Forza Italia!

I've been delayed in posting for the last couple of days, mainly because I've been hungover for that long, after the celebration following Italy's stunning overtime World Cup victory. It was, as you can probably imagine, absolutely nuts. I got into the airport from Oslo at around 5 p.m. and went straight to the lovely town of Monte di Procida, the sacred hill (so known because it has things that the rest of Naples doesn't, such as trash pickup and people who speak english). Several of my friends live there, and in the main piazza of town, they had set up a huge projection screen where about half the city gathered to watch the game. Not quite as crowded as say, the main piazza in downtown Napoli or the Circus Maximus in Rome, but still pretty wild. And we the Americans of course brought the beer. It was nuts right up until overtime, at which point it became ultra nuts. And when Italy made the winning penalty kick, it became super ultra nuts. All of a sudden, the ENTIRE city was in the piazza, shooting off fireworks, spraying champagne, random people with marching band instruments were playing, all the sheer craziness you've probably seen on the news over the last couple of days. Again, pictures to follow once I figure out my cell phone.

I rolled into work at 10:30 Monday morning. Nobody cared.