Can I please be Nando?

I have totally not been keeping up with the blog of late, partly because of exams, partly because I'm lazy and partly because there's not really much football on. Anyhow, moment of the game last night (aside from the Nando hatrick and Dahveed scoring) was this:

I might do a proper report later, but don't hold your breath. My laziness knows no bounds.

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Football shirt collections...

Ok, so a while back, Vanilla Bear did a post about her collection of football shirts, and I promised in the comments I would take pics of my shirts when I get the printing for my Valencia shirt. Well, that arrived yesterday, so here's the post. I have 2 Liverpool shirts (Owen and blank) over at my mum's, as well as my England shirt (yes, you can really tell which NT MY priorities lie with...) but this is the rest of them. I guess I will do this in chronological order, because it's easiest that way.


So, the first one was actually my Owen shirt, but I don't have a pic of that, so you'll have to imagine it and we can move on. Next in line was the Gerrard shirt.

Then after that, it was the England shirt I think. I don't even remember when my dad bought me that. *shrugs* It's the reversible away one. And then there was the Agger shirt...
After Dagger, I think the next shirt I bought was the other Liverpool one that has no name on the back. The one I don't have a pic of. Then I think I went a while without buying any shirts, and for xmas my dad got me this:
I bought a kids Spain shirt online after that, because it was only £9.99 and like hell I'm missing out on that price!
Then one day in Brighton, I went on a major shopping spree for football shirts and bought the following:
I did want to get Masch's name on the back of the Liverpool one and Veeyah's name on the back of the Spain one, but the kids shirts are a little too small to fit Mascherano on the back and they didn't have the right printing for the Spain one. Pfffft. They're all currently blank, but I'm going to get them printed at some point. Honestly, I have a problem.

And then after all of that, I still wasn't happy. I'm a Valencia fan, yet I didn't actually own a Valencia shirt until this season. Mind you, I'm glad I waited until now, because Valencia Experience - BEST. SPONSOR. EVER. (You know, aside from the fact they didn't actually PAY the team anything...) Anyway,I currently have two. Trust me when I say that number WILL grow.


I still NEED a Veeyah shirt. I don't much care whether it's a Spain one or a Valencia one, but I need to buy one. It might possibly be the new Spain one. Or maybe next season's Valencia shirt and I'll get Albiol (or Marchena) on the Spain one. *shrugs* I still don't know. Also, I want to buy a Barca shirt with Xavi's name on the back. I don't support Barca. I'm not even sure how much I like them tbh, but I like Xavi so yeah...

I need to get a Liverpool shirt with Sami's name on the back as well, because he is such a club legend, it would be shocking for me to not own one. No really, I have a problem. I'm going to end up with more football shirts than anything else in my wardrobe at this rate.

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I am a ghost!

Ok, so for real, Valencia killed me. Look at this pic for the evidence. Do I not look ghostlike? It's cool yet creepy andI have NO idea how it happened.

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Holiday run down - part 5!

Ok, I am finally going to stop slacking and actually do the post from the final day in Valencia. So, we woke up obscenely early again, which for once, I didn't complain about because it was our last full day there and I didn't want to miss out on anything. We went back to the city of Arts and Sciences to see the science museum. It was a load of fun, there was all sorts of interactive activities and things to do, and we spent a good few hours exploring. There was a cool DNA helix thingy displayed, which actually made my neck hurt looking up at it. I don't think I got a pic though. Or I did and I can't find it. Anyway, moving on...


Yeah, that was a map thingy of the city on the ground. And yes that is the Mestalla. And yes, I did make my dad take a pic. There was also all sorts of cool things suspended from the ceiling, but instead, I'm choosing to post this because you can see the design of the building. Sort of.

Anyway, after that, I met up with Sarah (is it the first official Orange Hoodies Kickette meeting?) and we got the bus to the city center. We took a detour past the Mestalla (which was actually in totally the opposite direction to where we wanted to go, but still...) and I'll post the other pic from that when I get it from Sarah. It was kind of weird metting someone I've spent the best part of a year talking to online face to face, but it was kinda awesome too. We sat in this little restaurant to get some lunch amd we got to try the paella. I can see why Valencia is so famous for it, it was damn good paella.

Following that, there was more exploring to be done, my dad wanted to see the silk exchange. Now, I figured this meant there would be exchanging of silk being done, but no, it was just another old building. It was absolutely beautiful inside and out though.



We also got one of the inner city buses that basically does a quick circle around the city center, which took all of 10 minutes. After that, it was time to go our seperate ways. Sarah headed back to her hostel while my dad and I went to try and find a souvenier spoon and I managed to persuade him to get me some ice cream. It was the bestest ice cream ever, and actually, it is probably the cause of my cold right now, because I ate too much in a short space of time while it was raining.

