The big game – Chelsea vs Blackburn

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Posted on 2 November 2009 Travel

After almost missing the Eurostar thanks to me throwing away the wrong e-ticket at the Paris hotel, we arrived in London. We dumped our bags, got onto the underground and headed towards Fulham Broadway – the underground station at Stamford Bridge. We arrived really early, almost 5 hours before kick-off, but we really wanted to soak up as much of the atmosphere and awe of being at the stadium Karina and I only dreamt about one day visiting.

We spotted a couple of the players arriving in their flashy cars – most notably, Petr Cech in an Aston Martin DB9, Michael Essien in a matte-black CLS Mercedes, Michael Ballack in a white Audi S3 and Peter Kenyon (CEO) in a black Range Rover. We saw 2 Ferrari’s arrive too, but their windows are tinted black, so no one could see who they were!

We must of been the first 20 people allowed into the stadium (after officials etc) as there wasn’t a soul in the ground when we sat down. We really enjoyed just standing inside the stadium with these goofy smiles on our faces.

Taking on Blackburn, I was hoping ‘ol Benni Mcarthy would play some part of the game for them, but he never got an opportunity. He can be glad, because Chelsea gave them a footballing lesson and won 5 – 0. I was chatting to my dad before the game and I told him that Lampard would end his Premier League goal drought and score – he did that. Twice!

It really was one of the most amazing experiences watching Chelsea live. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend too, as all our main rivals dropped points!

Stamford Bridge stadium tour

The day after the Chelsea game, we took a tour of the stadium as well as PAID a visit to the Chelsea megastore. We took a walk through the stadium, saw where the away fans sit, sat in the press room, visited both dressing rooms and went pitch side to where the players sit during the game.

The Chelsea megastore is just evil. Karina and I spent over R3000 buying shirts, merchandise and presents there.

I’m still going to upload all the pics, so hang tight for that! There are so many to go through and need to select a decent snapshot of the holiday. :)

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Day 2 in Paris

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Posted on 28 October 2009 Travel

I can’t remember the last time I’ve walked this much. Paris is one of those cities where everything is in walking distance – or if its not, a Metro station is.

Breakfast at our hotel is utter rubbish. Just croissants, disgusting boiled eggs and a coffee machine. Nothing is fresh, its all processed food, from the tinned fruit salad to the cheese and jams. These hoteliers should really come and visit SA to see how breakfast should be served to customers. It’s not as if we chose the cheapest hotel either. Other than that, the room is clean with modern finishes and clean bedding. So no complaints there.

We visited the Arc de Triumph, Eiffel tower, Louvre museum as well as walked up and down the Champs Elysee. With rent as high as $1.5m for 100sqm on the Champs Elysee, you can understand why things are so expensive there. I was surprised to see car manufacturers Peugeot, Citroen, Mercedes Benz and Toyota had showrooms – not for their current cars, but for their concept cars, racing cars and memorabilia you can purchase.

We had lunch at one of the cafe’s lining the Champs Elysee. A small margarita pizza starter and a choice of either grilled chicken and “french” fries or a pasta medley. The wife had the pasta, I had the chicken. I should of rather had the pasta – it was really good! Washed it down with an espresso each and the bill came to 26 Euros. For the amount of food and location, it was well priced.

We then visited the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. Anything else worth seeing there? Other than that the Louvre is massive. Its like the size of Canal walk x 12 and then doubling that next to it.

We never went up the Eiffel tower – the queue was way too long and the view from the Arc de Triumph is said to be way better than the Eiffel tower. At 8pm there was a lightshow with music on the tower. That was really amazing to see. Oh, and the richest man in Paris isn’t some banker, oil trader or some businessman. It’s the guy that owns the little take-away joint across the road from the Eiffel tower. It’s a completely stand-alone shop with not another one in sight. We each had a chocolate crepe with ice-cream from this goldmine for supper. 7.50 euro’s, but who’s counting? At least the coke was of average price at 3.50 Euro’s. :)

Have I mentioned Paris has some really beautiful women? They must have the highest ratio of pretty girls per square metre in the world.

