brettelmer's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member brettelmer on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/brettelmer en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:00:33 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com T-O-K-Y-O — Tokyo, Kanto, Japan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/4/1231075740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/4/1231075740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/4/1231075740/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:00:33 -0500 Casey goes to Nippon...
Tokyo, Kanto, Japan

I couldn't really think of a better title for this blog as I am now in Kyoto after an 8 hour bus trip over night (very budget bus too) and we've arrived at 8am at our hostel and been told we can't check in until 4pm. Great. So I'm a little tired, bear with me.

So Olivia and I have been in Tokyo for the past 8 days and we have literally done SO much every day and every night it's impossible to go over everything. But we did the typical touristy things and also got off the beaten track and took advice of some locals Olivia's friends with about great places to eat and drink that tourists dont get too.

In point form and no particular order we did;
* Shinjuku - claim to fame being the busiest subway station in the WORLD. I can vouch for that. it was unreal. Shinjuku has a load of bars, neon, shops, department stores. It has quiet bars that squeeze in about 15 people to major clubs. Always busy, and a lot of fun. We visited here quite a few times!
* Shibuya - Remember that scene from Lost in Translation? I know Brett will. Well that's Shibuya. Kind of like Times Sqaure in New York Maybe? Giant Cross walk, thousands of people, neon everywhere, high rise posters and screens and advertising. Starbucks looks over the whole cross walk. Very cool. Good shopping and drinking and eating.
* Ginza - High fashion capital, Burberry / Gucci / Mercedes / Tiffany and Co and every other rich label you can imagine. All huge. The streets are clean and the people walking around clearly have money to burn. And the cars driving around - Ferrari's and Maserati's and more. We only visited here briefly before getting a little depressed about money! Felt a little scruffy to say the least!
* Ukihabara - Electronic city. everything electronic you can imagine, 8 storey department stores just with electronics all situated in this cool suburb.
* Tokyo Metropolis - This building is free to enter and you go up to the 45th floor and look down on all of Tokyo! And it was huge. You can see all the way to Mt Fuji. Did I mention it was free?! Pretty good.
* Tsukishima - off the beaten track and famous for Monja - which is a dish that is very hard to explain but ill try and put a picture on. Think pancake mixture, not sweet though, add seafood, noodles and cook it yourself? Looks like vomit but tastes great.
* Because it was New Years whilst in Tokyo all the shrines and temples were really crowded. So everywhere we went we kind of just stood back and watched the thousand of people go by.

I won't bore you with the loads of others places and people we met but I'll quickly fill you in on a couple highlights...

First one being our trip to the Annual Manga Comic Convention. Took the Monorail which was worth it alone, arrived at "Tokyo Big Sight" which is a massive space age building and made our way inside. There wouldve been atleast 15 - 20, 000 people here. In a few massive halls about 200m by 500m. Hundreds and hundreds of stalls, posters, people dressed up as their favourite Manga character. Now I must've been having a 'Brett' moment because it took me about half an hour to realise we were actually at a Manga Porn Festival. I'm not joking when i say it was ALL porn. Comic porn. Of every variety you can imagine! And no wonder when i looked around again there were more males dressed as their favourite female characters than there were females in the complex. It all clicked. It was an absolute crack up and what was impressive was the sheer amount of people that turned out for the event! It was huge. I got busted for taking pictures so theres not much to show but I got a couple of goodies.

Second highlight would be New Years Eve. Now it's not often I celebrate New Years in Tokyo with my best mate so we were up for a big one. We heard through the grapevine of a cool club that was pretty pricey to get into but hey, it was New Years and the music was going to be good. So we went along with a few other friends to this club which was called "The Warehouse". It was a pretty cool club, music was good, loads of people, it served redbull which was a major plus, and everything was going well at first glance. However, with my first drink in hand walking around checking the place out, within 2 minutes i turned around to Olivia and said, "Liv, I think we're in a gay bar..." And we were!! Maybe it was all the men with their shirts off, or the couple of guys dancing a little too close, or maybe it was just the posters on the walls which were a little suggestive. There goes our chances of a New Year's kiss! But what a fantastic night. Those guys know how to P-A-R-T-Y! There were dancers, entertainers, and costumes of all sorts and just a lot of love going around in that club! It was such a fun night, home at 4.30am still giggling.

