Catching Up...

What a busy couple of weeks! My apologies to those who have noticed my blog has been a little quiet lately. February has so far been a month full of visitors, which has been great. My sister has come to visit, as well as some of Roland's family and friends. It has been so much fun getting to show everyone around Rome...even if the rainy weather has been extremely uncooperative for our guests...(sorry, guys! I swear the sun shines here more often than not...)

Last weekend we attended a Rugby match - England vs. Italy. Had a seriously fantastic time! I wasn't sure what to expect - the only other rugby experience I've had occured in England during an epic rain/hailstorm...during which I spent so much time trying to avoid getting pelted in the eyeballs by massive raindrops (fail) that I wasn't able to appreciate the game. Not so this time! We arrived in time to stock up on plenty of Peroni before we found our (excellent) seats. Note: When I say excellent seats, I mean excellent location - The seats themselves were a whole other story...basically, rows of posts sticking up out of the ground with small square backless tops to sit on, squeezed so tightly together that I felt like we were a cozy little family of tightly packed, rugby fan, sardines in a can. Luckily, the fans were good fun and made the experience even better. The English and Italian fans were mixed in together throughout the stadium, and we made some friends in the stands...the English fans seated by our side shared their flask of rum and were very helpful in holding on to me as I tried to squeeze by without tipping over in the miniscule walking space in our row...and/or soak the poor girl sitting in front of me in a rain shower of Peroni. The Italian fans in front of us pulled out bag after bag of assorted cookies, or biscuits, and enthusiastically passed us different treats throughout the match. One Italian fan nearby repeatedly produced a trumpet and played the Italian National Anthem, which the crowd loved! It was really great to see two completely different groups of people, speaking two different languages, rooting for opposing teams, but still managing to enjoy each other and the experience without the ugly competitive spirit that sometimes comes along with the territory in sporting events. As for the rugby itself - it was exciting to watch, even if I never fully understood the rules of the game. According to the boys, the odds were strongly in England's favor. In the end, England did take the win, but only by a small margin. We took full opportunity to celebrate England's win afterwards! Great experience.

Our seats!

These photos of are taken from where we sat - great view of the action.