Dublin :)

Well, Pat and BJ are sleeping away...so I decided to slip out and update this thing.

My favorite story so far from this part of our trip was the first night we were here. We have a four bed hostel, so we lucked out because the fourth bed was taken by a dude our age from Northern Ireland whose name was Chris and was down here to party for the weekend.
So all four of us went out the first night here (friday) and we went from bar to bar along Temple Bar street and had a beer in each and checked the vibe of each bar, it was cool. We ended up at The Temple Bar, a huge really fun bar right in the middle of the Temple Bar area. All ages from 19 to mid 80s. It was funny though because they were playing the funniest American music. From 1960s pop/rock to the Grease soundtrack to 80s pop. And all the local Irish folk knew every word better than we did!
So we met some people there had fun....it was getting late, I split off from the group and wandered for a little bit and eventually went to bed. BJ was behind me about 30mins to an hour. It was pretty late (or early the next morning) when Chris (our hostel roommate) and Pat were sitting at a late night fast food place soaking up their booze with a kebab wrap when this Irish dude goes "f**king Americans, they are all soft, they cant drink like us Irish guys" .... well, that did not sit well with Pat.
So he challenged the dude, keep in mind it is like 3AM. Chris, Pat, this dude (Matt) and Matt's friend from Australia all head back to Matt's place via taxi for a drink-off. LOL! They drink beers all night, tough-talking Irish Matt was the first one to 'fall asleep', the next one??? our roomie Chris from Northern Ireland. Pat and the Australian tie!
To top it off, Chris apparently got 'sick' on Matt's porch as they stumbled out of there at 6AM! lol

I just remember being woken up at 6:30 when they came into the hostel and looked at my watch and saw the time and was like 'uh oh, this is going to be a great story!'
so yeah...US kicked Ireland's ass :)

Thanks Pat!!!!

Yesterday we did the Guinness tour! It was pretty cool, learned a lot about how it is made, the history of the place, etc. The Gravity Bar at the top is awesome! You end the tour with a pint of Guinness in this bar that is the highest point in Dublin and is completely surrounded 360 degrees by windows. So you get an awesome view of the city, if you aren't bothered by heights it is a great time :)

We then went and watched the HIGHLY anticipated Italy v. Spain futbol match! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! Keep in mind, we are in Ireland...they did not even qualify for the tournament and the place was so packed. We asked a local where to go, they told us this place called the Woolshed, a sports bar. We went there almost 2 hours before the match. We got the last available table, ordered food, ate it...and ended up staying in that booth for almost 6 hours! When game time started the two story bar was so packed you could not even walk to the bathroom. Think....dance/night clubs, Saturday night, peak time...smack dab in the middle of the dance floor. You have to 'slither' your way through ... basically we were stuck in our booth! It was an almost even mix of Italy and Spain supporters, things shifted pro Spain after the half.
We were on the second floor and the Spain fans were SOOOO nuts and jumping up and down so hard that Pat BJ and I were all just a little scared if the place was structurally sound enough for it...the floor was DEFINITELY bowing in the middle and we all slid towards the wall expecting it to just collapse! People hanging off the banisters, I was sitting on the table and standing on the booth!
We started pro-Italy because we stayed there so long. But we were neutral! The match was 0-0, went into overtime, 0-0 after overtime...then went into the oh so exciting and oh so anti climatic penalty shoot off.....Spain won. We became Spain fans :) 'VIVA ESPANA!' :)
I have video of the place during the shoot off, holy God it was INSANE!!!! People stripping their clothes off falling to their knees screaming and sweating, crying, etc..... this was not even the Championship or anything, it was just to move forward in the tournament, lol!
But ... apparently this is the first time Spain had made it this far in Euro Cup, so that is why there was so much craziness.

Not sure what is on board for today. I think we are going to do the Jameson Whiskey tour! Then....not sure, early(ish) flight tomorrow to London. So we may keep things calm tonight, pack up and get ready to bounce.

Can't believe this is all almost over! I want to say that it has flown by, because it has, but then I say that and then think about things like the Vatican or our first Italian dinner...and it seems like ages ago!
:)

I will add more later, ciao!