Well, it is finally here, Tottenham Hotspur v. Burnley. The real reason for the trip and we're all pretty pumped up. After a bit of a lie in it being Saturday morning and all, we eventually got our act together and left the hotel about noon and headed for Paddington Station Underground stop. We decided the best course of action was to take the Hammersmith and City line (City direction) from Paddington to Liverpool Street to catch the train to White Hart Lane. We boarded the train but were quickly told there were problems with the line and it would stop at the next stop, Edgeware Road and go no further. I'm having difficultly remembering what happened next but eventually we gave up on the Underground and grabbed a taxi to Liverpool Street. We then quickly got the train to White Hart Lane and were there in plenty of time for the match. Once we arrived we just followed the crowd to the stadium.
If you would have told me we would witness such a great match in such an incredible atmosphere on such a brilliant sunshiny day - in London of all places, I would never have believed it. Don't get me wrong, I had high expectations for the match but little would I have guessed that it would have been quite so great. Non-stop singing and chanting and general good-natured badgering from the home fans along with an amazing 5-nil victory with a hat trick from Robbie Keane just topped this amazing experience. One I will not soon forget. (Sorry, Celtic, you're still my team, but this was really cool).
After Anthony and Chad hit the Spurs shop we headed back to central London. After a brief stop at the hotel to drop some things off we headed back out on another great pub quest. Our initial plan was to try and get to Meantime Brewing's only pub, the Greenwich Union in Greenwich. However, the hour was getting a bit late and with the earlier troubles with the Tube we opted to put this off until Tuesday evening and instead headed for a couple of pubs on my list near Notting Hill Gate.
We called in at the Cock & Bottle and sampled Hogs Back T.E.A. (Traditional English Ale). Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I can't recall what else we sampled here. On the way to our next destination, we stumbled across the Duke of Wellington on Portobello Road, a Youngs (now Wells and Youngs) owned pub. I have always been a big fan of Youngs beers and we used to get a really good selection in Austin. Sadly, since the merger, we no longer get any Youngs beers. So, it was my good fortune to run across this pub and actually get a cask Youngs Bitter. Anthony tried the excellent Wells Bombardier. This was a great pub full of lively, young and attractive people on a fabulous evening in Notting Hill.
We then moved on to the Uxbridge Arms, another fine pub where we tried the outstanding Cornish ale, Tribute, from St Austell Brewery. I have to say though, I nearly lost my pint due to laughter when Anthony was approached by a lad in a suit that reminded me - highly coincidentally - of the Welsh roommate in the movie "Notting Hill". He was pushing some cult philosophy (sorry, can't remember the name of the movement and it is hardly worth the mention as I would never promote it) but Anthony quickly headed him off by proclaiming that his implications would offend him as he was Buddhist (which he unabashedly is not). The poor fool was absolutely speechless after this and promptly left us alone. Thankfully, I was able to finish my glorious pint of Tribute in peace.
We then headed to what would be our last pub of the evening, the classic and historic Fullers owned Victoria, very near our hotel. On such a beautiful evening we sat outside and I enjoyed another couple of pints of Chiswick Bitter. Not surprisingly, hunger set in once again. On our way to the Victoria, we passed an Indian restaurant right across the road that smelled fabulous. Needless to say, the urge was overwhelming and we enjoyed an amazing Indian meal before we retired for the evening. An absolutely fabulous day indeed!
Tomorrow, up early, back on the Heathrow Express and off to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest.
Yours Aye!
Neil
Brewing and blogging in Austin, Texas wishing I were somewhere in Scotland.
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