Last Day in Europe @ Villa Park :)

Really glad that i turned in early the night before this , unfortunately Karl went all out on his bday and i am pretty sure they stayed up until 4 or 5 am getting on the piss ... good on 'em but we gotta get to Birmingham and we have to leave at 10 AM to make this all work out . Rainer never showed up so i got a ride with Karl who i am pretty sure was in rough shape when i woke him up ... he basically got up jumped into his car and we left ... gotta thank Mark & Lisa for their hospitality letting us sleep at their place , but i also have to laugh when i mention that the air mattress i woke up on had no air in it :) regardless it was comfy , i think ? 

 

So first things first and this is the plan , we drive from Sheffield to Birmingham going directly to Villa Park to buy some gear ... i bought a new toque/hat , an old jersey and some Christmas bobbles :) then we head to the hotel that Rainer booked for us . The plan was to drop gear and head to Karl's and go from there but we figured we were behind schedule and it was best for me to drop my stuff and go directly to meet the Kiddy Lions at the Aston Tavern which is newly renovated ... apparently the New Adventurers is not what it quite used to be last year when we had a private party room :( oh well ... i dropped my stuff , showered up and got my Villa gear on and called a taxi . Of course with my luck i have a bluenose bastard taxi driver , who was kinda funny and told me that he hopes my team loses when he dropped me off ! He's lucky i didn't let the crowds of people know he was a bluenose LOL :P When i got in the Aston Tavern i went straight to the bar as i knew i would find the guys that way and of course there they were on the other side of the bar LOL ... Paul,Elvis and Gary with a few relatives getting ready for the big game ... a day at church if i may . Soon enough my English buddy that i know from Toronto shows up ... James March and a bit after Karl lets me know he is lost so Elvis' nephew ran off to gather him LOL ! 

We make our way to our seats just in time for the kickoff and get to our section in the legendary Holte End ... to be specific its the Lower Holte . Gorgeous , i love it ! This is Villa Park with all its glory ... and to top it all off my San Diego friends are sitting in front of us :) Simon and Jim were with me at the match in London too , we met last summer in Texas and have stayed in touch ! Yes you guys have my vote for our North American meet up to be in San Diego , yes i want to come back from Tijuana with sparkles on my face LOL ! ( inside joke ) Is it possible that i get to see Villa win at Villa Park for my first time ? I saw them win at Selhurst Park the game before so winning 2 in a row would be unreal wouldn't it ? Well .... cue the celebration ! You can only imagine how wild it was to see Alan Hutton score the winner at the 71st minute ... 

For once it was a great feeling to see Villa fans at the pub after the match actually celebrating ... i am used to seeing my friends sip their beer with their heads in their hands upset over a loss , this was awesome ... i mean actually seeing my friends celebrating a win ! James took off but Karl came over to The Social with Jim , Simon and myself and we met a couple of Dublin Lions , it was great meeting you Aideen finally :) There is something special about meeting other Villa fans , maybe its just special for me being from Toronto and receiving all the attention as an outsider or maybe its because most people in Toronto cheer for the "popular" clubs like ManUre or Liverpuddle but regardless its awesome being an Aston Villa supporter . On a day like this it was extra special and i hope the next time i visit Villa Park i get to experience watching the Villa win again . Unfortunately i didn't get to see my mate Ben as he was at another pub but it was nice to see Craig Allsop ... i gotta stop gushing over Villa LOL .

Well of course this wouldn't be one of my trips without having any problems ... my bank card didn't work and i had to borrow 40 quid from Simon Tissington , which i repaid the minute i landed back home ... if it weren't for Simon i probably wouldn't have made it to the airport the next morning as i needed a taxi (of course) ! I wanna thank the Kidderminster Lions , San Diego Lions and Aston Villa Football Club for making this last day on this trip one of the best .... tomorrow i fly back home :( 

UTV !