last one

Thursday |August 11, 2005
Craig McNeil, Pat Root, and Devin McMahon

Despite another breakfast of champions consisting of stale rolls and jam, we
made our way into the heart of London. Upon arrival we split up and went our
separate ways and experienced important historical venues, such as the Tower
of London, the London Dungeons, and the London Bridge. Miraculously on this
encounter the bridge refrained from falling down. After a quick lunch, we
hopped on the double-decker tour bus. (AKA- Big Blue, Lightning Stripes, Alan
Mobile, Slick Racer, or more commonly known as the Firth) Big Blue’s wheels
rumbled into a lush and well maintained futbol facility of Watford FC. The
professional atmosphere and hospitality prepared our team for our final game.
With butterflies in our stomachs, we stepped onto the pitch and quickly found
ourselves down 2-0 partly do to some hometown officiating. We went into
halftime down 3-0 and looking to regroup. We finally started to put some
things together and ended the game and our trip on a positive note scoring two
goals in the last twenty minutes to finalize the score at 4-2. The remainder
of the night was free for all parents and players to enjoy our final night out
on the town in London.

Friday August 12, 2005
Craig McNeil, Pat Root, and Devin McMahon

We arose from our slumber bright eyed and bushy tailed anticipating the day’s
festivities. Slick Racer escorted us to Parliament Square where we had the
day to peruse all the London truly has to offer. We cruised the underground,
went back into time at Westminster Abbey, crossed the river Thames, went into
the sky via the London eye, while never loosing track time with Big Ben
standing high. We boosted England’s economy and really enjoyed ourselves upon
hopping on the Alan-mobile and heading back to the hotel for one last
delicious meal….
We concluded our two week adventure through Europe with a nice evening
filled with shared memories, highlights, poems, tears, and laughs. We said our
“thanks” and “good-bye’s” to the friends and guides we’ve met here and now
look forward to our safe arrival back to the states.
Thanks for the interest in our experience as a team and we all look forward
to seeing you down at 11th and Fairbanks in a couple weeks.
This is Hope men’s soccer 2005 signing off…