Proudly on Tour

Saturday 1st June 2019 Aaron had been tracking me on live location on WhatsApp and even before I got to the street where Finnegans was, I saw him walking towards me. He grinned from ear to ear and gave me a big hug. I was just so relieved I had been able to reunite him with his passport! We went to Finnegans for a celebratory pint as I excitedly regaled the story of what happened. The day before, we noticed how things had changed in Baku now that the football fans/UEFA had mostly left Baku...we had seen child beggars and homeless people on the street...they had not been visible up to Thursday morning. When we did see policemen, they had been stopping people in the street for random ID card checks. Again, we had not witnessed that earlier. It would seem that Baku was getting back to it's normality now that most of the news crews had left! Even in Finnegans, the atmosphere was remarkably different and an eclectic mix of people were there...there were quite a few young women i...

Friday 31st May 2019 (evening) Hooray, the train started moving and slowly the boiling hot cabin started to cool down slightly. The carriage attendant came by checking tickets. She had already checked them against passports when we got on the train, but now she wanted the counterfoils. Then she came round handing out customs forms and finally a sealed bag with sheets and even a towel. Steve went to the toilet and came back looking bemused....he said the cubicle was worse than the bathroom we had to endure at the 'shithole'. Steve lay back on his berth and tapped into my local SIM card to catch up with news, send messages etc... I too checked messages and reflected on what had been an amazing few days. I sent a picture of my berth to a friend back home. My passport was clearly visible on the berth and Steve's can be seen on the white table. I thought I should use the time to start doing some long overdue blog entries so I got my tablet out of my backpack and set...

30th and 31st May 2019 The Thursday night was spent back at the Irish Bar, Finnegans. There were a few football fans still, mostly waiting for their trains/flights home on Friday. As with the rest of Baku, the atmosphere had changed, even in the pubs, as more 'interesting locals' had come out of the woodwork. The bar was playing a selection of 1980s music, the beers were going down well and the pain of the night before was subsiding (slightly). Went back to the 'shithole' in the early hours and went straight to bed. Thank goodness I would be checking out of there tomorrow. I woke up with a slight hangover but the good news was, the electricity was still working! Yeah!! The joy was short lived. As I stepped into the filthy disgusting shower and turned the water on, I waited for the hot water....and waited....and waited. Bugger, now the combi boiler was not working, so for the second time in three mornings, I had to endure another freezing cold shower! How I reall...

30 May 2019 A quiet and sad day in Baku for me and other Gooners who had had such high hopes. But the result was what it was and now I had a couple of days to have a better look around Baku and to have yet another kebab for lunch! 😂  We took a walk down towards the seafront. It was a quiet morning and there was not an Arsenal shirt to be seen, but more Chelsea shirts than we seen outside of the stadium all week! Suddenly it seems, the city had gone from Red to Blue. Another thing we noticed is the number of police/security people had dropped dramatically. Walking past the Fan Festival areas, the dismantling of it was well underway. Some of the inflatable items were looking just like we were feeling....deflated!   We took in the sights The weather was also reflective of our mood! We even took a trip on an electric Venetian-esque gondola And there is a carpet museum And someone was not going to launch their amazing milkshake at the nearest...

30th May 2019 What happened? Having put so much effort into planning, actually travelling to Baku and putting up with accommodation disaster once there, why could the Arsenal players not put in the same sort of effort on the pitch? There was no real passion, heads were down and we never looked like the team that won so convincingly against Napoli and then Valencia. As travelling supporters, we can blame UEFA for picking such a far away place and a stadium where we had to sit so far away from the pitch, but the Arsenal squad had no travel worries on their first class jet and had no accommodation worries in their first class hotel. To be stuffed 4:1 on a Wednesday night in Baku is not the memory I wanted to take away. I could lament the sad and feeling frustrated trip back on the buses into Baku, but I won't. There is always next season. There will be some departures from the squad this summer, that is inevitable now. Let's hope the right decisions are made and that Emery has...