After that, we walked back to the hotel where we watched yet another football game. I don't even remember what it was, some UEFA cup game or other. Then we headed back out to see the city center at night and take some pics.



I was mostly sad because it was my last evening in Valencia and I didn't want to leave. Having said that, my sunburn needed time to heal. I packed my suitcase in the evening before we went out to avoid having to worry about it later. We didn't have to leave until midday the next day, but it still didn't leave us an awful lot of time for exploring. Sadly, I didn't even get to see the boys train. *sighs* Still, there's always next time.

Then on the plane home, we took some pics of Valencia from the air.

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Holiday run down - part 4!

The visit on day four was to La Cuidad de las Artes y de las Ciencas (The City of Arts and Sciences - not that you couldn't guess that yourselves :P) and for the first time since we'd arrived, we used the public transport to get somewhere because my back was dead beyond all revival hopes. I was at the point whereI had to sit down practically every twenty minutes or so. The first place we visited there was L'Oceanografic, which is basically the aquarium. There was lots to see, but the fish were pretty hard to take pics of because they kept moving so fast and my brain wasn't sending the message to my finger fast enough to take the pic.

I saw Dory fish! It only took me about 500 attempts to get this pic, and even then, it was all blurry because obviously, fish move.

We also went to see the dolphin show, which was pretty cool. I've seen plenty of those in my time, but this one was seriously amazing because theyre were 10 dolphins in it, the most I'd seen before was 4.

There was also some pretty cool sharkies, which I quite enjoyed because I like sharks. Even if they are quite unattractive animals with horrid teeth.

I also took a pic of a freaky crab type thing, it was seriously huuuuge. I'm glad it was in a tank behind glass because it scared me a little.
My personal favourite animals of the day were the penguins, but my dad had the camera then and the photos he took are a total fail for the most part. Boo.

After that, we walked around for a bit until it got to 4 pm, when we were due to go and see a movie at L'Hemisferic, the IMAX cinema. It was just under an hour long and it was about the Alps. It was the first time I'd ever been to an IMAX cinema and I really enjoyed it. The movie was pretty good too, I love mountains and the scenes filmed in the Alps were nothing short of breathtaking. While we were watching the movie, we managed to escape from the rain outside which I was quite thankful for, because my hair does not agree much with the rain.

The buildings in the City of Arts and Sciences are all really modern, and they're all pretty interesting shapes. L'Hemisferic is designed to look like an eye at night, really clever design, but sadly, I didn't get to see it to take a pic, I just saw it on postcards. Still, here's some pics of the various areas during the day.




On the way home, we walked back through the old riverbed, which has been transformed into public gardens and it is a nice escape from the busy city streets. I wanted to go and check out the shopping center that was literally a two minute walk from the hotel, but by the time we got back, I was so tired, I literally just about made it back to the room before falling asleep. I woke up at some point in the evening only to find that they weren't showing either CL game on the telly, so I watched some nature program about insects, during which they insisted on showing close ups of grasshoppers every few minutes. I almost died and not in a good way.

The next day was my final day in Valencia, and I had wanted to go and stalk the players at training, but that kind of fell through when I realised I didn't have the training details with me, so I guess that'll just have to happen next time I go, right? Instead, I met up with Sarah at the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe and we went into the town center to do some more touristy stuff there, but that blog post will be up later today or tomorrow.

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Holiday run down - part 3!

So, after the Mestalla tour, we still had pretty much half the day left to do some exploring. Because the weather was nice, we decided to head to the beach to check it out. By this point, my feet were aching, and I was pretty sure my back was going to cave in on itself but I still battled on.


The first thing I spotted (from quite a way off) were the Spanish and Valencian flags.

From there, there was a pedestrian area next to the beach where we walked down for a while seeing as neither one of us was suitable dressed for sunbathing. Across there, we walked past several of those sand sculptor people, and I got my dad to take a pic of one of them because it was really interesting the way he had decorated it with various things.

We also walked past one of the many hotels on the seafront. This one just happened to be a five star hotel, and judging by the outside, it was pretty pricey one.

Finally, we took some snaps of the actual beach and the sea because it was all pretty and blue and calm.

After that, we headed back to out hotel for lunch, after which I fell asleep. I just barely managed to wake up in time for the football, and of course, this being in Spain, they were showing the Barca game. Not that I'm complaining, I didn't particularly want to see the Liverpool game because I'm a pretty sore loser, and even though I had faith in the boys, I didn't thik that would be enough to get them through seeing as the needed to score at least three goals to have a chance of staying in the competition. Typical of my luck really that the most entertaining game I remember hearing about in recent CL history was the one time I was in a country where nobody was showing it. Boo.

