here & there: A Wimbledon experience

Lulu was visiting England again this summer and for our meet-up, she suggested that we go watch the Wimbledon Championships. At first I was a bit unsure because there are many complications (transportation arrangements, weather forecast, time etc.) and many steps to take to actually be able to get in and watch the games, but after Lulu and Nick's encouragement, we decided to go for it. On the night before, we had to pack our meals, borrow raincoats from friends, buy train tickets, print out maps and sleep early for an early train the next day. Anyway, if you have never been to the championships, it is a complicated process. The website was helpful but I still did not understand how the Queue works and how to buy ground tickets (they do not sell online tickets for the day passes) for going into Wimbledon. Thank God that Josh, our friend here at Cocm, had been to Wimbledon last summer and he very helpfully explained all the details to us. For example, which tube station we should go to (Southfields, not any of the other stations that has 'Wimbledon' in the name), how to find the Queue (there is only ONE queue at the Wimbledon Park), what time we should get there to queue in order to be able to get in for the first batch of 8000 people (we got there around 830am, a bit later than we should, but thank God we were able to get in around noon time with the first batch of people), etc.

Lulu's friend Sam, who came all the way from an island in the south of England.

We actually waited in the rain for parts of the Queue, but overall it was still very nice because we could just chat and sit in the park.

We managed to get in around noon time, but from the initial entrance gate, it was still a journey to the actual ticket booths. We had to pass through security checks too along the way.

We were so excited when we finally passed the ticket booths and walked into the actual grounds. It is such a beautiful place where everything is nicely prepared to make sure you have an enjoyable experience--from the prettily groomed flowers, the friendly staffs, the professionalism of the ball boys/girls, and the exceptional skills of the tennis players on the courts--Wimbledon is a special and enjoyable experience, like what my friend had assured us of despite the long queue.

Federer, Murray, Nadal and some other big names are playing on the day.

Some of the standing courts where you can just watch from the sides.

After that, we decided to go and sit in Court 17 to watch the games in there and we actually sat through 3 matches there--a men's single, a women's single, and a men's double. It was fun to learn about how tennis works and watch the professionals play. The ball boys/girls were fun to watch too because they were all so professional.

1. Sam Groth vs. James Duckworth