Furman
Women's Soccer Europe DiaryFurman
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One word for the day: WALL.
We woke up early again to start practicing in Regent's Park at 7:45. Oh, did I forget to mention that we had a nice jog there? Our practice was very intense. The mosquitos were horrible though.
We ran back to the hotel for quick showers so that we could get to Buckingham Palace to to see the changing of the guard. Unfortunately, the guards were not changing that day. So, we all had a few hours on our own. Most girls went shopping but Lauren Killey went and had her hair cut. It is so cute!
We met back with the group to load up the bus and head to the pro game. We were going to see Millwall play Burnley. We were seated with the home team fans. They were crazy! Most of what they cheered cannot be repeated but usually ended in 'wall' short for Millwall. One of our favorites came from a small boy yelling, "Come on wall!" Millwall was in Division 2 last year but was moved up into the 1st Division after winning the Division. It is sad to say that the fans were almost more entertaining than the actual game. In the end, Millwall lost 2-0. This was very disturbing to all of its supporters. Half of the group was seperated when they closed a gate to separate Millwall and Burnley fans. There was often violence after such games that there were policemen on horses and on motorcyles patroling the areas. Killey was one of the girls trapped on the other side of the gate. She said that the Millwall fans were getting out of control, yelling and shaking the fence. Everyone was okay though. Not a single one of our players or coaches was injured in the slightest. This just served as one of our more interesting soccer experiences.
We had a wonderful dinner just down the road from our hotel. After dinner, Ashley Long, Alice Martin, Cary Blount, Melissa Vogel and I went in search of where they filmed the movie, 'Notting Hill.' We did find the movie theater were one of the scenes was filmed but had a difficult time finding the blue door. Cary Blount was convinced that it didn't exist any longer. The door that one woman directed her to was black! We found out that Notting Hill would begin its annual festival the very next day. Too bad we would be leaving the next day to return home. It is supposedly the biggest free carnival in Europe with somewhere between 2 and 5 million people! Sounds crazy to me!