City Bus Tours and Ireland out of Euro 2016

City bus tours and Ireland out of Euro 2016

Today we woke up to grey skies and light rain - oh well!  We got ourselves ready and were about to walk out the door when the rain got heavier.  We decided to wait abit and once it lessened we were off - raincoats on and umbrellas up.  We were walking to O’Connell Street, the main street of Dublin to catch the City Sightseeing Dublin hop-on, hop-off bus. 

We found the bus and breakfast on our way and we were off.  What we have noticed is that the Irish are very friendly and welcoming and the bus drivers were no different.  We did the whole tour which took just over one hour so we could get our bearings and work out where we wanted to head back to.  The bus, in the drizzly weather was also a nice place to be.  We passed great sights such as Trinity College; Dublin Castle, the two cathedrals, St Patricks and Christchurch; the Dulinda, Abbey Street, saw the National Art Gallery,  St Sephens and College Green, the Guinness Storehouse once again, Kilmainham Gaol and the Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park.  We could not drive into the park today on the bus as apparently the Vice President of the US was there and so no-one else was allowed in.  Funny - we saw him and his possey as we were heading into Dublin from the airport yesterday and spotted his big place at the airport - Airforce 2.

We hopped off the bus and headed to Henry Street, the main shopping street, and went to Arnotts and Debenhams’ department stores and a couple of toy stores.  Connor was the only one to purchase spending his birthday money!  The Avengers franchise is doing well off Connor!  

We also listened to a great Irish busker.................

As we continued down the street mum and I found a wee Irish souvenir shop and the boys found a great wee Irish pub that served meals and was playing sport - perfect! We headed in here for a pint of Guinness (or two) and lunch.  We knew that Ireland was playing in the knock-out stages of Euro 2016 against Ireland today, but did not know what time - turns out it was 2pm and it was 12.30pm.  By the time we had a drink, lunch and played a few hands of cards that pub was packed out with Irish football supporters and we were ready for the game! Ireland scored in the first 5 minutes and the atmosphere was fantastic.  Check out the wee video I took as Ireland scored their penalty goal - mum is hilarious, Connor has his ears blocked and Karl is answering another one of Loki's questions.......

The Irish celebrate some more and start singing.....................

 We are loving it - great atmosphere, great food and great Guinness - what more could we want...........

We stayed to half time soaking up the “craic” but it was then time for us to head off to catch the hop-on bus back to the main street and then home.  

We found out when we were on the bus that France were now 2-1 up and Ireland lost the game.  I was happy as we are currently living in France and wanted them to win particularly as they are hosting the whole show - but we are in Ireland and they wear their passion on their sleeves! 

We headed back to the apartment and then Karl, Lachlan and I headed to the mini supermarket to get some groceries for our stay - tomorrow - weather permitting we are heading to the zoo as Karl heads to his conference.