Charlie George is a Genius

When I looked up info about booking the stadium tour at Arsenal, I found some options for the standard tour in the date range we were looking for...but when I went back to book it, all standard tours were filled and only the "Legend" tours were available.

The Legend tours are led by a former Arsenal great and cost about three times more than the standard tour so you can imagine how disappointed I was. Little did I realize that it was a stroke of luck...

We got out to the Stadium early and on first sight I was very impressed. It's a magnificient looking place, though it's still smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood like Highbury. And it's a stone's throw from the old ground, so all the same pubs, tube stops, etc. are in play. We hit the Armoury store first so I could get a match day scarf and a, eh-hmm, car freshener (don't ask).

We then headed over to the tour and right off the bat, you got the feeling that Charlie George (legendary Arsenal striker from the 60s/70s) was gonna be a good host.

Charlie showed us the Director's box (which had quite possibly the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in), the locker rooms and the home/visitor player and manager seats on the field.

When I talked to Bret before we left for England, he kept mocking me by telling me he was going to "fart in Arsene Wenger's chair" to which I just rolled my eyes.

Well, he wasn't kidding and he did just that right before we were instructed to move the tour along (see picture). Congrats Bret...

Charlie finished the tour with a visit to the Arsenal press room where he sat down, told us about 15 minutes worth of stories, then opened it up to questions which he answered for a good 30 minutes.

Bret was laughing at some of the tough questions the audience asked. Serious questions about what has gone wrong this season, what the future is of certain players and what future signings are on the horizon. And to his credit, Charlie honestly addressed every single one of them. I got the feeling that if he would have been asked another 20 questions, he would have stayed another two hours answering them.

All in all, a great tour and well worth it to have Charlie leading the way. Afterward, we checked out the Arsenal Museum which was a little bit smaller than I imagined, but that was good cause it's more concentrated with things to watch, listen to, read, etc without being overwhelmed.

The museum even included a large sculpture of Charlie's likeness when he celebrated his game-winning goal in the 1971 FA Cup Final at Wembley.

It's hard to cram that much history into one place, but they did a good balance of using technology (you can even record and email a video message to people), video, historical gear, etc.

After the museum, we took a stroll by Highbury (where we visited three years prior when it was an active stadium) and I fought the tears back as I looked at the gaping holes of demolition and the scaffolding covering all the turnstile facades. It was a good final look before they finish construction in turning them into flats.

We then headed down to Leicester Square and walked around a bit, stopping off at Lillywhites to check on some cheap kits. I finally got the maroon highbury tribute Arsenal kit for pretty cheap, so I bought it. But we minded our wallets pretty well and didn't go berzerk. That place is huge though, I can see how people get carried away.

Our day finished with a trip to the Texas Embassy which when I explained where we were going, Bret mistakingly took me literally and thought it was somehow tied to the American Embassy. Ha ha...he's such a sweet kid. It is a Tex-Mex restaurant right next to Trafalgar Square and although it was good to get some Mexican food, it was pretty ordinary and overpriced. (boy, I give crap reviews for everything, don't I?)

Tomorrow is the match and I can't wait to get the full match day experience. I'm meeting up with George (the brother of one of my Arsenal mates in Seattle) and some other lads after the match, so that should be good. It's gonna be a long day, I'm sure...