Our first trip to see some of Beijing’s highlights took place surprisingly soon after with a bus turning up to take us all to the main site of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Those games had taken place in August 2008 and our visit was in early November.

The first stop for us was the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, known colloquially as the Water Cube. Our bus parked up and we walked towards the building where there was a short wait while our guide went ahead to pick up the pre-booked tickets to allow us inside. Looking around we could see signs of the recent Olympics everywhere and two buildings other than the Water Cube dominated the local landscape: the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium where we’d be heading next, of course, and a rather odd-looking building called the Pangu Plaza office complex which was described as representing both an olympic torch and a dragon but which to us seemed to resemble a rabbit more than anything else. We’d get more photos of this building following our next visit in the city.

We weren’t the only tourist group in the vicinity but we were the only non-Chinese tourist group around which made us as much a point of interest for the other visitors as the sights we’d all come to see but that was okay with me as I found them equally interesting too.

Our guide returned and we headed inside. It’s nice to say that we’ve stood in the venue of an Olympic Games but to be fair there wasn’t much else to do other than peer at the pool and the seating and other tourists. The 2022 Winter Olympics will also take place in Beijing and the Water Cube will be repurposed as the Ice Cube to host the curling event so we’ll be keen to see how it all looks although it has already undergone an internal redesign since we visited in 2008.

Our guide had given us all ten minutes to look around but we were done in less than half that so headed back outside the aquatics centre to the designated meeting point. This did at least give us the chance to look more at the building itself and its very distinctive bubble patterning. The building had been designed by a consortium of Chinese and Australian firms with the idea for the bubbles coming from the Australian architects; the base design of a cube shape was a traditional Chinese style choice and represented the Earth while the nearby circular shape of the Olympic Stadium represented Heaven. The bubble covering is a fluorine-based plastic with high resistance to corrosion and better efficiency at allowing in light and heat than glass, part of the Beijing’s attempt to create an ecologically-friendly event.

It wasn’t long until everyone had come out to join us and once the headcount was confirmed we walked the short distance to the next venue, the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

Before we went inside we heard some of the design decisions from our tour guide, including that the planned retractable roof was removed from the design late in the process following safety concerns and that the interior had been subtly altered as a result to protect the crowd from the elements a little better.

Our position outside the national stadium entrance allowed us to look back beyond the aquatics centre and to the western sky where the sun was dipping in the late afternoon of this November day. This gave my wife and I the chance to hunt for a spot to take some photos with the Pangu Plaza “dragon building” (but it still looks like a rabbit to us) in the foreground.

One other thing we really enjoyed outside the Bird’s Nest stadium was the other tour groups and visitors to the Beijing landmark. Our guide had already told us earlier in the day that we might be a bit of a novelty to other Chinese people. Beijing was a modern city but a lot of the visitors who we would see at the tourist locations would be from other parts of China, coming in to see the site of the 2008 Olympics of only a few months prior, or seeing the Great Wall or the Forbidden City where we’d also be visiting over the coming days. We would in many cases be the first westerners they would ever have seen in the flesh and we shouldn’t worry about being stared at.

We weren’t just stared at. It was amusing to look at some of the other groups and see the local guide surrounded by two dozen Chinese people (all wearing the same cap to identify their group in a lot of cases), most of them paying no attention to what was being said and simply looking at us or, in some instances, sidling over to get close and see if they could hear some English being spoken. We also saw some people shuffle close in order to surreptitiously pose for photos for friends or family in front of our strangeness.

Our guide led us into the Bird’s Nest stadium and gave us some free time to have a look around. Access was pretty much unlimited although we weren’t too keen to get too far from our guide and the exit, with an eye on when we’d need to meet up outside again. TV screens showed promotional video from the Olympics and there was a loud buzz of conversation filling the interior space.

The central area of the stadium contained some mannequins dressed in clothing worn at either the opening or closing ceremonies of the recent summer games. Understated colours and subtle patterns were not the fashion of the time.

The mascots of the 2008 Olympics were also represented, albeit only two of them and in inflatable form. The five Fuwa (good luck dolls) each represented a ring of the Olympics logo and therefore a continental area taking part in the games.

• Beibei – Blue – Europe – Water
• Jingjing – Black – Africa – Wood
• Huanhuan – Red – America – Fire
• Yingying – Orange – Asia – Earth
• Nini – Green – Oceania – Metal

As you can see, both Huanhuan (America) and Nini (Oceania) were in attendance when we visited the Beijing National Stadium.

