david beckham :)

Today we went to the Florence vs. AC Milan soccer game at Florence's stadium on the outskirts of town. Samantha and i decided to take the bus there to meet up with some friends since the stadium was a good walk away so we got to the bus station and somehow hopped on the right bus just in time! We were marveling at how easy it was to get around...until we got to the stadium. Surrounded by screaming and singing Florence fans decked out in all things purple, we wandered around trying to find our gate.

We kept asking people and they would only point in a direction since they couldn't speak English, so we were really confused. We caught site of a guy wearing a Milan jersey and decided to follow him, since he was likely going to the same section. We both had bought Milan jerseys but had been advised not to wear them until we got to our seats because the Florence fans are intense...and sure enough, the Milan jersey wearing guy started getting yelled at and people came up to him and ripped his jersey off, getting in his face and screaming i don't want to know what. We were very thankful we hadn't worn our jerseys but not so thankful that we lost the guy in the crowd of purple. So we kept wandering around and could NOT, for the life of us figure out where we were supposed to go! AND it was raining...not fun. But i was very thankful for my new raincoat ;)

Finally, we asked a man and he said he would take us to our gate, which ended up being in a locked section so the Florence fans couldn't get to us...scary. Anyways, we made it just in time for kick-off and it was awesome! The crowd was chanting and sounded just like that FIFA nintendo game. Our Milan section was completely fenced in with a not so great view of the field but it was still cool! And even though we were fenced in, there were still plenty of screaming matches going on between the Florence and Milan fans. Haha it was crazy.

I got some great shots of David Beckham and it was so weird to actually see him play! It was his last game for AC Milan so when he subbed out at the end of the game, the whole Milan section cheered and clapped for him. I also got a video of the first goal! The game ended 2-0, with Milan winning and when we tried to leave the stadium, we were stopped just inside the gate while the police let the Florence fans leave before us, so no fights would break out...seriously intense. But it was a fun day and i'm SO glad we found out about the game! Enjoy the pics and video!