DTWW

Barcelona, Celtic Monaco, Marseilles & Istanbul 2005

Barcelona, Celtic, Monaco, Marseilles & Istanbul 2005

Barcelona 2002

Following the great night in Rome the previous year I had got the bug intending to follow the reds at least once away in Europe every season. In 2002/3 Liverpool qualified for the Champions League and it was now very popular having won the Milk cup, FA cup and EUFA cup in 2001. Chris my good friend and fellow kopite who sits next to me in the ground, had been at the EUFA cup final in Germany to witness the latest European triumph and was keen to visit Barcelona when we were paired with them in the draw.

The Nou Camp is a big attraction when grounds are talked about and where you want to go to this unique stadium in the heartland of Catalan is on every one's list. Barcelona as Spain's second city is still definitely more popular than England's equivalent Birmingham.

Chris arranged to take his then girlfriend Jenny (who he later married) while I travelled alone having to pay the single supplement. The flight ticket was sent to me and I stayed the night before with Chris in his Hungerford end of terrace home before the next morning Jenny drove us to Gatwick airport and our flight. In a mix up we were on a later scheduled flight but as I pointed out to Laura later that was the tickets we were sent.

This was to be my first memorable meeting with her although she was in Rome organising everything. She was a tall, elegant lady full of confidence, easy on the eye and very soon popular with Chris. She spent most of the first day shopping in Barcelona's very popular city centre.

For the first night Chris Jenny and myself discovered a Debenhams's style retailer complete with a restaurant only a short walk from our hotel. In fact, the Nou Camp was not far away, and the only major obstacle was the Rambles, a famous road in the city with Four lanes much traffic and requiring a lot of determination and bravery to cross. There was no walk over bridge and of course as the Spanish drive on the wrong side of the road plus have strange (to me and the uninitiated foreigner) rules re traffic lights it was an experience.

After an enjoyable meal we returned in the evening darkness to our hotel rooms and settled down for the night. I was able to catch another game on my tele.

Breakfast was a traditional Buffet with the waiter being called Manwell and certainly had some of the characteristics of the Fawlty Towers misfit played so admirably by Andrew Sachs! Joined by Chris and Jenny we arranged to stroll to the ground for our first viewing myself I took a very old Camera I had for years on its first outing in a long time and probably its farewell. It looked out of place compared to those others in our party but to me that didn't matter. I rarely took photos so didn't need a sucked! up modern model.

We arrived and walked down one side of the stadium with its massive stand staring down upon us it certainly was impressive on that match day morning. A few other Liverpool fans were mingling about some looking for tickets and I was especially pleased I had left mine safely in my hotel room. Jenny was unwell so Chris and her returned to the hotel while I completed my walk round the ground taking a few photos as I passed and interjecting with some of the fans one of whom tried to suss out where my match ticket was.

Being on my own but not fearing the area I strolled down the famous Rambos away from the ground and hotel and to my personal delight found a Lloyds TSB branch. Naturally as an ex-employee who had benefited and enjoyed a redundancy package a few months earlier I took a photo to reveal to my ex-colleagues sometime later. A plaque with opening times was on the wall and I was intrigued to see the extra-long lunch break they had for a siesta although as it was the winter then I think that did not apply and the workers could finish early.

I think I grabbed something to eat before returning to our hotel where in anticipation of the evening I had a kip before meeting up with Chris and the Liverpool followers for the match. Jenny stayed behind to baby sit or watch in the bar while we were taken on foot to the ground by a safe route and a meeting point, this trip was also the first time I met a couple who I was to see regularly on future trips and in fact some Cup Finals in the Millennium stadium although I didn't know them or their name at the time. The Warburton's had travelled together and were a friendly couple, especially Jinny.