The Royal Mile, The Press Conference and the Chilly Match

Monday October 13, 2014

Today we had a day off from football, and a full day to explore the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and has been so since at least the 15th century.

Our primary area of focus was the Edinburgh Castle, and the The Royal Mile. There has been some sort of occupation on the castle site since the Bronze Age, but most of todays building's on the site date from the 12th - 21st centuries. The Royal Mile is lined with shop's and restaurant's, and runs a full "Scots Mile" from Edinburgh Castle, to Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British Monarchy in Scotland. What is a Scots Mile you ask?

Scottish measures: 320 falls; or 8 Scots furlongs
Metric: 1.81 KM
Imperial: 1,976 yards (~1.12 miles)

Murrayfield. Not Murray Park or Murray Park Field. The 67,000 capacity Rugby Union stadium is home to most of Scotland's home matches. Note the massive infrastructure to replicate the sun!

Cathy:"I don't see anything, it looks normal."

Edinburgh Castle

Cool church along the Royal Mile.

The Band posting for their next CD cover.

Ghostbustours!

Poor planning: Parking at the top of the hill, walking down the hill, then walking back up the hill to the bus, then walking back down the hill to the Edinburgh Dungeon tour. Then walking back up to the bus. Genius.

Tuesday October 14, 2014
We were back on the training ground today. This time we moved outside to an artificial pitch at Toryglen.

The covered facility of Toryglen.

Keeper Sai gets some one on one attention at training.

The :Oranagies" listen to coach John's instructions.

Daren in a familiar pose, diligently writing notes on the session.

Girls with arms wrapped around each other. A familiar sight, that defines the trip.

Coach John talking to the "Gurrls".

After training, super driver Brian took us to Ibrox for a private team tour!

Ibrox opened on December 30th, 1899, and has a seating capacity just under 51,000. In 1971 there was a tragic event where 66 fans lost there lives in a crush in the stairway exit. The resulting reengineering of the stadium has made it one of the safest places to watch football in Europe.

Girls outside the executive entrance.

Team photo in the press room.

Coach Maddock fields questions about the upcoming season.

Field level.

Coach John and the "Gurrrls" on the team bench.

One of about 10 JUMP photos.....

Mini was so adamant that she take her pic with me, and this is how it ends....

A room with great history that host VIP's from around the football world on match day.

The club trophy room is littered with banners from big matches, and friendlies. The back wall houses the 54 league titles.

The Rangers first team dressing room. Note the picture of the Queen, which hangs about the team Captain's spot.

During the evening we had a very chilly second match. This time we played the Ranger's U14 Girls team. Although we had some very good moments, we will fell to defeat against the home side. As usual, the girls worked hard, and kept positive.