Day 11! Tomorrow is my last day in London! I’ll be flying out to my next destination at 9:20pm 😄

Today started out like every other day so far in London! An early breakfast with my dad and then getting ready for the day.

But today’s morning activity was a bit different!

I had a free lance editing gig to get done! For those of you who don’t know, I film and edit videos and I’m more than happy to help out with any filming/editing needs you might need 😉

After a few hours I wrapped up my editing and then headed out to meet my dad and his colleague for our real adventure of the day!

I made my way to St. Paul’s which was our meeting location and found a group of statues I hadn’t seen before!

I thought it was such a unique view of the cathedral having a giant gorilla sitting in front of it!

After meeting up, we made our way to the City Thameslink! It was my first time riding on the city lines, but it was just as easy as any of the other Tube stops!

The train ride was very smooth and quiet, unlike the Tube and it also offered a great view of the Shard!

We then switched trains at the London Bridge station which is massive and very impressive!

This train was PACKED as we were heading to a football match along with a lot of other fans.

We had no idea where the stadium was, but we really didn’t have to because we just followed the giant crowd of people all heading towards the match.

It was electric walking with all of the fans and you could tell everyone was excited for the game!

The platform also had an amazing view of the city skyline!

We arrived at The Den! Home of Millwall FC, the lions!

Right as you walk in, you’re met with a beautiful mural for the team and then when you look forward you see their large stadium that’s hosting an over 100 year old team!

While I was in college, I was my universities mascot, Big Jay, and right when we walked in we ran into none other than, the Millwall Lion!

We found out we were on the wrong side of the stadium and as we walked around to the other side we were met with a horde of fans!

Everyone was buzzing with excitement, enjoying pints with their mates, and getting ready for an exciting match!

We got some great tickets too. For only £29 a ticket we were right next to the pitch and had a prime seat for a lot of the action!

Even though we were closer to one of the corners, we still could see just about every play on both sides! Sometimes it involved standing up when anticipation was creeping in, but it helped keep us warm!

And let me tell you, it was COLD! It was only 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) and the first half was manageable… but the longer we sat outside the more everyone (including everyone around us) was starting to shiver.

BUT even with the cold… the match played on.

The match was Millwall vs. Middlesbrough, two Championship League teams tied in the ledger (they have the same amount of total points thus far in the season)!

This match immediately was noticeably different than our first football match. The Millwall fans were vocal, cheering their team on, and singing all of their teams tunes! There was also a much more positive attitude towards the team as a whole.

Right out of the gate Millwall was looking strong with plenty of attacks on the goal and their defenders and keeper were doing a phenomenal job at stoping Middlesbrough’s advances!

And at the 10 minute mark Millwall’s attack paid off with a beautiful header into the goal! The crowd went crazy and the stadium was filled with cheers and chants!

Millwall was holding their lead strong for the next almost 30 minutes of the half and I thought they were going to go into half time up 1-0…

Unfortunately at the 38 minute mark, Middlesbrough attack easily overtook Millwall’s defenders and made their goal look like child’s play.

At half, the score was 1-1. But before the 60 minute mark of the second half, Middlesbrough scored again making it 1-2 and silencing a lot of the Millwall fans.

Hope wasn’t lost yet though and the Millwall fans rallied back! There were some amazing shots by the players but not one went in. And in stoppage time at the end of the game, Middlesbrough sealed Millwall’s fate and scoreed their third and final goal.

It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t get to see a home team win while in London. BUT, the fans around us made the experience one to remember! I was swept up into the cheers, the disappointments, and maybe a few choice words yelled at the refs.

Our earlier match at QPR was fun, especially with how many goals were scored. But this Millwall match was the sporting environment I was looking for! The community that rallied behind their team right from the start and stayed until the bitter end.

As we followed the fans out, we all realized we were very hungry. So it was time to venture back into the city and find a place to eat!

It took us a while to find some place. Our first stop was to a pub called the Anchor, which is nearby the globe theater!

Now… I say it was our first stop because there was literally no room in it, which was wild because this was a huge pub. So as the hanger set in, we set out for another pub.

And this pub, we started walking in the wrong direction for.

But a few good things came from this! The first of which was my dad finally got his picture with the globe theater! The second of which was we got to cross the Millennial Footbridge at night… and MAN does it have a gorgeous view!

By the time we made it across the bridge we realized we were very close to a pub we all enjoyed from last week!

So we walked just a bit further and ended up at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese!

After a long afternoon, we all three got well deserved pints and my dad and I enjoyed a wonderful steak and kidney pudding!

The pub was so warm and they seated us next to a radiator! And the food warmed us up as well which was just what we needed after sitting in the cold all afternoon.

After dinner, my dad had some conferences with his students. So we hastily made our way back to the hotel for him to make it on time!

After he was done, we decided to meet back up with his colleague and go grab a pint at a nearby pub, The Swan!

Every pub I’ve gone to I’ve tried to have a new beer. At The Swan, we all had an Old Peculiar and we agreed it was easily our favorite beer of the trip!

It was an ale that had the perfect sweetness to it and also had a wonderful aftertaste that lingered for a while after each sip.

The three of us ended up having a great time chatting over our drinks. We parted ways with my dad’s colleague but our night was not over yet!

Our last stop for the night was to an Italian restaurant, Trattoria Verdi. Our original plan was to get a dessert… but we were feeling a bit hungrier than that, so we split an order of Fettuccine Alfredo!

It was a wonderful last full day in London and I’m so glad my dad and I got to experience another football match together!

Tomorrow I head out for SE Asia, where I’ll be starting my official solo travel (WARMTH)!

But we still have almost the whole morning and afternoon in London tomorrow so we’re not done yet!

– Elie