Today's blog post is dedicated to a port city of Liverpool in United Kingdom. The birthplace of legendary Beatles and home to Liverpool Football Club, Liverpool is one of the larger English city. Its population is only about half a million people so that should tell you about the sizes of other cities in England. Liverpool is not a famous sightseeing destination and the only reason I visited the city was to attend a Liverpool Football Club football match as I have been a fan of the team for many years. I was in the city for just two days and managed to snap some photos that I would like to share with you. I will talk about the city itself first and then you can skip the second part of my blog post if you are not interested in football as it will be filled with photos from the stadium and the team's museum!

One interesting fact about Liverpool, and England in general (based from what I have heard from others), is the passion that people have for football. And yes, I am not talking about the American football, but rather the game where you actually play with your feet... There are pubs on every corner broadcasting the football games from different leagues and there are always people there! There were three pubs on the block where my Airbnb was and every single one of them had people drinking even though it was a week day. Every single person in Liverpool has a team that they associate themselves with. Every man, woman, and child, have the team they support. What I loved the most about everyone having their team is the fact that it is not always some big name team. A lot of the times it is a local team playing in a low-tier English league and that has a stadium capacity of few thousand people. I spent fifteen minutes at a pub listening to a guy talk about the team he supports and how it is a greatest team in the world. After our conversation ended, I googled the team and it turns out they  are from the third league... That's the fifteen minutes I will never get back, but it just proves how much people care about football!

If you are not interested in Liverpool Football Club or European football in general, you can probably stop reading the blog. The remainder of the blog post in its entirety is dedicated to the grounds around Anfield and the views from within the stadium. I was fortunate to attend a Champions League game against Italian side Napoli played at Anfield. I got to the stadium three hours before the game, well in advance of the crowds. Even then there was live music around the stadium and multiple tents selling club merchandise, such as scarfs, pins, shirts, among many others. What surprised me the most is that the grounds around Anfield are open to everyone, not just the ticket holders. The fences you see on the photos below do not go all around the stadium and the gates are open for people to wander around. Tickets are not checked until you are actually entering the stadium. I have heard from multiple people that the stadium is located in the not-so-great part of town, however, during game days the area is well lit with many stewards and police officers walking around the grounds.

The most popular places for the fans to gather at before the game are the local pubs located right across the stadium. These pubs get really crowded before the game and the atmosphere in there is out of this world. Liverpool Football Club has notoriously loyal fans who love and support the team and it definitely shows in these pubs. The chants and songs are flowing, and so does the beer! I was very surprised to see locals drink Coors Light like it was some sort of a fancy beer... I guess to them it was an American import and they must have thought it was cool to drink it. As for me, I stuck to Guinness, which was absolutely incredible. I was never able to drink Guinness in Houston as it is too bitter for my taste. In United Kingdom, however, Guinness was something else! After few pints at the pub and seeing the team buses come into the stadium I made my way inside to watch the game.

I made it inside the stadium very quickly. Maybe it was because I went to my seat about forty minutes before the start of the game but it took me less than five minutes to get inside of the stadium and locate my seat. The stadium did not get packed until about five minutes before the kickoff and once the game started there was not a single empty space that I could see. The atmosphere inside of the stadium was electrifying with chants and songs being sung almost non-stop. The day after the game I actually went for a tour of a stadium which is offered to people for just 20 pounds per ticket. I was lucky (in a sense) that I went in November and that the weather was pretty crappy. As a result, there were not too many people who came to the tour even though there were still plenty. It also helped that I went first thing in morning and therefore was able to beat a lot of people. The tours are self guided in nature with you receiving a small tablet which plays different audit and video bits at certain stages around the stadium.

I was actually very impressed with the tour. I think Liverpool Football Club has done an incredible job of putting together the guides and giving access to pretty much everything worth seeing in the stadium. You start off at the top of the stadium with the beautiful overview of the arena from the Mainstand. You then make your way down the stairs and get to see the press room where managers and players give their pre- and post-game interviews. You then get access to both home and away locker rooms, see the team dining room, executive lounges, before getting access to the actual pitch. Obviously they do not let tourists to walk on the field, but you get to stand on the sidelines and walk around to the home supporters' section, called the Kop. For the Liverpool Football Club fan, this tour is really a dream come true as you get to walk the places that you have only seen on TV before. I spent about two hours inside of the stadium just wandering around and enjoying every second of me being in the place I have wanted to visit for numerous years.

Included in the stadium tour ticket is admission to the club museum located inside of the stadium as well. Inside of the museum, there are multiple exhibitions and the relics from the past matches and great players of the past. Given that Liverpool Football Club has been around since 1892, there are clearly a lot of famous occasions and events that occurred throughout the history. It was a lot of fun to walk around and see kits of the past, trophies and read different stories about the club. It also made me realize once again how huge the club is and what it means to the people who not only live in the city but also support the club all around the globe.