We took a taxi to our apartment, err flat, in Southampton, dropped off our luggage and then walked ten minutes to the Southampton Central train station. We were taking the trains up to London Stadium which is part of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to see the MLB London Series between the Cubs and Cardinals. We started with a train at Southampton that would take us to Reading. Then from there we took another train to Paddington Station. We learned when we got to Paddington that our intended route had to be altered. The Elizabeth line of the Underground (aka The Tube) was closed due to a train that was stuck on the tracks. Angie and I used our best "Amazing Race" skills to figure out the complex subway map and find an alternative. We saw that we could take the Circle Line from Paddington and then change to the Central Line which would get us to our intended destination, Stratford, which is the station closest to London Stadium. More connections than we would have liked, but it went smoothly. We walked about 15 minutes from the station and got to the stadium a few minutes before 1 PM. The first pitch was going to be at 3:10 PM.
The stadium is massive. It can hold 80K when configured as a concert venue. 60K for football. For yesterday's game over 55K fans attended from all over the world. As we usually do for a new stadium, we took a walk around to see everything. It was impressive to see all the signage that had been put up for this two game series. And they had all kinds of special food venues including themed items from each team's city.
Then we went inside and up the many stairs!! Stairs seem to be a common denominator here for public venues. In the United States, we're used to escalators being available in modern sports arenas. None to be found here. So some good exercise on those legs, especially the steep climb to our seats in the upper level of Section 222.
It was impressive how much effort was put into getting this stadium ready for a baseball game. It's normally used for the local football team so it's primarily just a pitch full of grass. In addition to changing all that to build an infield and a pitchers mound, they had also built bullpens and dugouts. Quite impressive. They had also built a stage and had a band playing for about an hour.
As it got closer to 3PM, they had a local choir sing both of the national anthems. It struck me that I had never heard the anthem quite this way. In my lifetime, and for over 70 years, the UK anthem included the words "God Save The Queen". Not anymore. The field looked incredible with all the flags.
In between innings they would have some of those fan participation games such as the Helmet Game (which helmet has the ball), Guess The Song and a Memory "flash card" game. And the band played some songs. Never seen that at any MLB game I've attended. They also had the mascot race. It was between a Royal Guard, Winston Churchill, Henry the Eighth and Freddy Mercury. It wasn't even close. Freddy wasn't the champion. Hopefully you had you money placed on the Royal Guard.
While the Cubs got out to an fast lead of 4-0 in the first inning, their offense really fizzled out the rest of the game. The Cardinals clawed back in and won 7-5. We headed out of the stadium and back to Stratford to begin the trek back to our flat. It was so many people! But the police and security do such a great job here. They set up human barriers with STOP and GO signs to control the flow of pedestrians and avoid overcrowding.
There were three on our way back to the station and it worked really well so you never felt like you were going to be trampled.
When we got to Stratford we found the Elizabeth line was back in operation so we took that to Paddington. And then we boarded a train on Track 11 that was going to Reading. Except It wasn't - at least not on schedule. It would be delayed at least 30 minutes as they waited for a driver. So we got off that train, Angie looked at the schedule of trains and found another train headed to Reading on Track 8. We rushed over there and got onboard with a few minutes to spare. At Reading the next train to Southampton Central was in about 45 minutes so we used that time to hydrate and have a snack (really "dinner") from the convenience store in the station. I was hoping they'd have a delicious egg sandwich like they did at the Lawson in Tokyo. It wasn't the case and they had some very old looking sandwiches. We went with chips, KIND bars and water instead.
Ironically, the train that we were waiting for was the train we had originally boarded in Reading and had been delayed for a driver. So perhaps like a bad penny, it had caught up to us. It arrived at the station, we boarded and several stops later we were at Southampton Central. We walked back to our flat and opened the door at about 10 PM. A twelve hours adventure! Such a great day at the ballpark.
Today Angie will be working. I'll be doing some laundry since we're lucky to have a washer here. No dryer but they have some drying racks. We'll do enough to get us through until Wednesday morning when we'll be back at the port of Southampton. More details on that part of the adventure coming up. I'll also head to the store today to get some essentials and lunch options. It's challenging to pack all the toiletries you need for an extended trip. I've found that you have to pack things where you likely won't find the brand you need outside of the United States - such as contact lens solution or vitamins. But I've had good luck finding deodorant and toothpaste.
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