FOOTBALL ON BOXING DAY

Boxing Day in the UK started as way of giving gratuities or “Christmas-boxes” of money and/or food to servants after Christmas and giving them the day off. That’s close enough an explanation I think for what has now become a bank holiday, where you can find shopping deals that rival the USA’s Black Friday. It’s basically a day off now and a reason to party. It’s also a big sporting event day in the UK. Many of the football teams, from the top tiers down have matches on the 26^th of December. We tried to get tickets this year to our host’s favorite team, Everton. They were playing Chelsea at Everton’s home pitch in Liverpool. To see a game at that level of play in person, with spirited fans all around us would have been quite the experience. Sadly, though we were able to get tickets, they were all singles and our little group would have been scattered around the stadium, so we opted out and instead we went with the next best thing….THE GREEN ARMY!

THE DABBERS

Nantwich Town has their very own football team called the Dabbers. They are a semi-professional squad and currently a member of the EVO-STIK Premier Division and colloquially known as the Green Army because of the color of their home kits. After drinking a few pints at the Vine (of course), we marched down to Weaver Stadium on a raw cold afternoon, to join 337 other hearty souls to watch the match. It was fun to attend and though the level of play is definitely a number of tiers lower than the Premier Leagues, we watched a football match at “the grass roots” level, according to our favorite in-law Colin. Those in attendance were spirited in their cheering and we heard some vociferous curses. “F***ng cabbages,” was somewhat confusing, perhaps referring to Nantwich FC’s colors, but we giggled to ourselves each time the deep gutted harangue was launched into the air and we felt like this was no tourist outing, but a great way to spend Boxing Day . Being immersed in the local culture is what every cabbage traveler should seek. Perhaps next time we'll see a goal. The match ended nil to nil. 

The best part was the price. General admission was 10 pounds, but as old cabbages we got in for 7!

You can read about the match report here:

NANTWICH vs SUTTON COLDFIELD BOXING DAY MATCH

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

ORGIES AND TRUMP

Your favorite world travelers haven’t been getting much further than Nantwich, Chesire in the United Kingdom lately and that’s quite okay. Family is involved of course and that makes it really easy to return here again and again. Yeah, I know, it’s a big world out there, and there is a lot to see, but Nantwich has become a second home and Janet has been kind enough to share her family with me.

Janet visits this little town, south of Liverpool and Manchester and a few miles east of Wales, about twice a year. Her daughter lives here now with her husband and young children. I don’t make it here quite as much, but I have become quite familiar with the town. I have been here enough that people are beginning to recognize me from the last visit.

The in-laws are wonderful and we adults go out often for a drink at the pubs.

NANTWICH

I’ve been here often enough to know lots of things about Nantwich. I know the town had been a center for salt cultivation dating from Roman times. I know that the people who live here are called “Dabbers” which may or may not have something to do with the tanning industry that once flourished here; it all depends on who you ask. I know a WWII American airman is revered here for putting the town before his own safety when he veered his troubled aircraft away from Nantwich and crashed in a nearby field and that there is a memorial to his brave sacrifice.I know there are several festivals and events in Nantwich that are well attended. There’s the Nantwich Cheese Awards, and The Worm Charming Championships (actually held just outside Nantwich in Willaston). There’s the Nantwich Jazz and Blues Festival and the Nantwich Food Festival. I know that the best fish and chips takeaway is found at Coral Reef on Pillory Street.

WHAT IS A DABBER?

INTERNATIONAL CHEESE AWARDS

WORM CHARMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

NANTWICH JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL

NANTWICH FOOD FESTIVAL

THE HEART OF ENGLAND

Now, I am here like Janet to visit the kids. I love this precious family time in this lovely little town, but I have to admit I also look forward to going out to the pubs; although not necessarily for the beer, (I can’t keep up.) Pubs, short for public houses are the focal point of social life in England.  Men, women, children and dogs all gather at these drinking establishments for beer, cider, wine, sodas and food, games like darts and dominoes and pool. They gather at the pubs to watch games on the television. They pop in for a quick pint in the afternoon, or for an evening of 8 or 9. They go to free houses and tied houses. The free house pubs choose what beers they want to sell and the tied houses serve beer from a particular brewery. I’ve been to Nantwich so many times now that I’m a regular in a few of the pubs and this humble “Yank” is no longer a novelty. I’m just another patron.