We really did so much more in Tokyo I could write forever. But I'm too tired, brain dead from too many Moscow Mules over the lat 8 days and now in Kyoto and off to see some temples! And Ive just realised I cant get any pictures attached to this blog as the internet cafe were at wont let me upload! And the photos say it all! What a shame. I'll see if I can figure something out in the next day or so...

xx Case
]]> Christmas in Japan... — Furudono-machi, Tohoku, Japan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/4/1230388320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/4/1230388320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/4/1230388320/tpod.html Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:55:16 -0500 Casey goes to Nippon...
Furudono-machi, Tohoku, Japan

Day 1 : Perth to Furudono

After 2 flights, 1 stopover in Singapore, 2 train rides and an hour long car ride I arrived in Furudono, Japan with Olivia. Furudono is in the north east Tohuko region of Japan, so rural that 2 people in immigration and 1 person in customs who checked my various paperwork at the airport, all had no idea where it was. And me smiling and frantically pointing to the ceiling as if to say "it's up North" didn't help. Not surprisingly.

Olivia greeted me with a Curry doughnut and Asahi at the train station for the drive home. A curry doughnut is a mix between a curry puff and you guessed it, a doughnut and they are absolutely delicious. We took the scenic route home, winding through mountains and thick forest to get to the village. At times the roads went to single lanes and steep declines and dirt roads. On the drive it started snowing, which was pretty cool because Olivia had never seen it snow before.

We did a quick town tour which took about 2 minutes and stopped into a corner shop that brews its own Sake. Had a few tasters and picked up a bottle and the lady in the shop gave us two sake cups for free.
It was pretty dark and cold by 5pm so we just unpacked and stayed warm in Olivia's apartment. Her apartment has a speaker in it which is connected to the community hall and every house in Furudono has one. The reason - To wake up the town by playing Adelvais at 6am every morning and also playing it at 5pm every night. You can hear it in the streets and it in each house apparently. It's also used for community announcements. I believe one example was, "There is a monkey lose in Furudono, please don't approach it. It is a wild monkey." We uplugged the speaker.

Day 2 : Furudono
This morning I was woken up by a rooster. Actually, 9 of them. At sunrise. A bit of a reality shock from waking up to the sound of city traffic every morning in Perth. I'm not sure which one I prefer, possibly neither. The weather had completely changed and it was sunny and warm. We went for a walk through town and through the bush up to the local lookout. Ive attached some photos of the view.

After breakfast we went into Ishikawa, the neighbouring villiage for an Onsen, or hot water springs. This particular Onsen was part of a hotel and really cheap. Only about $10, instead of about $100+ which is usually the price Olivia told me. When you go to an Onsen, which is basically a spa but with all fresh water, you can't wear clothes. Which would be ok if they gave you a towel to cover up in until you get in the water. However the towel they gave us was no bigger than 40cm by 20cm and not even enough to wrap around one leg, let alone anything else you may want to cover! But luckily, there was only a grandmother and grandchild in the inside Onsen so we had the outside one all to ourselves. Very relaxing and cool to watch the steam come off the ground because it was so cold outside.

That night we went out with Olivias Japanese friend Izumi who speaks fluent English. Because it was a public holiday all the restaurants were closed so we went to the local karaoke bar. Which was off a dirt road and I think the lounge room o someone's house. Olivia didn't even know it existed. We ate some food and had a few drinks before Olivia did a pop song in Japanese and Izumi decided to sing "My Humps" by Fergie. Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas.." was also a hit. Very funny, and we've got some good footage!

Day 3 - Christmas Eve - Furudono to Ishinomaki

Went to the local garage to get Olivia's snow tyres put on her car. We've decided to go celebrate Christmas with a few of Olivia's English teaching friends that live in Ishinomaki. Now, Ishinomaki is apparently the biggest port fishing town in the Eastern Hemisphere. And was about a 4 hour drive north from Furudono. So we packed the car and went on a road trip through Japan.

