Once we arrived at or destination, we had a short talk by the CFO, who explained to us more about the revenues and operations of the club. Fun Fact: Wimbledon makes approximately 30 million pounds within the two-week tournament, which covers expenses for a majority of the year.
After this, we were given a tour of the grounds, which was brilliant – did I mention it was beautiful outside. Our first stop was at the Pony Rolling machine, which was the original machine that flatted the surface of the courts (which were originally croquet pitches). Another Fun Fact: the first Wimbledon Tournament was played to raise money to repair the Pony Roller, so that the pitches could be flatted so that club members could play croquet, not tennis. After hearing more about the history of the club, we made our way to the Number 1 Court. It was so cool to sit in the stands and see a stadium I have only ever seen on TV. At this point in the tour, we also learned a lot about the treatment of the highly important grass court. (They are reseeded every year with rye seed – a strong grain of grass. Additionally, each of the courts on the grounds undergoes testing prior to the tournament. This testing includes bouncing a ball to ensure that the court is even across its entirety and plucking grass seeds to ensure that the courts are approximately 100% rye seed. Now, if a court fails this testing, it is taken out of commission from the tournament. It seems sort of crazy, but all this testing ensures that all courts are equal and therefore players cannot protest about altered conditions from one court to the next.) Everything about the stadium is about caring for the grass whether it is ensuring the correct amount of sunlight for even growth or special gutters to refrain from getting the grass court too wet.
After No. 1 Court, we went over to the hill outside of the court, where thousands of spectators who didn’t receive tickets in the stadium stand and watch the match on a large TV screen, and then wound our way over to the press box. This was also cool to be in, and I got to sit behind the desk at the end. I sat in the same place that Roger Federer and Serena sat in less than 9 months ago! We then made our way to the Center court. Overall, it isn’t that different that No. 1 Court, just a little larger with the relatively new retractable roof, royal box – which the queen will only sit in if a British man ever makes it to the final match again – and once again a variety of features designed simply to maintain the grass court. They were actually testing growing the grass with artificial sunlight to experiment a technique, which may have to be used in 2012 for the Olympics.After all of this, we had a short amount of time to look at the museum and shop that were on the grounds, until we had to make our way back to the tube to head to our next destination for the day – Fuller, Smith, & Turner Brewery. En route, we stopped for lunch on the go once we got into Chiswick, the town where the brewery is located.
For what was considered a “business visit” for us it was rather unconventional, aka we were simply there to tour the brewery and try the beer. I have never toured a brewery before (because I am still only 20 and not allowed to in the states), but it was kind of cool to learn more about the whole process. However, there isn’t much to see, since it is really just a collection of vats, which are home to different parts of the process. After our tour around the fact, we were allowed to taste all of the beers we had just heard about. This included an array of beers – at least 8 different ones. We were given a little taste of each one (maybe like the amount in a shot glass – and then got to pick the one we liked best for a full glass. They were definitely all different from each other, but it became difficult to discern one from another after trying all of them in a row. I decided to go with their organic, honeydew beer for my full glass choice though. It is lighter, which is what I needed after trying so many.After the brewery, we all made our way back into London center. Most people went their own ways; I joined up with a group who was choosing to brave the chaos of Primark on Oxford St. For those of you who don’t know, Primark is a very cheap store, which sells primarily clothing items of low quality – as our tour guide put it, she has some friends who purchase items there, wear them once, and simply throw them away, since they are practically not worth washing and re-wearing. Regardless, the store is always jammed packed with people who are attempting to find a good deal. However, once we got to Primark we only had about 20 minutes to look around before we had to make our way to our location for dinner, so it was really just a preview of Primark, although some people were able to purchase a few random things.
We then took a series of about three Tube lines to eventually make it to the restaurant for dinner. It was surprisingly a really nice restaurant, and we were able to choose from a selected menu for a three-course meal. Additionally, a lot of us ordered drinks as well. Most people got a cocktail with dinner, however I was in the mood for a dessert drink with my toffee pudding. I ended up getting a Bailey’s Latte; it was really good. After dinner, I simply made my way back to the hotel with a group of people and decided to stay in after a long day and get rested for another adventuresome day tomorrow.
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