In fact, just the other night at the Nantwich Club, located in the center of town right by the 14^th Century St. Mary’s church looming beautifully in the evening air, I was approached by an older woman who recognized me from the New Year’s celebration a couple of years ago as “the Yank”. She was waiting for a place at the dominoes table and she shook her shoulders as she sidled up to me and reminded me that on that night they got to “really rock and rolling.”  I feigned embarrassment and said, “Ah, jees….,” which she took to mean orgies. The rest of our time there she kept fawning over me. I may be a regular, but I still can’t speak the language properly. (I gotta work on my accent.) 

Indeed, many things are lost in translation, even though we are all speaking English, and over the years I’ve learned some “American” words that are commonplace are absolutely rude over here. The other day one of the kids was trying to climb on the front window sill of the house and I said his mom would get pissed if she caught him.... Janet said getting pissed means she's drinking. Well...I don't know if she needed a naughty boy as an excuse to start drinking, and I won’t go into the English interpretation of some other words, but you don’t really talk about “fanny” packs or “growlers” or “trumps” in polite company. 

Well, if you must know, “TRUMP” is the English word for fart.

St. Mary's Church, Nantwich

GOING OUT OF OUR WAY

Again England awaits your illustrious team of intrepid travelers and we are willing to go out of our way to get there. Our motto should be: “Anything to save a buck.” We have done some silly things in the past to save money, but on this particular trip we have scored big. The normal flight for us to get to Manchester England, the airport nearest to Nantwich, our ultimate destination in England, is to fly from Philadelphia, but costs were quite steep at $1.400 each. We are still flying from Philadelphia, on the same day we intended to go, but paying only $700 each for the tickets.

How? I asked the same thing of Team VFH’s Grand Poo-bah Janet. “How,” I asked?

Turns out we are flying out of Baltimore’s BWI on a regional jet service before rendezvousing with our normal flight to Manchester and the entire ticket is just $700; half the price off the Philadelphia to Manchester leg. We are saving $1,400!!!

Of course the “inconvenience” of flying out of an airport farther from home as well as the extra hours necessary to be in Philadelphia airport needed to be considered. Our 30 minute flight departed BWI at 4:30 and our flight from Philadelphia would not leave until 9 pm. Gosh, the things we’ll do to save $!,400!!! That’s a lot of Bloody Mary’s at Chickie’s and Pete’s.

The plan was smooth and really the logistics of the day really weren’t that much different than fighting traffic on the Blue Route to get to the airport.

This was our day: First we got a ride to the 30^th Street Station and took Amtrak directly to the airport stop just south of Baltimore. Janet had never been in the station before so she marveled at the architecture.  We tipped a red cap to tend to our bags and while we waited for the train to arrive; it was late; we ambled around and drank coffee. When the time came he found us, loaded our bags on the train and took the roughly 1 ½ hour ride down to Baltimore trying to score tickets for the Springsteen on Broadway. We were successful, but only because we opted for more expensive tickets (that $1,400 gets eaten up quickly.)

The Amtrak was $130 for the two of us, but the shuttle to the airport was free.

Second, we got on our flight in BWI. We checked our bags at BWI and picked them up in Manchester, UK. The flight from BWI was just 30 minutes to Philadelphia, but 15 minutes of taxiing to our gate.

Third, we walked from one end of the Philadelphia Airport, gate F!, to our departing gate, A25. There was a shuttle bus between the two terminals, but Janet needed to get her steps in.

