"Sports Bars" in Italy

Minal says ...

Yesterday, Europe prepared to watch the Eurocup football finals. We decided to hang out in a sports bar to watch the match - and made our reservations at a bar close to our hotel ahead of time. Then, we went for lunch to a bar/restaurant frequented by international students in Rome on study-abroad programs - and watched as they prepared to air the match (see picture below). At this bar, we were perhaps mistaken for poor students and given glasses of bubbly on the house. Manish even took a few sips (I knew he would drink some day, but I didn't expect him to start in the afternoon!).





Anyway, I digress. When we arrived at our bar to watch the match, we realized that the TV was quite small and that there were at least as many women as there were men - not a ratio I had expected, given US sports bars. I started to wonder why - at first I assumed it was the sport. Maybe soccer is more enjoyable for women than American football - but that didn't seem like a plausible reason. I dismissed the matter until we chanced upon the "Friends Bar" in Florence tonight. We were on our way to dinner, and were drawn in to this bar because they were airing Wimbledon. At the bar, we had a salad, a fabulous pizza, a great cappuccino (how am I going to survive on Starbucks?) and some cake. We essentially spent the evening at the bar. Maybe more women are at sports bars in Italy because the bar is actually an enjoyable way to spend the entire evening - where you can get a good dinner and all sorts of drinks (caffeinated, alcoholic, fruity ...) at a lively place where the TV is just a small part of the landscape? It is really great that a bar here is not a place to go get a drink, eat greasy food and watch some sports, but a place to get a good healthy dinner and have the sport on on a tiny TV in the background. Maybe I would visit sports bars in the US more often if they were more Italian :)

Roma/Amor

There is a temple right by the Colosseum that used to house a statue of Venus and a statue of Rome. Amor and Roma, Goddesses with palindromic names looking over the Eternal City. A long time ago, newly weds used to come by to be blessed by these Goddesses, and even during our visit, we saw three June brides (and their grooms) in the area - although they were more focused on their photo shoots.

Speaking of love and Rome, I have realized that I have developed a definitely fondness for the city. The Riviera (both Nice in France and the Cinque Terre in Italy) was gorgeous and extremely relaxing, but Rome - Rome is alive! Rome is like Bombay or New York - there are people everywhere, and yet their presence is not suffocating. Vendors are seen selling all sorts of things on the streets - and today I finally engaged in some roadside shopping, buying a bag that Manish claims is a Lisa-sized bag. Lisa - apparently, the size of your bag leaves an impression ;)





However, the beauty of the city lies not only in its liveliness, but also in its history. Roman engineering was definitely top notch - it amazes me that the Colosseum was built almost 2000 years ago, that the Pantheon with its perfect 142 foot wide dome was completed more than 1700 years ago, and that the dome of St. Peter's was built 500 years ago and still bears the weight of the thousands of tourists who climb it everyday (I was both fearful and impressed as I climbed to the top). I love the fact that art created by famous artists is part of the city - Bernini's fountains are in piazzas in random places and of course Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is absolutely breathtaking. This is not art that is brought in from elsewhere - it's art that was created for the city, that is still in the city!

In Rome, we also found our own little slice of heaven - not by the Vatican, but closer to the Pantheon. A gelato place with 140 flavors of gelato, 14 of which are different types of chocolate! Life really doesn't get much better than this :)



Tomorrow we leave for Florence. Travelling by train in Europe has become quite routine for us now. We got to the station an hour early for our first train ride from Amsterdam to Paris, but bought our ticket a minute before the train left when we were coming to Rome from the Cinque Terre – definitely forward progress, even though we almost missed that last train!