After the football finished, I wanted to go back into town for a little while, but as soon as I tried to drag myself back to my feet, my back finally packed in on me, and I had to make do with an early night instead, with the next day's plan already made.

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The Mestalla!!

*hyperventilates like crazy* Yes, I went there. Yes, I loved it. And while watching the Valencia game I recorded yesterday, I noticed 3 things. #1 - I sat where the injured/suspended players sit in the stands. #2 - I sat where Dahveed sat yesterday on the subs bench after he was subbed off. #3 - Chente sat there a few weeks ago. Yeah, excuse me while I go die. In the mean time, enjoy some pics I took while at the Mestalla. Please do not steal these, and if you do borrow them, please credit me. And let me know you're taking them. I will hunt you down and hurt you otherwise. Ok, I kid about the last part, I won't really hurt you. But the rest still applies.

Here is me sat on the bench. Literally about 5 minutes after I hit my head on the metal post bit above it. I'm surprised I don't look dazed in that pic, my head hurt like crazy after that. But at least I got bruised by the Mestalla. Yay!

There's about 20 pics similar to this one. Again if you want to see the rest, don't hesistate to ask.

Yeah, manlove is a big part of the Valencia CF culture. In fact, they have this pic above the players tunnel. I guess it's there to inspire them and remind then what the fangirls want to see.

The Valencia bat. I am only a little bit obsessed with it, and I only have about 50 pics of various bats in the collection of pics from Valencia.

And then there's the Mestalla from the outside. I'll be honest, it's not the most attractive of stadiums, but honest to god, I couldn't care less. It's not like I look at it from the outside when watching a game, and the football played there is, for the most part, beautiful. And it's still magical. I got the same shiver down my spine walking out through the players tunnel and out to the pitch as I did at Anfield. There's nothing like that feeling. Well, apart from being part of the crowd at a game.

That's all the pics I'm going to post on here because I don't want to have to narrow the rest down, but there's still plenty more for those who are interested. Just let me know.

Anywhoo, the weather was once again gorgeous. It was really sunny and really hot and my sunburn just got worse and worse. Before we went to do the tour, we went to the VCF shop just opposite, and I managed to get my dad to buy me the home shirt. Typical of my luck there there was no E or I so I couldn't get Alexis' name on the back. Pft. Pffffft. Still, I can do that here, I managed fine with my Vicente shirt ktnx. He also got me the Asindown calendar, and that STILL makes my ovaries explode with cute every time. While we were paying, he spotted that they have tickets to do a tour of the Mestalla for €6 per person, which I hadn't even noticed. He could totally have got away with it, but he pointed them out, and that was that, he simply HAD to buy them after that. Future lesson for him - when in doubt, keep your mouth shut. It works out cheaper that way.

So, we finally got in about an hour later, but in the mean time, we were just waiting around outside the store because that was where the tour started. And there, they were totally filming this:

No, I'm not in it. Thankfully. I looked a very unnattractive shade of lobster that particular day and I highly doubt I would have looked good on camera.

Anyway, the first place they took us on the tour was one of the executive boxes right in the centre of the pitch, and you could pretty much see all the way across to both goals. It was pretty much amaze, and it was all air conditioned and everything. I wish I was rich enough to afford to be able to go. Having said that, I'd want to be as close to the pitch as possible. After that, we walked down to see the press area, where Unai does his press conferences before games and that led onto the area where they interview players after the end of the game. It was all pretty surreal, there was posters of the La Liga winning team on 2003/04 and all sorts. After that, the next stop was the home changing room. No, I did not make a beeline for Vicente's place to take a pic. *innocent expression*
It amused me no end that Silva and Alexis are next to each other, because seriously people, do you want to give us any more hints that those two are totally best friends? I even giggled to the point that the tour lady had to stop talking to ask if I was ok. Er, embarassing much? Still, depsite how happy this made me, I miss the Davids :(

After we'd done the tour of the indoors bit (and no, I did not almost collapse and die when I saw the showers. They are NAKEY in there!!!!) we went out through the player tunnel and onto the pitch. Well, the bench and the touchline anyway, we weren't allowed onto the pitch. Boo. I got a bit snap happy there again, because it's the Mestalla and I was there. I don't even need an excuse really, do I? It was a totally awesome experience being there, I don't even remember the last time I was so excited over anything.

