British Football

 

The Freak is back home from his European trip, but took time to take in a football game while in London.  No, it wasn’t the Rams and the Patriots at Wembley Stadium which was a blow out, but a football (soccer) match in the English Premier League.  The game featured underdog  Reading and powerhouse Arsenal.  The final score ended up being 7-5, the most goals in the history of a Premiership League Cup game.  If you put it into an American football perspective, the Browns only beat the Chargers 7-6 last Sunday, so really it would be the equivalent to a 49-35 NFL game which would no doubt be very exciting to watch.  The game was very entertaining and the crowd was much different than NFL games the Freak has been to, because in your typical NFL game, the home crowd cheers very loudly when the visiting team is on offense and there are really no organized chants amongst the crowd unless you are at a Jets game.  However, at this football match, the home fans would all dance after a goal was scored which was different, but also the Arsenal fans would not sit down for the whole game and would sing throughout most of the night, some not suitable for young ears!

The product on the field was unbelievable as these top players in the world run at top speed with the ball, make any pass thinkable, and have great footwork and body control.  Furthermore, this game is much more physical watching it live than on television while the pace of the game on tv doesn’t do it any justice.

One huge difference between watching the two types of football in person are all the visiting supporters (Arsenal) must all sit together in one end of the stadium which was cool as you knew the guy next to you was also cheering for the same team so you could celebrate and cheer together and not be worried about getting punched in the head or being verbally abused by other fans like at a NFL game.

The one thing the Freak didn’t like is how the extra time at the end of the game is controlled only by the referee.  In this case, there was only to be four minutes of extra time, but it ended up being six minutes and Arsenal ended up tying the game at the end of this extra two minutes.  It has been like this forever, but giving the ref all the power of how much time is left on the clock seems wrong as luckily the Reading fans were good natured or there might have been a riot and this zebra probably wouldn’t have made it out of the stadium.

Finally, there was no tailgating before the game which is a big part of the experience of the NFL, but not with soccer.  You could still get a drink in the stadium, but you were not allowed to take it to your seat for security reasons.  This was probably the Freak’s and his family’s last English football game, but it was a fantastic experience that all sports fans should try.  The Freak is happy to be back home to watch the NFL and is looking forward to seeing four NFL games live in December.

The Freak (a.k.a Dad)

                                             The boys with the Reading Royals mascot

Joyeuse Halloween

Bouh! Nous avons fêté l'Halloween avec nos cousins en Angleterre. C'était très amusant! Ils ont juste des costumes épeurants ici . Ils ne se déguisent pas comme des pompiers et des robots etc....  Ils trouvent ça drôle que nous faisons cela au Canada.  Nous avons eu beaucoup de bonbons mais pas comme chez nous.  Nous avons passé la journée dans un château qui s'appelle Warwick.  Cétait très vieux et beau. Il y avait un dongeon! Demain nous retournons au Canada. Nous sommes tristes.  C'était une bonne visite avec notre famille.
Owen

Happy Hallow's eve from the UK

Read closely! Ha ha!

                                                

The Headless Horseman @ Warwick castle.  Creepy!

Being silly at Warwick Castle with all our cousins

Bonjour la Reine Elizabeth!

Turners Turning Into Ramblers

From VIP Writer, Jordan Flynn, the favorite British Cousin:

Traversing the rural landscape of southern England like a party of grand explorers, the Turners and their cousins encountered a possible clue of their past, GG's old home maybe before exile to Canada? Questions to be asked... During the walk they also encountered a lock on the river Thames and a small village of Hambleden where they got their first taste of a traditional pub.

From left to right Charlie, Carolyn, Finn Turner

Another Family adventure: Clivedon

Here we are visiting Clivedon, a national trust property

This photo is entitled "our family roots"

Here we are along the River Thames

We wish this was our house- The Rowe compound for all our families.

 

The Queen and Kate

We were in Windsor the other day and came across a classic British telephone booth with a twist... Look who was inside!

Windsor castle is quite a pad! The boys said they could live there, no problem.  Ha!

Cheerio for now.