We arrived in Ishinomaki about 4pm, Paul's apartment about 5 pm after getting lost. Japanese road directions aren't the clearest, even for Olivia who can read most of the characters. It was all very confusing. 6 of us went out for Sushi . The salmon and tuna were really fresh, and a cheap meal, around $8. We went back to Pauls apartment and 3 more people joined us, including Pauls Japanese neighbour who brought around sake, which we drank warm. Sake's a pretty strong drink I'd say because within an hour everyone wanted to go out to... you guessed it.... Kareoke. So we did. More Christmas songs were sung.

Day 4 : Christmas in Inshinomaki

Late rise as everyone was a little worse for wear after Christmas Eve. The guys had gone shopping the day before for a Christmas feast. The Japanese people brought over Yakitori chicken and dumplings. The English girls brought puddings & custard, and made roast vegetables and pigs in blankets. Me and Olivia made potato salad and veges, The Ukranian girl brought a pizza, and Kyoko, who is the support person for the English teachers in Ishinomaki made a roast turkey for the first time ever, and also brought over a roast chicken. So it was a massive feast of and we drank chapmpage & orange juice and cracked bon bons.

At about 6pm we caught the train into Sendai, about 1 hour away. Sendai is famous for its Christmas lights and is the biggest city in the region. 1 million population. Lots of neon, people, restaurants, bars, etc. We wandered into a wine bar and had a drink before going to have a look at the Christmas lights. Ive attached some photos. Me and Olivia continued drinking Moscow Mules at a local bar I cant remember the name of. Then we had to catch the last train out of Sendai back to Ishinokmaki and we got home just after midnight. It was quite a big and messy day in the end! But really god fun.

Day 5: Boxing Day

Kyoko came round at 9am because she wanted to dress me in a Kimono and let me experience the traditional dress of Japan. Now, that would've all been well and good if Olivia and I had remembered to set our alarms. But we didn't. And what woke us up was the door bell and Kyoko standing there with 2 bags of clothing. "Oh f*ck" was the only thought going through my head. Not to worry, no shower and no brushed teeth and no makeup later, I was dressed up in a Kimono. The Kimono was stunning, but the Yeti wearing the Kimono was not. All you can do is laugh I spose! And it was a really nice gesture of Kyoko so that was pretty cool.

Olivia and I packed up our stuff, tidied the apartment and began a 4 hour road trip back to Furudono. Well, it would've been 4 hours if we hadn't got caught in a blizzard. So closer to 5 and a half hours. Lucky we put those snow tyres on!

Day 6 : Furudono to Tokyo

Today were off to Tokyo on the local train which will take about 3 and a half hours. And we'll be in Tokyo over New Years and a few days after that. My tour of rural Japan is over and were off to the big smoke which is going to be completely different. Japan so far is fantastic and the Japanese people are really kind, generous and welcoming.

That's my special guest appearance on Brett's blog over, hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and I'll speak to you in the New Year!

Thankyu Berry Mucho!

Case
]]> home again — Seoul, Korea Rep. http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202341440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202341440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202341440/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:45:58 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Seoul, Korea Rep.

home again
]]> tokyo..again — Tokyo, Japan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202222520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202222520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202222520/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:43:58 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Tokyo, Japan

almsot home
]]> the final whistle — Milan, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202141160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202141160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1202141160/tpod.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:40:51 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Milan, Italy

The final whistle has sounded. The player's are swapping shirts. The crowd is heading for the exits. This puppy is done. Stick a fork in it. AC Milan beat Fiorentina 1-0 in Florence last night thanks to a 76th minute strike from Brazilian teenage prodigy, Alexander Pato, thus bringing down the curtain on the 'Football Trip of the Devil of Death'. Here are the statistics - 9 games in 4 weeks, for a total of 26 goals. That works out to roughly 2 games a week and 2.81 goals per game. Not bad at all, particularly in a notoriously low scoring league like Italy. No nil-nil draws, in fact, only 2 games out of the 9 finished in a stalemate. The only average point was not seeing our defacto home team, Fiorentina of Florence, not win a match, out of 3. 3 Australian's = bad luck for La Viola's.

