il dolce far niente: London & Liverpool

After 1 hour on a train, 2 hours on a plane, and 1 hour on a bus, we had finally made it to the UK! It was a nice change to be in a country that speaks your language, even though many British accents were thick enough to be a different language all on its own. Still, London was probably as close to being home in the U.S. as were were going to get. It's almost like a cross between New York and Paris. Like New York, it has just about everything and there is so much to do that no matter how long you live there you will never be able to see it all. Yet it has the history like Paris....the old buildings where kings and queens used to live. Of course there is one thing that you won't find in either New York or Paris: true pub atmosphere! There really isn't anything else like it. People go to the pub to relax, have a drink, and catch up with an ole mate. They sit at tables, drinking their ale and only around dinner time do they order their mushy peas and fish and chips. I liked it far better than the loud, bouncing Italian discoteca's...

Aaaand after another 5 hours on a coach bus we made to Liverpool! It was, needless to say, much smaller than London but still a city all on its own. Liverpool is just along the bay in northern England. Most people think of the Beatles when they hear the name Liverpool said but even though it is where the Beatles got started, it is becoming much more than just that. They have begun to build up and clean up much of the city. It now has a huge outdoor shopping mall, as well as a few sky scrapers and quaint part of town with pubs and little shops. I have to say, I think I liked it better than London.

When we got there, we went straight to the Beatles museum, as it was only a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It was definitely worth seeing! After that, we walked around the mall area, surrounded by all the Fiorentina and Liverpool fans who were getting excited for the match! We bought our Liverpool scarfs and at about 2 hours before the game, we headed over to Anfield Road, Liverpool's home stadium. We found a bar just outside the stadium called The Albert where we were able to have a Carlsburg beer (Liverpool's sponsor) and sing a few "song-cheers" before the game. There is nothing else like it...nothing else like soccer fans getting excited for a game.
Well, unfortunately Liverpool lost to Fiorentina 2-1. Still...we got to see some of the best players play: Torres, Gerrard and Aquiliani. The Florentine fans were ecstatic and I can at least say that I was happy for them because they have played some really tough teams this year. It was also quite nice to travel with happy fan group back to Italy and to come home to a proud city.

Here is an example of something you might see if you go to Liverpool before a game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Fxie-2XTI