Football Match in Milan

Check me out, I'm being European and calling soccer "football" oh yaaaaa.......

------
Aside: I shamefully apologize for being so behind on updating my blog. Busyness/lazyness has gotten the better of me and I haven't found the time until now....at least some good can come out of being sick at home (other than watching copious amounts of scrubs and drinking a thousand cups of tea).
------

So, Travis did some research and found a soccer (that Europeanness was shortlived...) game in Milan on Sat. Jan 28. Well, actually the game was originally the following Sunday morning, but for some reason after we had tickets they switched it. It luckily didn't change our plans, and it was better having an evening game anyways I think.

There was a big group of us going: me, Richard, Travis, Devon, Warren, Tommy, Vance, Lindsey, Mike, Naveen and Huw (2 Aussie guys Travis knows from work) . We spanned from actual hardcore soccer fans, semi-soccer fans, people who were curious in checking out an authentic "European football match" (I was in this group), and people who just wanted to see Milan (aka, Bernard).

Everything was going well until we got to Zurich HB, and discovered that due to heavy snowfall in the south part of Switzerland (wtf) it was "impossible to get to Milan today". We only had 10min until our train was supposed to leave, which we had already bought tickets for, so it was panic time. We rushed to the info counter to discover huge lines, interrogated random passerbyers for anything they might know, and eventually found out that our train could get us as far as Bellinzona but no further. In a split second decison, we all (minus Bernard, who decided to just stay behind) decided to just get on the train and see what we could find for transport at the other end, yay for train adventures!

We emerge from a mountain tunnel to the glorious sight of deep snow everywhere. The train pulled into Bellinzona, and we did some research to find out that we could take slow regional trains to get to Milan, yayyyyyyy!!! To celebrate, massive snowball fights were had. The highlight of this was when Mike threw an erratic snowball that hit a random Swiss person in the head. He wasn't too impressed.....lol, but that didn't stop Mike from continuing in the fight and it almost happened again.




Lindsey, Tommy, Warren and Richard at the Bellinzona train station, delighted to find out that there's a way we can get to Milan










Snowball fight in action ....watch out innocent passer-byers!













As usual, Tommy is the prime target for snow abuse












See above caption











We take the connection from Bellinzona to Chiasso (the last Swiss town on the boarder of Italy) and after waiting around for an hour (including a trip to Manor to buy some awesome on-sale kids gloves!) we get on the train to Milan. Of course, most of us want stamps for our passports so we are led to the train staion office where the guard slowly takes out the official stamp and proceeds to carefully stamp our passports. By this time we are getting anxious, since our train is about to leave and we can't very well get on it without our passports. We try to tell her we are in a rush and she says don't worry, the train doesn't leave until 1:38. Our relief is minimal, since the time at this moment is 1:42 (apparently the influences of Italy don't abruptly stop at the boarder).

Eventually we get our stamped passports and rush onto the train (which doesn't end up leaving for about 10 more minutes anyways, lol). We rejoice at our sucess at getting to Milan and celebrate with some beers. The train arrives around 4:30pm....8 hours of travel, not to bad.





Lindsey, Devon and Richard waiting (patiently?) for the train. Hey, what colour is that chocolate Richard, are you sure you're allowed to eat it?





We track down our hoteslish hostel and me and Lindsey are sharing a room (which ends up being the "hang out" room...oh well. We don't have much time until the soccer game, so we quickly break out the face paint and get suited up for the game. The game was AC Milan vs. Sampdoria, so we decided to cheer for AC Milan since that ensured us a lesser chance of getting beat up on the way to the stadium. It was still a risk though, since Milan has 2 football teams (the other being Internazionale), and if we wandered into the territory of the other team we could meet some angry hardcore Italian football fans.





Group pic at the Hostel
















Me painting Travis's face

















Schadenmuhle ready to cheer for AC Milan














Looking scary at the train station










We found our way to the game and got to our seats without too much hassle. After a dissapointing discovery that they didn't sell alcohol at the game , other than mini bottles of sambuca (wtf?!?!?!?), we relized we would have to rely on our pre-drinking and caffine buzz from the cappuccinos (mmm, Italian coffee...) . Oh ya, and the excitement of watching soccer!!!

Haha, so you may have realized that I'm not the biggest soccer fan, though, seeing the game was still really cool. It was funny cause although we were all decked out like hardcore fans, if anybody overheard me (and some of the others) they would hear things like "Why was that a penalty?", "Travis, what's going on?", "Who's winning?", "I'm cold", etc. In conclusion, if you want to actually know any details of the game, I direct you to Travis's blog, which is more informative than I could attempt to be, so I won't bother :)

One of the cool things about the game was watching the section where the actual (not faking like us) fans were....they had all sorts of organized cheers, and flares and flags, it was wicked. They even had seperate areas for the Milan and Sampadoria fans, and armed riot guards to avoid fights....I was really looking forwards to seeing one though, and spent a good portion of the evening brainstorming about how to start a riot.

Oh ya, the game ended in a tie (details, details...) :)




Watching the football match in Milan












Intense team spirit flares going on over at the AC Milan fan section













A key play of the game...you can see the offense driving up through the center as the supporting players .....haha, who am I kidding, I just took a random picture of some action










Travis, Lindsey, me and Richard watching the game













Go Milan!!!!













