Tuesday 27 May 2014

Winterthur and Vaduz, May 2014

FC United were invited to play FC Winterthur, a fellow fan owned club in Switzerland, in a friendly given the tagline "The Real Spirit of Football." Of course, it would have been rude not to attend, so a handful of us joined the other few hundred Reds making the journey and made the short flight into Basel, before driving over to Winterthur.

We got there late on the Friday before the match, so only had time for a brief wander around and a couple of (expensive) drinks before hitting the hay. On the Saturday a couple of us found a nice, quiet restaurant across from the brilliantly named Töss station, far from the madding crowd. We then made the short train journey into the main station in the centre of Winterthur.

The game itself was a bit one-sided, with Winterthur winning 4-1. Considering they play at a higher standard and were training all week, it was no surprise that they beat our lads, especially when they'd been out most of the night before... The ground was lovely, the setting was beautiful and the welcome was friendly. A few beers and a curry later we went back to the hotel fairly early as we were planning on doing a bit of cross-country mooching. Quite literally.

First port of call was Vaduz in Liechtenstein. One of the smallest and richest countries in the world, it was also one we'd never been to, so with it only being about an hour from where we were it seemed an obvious choice to go and visit. We weren't disappointed. A lovely place, with stunning scenery. We had a nosy around the local football stadium, had a bite to eat and got our passports stamped at the tourist information office. Once we were done, we had a drive into Austria, before then heading back through Switzerland, a brief stop in Germany and into the airport which, with it actually being on French soil, took us to six countries in one day by the time we'd landed back at Manchester. Not a bad effort.

A very enjoyable trip. Whilst there wasn't much to see and do in Winterthur, I'd suggest you visit the ground and club. I'd also definitely recommend a visit to Liechtenstein if you're ever nearby. Stunning.

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Abbey Road

First entry for a while (again...)

Spent a couple of days in London watching Lancashire at Lord's. On Sunday we were casually talking about how Paul McCartney lived round there as it was near Abbey Road Studios. On Monday morning I walked passed the bloke outside the ground.

So, between that and wanting to giggle at a few tourists, we took a detour back to St. John's Wood tube station after... Via a certain studios and Zebra Crossing. Even after 7 in the evening, in the pouring rain and the dark there were people there. Amazing how such a mundane feature can become so iconic.