Wednesday 23 May 2007

2007-05-23. Афины. Лига Чемпионов. Финал. "Милан" - "Ливерпуль"

1. 21 May 2007. The start - London City Airport - boarding our Swiss Air flight
2. 22 May 2007. Dubbs and Si, Odhos Egnatia, Central Thessaloniki
3. Panayia Halkeon,Dhikastirion Square
4. Ayia Sophia, based on the slightly bigger one in Constantinople
5. Sash with... well, what a man - a cracking 'tache, loads of guns and a great pair of pants
6. Sash and Dubbs, the White tower on the sea front in the background (and another dude with a 'tache)
7. The Arch of Galerius, a grand nom
8. Rome's last great victories - licking the Persians
9. The Arch of Galerius and the Rotonda
10. Above the entrance to the (originally Roman) Rotonda - mixture of Muslim and Christian
11. Living it up with some pink ice cream
12. Si has obviously never seen a fire extinguisher shop before
13. Ataturk's house.
14. Young Ataturk, a local lad, with a great 'tache (picture hanging in the room where he was born)
15. Ataturk as a grand nom
16. (Sadly blurred) Si, Sash and Dubbs with Ataturk (no, that's not a halo)
17. The Chain Tower and the Byzantine Walls overlooking Thessaloniki
18. Thessaloniki and the Aegean
19. Our train to Athens at Thessaloniki station
20. Have a seat next to Rafa in Syntagma Square
21. Good use of the steps in Syntagma
22. 4-goal lead anyone?
23. The crowds in Syntagma
24. And the flares
25. The Whartons.
26. Chin up, Everton
27. 23 May 2007. Walking up Odhos Athinas towards the Acropolis
28. Monastiraki Square and the Acropolis
29. The western gate to the Roman agora
30. The Temple of Hephaestus towering over the Ancient Agora in the rain
31. The Odeon of Herodes Atticus
32. The Propylae of the Acropolis
33. The Parthenon and a drenched Sash
34. The southern side of the Parthenon
35. (Soaking wet) Cherdantsev, Sash and Vladimir Cantona on the Acropolis with the Erechtheum in the background
36. View back over the Acropolis - the Parthenon and the Erechtheum
37. The Erechtheum
38. The northern Portico of the Erechtheum
39. View East - the Arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Olympian Zeus
40. View North and West over the agoras
41. View North-East from above the Ancient Agora
42. The Temple of Hephaestus again
43. The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos and some dogs
44. Internal colonnade of the Stoa
45. Antoninus Pius
46. The Temple of Hephaestus through the trees of the Ancient Agora
47.... and close-up
48. Ancient tranquillity
49. The Acropolis in full glory
50. And some russky spoiling the picture
51. Monastiraki - nice for the Milan fans to turn up
52. And slightly earlier - the heaving Syntagma in front of the Greek Parliament
53. And those steps again
54. Back in Monastiraki Square
55. The Irini metro station exit for the first entry point for the Olympic Stadium
56. The entry point from the other side about 3 hours before the kick off
57. Streaming towards the ground itself
58. On approach to the second cordon, right near the stadium
59. Look at the state of this ticket
60. Sash at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, a couple of hours before the match
61. Bit empty here, isn't it, Dubbs
62. The travelling Kop
63. Dubbs and Sash, minutes before the kick off
64. The Milan end
65. The teams line up
66. 1st half
67. Back in the Athens City centre, thousands watching on big screens
68. YNWA at the end
69. Defeat
70. Milan about to lift the European Cup
71. Applauding the players after the match
72. Chin up, lads, we'll return
73. Back in town Syndagma is rocking - did we really lose?
74. The traditional post-European Cup Final photo where I try to obscure the Old Big Ears with my head
75. It's been emotional...
76. 24 May 2007. Middle of the night - Si, Sash, Shaun and E still singing (something rude about Dom) in Syntagma
77. Singing with Milan fans in that lane in Monastriraki in the early hours after the final
78. Party hard
79. Party harder
80. Partied out... Naaaah... Thessaloniki Airport, about to fly back but back for more in Europe next season