Anderspluscindy

The planning of our UK trip was centered around this day — a match day at Manchester United’s homeground, Old Trafford. This was Manchester United’s last game of the season. It has been Anders’s lifelong dream to watch a match here. And United definitely did us proud that day!

21st May 2017

10:00 | Tram to The Makers Market at Spinningfields
Having a penchant for visiting local market, especially those filled with local craftsmen, we couldn’t miss The Makers Market happening at Spinningfields. Took a tram down and we were definitely the early birds there since most stalls were still in preparation.

Bought some sweet and savoury food together with hot drinks from various stalls as breakfast. I remember the donuts were the best and wished we had the stomach for more!

Soon, as we are done with breakfast, more stalls are ready and we did our rounds. All the stall owners are really friendly and we even made friend with a bulldog. We bought many gifts here for our family and friends.

P.s. Last checked for 2019, they are no longer setting up at Spinningfields. Instead, every second Sunday of the month, they will be at Northern Quarter, which is just a short 18minutes walk away from Spinningfields. You can also check The Makers Market website for their other locations and dates around England on the weekend.

12:00 | Stepped into the gorgeous John Rylands Library
Having some time to kill before going for the match at Old Trafford, we decide to pop into The John Rylands Library, which is free to enter. The interior is an absolute masterpiece. We entered without any expectations and we were blown away! Even the toilet still maintained the look of the olden days. It is still a working library for the University of Manchester, so there were people studying there. Out of politeness, all visitors remained pretty quiet while admiring the place.

In case you are wondering… No, we did not bring a mirror out. There were several mirrors laying around the library and we guessed it is for visitor to admire the ceiling details without straining the neck.

13:30 | Getting to Old Trafford
Took the tram back to MediaCityUK to walk towards Old Trafford. Crossed the Trafford road bridge. Passed by a group of crowd watching the match in the open air space of Sam Platt’s Trafford Wharf. Bought some pins from the merch stalls outside the stadium. We were super hyped up along the way as we walked aside United fans!

15:00 | Manchesters United VS Crystal Palace match start!
Changed into our Man Utd jerseys that we just bought and got all excited for the start of the match. We were seated at S22 (Sir Bobby Charlton Stand). The atmosphere at the stadium with the sea of red was overwhelming! Elated that they played so well that day!

In Anders’s words “It was an unforgettable experience as a fan”.

Much to our surprise, it was later announced that the match we watched was Rooney’s last match with Man Utd at Old Trafford. Anders is Rooney’s biggest fan, he even chose to have Rooney’s name and number printed on his jersey. All I can say is that fate did us a favour!

16:45 | Match ended
After the match ended, we went to the exit that was flooded by fans with the hope of getting a glimpse of the players. It was quite confusing as to where to stand with the security guards moving people around constantly. We did see a few players coming out.

And before we left, we shot some commemorative photos in front of old Trafford to remember this wonderful day!

18:00 | Dinner at Nando’s
Enjoyed our early dinner at Nando’s! The portion is so much more reasonable than those offered in Singapore. It’s time to call it a day since the next day will be a pretty long one with our transit to London.

Here I also want to give credit to my hero, Anders, for reviving my digital camera this day!

You can read up on the rest of our 17 days’ adventure in Scotland and England here