Outside the stadium once more I couldn’t resist a couple more shots of the setting sun and the deep colours caused by a little of that famous Beijing pollution (although it wasn’t that bad and never affected us during our visit).

It will be good to see the stadium and general area in use once more during the 2022 winter games just to see what’s changed. We had a lovely little visit and when you consider that most trips we do are of a far more ancient historical nature, it was good to have this first day of excursions arranged through Princess Cruises at the start of our honeymoon holiday in Asia be something very different.

Our guide led us the few minutes’ walk back to the bus where we’d be whisked (well, as whisked as Beijing evening traffic allowed) back to the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel, our home for these first few days in China.

As with elsewhere we visited in Beijing we found ourselves often the centre of attention from groups of Chinese visitors to their own capital too. Our tour guide explained that a lot of the people we saw would have come in from outlying areas of China and would probably never have seen non-Chinese people before. We found it quite amusing to see groups of people – often elderly – all dressed in matching caps to identify themselves paying scant attention to whatever their own tour guide was trying to say and slinking across to hang around near us, apparently to hear English being spoken.

A full album of photos containing more images and higher quality images can be found on Flickr: Pompey Legends vs Lee Rigby Select XI.

A decent crowd turned up in pretty good conditions. Photos from the warm-up and coming out onto the pitch for the start of the game.

At half time the Rangers/Lee Rigby Select XI keeper Wayne Shaw posed for photos with the crowd. Two bands walked around the field playing competing tunes.

The match itself was a clean game, needing very little officiating. Pompey took the lead but went into the break at 1-1. Shortly after the restart they were losing but a hat trick from Hermann Hreidarsson saw them run out 4-2 winners.

The keeper famous for his pie-eating didn’t disappoint the fans at the end of game.

Congratulations to the winning Pompey team and well done to everyone involved for such a worthy cause.

There wasn’t enough time to actually get past the barriers and take a look at the stadium up close but there was still a nice view of the structure from the roadside. With the coach only giving us five minutes at the spot only a handful of us actually got off the coach to take a few photos. The position of the sun wasn’t ideal for photography but the venue looked like it might be interesting to take a wander through if we were to visit the Greek capital again.

Our week’s holiday cruising on the Mediterranean aboard Royal Princess came to an end as we were dropped off at the airport. There we had quite a while to wait until our flight as we’d booked a late one to make sure we’d be able to take in some kind of tour of Athens before leaving. We had expected that we’d be able to get our cases dropped off reasonably early and pass through security in order to relax and read in the departure lounge but the Greek authorities had different ideas and we – along with many others – had to sit around on the floor until any of the few seats in the main hall became available while the check-in desks refused to permit anyone to drop off their luggage until what seemed like the last minute.

The flight back to the UK was fine and made slightly more interesting by flying over the top of a thunderstorm as we passed Albania. With it being dark by this time it was quite impressive to see the huge clouds being lit up by lightning from beneath and within.

As I’ve stated in my review of the Royal Princess for this cruise holiday we had some issues with the ship and its staff in particular but the itinerary was top class. Europe is, of course, a great place for fans of history and it’s quite surprising that we haven’t really done more of it with it being so close. Sometimes, you just overlook what’s right next to you. At some point we’re really going to have to explore more of the Mediterranean region.

You can read about our time wandering around and exploring the very attractive city of Boston here: Boston, Massachusetts.

I don’t remember which hotel we stayed at (one of the problems with not booking it yourself) but we started game day with a drink and some lunch in the hotel bar. With this being a little bit before I started saving all information and documenting more about the trips we were taking there are no records of what we ate but I’m fairly certain we had crab cakes because that’s what the area is famous for.

We then headed off to Gillette Stadium with one stop at a roadside cafe/restaurant/bar on the outskirts first for something else to eat and drink. Again, I can’t say what place for certain but the parts about this visit that stick in the memory were all alcohol-related. We ordered some beers and watched as the barmaid poured into an upright glass, tipped out the 4/5ths of foam, topped it up, tipped out the 2/3rds of foam, topped it up, etc. We just looked at each other and mouthed “Tip the glass when pouring” but didn’t want to interrupt. She then got someone else’s order wrong so came along the bar to me who was already drinking the thing she’d inadvertently poured and told me it was a free one. Finally, Will ordered a shot of tequila (for warmth as it was a bit chilly) and what turned up was close to a full whiskey tumbler with the Mexican alcohol in. Maybe that’s how they just do shots there but even Will was shocked. He tried to down it in one but failed and took three attempts.

