So, I decided that instead of just showing a slideshow of photos from my trip in May of 2022 or just referencing it, it would behoove me to talk about it some. Again, I had not been to the UK in over 15 years, so I wanted to be able to do some things as an adult that I was not able to do as an 18 year old. No, not drink (which I did), but things that were not allowed due to the constraints of the trip I was on. This time, it was all going to be about what I wanted to do, and some of what my best friend Samantha wanted to do, as she was going to meet me on the second day of the trip. I got in on a Thursday, just to have a day to explore, and she got in on Friday morning, but I will go over all of that in later entries.
Okay, so, I got in to London around 7 or 8 AM London time...which would have been about about 2 or 3 EST. I was tired and got about 3 hours of sleep on the plane flight. I was too excited when I landed at Heathrow, that the sleepiness eventually faded away. The staff at Heathrow was friendly and helped me get on the proper tube route to get into London. I'd say it was about a 45-minute ride on the tube and another 20-minute walk to the hostel I was staying in. I will definitely be touching on that place in another entry, but for now, I will keep this to what I did each day.
Anwyay...
When I got to the Astor Hyde Park Hostel, they permitted me to stow away my items and change clothes, since check in time was not until later on in the day. This allowed me to head onto the first tour of my trip, the beautiful grounds of English Rugby Union, Twickenham.
Left: The Royal Albert Hall
Right: The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park
The attendant at the Astor Hyde Park Hostel gave me the instructions on how to onto the proper tube and train to get from Kensington to Twickenham. Once I got off the train and made the short walk to the stadium, I was greeted by friendly faces and pointed to where I needed to go for the tour. At the time, I was living in Raleigh, North Carolina (this is pertinent to the story) and when the tour guide named Sue, who was amazing, came up and introduced herself to me, she recognized I was not from the area and when I told where I was living, she told me she had family in another city close to where I lived. We were able to have a little discussion about family and share some anecdotes about the area in North Carolina that we both knew and were familiar with.
Sue rounded us up (there was 5 of us on the tour and it made it nice and a little more intimate) and we left the gift shop and headed out behind the stadium and into the grounds. I was instantly taken aback at the immense size of the stadium, which seats 82,000 people, and in awe of the sheer size of it! I would have liked to have gotten more photos of the inside of the grounds for you to appreciate just how large it is, but being inside and sitting in one of the chairs made me appreciate how small we are at times.
We did notice there was some commotion going on around where the teams enter the stadium (more on that in a moment), so we made our way around to the gates where the teams entered and Sue pointed out the roses on the fencing and those who helped build this wonderful stadium. That was when we finally realized what was going on near the pitch (field for us Americans), they were shooting promotional material for the end of the Rugby Premiership season and had with them the actual trophy, and allowed us to have our photos taken with it.
That was not even the best part, once we were done with our little photo shoot, Sue darn near fainted when a man named Jonny Wilkinson walked in. For the uninformed, he was the man who kicked the final points in the 2003 World Cup Final to help England secure the win and the trophy. As a group, we wanted to try and get photos, but Sue thought it would be best to let that one go for now. I snuck in a photo of him, but just in case he sees this and sues me for using his likeness without his knowing, I won't be posting that one.
So we made our way into the stadium and got to look at the stadium from pitch side (again, no photos unfortunately, but I can try to get some in the fall), and go to sit in the Royal Box, to get a view of the stadium from the point of view of the rich and famous. Sue made sure to show us the dressing rooms for both the away teams and the English team, and various other rooms that held significance to the history of the building.
There was a moment when Sue told us of Ronald Poulton, a former English Rugby player who died in service of his country during World War 1. While there were others who died, many believed that Poulton was the greatest ever attacking rugby union player ever. There is even a small memorial for him on the side of the pitch, which I was able to get a screenshot of from a video I took inside of the stadium. It really put a lot in perspective during that part of the tour. Here was 20+ men who were willing to leave it all behind and die for their country.
The tour of Twickenham ended with the Rugby Museum and you can see some of those photos on the Previous Trips tab. Photos from there include the Calcutta Cup and the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Since the museum is not just for English Rugby and highlights World Rugby, it has a great little section that highlights the "haka" that New Zealand does before each match. If you are not familiar with a "haka" do yourself a favor and head over to YouTube and look up a couple. They are awesome to sit and watch!
Overall y'all, this was a good way to start off my trip and get a chance to see a beautiful stadium like Twickenham. Our tour guide Sue was very knowledgeable and was passionate about what she did, and that made things even better!
If you ever get a chance to, I would highly recommend heading there and taking a look at the stadium. It is more than worth it!
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