Fourth, we found a Chickie’s and Pete’s and had a few drinks before it was time to leave.

 WHERE TO DRINK?

Yeah, it was that easy and we got the Bruce Springsteen tickets! She IS the real Grand Poo-bah!

YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE

CHRISTMAS IN PHILADELPHIA

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he still goes to Philadelphia.  In paraphrasing that famous New York Sun editorial from 1897 that avers the existence Kris Kringle “as certainly as love, generosity, and devotion exist”, the Christmas season is as enjoyable and perhaps a bit less rushed in Philadelphia than it is in New York City. The holiday displays in Philadelphia evoke a nostalgic charm and warmth and have a smaller town appeal than those awaiting the hordes plying Fifth Avenue.  The City of Philadelphia too seems to bend lovingly this time of year to embrace this holiday season, whereas with NYC everything seems rushed and the commerce of these days are never far from the surface.

Janet is a true Philadelphian and was anxious to show off the city of her youth, especially the Wanamaker’s Building directly across the street from City Hall. There we would find the Dickens’ Village, which told the story of A Christmas Carol using little animatronic people and various ghosts at several stages along a warren of decorated corridors. Dickens Village has been on display since the mid 1980’s, first at the Strawbridge and Clothier’s and at this flagship store since 2006 when Macy’s took over the Wanamaker Building. Also in the Wanamaker Building we HAD to see the massive Christmas light display that has been a Philadelphia tradition since 1956. Lights are choreographed to various Christmas tunes like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Nutcracker accompanied by a voice over track by Julie Andrews! Janet gushed when she told me of our plans and apologized before we left for the tackiness and dated displays, stating they are exactly the same from when she was a small child and trundled through the store by her Mom to see it all. Despite her description I was looking forward to the trip.

She planned the entire day, from the time we would leave, where we would park, and the times of the shows we would see. Nothing close to chance is left with the Captain of Vacations From Home. Because of her planning the day was entirely stress free, even the normal tumultuous drive along the Schuylkill Expressway, which can be a difficult experience, was easy as we left after 2 pm, dodging the morning and evening rush hours.

Christmas Market in Philadelphia

PARKING

I still tote around a flip phone, but as Janet is the smart one with a smart phone she used an AP called Parking Panda. It is very useful to find the best and cheapest places especially when you’re not sure WHERE to park. We used it in Washington D.C. in finding a place not far from our AirBnB apartment where parking was not included. On this day Parking Panda guided us to an underground lot situated just across the street from our first visit, City Hall. Well, actually our first stop was the pop up beer garden on the sidewalk of City Hall.

PARKING PANDA

BEER

Those intelligent readers who frequent this blog will know that I’ve written often about Philadelphia’s thirst for beer. When it comes to beer the citizens of this fair city and surrounding areas appreciate and expect good craft beers and the holiday pop up beer garden on the north side of City Hall was worth the visit. In fact the block that comprises Philadelphia’s City Hall is filled with Christmas/winter activities. On the Dilworth Plaza just in front of the beautiful municipal building is an ice skating rink, a holiday market and a garden maze. In the interior of the municipal complex there is also a carousel, but after a quick walk through we headed for the beer. We hadn’t eaten lunch after all.

The Craft Hall, as it is called is a large, heated tent with several rows of benches and a decent selection of beer wine and seasonal drinks and things like pretzels for food. (We were going to eat later.) It was a good beginning for our visit, although two beers and a pretzel cost me $21.00.

CRAFT BEER HALL

Carousel at City Hall

MEET ME AT THE EAGLE

The massive emporium that sits directly across the street from city hall is still called the Wanamaker Building, even though Macy’s has owned the store since the mid 2000’s. Over the years Janet has regaled me with tales of this place and the many fond memories it held for her. She’s told me about the large eagle statue on the ground floor of the Grand Court, where over the years people would agree to meet. The Grand Court itself is an amazing soaring expanse of air within the building with one wall filled by the world’s largest active pipe organ that is still played twice weekly and more during the Christmas season. She giggles about riding the monorail that carried kids along the ceiling and the prancing waters of fountains that would dazzle the customers.