We carried on to one of the vast parking lots that sit on the outside of Patriot Place and walked past numerous people hosting tailgate events from the back of their vehicles. The sun was long down by now and it was getting extremely cold but the gates to the stadium weren’t yet open so – and this might come as a shock – we made our way to a bar in the complex where another drink was had and we could get some shelter from the biting November wind as well as absorb some heat generated by the crowds of Patriot fans doing the same as us.

The game we were in Massachusetts to watch was the New England Patriots taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. We hadn’t really known anything else other than that prior to the game and were incredibly pleased to find out we had really good seats at the end of a row, fairly low down and almost on the 35-yard line. We were on the Patriots side of the field so had great views of the New England sideline and many of its star players (Tom Brady included, naturally) and were in our seats with drinks in plenty of time for the warm-ups to start.

We got to see Patriots owner Robert Kraft up fairly close too while he was being interviewed by the Monday Night Football team and meeting other important people.

And Will even wanted a photo taken on his phone by my wife just to prove he was in the stadium so I snagged a sneaky shot of him at the same time.

Before the game started properly there were still the rituals of the coin toss to sit through and the national anthem to stand for. We were looking forward to some action starting soon on the field by this point as the temperature was plummeting. On the way into the stadium both Will and I had bought some gloves from a vendor selling them from a stall as we hadn’t thought that far ahead when coming up to New England. My wife was sensibly dressed in multiple layers, gloves, and even the fur hat she’d picked up several years earlier from China (see: Diamond Princess Cruise Memorabilia) that numerous people in the stadium remarked on, mostly to comment how nice and warm her Russian hat looked which led every time to an explanation about the differences between the hammer and sickle design and the single red star.

And then the game between the Patriots and Chiefs started and it was absolutely fantastic; everything we hoped it would be. Our seating location meant it was a short walk onto the main concourse and the concessions stands so we were able to keep topped up with drinks (first cold and beer-based, then piping hot coffee-based just to get some circulation back into the fingers) and hot dogs (again, primarily just to hold in the hands for a bit before eating them).

By the end of the first quarter I was so cold I found a stand selling warm-looking hoodies and bought one to put over the top of the three layers I was already wearing. I still wear it when it gets cold these days and I’ve never seen anyone else wearing anything even close to the throwback design, making it my most-treasured souvenir of our time at Gillette Stadium.

Directly behind us in the stadium was a Patriots fan who was a dead-ringer for George Clinton. He was wearing a bobble hat barely covering his dreads, shades, had gold grills filling his mouth, was wearing Patriots hoodie and jersey and gloves, and was wrapped in a Patriots blanket. Every time Brady had the ball we would hear this rasping shout from behind us.

“Throw it to Ocho!”

“Man, he is not even on the field!” Will said on one occasion, turning around. It was true; Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson wasn’t playing. By way of response all we heard was a raspy giggle and it did nothing to stop our fellow Patriot fan from offering impossible advice from his seat throughout the rest of the game until he fell asleep in the third quarter leading to some stewards coming across to check if he was still alive.

It wouldn’t be a sports event without some kind of terrible officiating and this game was no exception leading to several streams of expletives from Will. Spotting that the man in front was attending with his teenaged son we urged Will to tone it down but the father turned around and told us it was nothing his son hadn’t heard before so it was all fine. Will started stealing some of the sweets that the son was eating while the father then chatted to us for a bit as he’d recognised we weren’t from around those parts. This wasn’t the first time someone in the vicinity had stopped us to chat upon hearing our accents as we’d also been forced to sit up front with the shuttle bus driver at the airport to talk as soon as he realised we were from England. Always lovely to have such a friendly experience with locals when you’re travelling abroad.

It’s interesting and almost a little disconcerting looking back at these photos nearly seven years on and seeing pictures like these with Brady, Gronk, and Aaron Hernandez before his fall from grace.

We left before the end of the fourth quarter as Will had almost turned blue and wanted to beat the bulk of the crowd trying to leave the stadium in order to head back to Boston. The game was well and truly over by then anyway with the Patriots running out 34-3 winners over the Chiefs. Despite being frozen to the bone ourselves we wouldn’t have changed a thing about the experience and if we ever got the chance to attend a Patriots game in Foxborough on an icy Monday night in winter again we’d have absolutely no hesitation in doing so. Gillette Stadium was great, well-designed, easy to find your way around, and with plenty of concessions to keep your energy levels up while the New England temperatures do their worst.

This post simply contains pictures from the second day of Magic Weekend. There will be photos from a couple of games and some of the pre-match entertainment from the kids on the field along with shots of the crowd nearby because I always like to capture people acting naturally, or as naturally as northerners after a few drinks while watching sport ever get.