And really, the final whistle couldn't have come at a better time for us. We're done. Spent. Knackered. There's nothing left in the tank. Nada. Niente. The sparkling repertire that was prevalent at the beginning of the trip has been replaced by various grunts and gestures. Running - actually, I guess training is a better term - up and down this boot shaped country like idiot's, all in the name of calcio (football). Not to mention our silly, but wicked, jaunt to Madrid to kick things off. We could write a book on how average the Italian train system is. Maybe one of our trains left and arrived on time. We can even describe some trains and routes from the mere quotation of the train number. For example, "The 586 begins in Napoli and ends in Milan, taking roughly 9 hours, but it's almost at least an hour or and hour and a half late due to various inexplicable technical difficulties." Pretty sad huh? We can also tell you that the croissants in Roma train station are the best, whilst the one's in Milan are pretty average. But, Milan does win the prize for having the most persistent legion of Indian and African men selling umbrellas. They're insatiable.

To our credit, football wasn't the only thing we took notice of this trip. Really. We used all our train time to develop a highle sophisticated Duomo rating system, for all the Duomo's and Basilica's we've come across between football games. We call it the 'Duomometer' (patent pending), and while I won't go into the details of how it works, suffice as to say it may be the most sophisticated deveice for rating religous buildings in Italy, on the planet. These are the result's it came up with, from least impressive to most impressive -

6. Siena's Duomo - 'undergoing renovation's'
5. Napoli's Duomo - understated, yet cute
4. Florence's Duomo - good for sitting in front of
3. Milan's Duomo - gothic it up
2. Basilica di San Marco in Venice- plunder them Turks
1. St Peter's Basilica in Roma - silly extravagance

Our Duomometer is nothing if not controversial.

Our last week in Florence was pretty mint, despit some average weather. The weather gods haven't shined on us this trip. Chris think's it's because I keep saying 'Jebus' inside Duomo's, but I think it's because Mother Nature is a Juventus fan. Florence has had pretty bad weather for much of the month. But the sun did shine long enough for a few photos and some sightseeing around the place. And by sightseeing, I mean we went for a walk and sat somewhere, like a fort or something. Just quietly, does anyone know who Eugo Foscolli is? We sure as hell didn't when we paid a visit to the Basilica di Santa Croce one afternoon. We still don't know who he is, but he must have friends in high places because his burial crypt take's pride of place alongside Michaelangelo's, Machiavelli's and Gallileo's. Lucky dude.

Fatigue is taking over, so I will sign off with the 'Football Trip of the Devil of Death Dream Team.' We saw 12 teams and the best player from each team has been selected to be part of the Dream Team XI. Except Siena, because they suck. My team is as follows (my apologies if these name's mean nothing to you, but please, humor me) -

Goal keeper Kalac (AC Milan) -
Defenders Gamberini (Fiorentina) - Domizzi (Napoli) - Barzagli (Palermo) - Kolarov (Lazio) -
Midfielders Robinho (Real Madrid) - Gasbaronni (Parma) - Mancini (Roma) -
Forwards Milito (Real Zaragoza) - Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan) - Del Piero (Juventus).
Manager - Roberto Mancini (Inter Milan)

There you have it. A big thanks to all who have read, or just looked at the photos, this blog. I appreciate it more than you will ever know. My public mean alot to me. Cheers.

Back to Korea I go...


]]> home base — Florence, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1201298940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1201298940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1201298940/tpod.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:04:23 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Florence, Italy

Buses in Florence are free - apparently. And by free, I mean we just hop on and don't pay. But so does everyone else. I know you're probably thinking, 'haven't you learnt anything from the last time you tried to ride public transport for free, and ended up doing hard time in a Berlin lock-up?'. Clearly not. But it's not our fault. We tried to pay the driver once - he refused our euro's. Plus, no-one else pays, so us paying would make them feel guilty and at the same time display us as tourists. We're just trying to fit in. We're innocent. It's the system. You buyin' this? Cause it's our only defence if we get caught - with alot of hand waving and maybe some crying thrown in if need be. Free buses are wicked.

Florence is full of a few things. Free buses is one. Gypsies is another. Another is American's - they're bloody everywhere, in tourist and student form, both, for the most part, equally as annoying. Another is stores selling stuff made of leather. And yet another thing Florence is full of is statues. Specifically, Florence is full of statues of naked dudes. They're everywhere. Seriously. Everywhere. You wander around a corner and are suddenly confronted with a naked dude spearing a fish or standing over another dead naked dude. The cool thing is that nearly all these statues are the originals. The one's in the museums and galleries are the half ass plaster-cast copies.