Devon enjoying a cappuccino













Sampdoria still cheering hard as the stands clear after the game










It was slushy and rainy outside for our confused walk back to the hostel...we were pretty happy to get inside to warm up and clean off the face paint. Everyone was hungry so we got some pizza from a nearby shop (mmmmm) and devoured that pretty quickly.

By then it was past midnight, so we were eager to find a place to party. We got directions to a nearby club where there was a salsa dance floor that seemed sweet. Me, Lindsey, Devon, Travis and Tommy went in, but the others were too tired/wussy/cheap for the fun times, so they left and I think tried another bar before going home....tsk tsk tsk.

It was a 10 euro cover charge (pretty standard for Europe), and we were delighted to find out that that included a free drink at the bar. I went up to collect what I expected to be a watered down highball, standard to bars in Calgary. However, when I ordered a whisky and coke I discovered that they do things a little differently in Europe... I was handed a big glass of pure straight whiskey accompianied by a 200ml bottle of coke that I couldn't even half fit into the drink. Hooray for stiff Milan drinks! Everyone else ordered the same as me and we sat down still excited by our good fortune.






Milan-style whisky and coke
















Devon, me and Lindsey at the salsa club in Milan














Travis and Tommy being hardcore









It took us awhile to finish the drinks (I will honestly say I physically shuddering after every sip) but by the time we did we were feeling pretty good. It was time to hit the dance floor, and we danced up a storm for the rest of the time the club was open (3am) when we were forced to leave.



Travis, Devon and me dancing.











None of us felt like going back to the hostel yet, so we started wandering the streets of Milan having a great time with snowball fights, a few near oops's, wrestling, and some interesting discussions. Eventually we were cold and found our way back, but didn't stop the action....we relived the Milan bed sharing (weird coincidence that it was the exact same group of us that night) and chilled out for the rest of the night/morning with nothing TOO eventful happening.





Just as I took this picture I commented on the tower in the background, which made Tommy turn around at the wrong moment, lol.














Fun times in Milan!













Boys wrestling.....?










After a solid hour of sleep we woke up the others and enjoyed a decent hostel breakfast. The plan was to sightsee that day, and I was in full on follow-whoever-is-leading-and-do-whatever-they-decide mode. Our first stop was the Duomo, a pretty cool gothic looking cathedral. We went inside, and I spent most of my time listening to a choir sing, which was cool (and involved mostly sitting, woot). I've discovered that with every cathedral I see, they start to lose their amazingness....in the end they are all pretty much the same. Sigh, I feel so unappreciative...though in the end I guess this is just motivation to seek out the more unique sights of the cities I visit.





Duomo di Milano (with flocking birds for dramatic effect)









After the culture session we went across the street to one of Milan's most famous malls, where all the expensive boutiques are. The main center square was surrounded by some classy stores (including Prada)...as well as the most pimped out McDonalds I have ever seen, hahahaha.




Can't afford to shop here...












You think they have gold-plated Big Macs?











After resisting the urge to eat at the McDonalds, we found a resturant and had a quality Italian lunch. I had pizza, mmm, and was extra classy by bringing in my own water and filling up my glass under the table (true praktikant style....that's what you get for not serving tap water you greedy resturant!!!)




Richard, me and Vance having lunch in Milan.













Richard looks exasparated by something, but I can't remember what.












Travis, Warren, Mike and Devon ready for lunch...Mike may look silly with the napkin tucked in but he's already managed to spill wine on it, haha.









Travis's pizza...... mmmmm, Italy, you sure know how to do food










Next we went to a castle (I don't remember if it had a special name...let's go with Castello di Milano, sounds pretty believable) (looked it up, I was way off: Castello Sforzesco)where there was a museum with various art and armour and weapons and stuff. After spending some time there we walked through the park surrounding the castle which was looking all cool and dramatically foggy. And of course, there were more snowball fights (honestly, you would think we had never seen snow before or something).

I also bought a new toque at a shop, to replace the one I lost on New Years (*cries*). Interesting side note: Travis returned a toque to me at the beginning of this trip that I left at Schadenmuhle, so I had an extra one. Richard brought "too few toques" (his words) on the trip so I lent him my extra one. The weekend after on the Zermatt trip I left work in such a rush I forgot my toque...but Richard had happened to bring an extra one which he let me use for the weekend. Talk about awesome toque karma!!!





Lindsey at the Castle in Milan














Warren with some gool ol' fashioned art appreciation











Tommy making the mistake of falling asleep at the museum













See above, and multiply by 50











Everybody lined up to pummel Tommy with snowballs, while also getting handed religious flyers













Haha, how is it always everyone against Tommy...










Milan's version of Brandenberg Gate from Berlin?













Cool pic












We went back to the hostel to get our stuff, and then had some classic Italy-style train ticket buying....standard complicated pricing and them almost selling us the wrong ticket, sigh, Italy.... I had an awesome sleep on the train back, and we made it home by about 11pm.





Tommy catching some zzz's on the hostel floor










Closing remarks: I'm glad that I had a chance to see a football game in Europe, since it's such a big sport over here. Also, Milan is a great place to party, and we'll be coming back for the Olympics in only a few weeks (though, as I write this that has already happened....oh the complications of the blog timeline). And that drink was awesome.