The Great Home for any Arsenal foreign fan

The Armoury and The Emirates are ranked as one of the 3000 must visits in London. For foreign fans like me, visiting the Emirates was up there on the priority must do list! Top class! More on the shopping in a bit. This is the best stadium I've been to in England. Of course I'm a little biased about Emirates, but this stadium is new, clean, you still get the sense of "history" and "class" from it. Must admit the stadium is plush, if you do decide to sit thru the 90 mins, you will be painfree, given the soft cushiony seats provided in the stadium. 8th row from the front, mid field, thats where we were planted for Arsenal home game vs Liverpool. I dont think I have ever seen a more beautiful pitch, than at the Emirates. Lush, smooth.

Fast game, huge crowd of enthusiastic fans, the beautiful stadium handles the capacity crowds with ease. Getting a ticket at short notice is not easy at The Emirates, so if you get one you MUST go! Excellent crowd, a bonhomie so real, brings a lump in the throat. Mighty mighty pride palpable when watching the home team play. Clean loos, speedy service at the counters, lotsa beer and chicken burgers on sale. Ohh btw, just like our vada pao and bhel wallas outside any of our stadiums, there were chicken sandwich sellers outside the Emirates too.

From Piccadilly Circus via Hamleys into The Emirates, we toured the stadium and also the Arsenal museum. So much to know and so much to learn yet:) There is almost something hallowed about the new ground. Very friendly staff, warm and courteous. You enter the stadium from the car park, working your way up to the directors' box, and club level. Then you work your way back down to the changing rooms, dug outs and press areas. The tunnel is out of bounds though. All the way, you are free to take photographs wherever you like and the staff are on hand to answer any questions you may have. See who we spotted, made my day!!:)) The musuem is great too - even for a non-Arsenal fan, make a visit there, you will come away happier:) The stadium is beautifully designed and impressive inside and out. A heads up - walk the 5 minutes or so to see what they did with Highbury, the old Arsenal ground. It's brilliant.

Now the Armoury...so much the heart desires to get from there, everything, but much had to be rationalized - I got a couplea things from here, but my prized possession had to be the the gorgeous navy blue ceramic Arsenal mug. Upon return home, my heart crushed to bits when I unpacked the broken mug:(

Moving forward

Saw this- armoury square stone, couldn't help but think back about RVP, how much pride we felt felt in him. But not all are heros now are they. Wonder how he may be doing...

Getting to and from the Emirates is convenient, on a non match day:) On a match day, be prepared to be surrounded by singing chirpy crowds (that is, if the home team has won) who are in high spirits waiting to catch a tube home - its a long long wait so you better have spare time to stand in those long queues. 

PS: The beers are mighty expensive inside the stadium. What you get at our Wankhede is much cheaper. But you dont get to meet The Boss or Santi at the Wankhede! Consider that:)