The most famous naked dude in town is without a doubt Michaelangelo's 'David', which he finished around 1504. It sat outside in Piazza de Signoria until 1873, so that's not a bad run. It was just getting too dominated by the weather, so it had to be moved inside, to the Galleria Dell'Accademia. They chucked a copy outside to replace it, as well as one over the river Arno in the Piazzale Michaelangelo which gives easily the best views down onto Florence. It's pretty magic.

Michaelangelo was 29 when he finished sculpting the pretty much utterly perfect 19 tonne 'David'. 29!! I thought he was well into his 89 year life when he gave the world Dave, but no, he was only a couple of years older than I am now. Kinda put's my life in perspective. On the bright side, I do still have 2 and a half years to deliver something of similar artistic quality. Shouldn't be too hard...

But the one thing I keep thinking about as I wander the tight, winding, cobblestone streets, apart from football and where all the gypsies came from, is just how old Florence is. It's really old. I don't know exactly how old, but suffice as to say it's pretty damn old. And it still looks pretty damn old today. A beautiful, stately old. Not a rundown, crumby old. Every house, every cafe, every bridge, every street, every corner, every cobblestone, if it could talk, would be able to tell a story worth listening to over an espresso.

One such story is the one of Florence's most famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio. First built in 972, but it got dominated and destroyed by floods from hell in 1177 and 1333, and almost again in 1966. The part of it's story I like is how the bridge came to be occupied by jewellery stores. Until the 16th century it was full of butcher's, who used to throw their waste straight into the river, stinking up the entire town. Quality work by them. Grand Duke Ferdinando I de'Medici told the butcher's "You're out" and the jeweller's, "You're in" and that's the way it's stayed. Good choice too, as that smell would have been average. Now its one of the best parts of town. Even the good old Nazi's couldn't bring themselves to blow up the Ponte Vecchio in WW2. I never thought I'd end up thanking the Nazi's for anything.

More to come from my final week in Florence, in Italy, as the football trip of the devil of death heads toward a conclusion...


]]> magic — Rome, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1201435980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1201435980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1201435980/tpod.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:50:37 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Rome, Italy

The sun is beginning to fall below the apartment buildings that line the Piazza Navona, bringing out intense yellows, oranges and pinks. It's a beautiful sight. What is not such a beautiful sight are the 2 tired, hungry Australians slumping onto a marble bench, armed with pizza's and cokes, trying to hide amongst the statues, cameras wieldings tourists, artists and pigeons that clog the piazza. They're knackered. Spent. But if you listen carefully, you can make out their barely coherent conversation -

"I wish I was a footballer, eh. You know why?"
"Why?"
"'Cause footballer's in Italy get all the hot chicks."
"Yeah. Hot chicks are hot. They also get paid a heap of cash."
"Yeah, cash is wicked."
"Shame we're average at football..."
"Yeah. Still, pizza's good."
"True. How good is pizza?"
"Pizza - brilliant."
"You know what else is brilliant?"
"What?"
"Rome."
"Yeah. Rome is magic."
"Magic."
"Yeah."

And it's true. Rome is magic. And by magic I mean wicked. And by wicked I mean brilliant. It's hard to know exactly where to start as well. There's just so much to mention. To be truthful, Rome is the first city on this football trip of the devil of death to actually divert our attention from football. Sure, only momentarily, but it's still worth noting. Everything here is silly impressive. That Vatican with St Peter's Basilica, the built in AD 120 Pantheon with Raphael's tomb, Trevi fountain and the Roman Forum. I could go on and on...

And I will. The beautiful Spanish Steps, Piazza'a Venezia, Navona and della Republica, the Palazzo del Quirinale and pretty Trastevere across the river Tiber. But, for me, by far the most incredible, jaw-dropping, downright brilliant sight in town has to be...you have probably guessed by now...the Collosseum.

How can you not dig a place that was built for the sole purpose of allowing people to come and watch dudes try to kill each other, whilst trying to avoid being killed by lion's, tiger's and other animals with big teeth and sharp claws. It blows me away, that Romans considered this entertainment. I mean, who wake's up in the morning and decides to spend their day watching a slaughter? F*ckin' brutal. Maybe it's a part of the Italian psyche, when you consider the violence that you see at Italian football these days. Foobtall could be considered just a modern version of these gladiatorial games of yesteryear. Maybe not, but it's not such a crazy idea, surely.

