Forza Palermo

Sunday May 31 we went to the soccer stadium in Palermo for the last home game. (Got tickets for 5 euros, great deal.)  Before the game we had arancine for lunch.  Arancine are fried rice balls with ground beef or ham in the middle.  Then we started walking toward the stadium.  I began following Shawn in the right direction, only to turn around an find him next to me.  He has a twin in Palermo; the guy was tall, had curly hair, and the same color shirt.  (When he turned around though, he definitely had  a couple years on my husband.)  We stopped outside the stadium, to get a pink and black team jersey for Shawn to wear because it was so hot that afternoon.  One of the most interesting things we saw on the way in was a flag vendor.  He had team flags, Italian flags, the Sicily flag, and……confederate flags.  It was weird to see the Dixie flag in the mix. 

Anyway we continued on to the stadio, and had to scan our tickets to get inside.  You also had to leave all water bottles at the front gate, in case you were sneaking in alcohol.  The other reason was they didn’t want them thrown on the field if the referee made a disliked call.  We went inside and found seats in the shade, which was a must.  We were with several of the youth and some of the other leaders, most of which are VERY big fans.  One guy had his little sports radio so he could hear the announcers, and get scores from other games being played that day.   They were hoping one of the players for Palermo would get 2 goals and hit a record for the season. 

My friend and I were rather tired, so we being avid soccer fans, dozed a little bit while our husbands cheered on Palermo.  Throughout the game, popsicle, ice cream, and drink vendors kept hawking their wares to thirsty fans.  Since it was fairly warm, I am sure they did good business that afternoon.  The crowd went wild every time the home team made a goal or goal attempt.  The final score ended in a 2-2 tie.  We enjoyed the afternoon with our friends in spite of the heat.

   (Note: My camera died just before the game started so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures.)