Wimbledon
I’ve already explained the significance of Wimbledon falling on my birthday every year, (here) and I’m so happy we planned this trip to celebrate my 60th! We were really rooting for Coco, of course, and for Serena too, but it was amazing to see all the pros play at this level, win or lose.
Wimbledon is a unique experience. Reminiscent of the Masters, which was the subject of one of my first blog posts, it is 50% the chaos of Disney World and 50% a royal garden party. The flowers and ivy are sensational, and it is truly special to be a part of the Wimbledon spectacle.
The Royal Entrance greets you and you are immediately made aware of the history, tradition and unmistakable grandeur associated with Wimbledon.
The purple hydrangeas and ivy are everywhere!
We arrived early and found our seats. :)
We were so lucky to be in the shade. It was hotter than normal, and sitting in the sun would have been miserable. We were sliding in sweat on our seats in the shade! When you buy debenture seats, you don’t know your exact seat location until about a month beforehand, only that you’ll be seated within the prestigious debenture tier surrounding the Royal Box. There really isn’t a bad seat in the house, but the true perk of debenture tickets is access to the exclusive restaurants, bars, lounges, and private restrooms.
I don’t drink really, but celebrated with a Pimm’s for this special occasion.
Coco was SO fun to watch!
We were in Centre Court, but had access to all the courts with debenture tickets. So it’s fun to walk around the campus before and after the matches. We watched the 14 year olds up close at court 6 for a while and it is amazing to see the athleticism of these young athletes!
This is where the Disney World comparison comes in: crowds everywhere, queues for merchandise, queues for strawberries and cream, and a constant buzz of activity - especially outside Centre Court.
We did a fair amount of shopping!
We hauled all this back to the hotel only to receive an email that evening explaining that we can order anything we saw in the stores online and have it shipped. We did that too!
It was a blast! A great way to celebrate a big birthday! We will be watching next year from home, but will forever view it differently having been there in person.
