BEST WEEKEND EVER!
Ok, that's an exaggeration but what a blast!

FA Cup final day in England is awesome. Nothing on TV and on the streets but talk of football. People packing the pubs from noon. Half of West London was walking around in blue shirts. and Wembley.....



Friday - Saw the missus off on the morning flight to London. Packed my stuff, went to the office, caught the evening flight and made it to the hotel only to find Irina already passed out from a long day. Popped over to the local for a pint of lager, then grabbed some kebab from the joint down the street. I love West London.
Saturday - Woke up at 5am due to time difference

Forced myself to get a couple hours more sleep. Got up, got ready, and went to a pub in Marylebone to meet up with our crew of 15 or so other Blues supporters. I am not exaggerating when I say that there was nothing but blue shirts everywhere along our way from Fulham.

We took the train from Marylebone to Wembley (joining in with all the other Blues singing in full voice

Will post video clip later) and then made our way into the stands. What a great atmosphere

OK, the match was (in hindsight) not thrilling but we and everyone around us were loving it
After screaming ourselves hoarse upon victory (yay!

) we went for a stroll down Wembley Way and, in the process, lost our gang and so three of us made our way to a pub in Wembley Center for a round of drinks while the crowds subsided. Then we went to join up with the others at a pub a few blocks northeast of Oxford Circus where we proceeded to drink ourselves silly (damn that tequila!) and sing songs until they finally kicked us out.
At this point, I was supposed to head over to Ministry of Sound for Derrick May, but I was so drunk that the plan kind of faded away (plus Irina had already gone home, tired from jetlag

). One of our gang, who lives nearby, made a deal with the local Italian restaurant to let us sit on their terrace but we all had to eat the same dish (spaghettil with prawns in a tomato-chili sauce... yummy!!), washed down with many bottles of wine. We couldn't stop singing, and ended up having three neighbors call the restaurant to complain

Finally around 2 or 3, barely standing, I went to catch a taxi back to West London with one of my mates.
Sunday - Irina & I went for a lovely stroll down Brick Lane. Abandoned plans for a Sunday roast due to lack of seating at the place we wanted to check out (nevertheless, thanks for the recommendation Babs! We'd never been to that part of town and it was quite fun

) but settled in for some curry at a Bangladeshi restaurant.
Afterwards, we went for a long, nice stroll to Tower Bridge and all along the Thames and then back across to Embankment. What a wonderful atmosphere along that stretch on a Sunday afternoon. It was humbling to see the smiling faces of tourists who were excited just to BE in London. Then back to Fulham for a couple drinks and a snack and off to the airport.
*sighs*