Italian rugby? oh yeah!

So I did something very different today - I attended a rugby festival today put on by the Old Rugby Club/Ribolliti Firenze. All the players were aged 50yrs+ and it was both exciting and amusing to boot! Mind you, these men were not galloping slowly after the ball in arthritic states....ooooh no. This was full contact take-out rugby! It was my first rugby game I've seen played and it made my day. I brought along my camera and documented the events both in video and photo.

The video may be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KKYmJ1uUuo

And more of the photos here:










After the game was over, I explored more of the surrounding area since I had not yet trekked the stadium area of Florence. There was a fantastic metal bridge that crossed over the railway tracks and I paused there for a few more photos.







And my own little study of a home's doorway along the way.



I also came across a park surrounded by apartments where kids were having fun on playground equipment and there was a fenced-in area for football (soccer) play. After watching from behind the fence for awhile, I was invited to join in and had a great time taking part in the 6 vs. 6 game. I was invited back for another game tomorrow, which I look forward to immensely. Of course they're all local residents and speak mainly Italian so my communication skills are extremely limited, but with the few words that I know and the shared love of the game, it went fairly smoothly. Here's for sports crossing cultural boundaries!