Paint that London Town RED

As promised, this is my last post about the Cardinals.  World Champions, that is a term that never gets old.  What a game and what a night.  Despite being 4200 miles away from Busch Stadium, I was able to celebrate with some fellow Cardinals fans as well as some St. Louisans.  I have to say that it was one my best nights in London.

To start the evening, Jeff, Cathy, Ann and I had reservations at one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants in Chelsea called Foxtrot Oscar.  It was a great dinner and as I look back now, I should have recognized all of the signs that were staring at me in the face.  We started with an aperitif of Raspberry Belinis, the Raspberries amazingly having the same hue as Cardinal RED.  We both decided on the Steak for 2, RED as rare can only do and accompanied by a bottle of Tempranillo, the Vino ROJO from Spain.  We also had Ceviche for an appetizer, and I know that salmon is a beautiful orange, but I swear that I saw only RED in that fresh fish that night.  We had a lot of fun at dinner, father and daughter especially.  Those two were in their true sprinting form.  In the taxi on the way home, I decided that there was no way that I was not watching this game, it was just a matter of finding a pub that would be showing it and staying open all night.  I got the Brewer contingent home and tucked into bed and it was my time to paint this town RED.  I discovered that the one place in town that was showing the game was the Sports Cafe near Piccadilly Circus.  Sporting my Cardinals Jersey and the hopes of the Cardinal nation, I set out on my one man adventure to see if my Cardinals could get that W.  I have to say, I have never intentionally walked into a pub on my own at 1am, unless of course I am just lost, but nothing has ever felt so right.  It was just a matter of minutes before I found them, the Cardinal soldiers abroad that came to find company in their brotherhood of Red.  It was destiny, and I realised that I had made one of the best decisions of my life.  Incredibly, even in this small group of maybe 25 Cards fans, there were 3 fellow SLUH grads and a CBC alum.  I could not have felt more at home.  Most importantly, the last outing for the Boys of Summer brought pure elation, despite it being 4am.  I was hugging and high fiving what were once complete strangers, but now my friends brought together by the love and passion for the Big Red Machine.  The Cardinals did it again, the 3rd time in my 31 years on this earth.  While I was not with all of my St. Louis friends, I was with a passionate group of Cardinal nation in London united by the 2011 World Champions.  It will be a memory for me that will last forever.  Thank you Cardinals. I will see you all in April.

Cardinal Fan in London