That’s it for Paris. I would love to come back to Paris for more, just next time stay a little longer and take it more chilled. Summer must be amazing here, especially with all the lovely women around. :)

Paris

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Posted on 27 October 2009 Travel

A braindump about Paris.

  • The architecture is amazing – old buildings
  • Its a filthy city. Litter everywhere, guy even urinating in the subway.
  • Ladies in Paris are seriously good looking.
  • You don’t see any fat people in Paris – only gorgeous women. Oh and guys. Must be a combination of all the walking you do and the expensive Paris food.
  • The Moulin Rouge area was quite an experience. The streets are lined with strip clubs and sex shops. All the sex shops sell really cheesy lingerie as well as porn magazines and DVD’s, with the strip clubs offering almost everything under the sun.
  • The Metro can look very confusing on paper, but once you have taken one train, you become a seasoned pro. Although dirty, like most of Paris, its a great experience changing 3/4 train lines trying to get to your destination.
  • When I mean dirty, its more litter and graffiti everywhere. The seats and surfaces on the trains and stations are relatively clean.
  • iPhones are popular as are proper headphones. Earbuds are for us tourists.
  • Did I mention that the women are gorgeous is Paris?
  • Wifi at our hotel is expensive. 8 Euros for 60 minutes.
  • I did find something that is cheap in Paris – Evian water! 1 litre bottle is 3 Euros. Its like R200 in SA I think?!
  • Bottle of coke ranges from 3 – 4.50 Euros depending on where you buy it.
  • Panini with roast beef, cheese and tomatoes with a bottle of water: 5.50 Euros.

Thats it for our first evening – we were completely smashed from all the traveling, so needed some proper sleep!

First few days on holiday

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Posted on 26 October 2009 Travel

Having an absolute blast so far. It’s not a relaxing on the beach type of holiday, so Karina and I are pretty tired from all the walking, but the sights and sounds we have experience so far has been nothing short of breath taking. Here just some of them:

Flying

Emirates Airlines is a cut above SAA and BA when flying overseas. The in-flight entertainment is like having over 600 DVD, CD’s and games for you to watch and play. You can start and stop any movie or TV series when you want to, catch up with the latest BBC news, check how long it is to your destination and go back to carry on watching your movie.

The food is also really good – they bring you a menu with the meals you’ll receive on the flight.

Flying on the Airbus A380 was a great experience – one of the smoothest flights I’ve been on in a long time. I think the main difference between this double-decker plane and others is the cabin room. The A380 gives you a greater feeling of space, so you don’t feel like cattle when traveling economy. I wasn’t allowed up to the main deck, so couldn’t see the rich and famous travelling in utter luxury with their private bar area and closed-off suites.

So with 27 hours, 2 plane flights, 3 countries and 5 trains later we finally arrived in Paris!

Check out a few vids I took with my iPhone on my Youtube channel.

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Holiday blogging

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Posted on 20 October 2009 Travel

I’m going on holiday to London, Paris and Dubai from the 21st to 30th of October. I’m going to try and blog (more photos than words actually) while I’m away, especially now that I’ve got a fancy DSLR camera to take cool pics with. :)

These are some of the highlights my wife and I are looking forward to:

  • Flying from Dubai to London in the massive Airbus A380
  • Climbing the Eiffel tower
  • Watching Chelsea take on Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge – our seats are 5 rows from the pitch
  • Stamford Bridge Stadium tour
  • Stopping at the Burj Dubai to take pics (tallest building in the world)
  • Possibly having drinks at the Skybar at the Burj al Arab (7 star hotel)

I’ll be taking tons of pics and posting a few of them here on my blog as well as to my Flickr account. Any pics I take with my iPhone I’ll upload those to my Posterous blog at www.jasonbagley.me.

Just an apology in advance – expect all my tweets, blog posts and pics over the next few days to be from my holiday, but I promise to tone down on the exclamation marks. So no “I’m in Paris!!!!!!!” tweets, I promise.

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