Then we were shown the chapel bit indoors where the players go to pray. I didn't get much of what was being explained during the tour because it was all in Spanish and I don't really speak any Spanish, but I understood that part. Er, it may have had something to do with the fact that Alexis was the first name mentioned. I actually paid enough attention to be able to figure it out LOL.

It was seriously pretty. It led onto the referee's room, where there was pics of every ref in La Liga this season. I just saw the pic of Alfonso Perez Burrull and got all mad, because why would you even have him in there? Freaking 8 yellows and a red in one game and only 3 of those were deserved. Pft.

Next stop was the trophy room which was also too many different levels of amazing. They had the club crest on almost every surface and there was loads of pretty shiny things. I love how they had mirrors behind the trophies to make it look like there was more of them. Oh bbs, I love you and I love your fail, please don't ever change. From there, we went out onto the posher part of the stands where all the important people sit. You know, the club president, the injured players etc etc.
That was what was above the steps leading out onto that part of the stand. No really, I don't have an obsession with the bat. I promise.

And after all those pics and all that touring around, it was finally time to say goodbye to the Mestalla. We went out through these doors:
It was probably my favourite day of the entire holiday, just because I finally got to see where they play and it made me feel that little bit closer to them. One of these days, when I'm rich enough and I don't work weekends, I am going to go back there and watch a game. It has to happen.

I did go back a few days later with Sarah, but we just saw it from the outside this time, because the rest of our schedule was pretty packed. She has the pics from the front of the stadium on her camera and I had this one on mine.

Honestly, I would say to anyone, if you can get to the Mestalla and do the tour, then do it. It's not an overly extravagant stadium like some others, in fact, it's quite simple in comparison, but I loved every second and I wish I could have stayed for longer.

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Holiday run down - part 2!

Day two, and I woke up at an obscenely early (for me) time and then spent a good hour just lounging around the hotel room. Once I finally got my act together, we went out for a walk around town again. The city center was pretty close, probably only a 20 min walk from the hotel, if that. Valencia is full of old buildings and stuff, and I love stuff like that, so I was pretty much in awe the entire time.



We visited several churches and stuff, which was quite cool. We also climbed up about 456372 steps to get to the top of this tower thingy, and from there, we could pretty much see the entire city. Again, we went a little overboard with the taking of pictures, and a lot of them repeat over and over, so I'll just post a few of the most important ones.



For those who are interested, this is the tower we climbed to the top of. Anyway, moving swiftly on, we carried on our walk after that, even though I was already pretty much knackered. We went to something like a street market in the older part of town which was fun, but I totally forgot to take pics because I was too busy wondering what to make my dad spend his money on.

Now, this may seem pretty random and I'm sure the people of Valencia were wondering what the hell kind of drugs I was on, but the drain covers there are totally cool and I wanted to take a pic because they have the city crest on them and I love the bat.

At about 2pmish, we went back to the hotel so I could change my shoes because I was getting blisters and then I managed to persuade my dad to go to Bioparc, which is basically a zoo. There was three parts to it, not that I even remember what those are, but you were allowed to walk in with the animals at certain parts which was really cool. I went round to see the lemurs twice because they were uber cool. First time round, I got the not so physically fit lemur that needs to move it move it, to pose.

And the second time round, I managed to get a pic of a lemur bebe! They were all huddled like that, then they moved around a little and suddenly, there it was.

There was a bird show too, and there was all kinds of birds of prey (and a porcupine) in it, but I only managed to take one or two pics because I was too busy watching.

I also got a pic of a giraffe doing that funny split leg thingy they do when they have to drink water from a lake or graze at ground level.

And er...sleeping lion. That is all.

There was actually loads more pics from the zoo, I camerawhored the hell out of that place and took pics of most of the animals, like the zebras, lions, lemurs and Aleksandr meerkat. If anyone wants to see the rest of the pics, feel free to ask.

On the way out, there was a stand that was selling horchata, which is a drink made from tiger nuts, water and sugar, so I got my dad to buy me some and it was reaaaally good. I totally wish they sold it here, I'd probably drink it every day. Anyway, after that busy day of walking around, we were too tired to go into town for dinner so we went to the local shop to buy some food (yes, chorizo was on the shopping list) and then went back to the hotel to stuff our faces. The weather was totally gorge again, 24 degrees and sunny, and I got sunburn from being out and about in town. Last time I pay attention to the weather forecasts here before going away, I didn't take any sunblock because it was meant to be all cloudy and crappy in Valencia. Pft.

Because of the Easter period, the first two days we were in Valencia, it was really quiet, most shops were closed and then museums and stuff are usually closed on Mondays so there wasn't all that much to do, but then from Tuesday onwards, it picked up and suddenly, the entire city was buzzing.

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