written June 9th
We woke up Monday morning in Liverpool and it was raining…bummer.
But we headed to Anfield…Liverpool Football Club’s stadium. Yosh is a Liverpool fan so he was super excited. Now I’ll admit…I wasn’t DIEING to get there BUT it ended up being super cool.
We took a taxi out there….and I’m glad we did. The stadium isn’t in the nicest part of the city (the pictures don’t show it well but it was lookin’ pretty darn rough!).
We found out during our stadium tour that the club has starting buying all the surrounding residences to expand the stadium. Thank Goodness. Also learned that during a match Liverpool fans and opposing team fans NEVER cross paths. They have everything blocked off to keep each with their own…crazy huh?!?
Tour started at the statue of the greatest Liverpool coach ever… 
Then two tour guides brought us around and told us cool stories, facts and great history of Liverpool Football Club.
…the tiny little Media room…on tv during the skysports after game interviews the room seems HUGE…its actually about the size of our kitchen! There were a MILLION plugs on the wall (for all the newspeople) and the biggest thing was the sponsors logos behind the desk. Those few companies raise/donate over 47million pounds every year for Liverpool Football Club. Wowza.
The story behind that black and white photo: to make the media room they had to get rid of the “boot room”…which was where they stored the players cleats AND the coaches chatted about strategy (away from players and people…in secrecy). And like any other professional team they have superstitions…since the boot room has gone they have yet win a Premier League Title!!
Locker Room…
Few cool things about the locker room…
A)…notice there were no lockers….?? Yeah as a club they don’t have player lockers to show the amount of trust they have for each other. They leave their personal belongings there on the benches while they are out playing together. No one steals or disrespects others stuff.
B) They are placed in reference to the position they play. The coach sets it up that way…so the are around each other on and off the field.
C) There was a nice non-slip grip on the floors, tv, air conditioning/heating, fridge for Gatorade, physical training tables….all of which was NOT in the guest locker room. They made it a point to make it not very nice for the opposing team.
The two teams come out of the locker rooms and walk side by side out onto the field…pretty intense! Then they sit on their “bench”…which are stadium seats all right next to each other. Its the weirdest thing. The players all sit RIGHT in front of the fans too. In the pic below Yosh is sitting where the bench players would be AND the fans sit right behind that gray little wall….crazy huh.
The stadium only holds 42,500 people. It seemed SO small compared to baseball and football stadiums in Cali. They are very strict about fans intermingling. LFC sell up to 3,500 tickets to the opposing team. They have ONE section they can sit in and are not allowed to sit within the Liverpool sections. Cool Fact: You can not drink alcohol (or smoke) in view of the pitch!! So the drinking has to be done where the concessions are. Weird right?
This section (pictured above) is at the end of the field behind the goal. This is called The Kop…and used to be a standing only grass field. It was ROUGH. The tour guy said that it wasn’t a place for women or children because the men would be SO into the game that the WHOLE crowd would move in the direction of the ball…so it would be constantly moving.
The tour ended in a cool museum and gift shop! It was a fun time. Now…to get to actually SEE the team play the next time we are there!! On the Bucket List!
This was kinda sorta my anniversary gift to Yosh…8 years…can you believe it!! I always do the traditional gifts as well…and this year was no exception. It his card I placed a pic of his gift…they were too big to bring with us to Ireland…they are pottery tiki ornaments for by our new pool!! And Yosh got me a bronze doorhandle…(its pottery/bronze) haha kinda funny.
Our anniversaries in the years past…some super cool…so not to much! haha
2013…7 years…in Vegas for the Pepper Concert
2012…6 years…Caribbean Cruise…
2011…5 years…in Vegas with Friends.
2010…4 years…home with our romantic dinner from Burger Basket. Was at the hospital all day for the birth of Cindy’s 3rd child. amazing. 
2009…3 years…VERY mellow day at my parents with an 8 week old! 
2008…2 years…at home in our townhouse…with our two babies Ando and Clare.
2007…1 year…returning from a quick 3 day Ensenda cruise to eat our wedding cake!! 
2006…the big day… 
The only “anniversary trip” that was planned was year 1…all the others just so happened to be planned and THEN realized it landed around our wedding anniversary. Been a wonderful 8 years. We both have grown so much…grown together…each of us helping the other to become a better person! I look forward to our “Happily Ever After!!”
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