A beer or two in Brixton to get warmed up before heading off to the tube.
Because Wembley is about as attractive as an Ukrainian car parts factory when it comes to good pub destinations, we grabbed a pint in some nondescript sports bar a few stops away and then headed to the stadium.
The view from Wembley Park tube. As Thin Lizzy sang in Warriors in 1976, "It ain't pretty!".
Fans were separated just before the stadium.
Sheep hat.
Stadium approach.
City fans on their way to Wembley!
The trademark arch and CCFC Valley flag.
Corporate sponsors ahoy!
Cool dude with daffodils in his hat.
Inside the stadium. The escalators made it feel like we were going into a shopping mall rather than a footie ground.
It was impossible to get a beer inside so we retired to our seats.
We couldn't complain about the view though - it was magnificent.
City fans filling up our half of the ground.
After an incredibly loud and incredibly annoying 'Wembley Experience TM' theme tune was rammed down our throats for what seemed like an eternity, a load of squaddies marched on the pitch and starting carting around the flags of each team. Err, great.
And here goes the Cardiff flag.
The match begins! Barnsley grab most of the early possession.
In the 9th minute, Joe Ledley swivels and strikes a superb volley over the head of Barnsley 'keeper Luke Steele into the net.
1-0 to the Bluebirds. And the crowd goes fucking bananas!
City fans sing it out loud.
Blimp in the sky.
Late afternoon sunshine.
There was over 82,000 people at Wembley, but there were more than a few empty seats to be spotted - thanks to the Prawn Sandwich brigade who splashed out their lolly to have permanent seats at the stadium.
Presumably, the fixture wasn't prestigious enough for their corporate tastes so they stayed home, depriving a lot of real fans the opportunity to see the game. And that's a disgrace.
City fans in full voice.
Wembley looks fantastic and the view is tremendous, but the sheer size of the stadium makes it hard to get a real atmosphere going.
From where we were, we could barely hear Barnsley's chants.
The last few minutes tick away...
YES!!! After a tense four minutes of added time, the final whistle sounded and what had seemed like a reckless, drug-addled wild fantasy a few months ago had become true: Cardiff City were in the FA Cup Final!
Unfortunately, Cardiff's jubilant singing was immediately drowned out by a thunderous refrain of the dreadful Wembley theme tune.
Perhaps it's designed to stop lairy, overjoyed, boisterous fans singing non-Wembley Experience TM approved songs at the end, but it's a right pain in the arse.
Thankfully, it'll take more than a cod-Brazilian corporate samba jig to stop City fans singing their hearts out, and the stadium resonated to the sound of 33,000 delirious Welshman.
The Barnsley fans were out of the stadium pretty sharpish at the end.
A quick peek of the cattle shed-like bar. It looks pretty efficient, but we waited for ten minutes and gave up before the game - and there was no hope at half time.
Disappointed Barnsley fan. Bless 'im!
There's lovely.
Queuing to get the tube outta Wembley and on to a pub to celebrate City's remarkable day.
Barnsley FA Cup
