Round of 16
England v Iceland
Stade de Nice
Nice, France
27 June 2016
After the draw against Slovakia in St Etienne we had finished RU in Group B which meant that we would be going to Nice to play Iceland instead of Paris (Parc des Princes) to play Northern Ireland which was the route that the Group winners Wales would have to navigate. Anyway, Nice is nicer than Paris and in the sunny south, so with 3 rest days to spare we decided to head to Aix en Provence on 21 Jun for a well earned break before heading to the French rivière on 23rd
Tickets were quite a rarity for this Round of 16 match, so if you didn't get them as part of the Follow your team package then you were either lucky or rich. We only paid 55 Euros which was bad enough considering the performance
Nathaniel Clyne in action against Slovakia for his 13th cap. He would only play one more time for the Three Lions, in the home friendly 2-2 draw against Spain at Wembley in Nov 16
Stade de Nice (Allianz Riviera) is the home ground of OGC Nice and has capacity of 35,624. It is a modern stadium which was only completed in Sep 2013 but it is out of town in a suburb of Nice called Saint-Isidore. During Euro 16 it played host to 4 games (3 Group and 1 Knockout game), Poland v Northern Ireland, Spain v Turkey, Sweden v Belgium and England v Iceland in the Rd of 16.
The England official allocation was about 5000 but the stadium only holds 35,624 and with over half of the population of Iceland in Nice; well you do the math.
Day 1 - On a scorching hot day we left Aix en Provence and travelled South to Marseille on the Regional train. There we changed for theTGV bound for Toulon. At Toulon we change for Nice and grabbed a 'Croque Monsieur' at the Station.
Then we got our connecting train to Nice Ville
The AirBnB Apartment is hosted by a small company called 'Your Nice Apartment' and was located in a quaint residential area in the Riquer district at 68-70 Rue Arson.
First beer in the Port Area
Port of Nice
Mrs H in her Brazil gear
Tomb stoning on the Quai Des Etas-Uni.
Monument aux Morts - honouring
the 4000 Nice citizens killed in WW2
the 4000 Nice citizens killed in WW2
Castel Plage
Flags marking the spot where
24 Year Old Northern Irish fan Darren Rodgers
tragically fell to his death on 13 June 16.
RIP Darren
Darren was from Ballymena.
Lots of Love and Respect.
Promenade Des Anglais
In Memory of the Jubilee of 1829 and Peace 1871
The interactive Fan Zone on the promenade
'Les Chaises Bleues' is the symbol of Nice,
this statue was erected in 2014 by Sabine Giraudi.
Promenade du Pailin
Glass Square of the Promenade du Pailin
Timing!
Place Garibaldi
Day 2 - Colline du Chateau (Castle Hill)
Breakfast on the rooftops of Rue Arson.
The Pizza La Bella on the corner of our block on Rue Arson
produced the best Pizza ever, last night was a great night.
Fish market at Place Saint Francois, Vieux Nice.
Leading up to Castle Hill.
The summit is at 93m
Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels)
and Promenade des Anglaise
Sue on top of Castle Hill
Red tiles of Nice
Cascade Dijon - artificial waterfall
Amazing view from below
The Cemetery with its Jewish,
Protestant and Catholic sections.
Sun downers (Aperol Spritzer)
at Le Bar Butch!
Day 3 - Russian Church, Velo Bleu,
Fan Zone and Vieux Nice. Tram on Place Massena
Place Massena facing Apollo
Place Massena
Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Russian bride
The most famous hotel in Nice, Le Negresso.
Opened in 1913 by the Romanian immigrant,
Henri Negresso. The hotel flourished until WW1, then business declined and it was converted to a hospital.
The creditors came in and it was sold.
It prospered again under the Augier family and
is now listed as a national heritage site of France.
Feeling sporty we hire 2 x Velo Bleu and ride the
7 Km long Promenade des Anglais, both ways
We both did it
Monument commemorating the repatriation
of North African French, of all religions.
Back to Nice and the Fanzone which is located just over
the road from the Promenade des Anglais is open
Socca is a chick pea flatbread -
local street food that tastes great
In the fan Zone and it is Red Pigs!
France v Republic of Ireland
It was too hot - so we are searching for a pub
OGC Nice club shop for a souvenir scarf
Le Bar Butch in the old town
Arch leading from the Old Town
to the Promenade des Anglaise
Sue's last meal on Rue Bonaparte
Napoleon was 'ere
Day 4 - Match Day and English fans on Cours Saleya. Sue jumps on a bus to the airport and Craig arrives at the AirBnB with his son and Davey NUFC
Icelandic fans getting tthe shuttle bus to Stade de Nice
Ticket collection is chaos, the whole of Iceland is here
After the shuttle bus Craig sniffs out beer
at Da Gilou's Pizza and Socca emporium .
Broom stick's on fire,
your defence is terrified
Me and Craig before the match
Stade de Nice is a long way off and the only option is to walk
Finally arriving at the top of the steps
The outside of the stadium is very impressive
I've lost Mac and Davey so head in to the stadium
Prepping for the anthems
The collection of England Tourtel Cups is now complete
Warming up
Anthems
My view from directly behind the goal
4 mins on the clock, Sturridge goes down & Rooney steps up
Things are looking up and I spot the Bexley Rams flag
Wait! 2 minutes later, a long throw and
Ragnar Sigurdson bundles home from close range - 1:1
The HT score is 1:1 and England need to pull there socks up
With 18 minutes on the clock the Icelandic team go ahead as Kolbeinn Sigthorsson's shoots through the outstretched hand of Joe Hart, 2: 1 to Iceland. Defeat
Rant begins: I wasn't going to mention football, but I suppose it is a football travel blog so here goes. This was quite simply the worst performance that I have ever seen from an England team, it was horrible. No passion, no direction, no defence, no leadership, no plan B and no clue. I was in total shock walking back to the bus, I felt as if I had been totally led down the garden path - to think that after the Germany away win, I even tipped them to win the Euros. No one likes to lose, but this was different, the team gave up. Rant over.
Attendance: 33901
Let the Thunder Claps begin
Let the Thunder Claps begin
Icelandic Celebrations
Thunder
........and Ice
The Icelandic Haka
Day 5 - Please don't take me home! This was my tidying up effort after last nights shenanigans - I then had to kick the boys out and head for my train to Paris
Train out of Riquer Nice at 0800 to
arrive at Marseille St Charles about 1000
I cheered myself up with a Pommes (Apple)
tart washed down with an expresso
The last leg on the Eurostar to St Pancras. Work tomorrow, but what a fantastic trip, just need to erase the 90 minutes of terrible football against Iceland. Good luck to both Wales and Iceland in the Quarter Finals, sorry I can't be there
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