Fashionista's Travels: Old Trafford, Manchester

This is a post I'm sure Manchester United fans would love and this is definitely a photo-blog =).

Post Paris, we arrived in St. Pancras at almost 11 pm and rested for the night at Somerset Hotel, Dorset Square (not far from Baker Street). Woke up the next morning to a slight drizzle but that didn't deter us from making a 4-hour drive to Manchester.

4 hours later from London, we've arrived to Manchester! Located at Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford is 15 to 20 minutes drive further from the city center.

Hubs at Old Trafford. His favorite team since God knows when. He's certainly happy to be here =).

Apparently my parents are also happy to be here. Aha!

The United Trinity. It's a statue of Manchester United's three great players, George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton. To read more on The United Trinity, read [here]. 

There are many ways to visit Old Trafford, you can just come in and walk around the compound, choose to only visit the museum, visit the Red Cafe, or choose both stadium and museum tour. I had booked early for a Museum and Tour of Old Trafford prior to arriving in UK. Our tickets cost about GBP15 (last I checked, the tickets are currently priced at GBP16 per adult) for a tour of the stadium and the museum. You have to print your tickets (confirmation of purchase) separately (i.e. there's four of us so that means there's four printouts) and show it to the officials at the entrance of the museum and tour centre. 

In return, they'll give you the entrance ticket to the stadium, a souvenir guide book and a lanyard for you to keep. 

The front entrance is for entrance for watching the football game so we had to walk a bit to the right for  the entrance to the Museum and Tour Centre. 

Huge ball and a pair of boots greeted us. As can be seen, hubs is faithfully wearing is lanyard and the ticket is inserted into the transparent plastic card holder. Printed on the lanyard are the words "Manchester United Museum and Tour" and the Manchester United logo. Certainly, you won't find this lanyard being sold anywhere else =).

We opted for the museum visit first prior to our stadium tour. If you feel like booking a ticket for a tour of the stadium, bear in mind that you have to select not only the date of your visit (unlike Disneyland where your ticket is valid for a visit at any date for a year) and also the exact time of your visit. There's a few time slots that you can choose from so don't worry, if you can't catch the 10 am tour, you can opt for the next one. Each tour can only fit about 20 people so if you're traveling in a group, be prepared to book in advance. Oh, I almost forgot, there's no tours arranged during match dates. 

Among the trophies that Manchester United have won over the years. A bit boastful, aren't they?

A lil' bit of history on their Scottish coach, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Among the trophies that's won by Sir Alex.

Dad's got the pose just right. Haha!

Hubs imitating Sir Alex. 

A lil' bit of info on Manchester United's current players.

From the museum, we had to walk a bit to the stadium tour meeting point.

Met with our guide at the meeting point. Oh, do take note that if you're late for your tour, they'll just leave you behind (meaning that there's a real possibility of you wasting the ticket that you've paid for).

So this is how it feels to be among the crowd at Old Trafford...

As can be seen, hubs is grinning from ear to ear throughout the tour. Even though the stadium itself is huge (it can fit about 75,000 spectators) a tour will only take about an hour.

Old Trafford, theatre of dreams =). And if you're wondering about the spotlight on the grass, it's actually a heating tool to make sure the grass doesn't freeze up during winter.

See how huge the stadium is?

Sir Alex Ferguson stand. Unveiled during his 25th anniversary as manager last year.

A photo of me in front of Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.

The stadium's interior. Squeaky clean I must say. Oh, the tour is also available for people in wheelchairs.

And this is the wheelchair entrance.

Us in front of the Munich tunnel, a remembrance of the tragedy in Munich where Manchester United lost eight of their players.

Off to the dressing room!

Players' lounge. The board in front of us is the International Honours Board where Manchester United players who has represented their country are listed.

A buffet line for the players. But we're told normally the players wouldn't be the one enjoying the food. 

And this is the players' dressing room. 

The jerseys are listed according where they actually sit before a game.

Us, sitting at where the players would be and our guide, standing where Sir Alex would be, and the two white boards are used to discuss the strategy of their game prior to any football match. 

One of the members of our tour group is a toddler. I guess there's no age limit for Manchester United fans.

Hubs with one of his favorite players' jersey.

Apparently my mum is also a fan of Manchester United. Haha!! This is certainly something that I don't know. 

Went out the tunnel as the players would right before a match at Old Trafford.

This is where the visiting team would be sitting and right next to it is the home teams' seats.

Dad managed a snapshot with our guide. 

Us. 

It's a trip that I'm sure hubs would never want to forget. The best part is, it's his dream come true. I'm just happy to be a part of making that dream come true. The only drawback to this trip was missing a live Manchester United game that weekend because tickets were all sold out. Maybe next time =).


xoxo Mrs Fashoinista

Fashionista's Travels: Oh La La, Paris!

This is a continuation of my honeymoon trip to London.

So we arrived to France from London via Eurotrain and arrived in Paris 2 hours and 30 minutes later. Since we only had two days in Paris and the first day was spent in Disneyland, we had to prioritize where we were going to on the second day. Here's a photoblog of my second day in Paris =):

As I mentioned before, we were staying at Le Regent Montmartre, about a stone's throw away from Anvers station.

