New York, New York - so good they named it twice.

At Freeman's Restaurant on the Lower East Side, Manhattan on 24th July at Midnight Danny asks me to marry him. It's a very special evening and emotions were running high. The proposal came naturally, no forward planning and was absolutely perfect. I, of course, accepted and we have been suitably pleased with ourselves ever since!


A picture of the 3-stone diamond platinum engagement ring bought from Tiffany & Co. on 5th Ave. NYC.


Danny at Tiffany & Co. with a celebratory glass of bubbly....


and Debra, his wife to be.


Cheers!


Dan looking a tad nervous prior to the champagne kicking in!


I think this is my favourite shop from now on.




Other pics from New York...


Dan at Bronx Zoo - above or below, you decide...



Deb with the culprit at Red Lobster prior to a soaking!

Continuing with Dan's quest for the perfect lobster, we went to Red Lobster in Time Square on my Birthday (how does that work?)...

Anyway, not the best evening. You get Budweiser in frosted glasses at RL, nice touch you'd think but not when the bottom of the glass falls out and you get drenched with a pint of the King of Beers! New top soaked, looked like I'd had an accident (wet bum) and bag not looking too good either. Worst of all though was the camera got a soaking too. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked right since and Dan is in a continuing dialogue with Red Lobster to resolve the situation. Looks like we might eventually get a new camera with Dan's persistence and we did get a $120+ meal for nowt - could have done without the inconvenience though but fortunately the pictures we'd taken are safe.


We agree, NYC rocks!

Sicily - nuff said Dan!

Unfortunately Sicily didn't live upto our expectations . After having been to Rome, Sicily was disappointing, a poor man's Italy. Sorry Sicily but you're sleeping with the fishes.

The Agora hostel in Catania could be described at best as "bohemian" or at worst a bit of a dump - we decided on the latter hence no photies.


Dan in our hire car when we went to Mt. Etna for the day (all we saw was a big cloud, best go on a clear day)

There's no place like Rome...

Here's a few snaps from our time in Rome. What a beautiful city. We liked it so much we went there twice. We took a bus tour of the city and would definitely recommend it. Be mindful that the narrative actually comes in multiple languages though as Dan was listening to his guided tour in Italian for a good ten minutes before changing channels.


Dan at the Trevi Fountain


Saint Peter's Square and Basilica - equally as impressive


Saint Peter's Square - very impressive, no?


D and D at the Circo Maximo pretending to be Italian


The Italian national team returns to the Circo Maximo in Rome with the World Cup to be greeted by circa 150,000 fans


The Colosseum in Rome by night and by day

Still to come...

Please stay posted for stories and photos from Rome, Sicily, New York & Boston - oh, and yes, the small matter of young Daniel's proposal of marriage!!!!!

Pictures from FanFests and Matches

0-0 after full time and extra time with only ten men but then peno's - say no more. Bye bye England.


The teams line up in the Gelsenkirchen stadium


Still smiling as the game hasn't started yet
(England v Portugal - you know the result)


So after three FanFests, we managed to get tickets. If you look closely, you will see that one of us is Sun Zhang and the other is Fan Song - the lengths you go to! Many thanks to our Korean touts...


We get blooming everywhere!
Cannock flag at Gelsenkirchen (England v Portugal)


The big screen at Stuttgart FanFest


England fans takeover Stuttgart


Wolves on tour. Come on me babbies!!!


You can take the lad out of Cannock...but you can't help meeting old friends
(Ed & Steve from the 'nock in Stuttgart)


Our new mukkas from Grunberg campsite
Thanks for the lift!
(Steve, Emily and Antony at the Stuttgart FanFest - England v Equador)


These Stoke fans get everywhere...
(Deb in front of Stoke City van in Cologne)


Singing, "There was one German bomber in the air..." (allegedly)


Cologne FanFest (Sweden v England)


Nuremberg FanFest


After a long search we found Dan's missing hankie...
(Big, BIG flag at Nuremberg FanFest)


Pre-match at Nuremberg with the Terries
England v Trinidad & Tobago
(Tim, Rik, Foxy & Col)


Frankfurt FanFest Post Match -
England fans getting a welcomed cooling down
from the Polizei water cannons (friendly fire)


Us at the Frankfurt FanFest (England v Paraguay)


One for Big Dan... (Boro flag at Frankfurt train station on match day)

USA Here We Come

Well, Germany is starting to feel like a distant memory - a pleasant distant memory though. Despite England's crash and burn, our time in Germany was fantastic. World Cup Camping was a bit rough and ready. We survived 12 nights in what can only be described as Carry On England Fans Abroad. When we arrived to the sounds of "En-ger-land, En-ger-land, En-ger-land" and "There were 10 German bombers in the air" being sung by about 1,500 drunken England fans (all men), we wondered what we had let ourselves in for. The fact we'd been travelling since 7am and it was now 11pm might have added to our agitation. Pitching a tent in the pitch black is no fun either, let me tell you.

World Cup Camping


Bonjour Saleem - here's your tent duly decorated!

We awaited sunrise which is about 5am accompanied by what seemed to be 1,000 birds to find that in fact the site wasn't all that bad. The pool looked nothing like the picture on the website, the big screen was only just up and running but because it was in a white marquee with the sun shining in, you couldn't see the picture, the showers were cold and the men had to queue for theirs and the only food on offer was half a chicken with bread or sausages - oh well, we thought, we'll just get on with it. It didn't take long to get a bit fed up with the set up and it was becoming clear that the organiser hadn't anticipated the amount of work it takes to serve and look after that amount of people.

World Cup Camping was certainly an experience and we met some pretty decent people but decided to leave after 12 nights for a far nicer and cheaper campsite in Grunberg. Our remaining nights camping flew by as the facilities were great, Grunberg was a mere 10 minute walk away and had great bars and restaurants and we actually managed to get to sleep before 4am and lie in until after 7am. Not that we're boring or anything but we like our kip!

Our new luxury dwelling in Grunberg and Danny relaxing after
a hard day's work...

We have since treated ourselves to a couple of nights in hotels in Frankfurt and Rome because after 30 nights in a tent you feel like you deserve it!

Rome was and is amazing, we're back here at the moment. We love it. Every corner you turn has more and more beautiful architecture. It's unbelievable how much one city has to be honest. We took a bus tour which we would thoroughly recommend so that we could see all the major sites. When you have a limited amount of time this is the best way to do it. It would be nice to think you could walk around the city but it's vast and in 30°+ heat, not advisable. We were also in Rome for the Italian team's homecoming, how lucky was that? We watched with around 150,000 others as they arrived at the Circo Maximo to show off the world cup. Prior to that we caught a glimpse of the team coach which was being followed by thousands and thousands of scooters - incredible. We've never seen anything like it in our lives and I doubt we will again.

After that we had 5 days in Sicily. Not much to say really, we weren't all that impressed. There's a good chance we missed the point as we stayed in Catania and only really ventured to Mount Etna. Bit of a poor man's Rome to be honest. Sorry Sicily, didn't really do it for us. The Agora Hostel in very cool though but in a terrible location, back of a meat market - nevermind, you live and learn.

Well, that's Europe summarised. Off to the USA tomorrow starting in New York. We're both really looking forward to it. Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity to post more about the States pretty soon. That's about all for now but watch this space for photos and video...

D&D