 

THE GRAND COURT 

Well, Wanamaker’s, the first department store in Philadelphia and one of the first in the United States is gone, sold to Macy’s. The fountains are gone too. The Crystal Tea Room, once touted as the largest dining room in Philadelphia is closed and the monorail is now a sedentary display at the Please Touch Museum.

Ah, but what remains brims a child’s eyes with joy at Christmas and truly it is worth a visit to this neck of the woods. Janet pleaded with me to forgive her that she would drag me on this “hokey” venture. The Wanamaker Building opened in 1911 and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and worth a visit any time of year, but during the Christmas season the Dickens Village and the light show are great (and free) traditions for children and adults. Though I lived in the relative area in Lambertville, NJ I never knew about these displays in Philadelphia, until I met Janet.

MACY'S CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW

Holiday display at Macy's

GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE!

Fine gentlemen attired in period clothes, top hats and wearing wispy beards greeted us at the entrance to the Dickens Village in the Macy’s/Wanamaker’s. There was a certain charm to them and they whispered their instructions to us almost as an aside, as if we were in on the joke. We had come at the perfect time, there were few others in the “village” and we felt no pressure to hurry along.

The sets in the village were a faithful telling of the Dickens classic tale and each one featured one or a number of little animatronic people. Janet marveled at them with a childlike glee. All your favorite characters were there; from Ebenezer Scrooge, to Tiny Tim, to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come!!!  At the end we shunned the opportunity to visit Santa Claus, we were off to the light show.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

There is no timetable for the Dickens Village, it is open daily from 10am to 7pm, but the light show is held every two hours starting at 10am. The last show is at 8pm. The Village is on the third floor and the exit is near the railings overlooking the Grand Court with the display wall on the far side. Serendipity! We simply walked a few feet and found a place to watch.

Again, going mid-week is smart as the crowds are smaller. In the past Janet stood six people deep on the balcony, but on the Thursday we went we were at the railing. We did step back though to allow little kids to sit and watch the show which includes musical tracks, prancing lights, organ music provided by the huge Wanamaker Organ and Julie Andrews narrating the whole spiel.

WANAMAKER / MACY LIGHT SHOW HISTORY

FRIENDS OF THE ORGAN

After the Christmas season, organ recitals are held every day except Sunday. Click HERE to see the schedule. 

MORE BIER

You can work up a hunger wassailing and across Chestnut Street from the Wanamaker Building is a German beer hall called Bru Craft & Wurst. It was happy hour and it was crowded for good reason. Pints were just $5.00. We got a table near the Sansom Street entrance and had a reasonably priced meal. They also offer happy hour prices on their wurst sandwiches. I had a pulled pork sandwich and thankfully Janet had a brisket sandwich and did not order the Fried Brussels Sprouts (they are sooo stinky). The food was okay, but the German beers were very good. It was a convenient location.

BRU CRAFT & WURST

CITY HALL

After our meal we happened upon a choreographed holiday light show at city hall. We did not know about it and were lucky to have been there at the right time. It stopped us in our tracks and we watched in awe the façade facing Dilworth Park come alive with festive colors. It was very impressive.

CITY HALL LIGHT SHOW

COMCAST EXPERIENCE

Our last spectacle for the day was the 6 pm show at the Comcast Building a few blocks away from city hall. Called the Comcast Experience, the holiday show is held every hour except 5 pm (so commuters can make their hasty retreat) and it features a huge LED screen that covers one wall. The picture is so detailed it looks 3D. .We sat on the floor to watch the escapades of ice skating penguins and yuletide cheer filtered through the Comcast Corporation before driving home on a fairly empty highway. It was a good, safe and relatively cheap day. COMCAST EXPERIENCE

  Thanks for reading! Most of these displays will go on through to the end of 2017.