It will be a few months until the Steelers head to London to take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 29 at Wembley Stadium, but guard Ramon Foster is getting a sneak peek at the city this week.
Foster is in London to promote the NFL's 2013 International Series, arriving over the weekend along with his wife Kesha for some sightseeing before taking part in Media Day at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday.
"This is a first being overseas for me," said Foster. "I am from Tennessee so being in London is something I never really thought about. It's great to see the culture, the city itself before we have to come here for the game. When we come here in September it will be all about the football game. But to be here now and enjoy London has been amazing. To be able to really see London before things get serious is great."
Foster is the second Steelers' player to make the trip to London, with teammate Ben Roethlisberger arriving on July 2 to help promote the game as well.
"This is important for football first and foremost," said Foster. "A lot of people outside of the United States, when they think of football, it is soccer that they mean. We think our sport of football is just as important. It's good to get that kind of exposure out there and show the people in London it's an incredible sport also."
Foster will attend an NFL Fan Night on Wednesday in Birmingham, England, along with the Vikings' Jared Allen and Kevin Williams, as well as Jacksonville's Uche Nwaneri and the San Francisco 49ers Donte Whitner. The Jaguars and 49ers will face each other at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 27 in the second game of the International Series.
As a part of the Fan Night the players will take questions from the fans during the NFL Chalk Talk portion of the event.
"I am really interested in the fan reaction and what their knowledge of the game is," said Foster. "I am open to answering any of their questions about the game. I never knew we had that kind of following there that we do until now. People are expressing how happy they are to have me here visiting via Twitter. They were excited when Ben was here too. Steelers Nation really is everywhere.
"You see teams go over and I never thought we would be picked to go over. To see the excitement from it is great. Fans have been getting tickets since they announced the game. It's really exciting for everyone."