But the best part about the Colo is that, today, something close to 1925 years since it hosted it's first bloodbath, I can go and sit in front of it, put on my Ipod, and just gaze in awe at it. The Collosseum is Roma. It's wicked, and being a Gladiator would've been wicked. If you were good. If you were average, you'd be dead, but if you were good, you would've got a heap of chicks. Because chicks dig scars. And you would've got a heap of cash, and cash is wicked. Gladiators were the footballer's of old Roma.

The silly travelling has come to and end. Back to Florence for some rest and relaxation, and of course, more football. Florence it up...
]]> forza inter — Milan, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200930960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200930960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200930960/tpod.html Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:11:38 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Milan, Italy

Let me set the scene for you - through a combination of momentary average defending and negative tactics of their opposition, the home team, Internazionale Milano (or just Inter), found themselves down 2-1 to 14 places below them Parma, with 88 minutes gone at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, this last Sunday evening. Much like Australia when they faced Japan in Kaiserslautern at World Cup 2006, Inter needed a hero.

And a just like Australia, they got one. They're Tim Cahill - Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ibra. Swedish dude with a Serbian name, Inter's best player and one of the best in the business. He'd started well, but like a number of his team-mates, had faded as the game worn on. But there's a reason that this guy gets 6 million euro's a year to play football and I don't - he's goooood. Really good.

89th minute - Ibra skips around two Parma defenders, then the goalkeeper and fires a shot toward the goal. The last defender lunges and saves the ball with a combination of his head and his forearm. You can't do that - penalty. Plus, red card. After 5 minutes of Parma player theatrics and arguements with the referee, Ibra takes his penalties scored count for the season from 5 to 6. Game on.

Inter are back in it. It's 2-2, and into added time. Forza Inter! C'mon Inter! Only 3 minutes. Parma player are dropping like flies in a bid to waste precious seconds. Italian's waste time better than anyone. Surely a draw is the best Inter can hope for.

In days gone by, a draw would've been fine. Inter had been average since around the 30 minute mark when they opened the scoring, and effectively had got out of gaol thanks to the controversial penalty. But Ibra doesn't dig draws. He digs winning.

92nd minute - Inter steal the ball in midfield and charge forward. Parma have got all of their 10 remaining players behind the ball and are hanging on for dear life. The ball finds it's way to the Chilean, Luis Jimenez, on the right wing. He fires in a cross, Ibra, holding off his marker, controls the ball on his chest and volley's past the keeper. GOOOOAAAALLLL!!! The San Siro goes nuts. We go nuts. Ibra goes nuts, mauling his coach, Roberto Mancini. Chris goes nuts, mauling me. Inter had come from nowhere. They were done. They had nothing. Now they were up 3-2. Chris' pre-game ritual of rubbing my beanie until I punched him in the stomach was going to pay off. Another 3-2 win for Inter, just like in Siena a week ago. Full-time whistle. Parma player collapse on the turf, broken. Inter player all converge on Ibra, jubilant. Football is wicked.

This match could well be the one that defines this football trip of the devil of death. It had everything that makes football such an amazing, exhilarating, sometimes violent in Italy, spectacle. And incredible venue - the San Siro is an 80,000 seat monster and argueably the home of football; a loud, passionate crowd, equipped with the 3 F's - flags, flares and firecrackers; goals - any game with 5 of them is going to be a cracker; and controversey - it was a penalty, it wasn't...3 days later, people still don't know for sure.

But, more than these things, it's the emotions we felt as we watched it all unfold, that will be remembered as easily as the result. We felt it all - excitement, nerves, frustration, anger, despair, exhilaration and of course, blind, unbridled happiness. This is why we're here, running around Italy like chicken's with our head's cut off. This is why we love football.

As we made our way home on the tram we asked our friend, Gretta, who had flown in from Berlin to join us in Milan for the game - "So, what did you think of your first Italian football experience?". "Oh, yeah, not bad I guess..." Not bad! Not Bad! Chicks - will they never understand?

