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"VIVA ITALIAAAA!!"
Yes, that's what I screamed today running up and down Commercial Drive. For those who don't live in the area/don't know, Commercial Drive is an area of Vancouver known as "Little Italy" because it's the center of most Italian activity in the city. The Italian population is HUGE there.
So, of course, that's where the party was.
The Drive was INSANE today! The first thing I did after the World Cup was pin an Italian flag to my chest and take the train out to Commercial to soak up the atmosphere. The Skytrain was *packed* with people in Italian jerseys with the BIGGEST Italian flags I have EVER seen, all greeting each other in Italian. I hooked up with a large group of twenty-somethings with a gigantic flag from Burnaby and we all went to "join the party" on the Drive.
I wish I had brought a camera, because things were absolutely INSANE. People colored head to toe in Italia colors were climbing all over the lamposts with megaphones screaming "I-TA-LIA!" to the crowd below. I joined a group of people running up and down the street with flags screaming "VIVA ITALIA!", and ended up in a giant chorus of people singing "Ole" XD. There were literally THOUSANDS of people on this one street, so much that more than 9/10ths of the street was closed to car traffic. The part of the street that *was* open to cars was full of people sitting in the back of trucks, standing in the back of Jeeps and convertables, all wearing Italian colors waving the Italian flag screaming, "ITALIAAAAA!" If you didn't honk your horn (and EVERYBODY was), you were jeered at. There were people dressed in Italian jerseys, people dressed as the Cup (O_O!), people with gigantic flags, dressed as living flags, people with giant flags tied around their necks like capes... EVERYTHING.
Myself, after I had lost my voice screaming calmed down a bit, I bought a piece of pizza from an Italian pizzeria, emailed Rhia (it was an internet cafe, too) with "WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU ON THE DRIVE?!?!" and finally joined a group with South American instruments playing "Ole" while alternating between screaming "I-TA-LIA!" and blowing the tune out on whistles and airhorns. It was hard to move even a block on the Drive because it was so packed with people! There were a few people with French flags that were being jeered at, but it was all in good fun, and some French and Italian fans took turns play-colliding with each other and roleplaying some of the famous collisions and moves from the game. Every time I passed someone with a French flag, I gave them a pitiful look and said, "You brave, brave soul." Most of them laughed. XD I went up to Robson downtown, too, later in the day, where every fifth car going down the street was honking like mad and had an Italian flag somewhere on the car. Even the UPS people and police cars were driving up and down the street with flags. There were some horse-mounted police, too, to get through the crowds where cars couldn't go.
Level of Italian World Cup fever in Vancouver: EXTREMELY HIGH!
VIVA ITALIA!
Yes, that's what I screamed today running up and down Commercial Drive. For those who don't live in the area/don't know, Commercial Drive is an area of Vancouver known as "Little Italy" because it's the center of most Italian activity in the city. The Italian population is HUGE there.
So, of course, that's where the party was.
The Drive was INSANE today! The first thing I did after the World Cup was pin an Italian flag to my chest and take the train out to Commercial to soak up the atmosphere. The Skytrain was *packed* with people in Italian jerseys with the BIGGEST Italian flags I have EVER seen, all greeting each other in Italian. I hooked up with a large group of twenty-somethings with a gigantic flag from Burnaby and we all went to "join the party" on the Drive.
I wish I had brought a camera, because things were absolutely INSANE. People colored head to toe in Italia colors were climbing all over the lamposts with megaphones screaming "I-TA-LIA!" to the crowd below. I joined a group of people running up and down the street with flags screaming "VIVA ITALIA!", and ended up in a giant chorus of people singing "Ole" XD. There were literally THOUSANDS of people on this one street, so much that more than 9/10ths of the street was closed to car traffic. The part of the street that *was* open to cars was full of people sitting in the back of trucks, standing in the back of Jeeps and convertables, all wearing Italian colors waving the Italian flag screaming, "ITALIAAAAA!" If you didn't honk your horn (and EVERYBODY was), you were jeered at. There were people dressed in Italian jerseys, people dressed as the Cup (O_O!), people with gigantic flags, dressed as living flags, people with giant flags tied around their necks like capes... EVERYTHING.
Myself, after I had lost my voice screaming calmed down a bit, I bought a piece of pizza from an Italian pizzeria, emailed Rhia (it was an internet cafe, too) with "WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU ON THE DRIVE?!?!" and finally joined a group with South American instruments playing "Ole" while alternating between screaming "I-TA-LIA!" and blowing the tune out on whistles and airhorns. It was hard to move even a block on the Drive because it was so packed with people! There were a few people with French flags that were being jeered at, but it was all in good fun, and some French and Italian fans took turns play-colliding with each other and roleplaying some of the famous collisions and moves from the game. Every time I passed someone with a French flag, I gave them a pitiful look and said, "You brave, brave soul." Most of them laughed. XD I went up to Robson downtown, too, later in the day, where every fifth car going down the street was honking like mad and had an Italian flag somewhere on the car. Even the UPS people and police cars were driving up and down the street with flags. There were some horse-mounted police, too, to get through the crowds where cars couldn't go.
Level of Italian World Cup fever in Vancouver: EXTREMELY HIGH!
VIVA ITALIA!