29th May 2019 I had not come on a marathon trek to Baku be miserable, so I was determined to get out and enjoy the day. I had never worn an Arsenal shirt to a game, nor indeed worn a football shirt since I was about 9 years old, but I had bought one for the final. Surprisingly I was able to buy a shirt in Barrow in Furness and happily it was less than half price, the week before I left for Baku. I had it personalised at The Emirates stadium before I set off for Baku. I put on my shiny new shirt on and set off for the Arsenal Fan Zone nearby to check arrangements for the buses to the stadium later on in the day. Steve managed to drag himself out of bed and joined me. Wearing Arsenal shirts around Baku today got even more attention and thumbs up from the locals. At the fan zone, there was a distinct lack of fans! Plenty of UEFA volunteers were there for meet and greet duties and some drinks stalls were being set up. Steve got interviewed, yet again, by the BBC World Service whi...

29th May 2019 I woke at 10:00 and thought, why is the A/C not working? I went into the living room, tried to turn on the lights, nothing. Went to the bathroom and tried the lights, nothing. Bloody great, no electricity!! I needed a shower, I knew the shower tray was cracked and disgustingly dirty but I needed a wash. then I remembered the man the night before had had to set the combi boiler, so I instantly knew, no electricity = no boiler = no hot water!! So a cold shower, in the dark, it was. Despite it being 28 deg C weather, the cold water was....COLD. Brrrrr. When I finished, I reached for my towel and felt that the floor was soaking. It seems the plughole in the shower was blocked, but the water was able to soak away through the cracks in the shower tray onto the bathroom floor! More to complain about!!! I got dressed, sent a snotty message to the apartment owner but was very worried he would totally ignore me and leave me with no electricity for the remainder of the stay! The...

28th May 2019 Disappointed with the accommodation, we were determined to go out and meet up with our fellow Gooners for an odd beer or ten. We gathered at the Red Lion Pub (where else?!) and there was already quite a crowd there chanting, drinking and relieved that they had finally made it to Baku! There was a basement bar next to the Red Lion. Harry's bar, which had quicker service but seemed to have random pricing. Never really negotiated prices in a bar before but it seemed to be the local thing to do. The street outside was filling up and bemused locals and hardly bothered police watched on. One of the Arsenal players, Mesut Ozil is really liked in Azerbaijan because of his Turkish connections. The locals watching on smiled when we started chanting about him. Much beer was drunk and no food eaten! Perhaps more than I would have liked, but I really enjoyed the evening. I made my way back to the 'shithole' apartment around 3am...went to bed and hoped I was not goi...

28th May 2019 It was a hot afternoon and quite a walk to where our apartment supposedly was, so we decided to get a taxi. The driver was a bit clueless, had no meter and had to call someone in his office for me to speak to. Despite that, he was still confused and it was then that a passing local intervened and very politely helped us and did not leave until we were safely on our way. Then the taxi went the wrong way, we got stuck for ages in traffic and he finally dropped us off quite a long way from where we should have been! We were dropped  off at building number 63  and had to get to number 29. I started to worry that things were about to start going pear shaped when the building numbers went from 31 to 19 and then 25. There was no building number 29! Efforts to call the apartment owner were initially in vain but then he sent a message saying he would be with us soon. We stood waiting outside by a high-end ladies fashion store and the staff invited us in to enjoy the a...

28th May 2019 The Metro Station we had used the day before was called "28 May" and today was the 28th May...Republic Day  and a holiday in Azerbaijan. And what a day it was..... Despite a comfortable bed, aircon and a quiet room, I woke up after just 6 hours asleep and try as I might, I could not drift off for any more much needed Zzzzzzs. So, breakfast time it was, a simple affair with lots of coffee...ordinary Nescafe, not my favourite, but it did the trick perking me up. We had to check out of this hotel (the daily rate shot up from Tuesday) and move to our main accommodation for the rest of the trip. Trouble was, we could not get access to it until late afternoon, so we got a taxi to the hotel our friend was staying at so we could store our luggage in his room and go off to explore what Baku has to offer.  We had a wander around the old city (without a guide) and took in some of the key sights, including the impressive Maiden Tower. More about the ol...