Well that was a more relaxed trip than I thought. The journey down, aside from Mr Crisp Chapper sitting directly behind me who I wanted to murder - having forgot my headphones for the "quiet zone" >_> I had to bare the temptation to kill his face and stupidly noisy & animated mouth.
I dread London, from past experiences I've looked forward to getting out of there asap but on my own it seemed more chilled & straight forward; the biggest part I was fearing was the metro as it has appeared like a ball of knotted string on previous visits but it was actually quite simple. From Euston to Embankment on the Northern Line - Southbound. Got out and it was a short walk to Bar&Co along the Thames having planned ahead. Was quite scenic taking in as much as I could as things got real when I saw the PBL flag on the boat when I was street side.
Got there pretty early and when I arrived at Bar&Co I was trying to figure out how to get below deck but then saw a sign to the right on a door saying "bar downstairs" durrrr. Wasn't anyone around on the upstairs bar to ask so headed down and there was the familiar colours of the Blaugrana.
I asked the bar man (*owner) if some of the organisers were there yet and he merely looked at his watch and said "not yet" then walked away, and I'm like... eh? When he came back, served someone else who came to the bar after me - I asked if they had a menu as I was starving, pointed in the general direction of some little place mat thing that was a selection of about 4 sandwiches set as the "football menu"... bit disappointed as I'd like some tapas but didn't feel like I dare ask and at this stage, even though I know I'm quiet & shy at the best of times especially before people get to know me.
About HT of that game saw more & more people arrive and it was evident the majority of people here were Spanish and/or Catalan.
Eventually Eduard arrived but that was my problem, I didn't know what he looked like & vaguely knew what Geoff looked like having joined the FB group. A guy was at the bar talking about PBL with a member list so I thought to ask & introduce myself, shortly after Geoff arrived and the ball got moving with signing up. Eduard & Geoff are awesome & very friendly who sorted everything out and made me feel more welcome & at home for sure. They introduced me to some other people through the night and was a pleasure to meet everyone, cheering, singing and enjoying everything Barça.
To be fair to Bar&Co, the food wasn't bad, I look forward to trying the tapas next time but fk me, the Estrella's, the smaller bottles were £4 a pop! With Penya membership you get 10% off so saving 40p per bottle... For the chorizo, pepper & salad sandwich, it was quite nice, but combined with an Estrella, it was still pricey for £9 (member discount), I'd expect a side with that at other places. So eating before hand will be a must unless they can cook up some tapas, but if it's not better than mine they won't be seeing my cash
The atmosphere was buzzing, El Cant del Barça before & after the match as well as when Barça score certainly made you realise you're in the right place!
After the match I could have stuck around I think but as it was my first time down there I thought to play it safe and make sure I don't miss my train so said good bye's and headed up to the top of deck (oh which you can watch the game up there too but was advised it was cold, wasn't too bad, thought it'd be best below deck too as the boat is on the water, but standing up earlier in the evening you could feel the boat swaying, I don't get motion sickness but it was playing a number on my balance & knocking me a bit
).
When I got out this was the view:
Quite nice and as I'd been below deck for about 5hrs it was the transition from day to night that caught me in awe.
Also looking at this picture makes it look quite small and having experienced it has an effect of a tardis, unless part of it's submerged that you can't see. It's not too big inside but the outside makes it look even smaller.
*edited after having read what I've wrote, my English was awful lol