I forgot to snap a photo of our room. Back from Disneyland we were so tired that all we could think about was sleep. Woke up on the second day to a beautiful cold spring morning (with no rain in sight). We stayed at the 4th floor. The room where we stayed was pretty basic but clean with an ensuite bathroom (exactly as they advertised on their website).

Rows and rows of identical buildings. So if you get lost in Paris, we totally understand. All the buildings look identical!

Sacre-Coeur or the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre. This was the view from my parents' room. How lucky right? They were staying at the 6th floor in the other wing. Cool view!

The Sacre-Coeur is located up a hill (as you can see) so if you fancy a trip, bear in mind that there's plenty of stairs to climb before reaching the top!

The climb up didn't deter these pilgrims. There was already a long queue at the Sacre-Coeur and it's only 8 am in the morning! According to its' website, the Sacre-Coeur was the place of the martyrdom of Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris and his companions. Many saints have made a visit to Sacre-Coeur including Joan of Arc herself =).

Le Regent Montmartre provides free breakfast from 7.30 am to 10 am so we enjoyed delicious croissants, jam, cornflake breakfast cereals, orange juice and coffee before heading out that morning.

Here's my parents enjoying their breakfast. There's a common room for breakfast and post breakfast it turns into a place where we can chill, relax and enjoy the free wifi provided by Le Regent Montmartre.

Hubs is an early riser so we took a walk around Boulevard de Rochechouart. Le Regent Montmartre is located within walking distance not only to the metro station but also to several of Paris's attractions like Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, and Moulin Rouge.

We walked for a couple of kilometers to come up the infamous Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge is actually a place where you can enjoy cabaret performances. It only opens at night so we didn't get a chance to enjoy a show. In case you feel like going, the nearest metro to Moulin Rouge is Blanche, two stops away from Anvers (where we were staying).

This is our metro station. Pronounced as Ah-Verr.

Mum and Dad in the metro.

Lucky for us, there was a busker in the train, so we got to hear him sing (and play music). Dad was so excited that he asked the guy to take a photo with him.

Stopped at Bir Hakeim station for a visit to the famous Tour Eiffel.

The tower is definitely huge. Unlike the replica that we saw in Shenzhen *sheepish smile*.

This is a pose that I've learnt from my niece, Ayesha when we were in Manila two years ago.

Dad and mum decided to copy our style. Haha!

Considering how many romantic movies have been produced in Paris, specifically in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower, the tower itself does not look all that romantic to me.

Since we only had a day to explore Paris, we decided to make the most of it by getting on the hop-on-hop-off bus. If I'm not mistaken the bus fee is about EUR30 and the pass is valid for two days.

Those opting for the bus would get a brochure and a free earphone (for us to plug onto the bus to listen to the commentaries on the attractions that we pass by or stop along the route). 

All in all there are 9 destinations to visit so the bus is actually worth it's price. Destinations are: Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars, Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Opera, Champ Elysees - Etoile, Grand Palais, and Trocadero. The best part is, you can leave the bus at any one of the stops and get on again once you've finished wandering around.

Tour Eiffel.

I forgot the name of this building though *blush*.

Musee du Louvre. This place is actually on my wish list of places I want to go visit but since we had to leave Paris that same night maybe I'll keep this place on my list for a future trip.

Notre Dame. Another place that I really wanted to visit in Paris.

The queue to enter Notre Dame. It's said that it would take at least 2 hours of queuing before getting to visit any of Paris's famous attractions like the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum and Notre Dame.

Musee d'Orsay.

The National Academy of Music right next to Opera National de Paris. 

Opera National de Paris.

And about two hours later we arrived to Champ Elysees, one of the famous shopping centers in Paris. 

Famished, we had lunch at Flora Danica before heading out shopping. Besides, there was a slight drizzle by then. It seems like our trip to Paris was filled with rain *sigh*. 

101 Avenue Des Champs Elysees. The famous Louis Vuitton store sits here. 

And dad got mum a Louie handbag. Lucky her!

We actually didn't know that Louie has a policy of no photography in the store. The man behind me was on his way to reprimand me for daring to take a photo in the store. How was I to know, right? Apparently, the store also has a no touch policy on their handbags (which I also didn't know of). Oh by the way, I initially planned to get that bag but I changed my mind.

Shopping spree was a success! Not all are for us unfortunately. 

Left Champ Elysees on a cab. Mum wanted to drop by and see a mosque in Paris before we left so we requested the cabbie to drive us to Paris's Grand Mosque for Asar prayers.

There's a small garden courtyard in the interior of the mosque.

Drove off to Gare du Nord about 30 minutes later and found a stall selling bon-bons right across the street from Gare du Nord. 

You can choose from a wide variety of bon-bons. I forgot how much though.

Gare du Nord =).

This is how the train station looked like. Not as nice as KL Sentral I'm afraid. The trains behind me are the trains leaving for Europe. And for trains within Paris, they are located underground. 

Short trip I must say but definitely a very eventful one. We managed to visit most of the attractions in Paris and for my future trips to Paris, I'd definitely recommend a stay at Le Regent Montmartre.

However, no matter how great other countries are, I must say that there's absolutely no place like home =).

xoxo Mrs Fashionista