manchester I

this trip to manchester, england, was a gift to my nephew and the original purpose was to go and see a manchester united home game. those who know me were surprised to know the purpose of the trip. yes, i know nothing of football (and for you americans, we're talking about soccer here...not that i would know much more of the sport you call football, either) and how well this proofed itself, before and during the trip. well, i knew who pele was and i think there is a ronaldo (?) but that's about it. boy, was i in for a loads of new stuff...

oh, a warning at this point is in order. if football isn't your thing, now might a good time to move on...

let me walk you thru this, there is so much information bubbling in my head, i try not to bore you with too many details. this here is the east stand of old trafford, home arena of manchester united. it is huge, 76.000 seats in there (how do they all get there, must be hell for the traffic cops)







ManU is probably the most merchandised sporting club in the world. so, naturally, they would have a huge shop to sell everything with the club's name on it...







...and i mean everything! bibs and soothers for babies...







...and starter knives and forks for toddlers. and it didn't stop there, they had straightening irons (not kidding) in club colors, bikinis and what not. i only bought some candy as souvenirs







after we browsed the store, we decided to take the tour and visit the museum as well. i'm not a huge museum person, nor is my brother (oops, i forgot to tell that my brother was there as well...) anyways, when you paid for the tour you got to go to the museum as well, so it was a no brainer.

this gentleman in the middle did tell us his name but i only remember the fact that he had worked for ManU for almost 40 yrs and that he had, in fact, retired last autumn but had been called in to fill in for someone.

oh, and we're in the players changing room







there was this jersey with number 10 and the name rooney on it, every little kid wanted to have their picture taken in front of it...







this is it. did you know that in the winter they have lamps to make sure the grass gets enough light so that it grows? yep, they do. and that they mown the lawn every other day, also in the winter. amazing what one remembers...







the corridors and passages under and around the stands were amazingly neat and tidy. not sure i wanted to work as the person who empties these







this is the alley the players use when entering the pitch. they played a tape of what it sounds like when a game is about to start, impressive







football certainly is no minor matter over there







lots of families taking the tour, from all over the world. these would the seats where managers sit during a game







this kid cracked me up. he stopped all over the place and posed, every time, like this...who does he think he will be when he grows up, i wonder







now my memory fails me, but everyone was taking pictures of these so i took one as well. they might be cup trophies, or something







not sure what the proper term for football shoes is, but here is a pair from circa 1957. they don't look all that comfortable...







this was day one of our 4 day trip, or that's what we tought at the time...more to come.