French guys sitting behind us (including our roommate)
even had a video camera.
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Pretty impressive stadium. We were near the top behind the east goal, and it was still a great view of the entire pitch.
The place was packed, with folks in the expensive seats (probably the prawn sandwich crowd) showing up right before
kickoff. The Champions' League logo was spread across the center of the pitch and the teams lined up as the UEFA CL
anthem was played. The small group of Valencia fans was cordoned off on one side by a fence and on the other by a wall
of neon-clad security guards.
United started Barthez in goal; G. Neville, Stam, Wes Brown and Silvestre on D; Beckham, Scholes, Keans and Giggs in mid;
Cole and Sheringham up front.
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The atmosphere was awesome, as expected. The roar of the crowd was intense and the chants songs and cheers were frequent.
Even though they were in English, I still couldn't understand half of them. Most prevalent was the "U-ni-ted!" chant.
There was also the "Stand up for the Champions" chant, though not everyone stood up. The majority respected Sir Alex's wishes that are
posted outside the stadium [for fans to remain seated, due to safety concerns resulting from numerous
trampling injuries and casualties in incidents at soccer matches around the globe. Manchester United has even threatened
to close those sections of the stands whose patrons keep standing during games].
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