World Cup Fever

*****When I had the idea to write this, I also had the idea I would upload several videos that I took to really show what I was talking about. Unfortunately Blogger and or Quicktime and I do not get along and so you will not be able to see all my cool videos. However, I didn't figure that out until I was done writing so I decided not waste my blog and post it anyway!:-)*****

It's been 4 years since the last World Cup (duh!) and I have to say 4 years ago I was wayyy more into the games, teams and what was going on. Perhaps that's because I spent the 2006 World Cup touring Italy with 3 friends of mine. And incase you didn't know, or forgot, Italy was the 2006 World Cup Champions. Unfortunately for me I got back home to the US a few days before they played the final game and it just wasn't the same watching it at my friend's bridal shower instead of anywhere in Italy.

I can't even begin to describe the atmosphere on the streets of Italy. We began our trip in Rome and watched the first few matches there. One of the days we took a day trip to Pompeii and we ended up chatting with our tour guide asking him where the best place to watch the game that night would be. He offered to take us to the local University that night to watch one of the games. We were a little sketched out, but then figured that there were 4 of us and if we stuck together we should be ok. So we took him up on his offer.

This was the sign advertising the game at the bar.

I quickly fell in love with the National Anthem for Italy. Don't ask me why, maybe it's the fact that its fun to sing along to and during the World Cup EVERYONE was singing it. (This is where I would insert the video that I took of everyone at the bar singing the National Anthem if it let me...stupid Blogger/Quicktime! I'll keep trying. Check out this youtube link though... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5muGVKdJFV8) With some help from the locals I even learned most of the words to it...yea, I'm lame....but can youuuu sing the Italian National Anthem in Italian? Yeah, didn't think so!

The difference between watching the World Cup in the United States vs. Anywhere else...is that everyone else cares about these games. So everywhere we went the games were on. It didn't matter if it was some super fancy restaurant (we didn't actually eat at any...but walked by plenty) or the local pizza shop...the games were always on a tv. And if you weren't eating there, you could still stand on the street and watch the game!

The next few pictures are hard to tell, but it was the final minutes of an Italian game and people were on the street looking over the hedge trying to watch the game that was being shown at a restaurant in Florence.

Italy won this game and I remember the streets went crazy. Everyone was zooming by on their vespas with Italian flags around their necks screaming and honking horns! It was such an awesome thing to be in the middle of.

Hillary and I came across these signs in Florence...seriously, since when do they ban playing soccer in the park!??

But then we found another park that allowed us to kick around our mini ball!:-)

So really, that's about it. This post would have been way more exciting if I could upload all the videos I had planned....buuuut i couldn't...so deal with it!:-) We started our trip in Rome, went up to Florence and finished off in Venice! We had such an amazing time and I highly recommend visiting sometime if you can. Since you couldn't be blessed with all my exciting videos, I'll leave you with some more picture from my trip that have nothing to do with soccer! Enjoy.