Carolyn

London, day 2

Day two in London we saw the Queen's house and she was there! Her house is called Buckingham palace and we know she was there because her flag was flying . When she isn't there, it doesn't fly.  We walked the royal Mall too all the way up to the palace.  We also saw the famous Ritz hotel.  It is one of the most expensive hotels in the world, I think. After we went to see the Tower Bridge.  The bridge opens to let let boat traffic through. The best part of the day was when we went to the Science Museum.  We saw really cool experiments and we got to take part in many activities in a room called the Launching pad.  Also, we got to experience what it would be like to be a red arrow. That is like the Canadian snowbirds, the planes.  We were in a simulator that made it like we were flying the plane. It was very cool!  We enjoyed being in China town too and thought a lot about Popo. She would have loved the food.  Dad ate Peking duck. Mum liked the Theatre district. There are so many plays going on right now. It is fun to walk through the streets of London. Tomorrow we are heading to Windsor to see the Queen's other house. We will also go to Legoland. Charlie is excited.
We are having fun with our cousins. It is fun to be at their house.
Owen


We are at the tower of London. This is where the crown jewels are kept.

The Tower Bridge is behind us.  This is Daddy in front of Big Ben.
 
This is China town. Below, we are in Covent Garden. We ate the Paella that is being cooked for lunch. It was delicious.  Charlie and Finn are under the big Lion at the National Gallery.
 

This is Buckingham Palace.  Can you see the flag?  I am eating a yummy pudding. That is what they call dessert here.

 Finn is with a busker being Frankenstein in Covent garden. We saw Shrek the musical on Broadway. It was really good. 

LEGOLAND

Youpi, Nous avons visité legoland à Windsor et c'était vraiment amusant! C'était comme on faisait partie du jeu.  Dans le foyer de l'hôtel,  il y avait toutes les  personnes- lego dans le monde. Nous sommes allés sur des attractions comme S.Q.U.I.D surfer,driving school,boating school,fire academy,pirate falls, dynamite drench,spinning spider et nous avons visité miniland.  C'est une ville de toutes les édifices lego.Pour créer le mini-land ils ont utilisé 35 million morceaux de légo.  J'ai aussi aimé loki's labyrinth,long boat invader,vikings river splash ,digger challenge,atlantis submarine voyage,star wars miniland experience,laser raider et space tower.  J'adore le lego!  J'ai toutes sortes d'idées quand je retourne jouer avec mes légos.

Savais- tu que le légo est une invention européanne?

Charlie

 
 
 
 
 

Aventure à Londres jour 1

En premier nous sommes allés au travail de mon oncle.Sa compagnie fait des smart phones . Il s'occupe de l'argent de la compagnie. C'est apellé QUALCOMM.Voici une photo de la compagnie. Je pense qu'il a un travail important.

 Nous sommes  allés au metro pour se rendre au Monument. C'est une tour pour se rapeller du grand feu qui a eu à Londres longtemps passé. Le metro etait rempli de personnes et ça pris 40 minutes pour se rendre au monument de Gunnersbury, où mon oncle travaille.Quand nous sommes arrivés nous avons marché au monument  et nous avons grimpé 367 escaliers .Mes jambes etaient tellement fatiguées. C'était un grand  work out. Papa avait trop peur de monter.

Ensuite nous avons marché du monument au Tower de londres. Dans la tour de Londres nous avons vue les bijoux de la reine Elizabeth et du Royaume. Tout etait fait en vrai or et de diamants.Ensuite nous avons vue qui etait toutes les reines et tous les rois.SAVAIS- TU qu' il y avait  un roi qui avait 9 ans mais il a été tué à 15 ans. Son nom etait Edward le VI . On a vue des epées en or et leur armures . C'etait spectaculaire! Voici Charlie. Il a remplacé le beefeater qui est la sécurité. Ha ha!

                                                     

Après nous avons marché au station de metro. Les anglais appellent le metro "the tube"Nous avons pris le metro de Tower Hill à l'église  Saint Paul. C'est très beau. Nous avons rejoint notre cousine Sau Ming pour un dîner de fish and chips.Elle est chinoise.


                                             

Après dîner nous avons visité le Musée Tate. C'est un musée d'art moderne. Maman a adoré ça!
Mais partie préférée de la journée c'était quand nous sommes allés au Dongeon de Londres.  C'était épeurant et on a appris beaucoup de choses comme à propos du grand feu, Jack the Ripper (Il était horrible) et Sweeney Todd.....

  

C'était une journée amusante. Nous aurons d'autres aventures à Londres demain.
Finn

 ps. Me voici avec mes cousins. Nous sommes à Stonehenge.