Or leaving St Petersburg (as it is again.) I liked the alliteration though.

I snatched these through the coach window on the way back to the ship’s berth.

An old bridge over a waterway:-

This one I realised later is on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt at the Anichkov Bridge over the River Fontanka and I had photographed it from the street:-

A Fire Station:-

This is the bridge almost hidden behind the building under construction I photographed from the ship’s prow:-

And this is the one between the ship and the Zenit Arena (aka Krestovsky Stadium) – see same link above:-

Bridge and Krestovsky Stadium:-

Krestovsky Stadium/Zenit Arena plus part of the bridge, also two blurred birds:-

The view from the MS Magellan’s bow in dock at St Petersburg. New building construction with bridge behind:

The view towards the city. Flats. We were told most Russians live in flats. All sorts of folks in similar flats in the same block. Only the insides would let you know how well off anyone is:-

Gazprom Tower:-

This breaks the height restriction on buidlngs in St Petersburg. They let it go because it was way out of town and, well, Gazprom. Closer view:-

Krestovsky Stadium, or Zenit Arena, home of Zenit St Petersburg FC. This was a venue for games at the 2018 Football World Cup. Modern bridge in front with cruise terminal building in foreground:-

This was the nearest thing I saw in St Petersburg to an Art Deco building:-

Peter the Great statue, photographed through coach windows so the statue is difficult to make out; a modern building behind.

When visiting Drachten in May 2017 (see previous posts) I found a parking space right by a sports complex. This turned out to be the De Peppel Sports Park, home of V V Drachten.

The club plays in the third Sunday class of the KNVB Noord, the sixth amateur level.

View of stadium from road:-

View of pitch from inside entrance:-

View of pitch and stand:-

View of stand:-

Home of VV Surhuisterveen which plays in the “Fourth Sunday” of the KNVB district Noord after promotion from the fifth amateur level in 2015.

I couldn’t see an easy way to get close to the ground so had to photograph it from a distance. It looks a tidy wee ground.

From the link it looks like VV Surhuisterveen play in Sons colours!

For previous posts about Surhuisterveen see here and the links within.

You may remember I mentioned the home ground of Dutch football team V V Bakkeveen (among others) three and a half years ago.

The plant growth had been too profuse in Sep 2014 when I was there.

Just over a year ago we visited Bakkeveen again. It being spring the trees were less in evidence and the ground eminently visible.

When visiting Belgium and The Netherlands in May last year I took a wrong exit and ended up heading north on a slightly different motorway from the one I intended. (Btw Dutch motorways are brilliant I have to say.)

As a result we passed directly beside the Abe Lenstra Stadium, home of SC Heerenveen, who play in the top level of Dutch football, the Eredivisie. I note that the team plays in the colours of the flag of Friesland.

The stadium is named after Abe Lenstra, the club’s most famous player, even though the era in which he played was not the club’s most successful.

The pictures were snatched (not by the driver) as we drove past.

Street in Avilés, cinema to right:-

More streets:-

The last above was just off a town square. On the opposite side of the square was a stadium, the Estadio Municipal Román Suárez Puerta, home of Real Avilés C F, now in the fourth tier of Spanish football but which has cahieved the dizzy heights of Tier 2 for a total of 13 seasons, but not since 1992, which was also the season they progressed their furthest ever in the Copa del Rey, Round 5:-

A sign on the stand’s gable end says El Quirinal which I thought at the time was the stadium’s name but is in fact the street’s:-

From (pedestrianised) square:-

Home of Athletic Club, commonly known as Athletic Bilbao.

Through coach windows hence blurry:-

Stadium with crane in foreground:-

Ría del Nervión O de Bilbao, Telefonica tower to left, San Mamés Stadium behind it:-

San Mamés Stadium:-

Edited to add:- I meant to say the stadium looks a bit like a spaceship has plonked itself down in the middle of the city.

You can find images of the San Mamés here.

Lorient Town Square, Theatre and Stadium. The stadium (rear of photo) is home to Lorient FC (see photos of the stadium here.) Lorient Theatre is to the right. If you squint you can just about see the fountain in my previous post by the right middle here.

Lorient FC is at present in France’s top division Ligue 1. But they’re not doing very well. They’re bottom as of 27/1/2017:-

Stadium from south southeast:-

Stadium from east southeast:-

On our first day in the Netherlands we went for a walk with my brother-in-law, his wife and their dog.

We stopped at a car park in Bakkeveen and I noticed this insignia on the building at the end of the road.

It is of course the logo of the Netherlands Football Association.

The sign said KNVB Voetbaldegen Bakkeveeen 2010. I couldn’t see inside the ground because the trees/shrubs around it were in full leaf. See here for a Google Maps view with barer trees.

The club seems to play in the Derde Klaas League; Subdivision Sunday North. (Judging by the results listed on this website they don’t appear to be very good.)

Apparently there are two local leagues in the Netherlands, a Saturday one and a Sunday one – and they don’t talk to each other.

On the way up Holland from the ferry we had passed a stylish looking stadium. The good lady snapped it from the car window on the way back down. This is Den Haag’s home ground, the Kyocera Stadion.

On the way to Maarssen I had seen Heerenveen’s floodlights from the motorway. Their ground looked modern and stylish from that distance.

On the Saturday we strolled to the nearest village to where we were staying, Opende, and I spotted this football game going on at the premises of MFC De Veste, the sports club there.

That’s a tidy wee ground.