A Trip to Northern Italy

Burnogiorno,

I left you off when I was getting ready for my trip to Brescia, so that is where I will start. I only went to Brescia to see the match, as I could stay at my friend Dani's place once again in Milano (much appreciated) (I actually landed in Bergamo airport, so three different cities in 24 hours). We took the train to Brescia which costed us only 6 euros. Crazy when you compare to Denmark. The ride was some minutes over an hour - the same amount of time/kilometers travelled in Denmark and the price would EASILY get over 15 euros. And the trains are even as good as in Denmark, maybe better. 

But BEFORE I went to Northern Italy I went for an afternoon to Formello, Lazios training area. First I read that many Lazio fans were going out there to chear for the players because Lazio is in a good spot to reach Champions League next season. Last season at this time the team was fighting against relegation so what a switch of scenario... Anyway I wanted to go there but Formello is far away from Rome, so I contacted my friend Paolo of how to get out there. Paolo is in charge of LazioLand, and helps alot of foreign Laziali with different stuff regarding Lazio. He was the one that arranged that I got an article in the official Lazio magazine. Anyway he said that I could go with him, which was a great opportunity for me as I came 'backstage'. I met alot of people working for the team, I met the guys in charge of the magazine, I was in the new Lazio Radio studio and so on. Great day and great experience!! The bad part is that the training got closed for the fans... 

Anyway, I went to Brescia!!

Brescia was a sunday ghost town. Church, italian football and big lunches was what this city was occupied with I guess. The weather was also awful (My last post 'On the verge of Spring'? Yeah, forgot about that) so it felt like being on the moon or something. The stadium was quite easy to find. Lazio won 2-0 after a very good game by the team. Finally they dominated a match for all 90 minutes. 

We were a little unlucky as we had to sit in the middle of a lot of Brescia fans. Before the match it was stated that it was 'forbidden' for Lazio fans to come to the stadium by the police, so we didn't expect a section for the Lazio fans. We found out when we entered that there was.... Damn. 

After my trip to Milano and Brescia I went three days to Firenze for some sightseeing. I was there with school for many, many years ago (13-14 I think) so I therefore couldn't remember that much of it.

Firenze, with it's beautiful, narrow streets, with it's calm life style, with it's fantastic kindly inhabitants, with it's amazing history, with it's youth, with it's pride, with it's way to always have your mouth open of sheer surprise, is truly one of my favourite cities although I was only there for three days. There was always something new to see, something new to do.

My biggest story from the city is though, that I met Lazio's goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. He was strolling through the streets of Firenze with his girlfriend the day after the Brescia-Lazio match (the team had a day off). I went up and talked to him and got a picture with him. He was the goalkeeper for Uruguay under last years World Cup, the team that reached fourth place. Of course the most importantly fact is that he plays for Lazio. 

I did all the touristy stuff in the city that was required (Galleria Ufizi, Accademia, il Duomo, Santa Croce etc.) and I liked it all. 

Now I'm back in Rome and tomorrow my mom and sister are coming for 5 days!! Looking forward to it.

Forza Lazio

On the verge of Spring

Buongiorno (or maybe buonasera at this time of day),

The curse of writing a blog has already hit me. It's not that I don't want to write down what's been happening and tell y'all, it's just that I forget to do it. Lot's of ideas but no writing. Let me tell you something, I havn't met one person who has a travel blog that hasn't been hit by this curse. Not one. In this case it's happened to me very fast, much faster then I'd expected. Especially since I have a laptop in my room! I already wanted to write after the Lazio-Fiorentina match. But then I had to go to Milano. Ok, after Milano. Then it became weekend and a new match came. But now I'm sitting down infront of the computer and I'm ready.

Ok: after I came home from Bologna I had some days to relax and feel the roman vibe. The roman vibe I would say is basically talking (in my case listening, as I'm still struggling to make whole understandable sentences) about everything and doing it everywhere and speaking to anything. Basically. A group of course talks, on the street, the small sidewalk cafes, in busses wherever. If they're alone, romans have their best friend: cell phones. My God telephone companies down here must be the business. It's very interesting to observe, but when it get's too much I go to a nearby park I found a couple of weeks ago: Villa Doria Pamphilj. I usually take my book (at the moment Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac) and go read. As my title of this blog indicates, it' on the verge of spring, so the sun is out all day and the temperatures creep over the 15 degrees celsius. In this park I took my first run today. Fantastic.

Back to what I'm really here for: football and Lazio (and pizza, but that's always the same, great (but I usually make my own pasta as that's the cheapest)). I got to see the, so far only, victory against Fiorentina. Great victory, but the best part was after the match! Here I got the chance to meet Sinisa Mihajlovic (picture). Some people who reads this maybe says "whaaaa... who cares" Well I care. He was a big hero for Lazio back in the days when I was a little boy in my first years as a fan of the club. He later became a big legend for Lazio. I actually got to see a match at the stadium in 1998 when he scored three goals only on freekick. He's now the trainer of Fiorentina, so that's where the connection to his whereabouts in Rome are. Again a big thanks to Paolo who gave me the opportunity to meet him.

I also had the time to meet up with my friend Mattia, who is the reason I became a Lazio fan!! Great man.

Some days after I went to Milano where Lazio was meeting Ac Milan. Yes, the club owned by Berlusconi. yuck (oh, maybe I'm not allowed to say that while I'm in the borders of Italy). I stayed at my friend Dani's place (once again, thanks!) and we together went to the match. There are some stupid restrictions going on here in Italy, that I don't want to bore you with, so we had to sit amongst the other Milan fans. During the match we got our share of "pezzi di merde" "lasciate milano" (and much more verbal accusations that aren't aloud here), peanut shells, rolled up newspapers etc. Idiot fans. Anyway, the stadium was fantastic. The atmosphere and sound was amazing. No wonder it's considered one of the best stadiums in Europe. Lazio managed a 0-0 which is a good result. Lazio hasn't won on this stadium in the league since 1989. I really wanted the record to be broken that day... but damn no. I also got to go sightseeing in Milano, which is a really nice city.

I was also lucky to get a cancelled ticket so I could see Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'. Well actually me and Dani went to the wrong church to start out with as mankind's best invention= the iPhone gave us the worng directions to the wrong church!! It all got solved and I saw my cultural masterpiece. It's painted directly on the wall (not a fresco, that's what they kept saying, can't remember what it is) which gives it a more  .. how to say... spiritual feel when you're standing infront of it. I wasn't aloud to take photos of the painting. Although, afterwards you were aloud to take pictures of a replica... yeah right. Instead I'l post a picture of the Duomo from the inside. Very gothic church!

After Milano I came back and one day hung out with a friend of mine called Edoardo who I met some years ago in Denmark when my school held the EGMUN. Some of his friends came aswell. It was go to be social again!

The last match was the dissapointign draw home against Chievo (pronounced Kievo!!) where a lot of political stuff was going on as there are accusations that the Milan administration didn't want Lazio to win this match. Long story.

This weekend I'm going to Brescia (via Milano) to follow Lazio there, and on my way back I'm going to take 3 days in Florence. When I get back to Rome my mom and sister are coming to visit. juhuu.

Everything's good, spring is soon coming!

Forza Lazio