Tractor Boys on tour!

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This is where it all began....Except for a short and eventful holiday by car from England, through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and into Germany (minus our car which dad stacked on day 1), this was my first real foray onto foreign soil and little did I know what adventures would flow as a result.
After following the mighty Ipswich around the country and watching them humble the giants of English football, it was only right that I should follow them where ever they went. The UEFA Cup draw tossed out Moscow-very foreign and very exciting. Accompanied by my friend Jed and about 1000 of George Burley's Blue and White Army, we set off for the biggest country in the world.
We arrived at night in this monster city and wasted no time in catching a taxi to Red Square. The buildings were stunning-St. Basils being my favourite. After exploring a little and trying a local bar, we returned to the hotel to be greeted by a packed lobby full of boozing tractor boys and several businessmen accompanied by their choice of the local talent. With a crowd that big you'd think it would have been possible for them to slip quietly into the lift to get what they'd paid for.
However they hadn't expected the thunderous rendition of 'she's here, she's there'...the John Wark classic with a twist . Which attracted not surprisingly blushes from the men and the finger from the ladies.
The next day we raced around town, trying to see as much as possible before the evenings game. The city is beautiful. There is so much to see, that our short trip only scratched the surface. The Kremlin, with all it's glittering jewels were another highlight.
The evening soon came around and Jed and I set off to the Luzniky Stadium to see the boys play. We tried our best to use the subway, but not unsurprisingly (not being able to read Cyrillic) we got lost and a mild frustration set in as we tried to count the stops to the stadium. After several attempts we made it to the ground and tried to find our way in. All the other Ipswich fans were inside the stadium and it was a little unnerving to say the least when a local skin head group about 20 strong marched straight towards us in tight army style formation.
It was a case of keeping your head down and praying they didn't want to beat us to death. Thankfully we made it to the police check points outside the stadium and we were soon inside. The stadium was massive, but there we virtually no home fans there. Thanks to a couple of well taken goals and the miss of the century, we won and made it into the next round.
The next day we had a little more time to explore, before we flew home to plan the next leg of the adventure...Helsingborg, Sweden!

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