Next stop on the football roadshow - Roma...but first, we're going back to Milan for a Coppa Italia quarterfinal first leg between Inter and arch rivals Juventus. I hate Juventus...
]]> maradona was 'ere — Naples, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200607680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200607680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200607680/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:54:45 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Naples, Italy

I counted at least 8 different car alarms going off the first night. That's just in the vicinity I could hear under our window in Hotel Ginevre. That's 8 robberies, or potential one's. I'm also not including sirens from polizia or ambulances. Napoli is something else. Napoli is the other face of Italy. Probably the real face. When people talk of Italy in terms of social problems or dysfunction, you can assume they must have Napoli in mind.

It's dirty - there was some 150 tonnesof uncollected rubbish just sitting on the city streets (the Mafia controlled garbage industry ain't taking it away for some reason); it's overcrowded with folks from China, North Africa and the Middle East who clutter up street corners selling umbrellas, cell phone adaptors and fake handbags; and, judging from the way pedestrians and motorists actions never correspond to any electronic signals, completely lawless and chaotic. Plus, it's falling apart! The buildings look ready to collapse, probably under the weight of all the washed clothes that are hung from them to dry. Seriously, they all have chunks missing. It resembles a warzone in parts, but with no war. The first thing I thought when I was wandering amongst the backstreets was - I'm back in Beirut. And the there's never-ending, often needless blasting of horns from every car, bus and vespa. It get's better...

It's also the home of the Mafia and pizza, and pizza is wicked. Mafia not so much, unless you're talking about The Sopranos. Just tomato, mozzarella and basil. On this doughy base that tastes more like turkish bread than pizza base. Unique, and a taste sensation. The best I've eaten in Italy, and I've been doing extensive research. Wish I'd got a photo before I devoured it. It's also cheaper than the north of Italy (and I do like cheap). If all of these things aren't enough, Napoli's neighbour is a still active volcano - Mt Vesuvius. The very same Mt Vesuvius that dominated Pompeii and Herculaneum. Dying from being covered in lava would be average. I know the sulfurus gases would get you before the lava did, but still - average. Right up there with being buried alive and being eaten by piranha. Impressive ruins though. And of course, there's the only football team in town, SSC Napoli. This town has completely captured me.

You know Diego Maradona? Fat, little Argentine, Hand of God, Boca Juniors, football legend? Drug fiend? Yeah, that Diego Maradona. He was a Napoli player between 1985 and 1991, and as well as going drug silly, he went goal silly. He took them, on his back, to 2 scudettos (championships) in 87-88 and 89-90. He dragged them up from nothing, and made them a powerhouse in Italy. He is a God here, just like in his homeland. Napoli paid a then world-record 6 million euros for him from Barcelona (said to be mainly Mafia cash) and he duely repaid them. He's still everywhere today. From dude's selling fake Maradona shirts to just his photo in almost every pizzeria, bar and shop in town. These folks will never forget the great man.

His club, SSC Napoli, was nothing before him. Now, the city lives and breathes for it. Their home is the Stadio San Paolo. It's said to hold 60,000 screaming, whistling, crazy Neapolitans, by law that is, but the number is usually much higher. It's an old stadium, and it's condition is much like the city's. Plenty of torn up seats, no seat numbers, no corporate boxes, not even a scoreboard. It's a proudly pro-smoking venue. There's even a moat to help seperate the players from the spectators, that's how nuts they are. It's a lawless and hostile place. Wicked.

The local boys faced Lazio of Rome in the 2nd leg of their Coppa Italia tie, in their 'House of Pain'. Everyone hates Lazio. Don't know why, they just do. But they were up 2-1 after the 1st leg and looked confident. Napoli kept a few stars on the bench and paid for it, only drawing 1-1. They lost 3-2 on aggregate. The atmosphere - dynamic. Only about 30,000 people, but they sounded like 50,000, especially the 'Ultras'. Jeering, whistling, exploding crackers, throwing flares and water bottles. I felt like I was back in Argentina. They love their team. The players are lucky. One player to watch - Ezequial Lavezzi. He's a jet, remember him. I'm a Napoli fan for life.

Only a days rest before hitting Milan...and the San Siro. Football is wicked.
]]> home. for a night — Florence, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200671700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200671700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brettelmer/3/1200671700/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:56:21 -0500 The Life and Times of Brett John Elmer - Italy (and Madrid)It Up 2008
Florence, Italy

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