Our delay in the Dublin airport lasted well over 5 hours. We reached our destination in Shepard’s Bush, London around 5:30 am, extreemly worn out, cold, and ready for sleep. We have been staying with Zoe and Gemma in their flat, and both of them have been especially friendly and helpful in making our time here in London absolutely amazing.

After catching up on some much needed sleep, we headed to Notting Hill where there was a giant street sale, spanning a bunch of city blocks, here you could find illegal albums, vintage clothing, jewlery, sunglasses and many more items. On our walk down one of the isles, I noticed a vendor selling two Wisconsin t-shirts. One of them was a Wisconsin Dells t-shirt, and the other was a Shoe Box, Black Earth, Wisconsin shirt, which reminded me how far away we were from home when the person selling the shirts had no idea where Wisconsin was on a map.

I’ve begun to realize that not many people in Europe know where Wisconsin is, so I usually say Wisconsin, and then tell them, close to Chicago, and they seem to have a better idea geographically. Last night I was feeling a big cold coming on, but cured it with a vitamin c pill that Jake gave me, and we headed out to a club/coffeehouse to celebrate Gemma’s 25th birthday, which is coming up tomorrow (Monday). After that we headed to a warehouse, that has been converted into a nightclub called the Neighborhood. We spent the entire evening on the dance floor and having a great time. It was especially great to be hanging out with Charolette and Emily again. As most of you know, nightclubs are probably the last place you would ever find me on a weekend night if I were in Wisconsin, but I had so much fun at this one, it was most definately because of the people I was with.

I have three flights coming up the next few days. I have to go back to Amsterdam in order to catch up with my flight home. It’s been a long trip, and aside from the weather raining, snowing, and sleeting everyday (except today) this trip has exceeded every expectation I ever had for backpacking across Europe. I think Jake was right when we were talking last night is that the things you’ll remember years later, won’t be the shitty weather, but the great things you saw and did while you were here, and he’s right.

I tried with everything I could to persuede the cab driver to let me drive around the block last night. I had him all set to hand over the keys, and begin my life long dream of driving on the other side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right, but at the last second he began questioning his insurance policy and called off our deal.

Today we took in more of downtown London, checking out big ben, buckingham palace, and hyde park. They were all pretty cool. Hyde park has this certain area where local crazies can stand on pedistals and preach about whatever it is they feel they need to get across to the majority. I got some really great video of a couple of these individuals.

Unfortunatly the Queen was ill, and had to cancel our appointment with her for tea this afternoon. I’ve picked up a bunch of new British slang that I will be more than happy to share with all of you once I get back to the US. Only a limited time left here in London so I’m going to close. Keep it real.

Our last day in Dublin was spent touring the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, going to the Guiness brewery, and also touring another castle. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8pm, but has been delayed until 1am, leaving us a nice 5 hour time period to get aquainted with the Dublin airport. Our time in Dublin was unforgettable, and London should be good fun. I’m still trying my best to convince a local to let me drive their car, but I haven’t had any takers. I doubt I would be very good, as everything is on the wrong side, but I’m still willing to give it a try.

Last night we got back pretty late, and didn’t get too much of a chance to take in any more pubs as they close at 12:30 in the morning, and the nightclubs here, as we found out the night before, are still stuck in the early to mid 90’s, so for some of you that would be heaven, but me notsomuch.

Word on the street is that it is snowing in London, which won’t be out of the ordinary for our travels. Today was the first day that It didn’t rain or snow. I apologize to those I promised post cards to, they are not sent yet, but I will keep my word and try to get them in the mail tomorrow. Jake almost lost his new dress shoes he bought in Ireland. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere, because he’s captain direction, and if it weren’t for me, he lose everything but the clothes on his body, so we balance each other out nicely.

Today we had to give up our presidential suite here and exchange it for a smaller version on the 4th floor. We decided that a lot of people come to Ireland and just see Dublin, and we wanted to buck the norm, and get to the heart of the country to an unknown destination. After looking at maps and doing some very last second decision making, we settled on the city of KilKenny (pronounced Kill Kenny), a small but nice town of about 25,000 people. We first toured a 13th century castle, which was really amazing.

While taking pictures in the courtyard of the castle Jake wanted to do a human weave for the onlookers from the castle windows, we began and he instantly took a digger, falling to the ground, and hopefully giving the onlookers as good of a laugh as we had. We walked around and sampled some more Guiness, and had some really nice converstaion with a guy named Tom who was more than friendly in giving us places to visit, and just general good conversation.

Kilkenny is about a 2 hour bus ride both ways, and upon arriving back in Dublin, and awaking from a deep sleep, we hurried to exit the bus. It was only a few seconds later when Jake informed me that he had left his hat on the bus. Because it wasn’t mentioned earlier, Jake lost his first hat in Amsterdam, after owning it for only one day. This one made it through three countries, and many great adventues.

Tomorrow night we are flying into London, our last destination of our trip. My girlfriends, and fellow pirates, Emily and Charolette, have promised me a trip to Notting Hill, and for those of you who know me and my admiration for all romantic comedies, particularly ones with Hugh Grant, understand the magnitude of this visit. I’m looking forward to spending some great times with some great new friends, as I wrap up this fast paced jaunt across Europe. I wish there was more time, more money, and a way that you could all be here for a little while with me and enjoy all this, and just take it in. It freaks me out sometimes to think about where I am, and how far away I am from home, but these next couple of days are going to be absolutely amazing, and I really hope that I have the opportunity to spend a substantial amount of time here in Ireland in the future.

Cheers Dublin!

If a girl says she’s a born again Chirstian, just say you are too, and save yourself the trouble.

I don’t know of any other place in the world where a bar can close down to a guitar player singing, Country Road Take Me Home. We had plenty, and I mean, plenty of Guiness tonight. We are planning a trip to the middle of the country to tour some castles tomorrow. I have successfully established myself as the alpha male on our trip, as Jake is currently struggling to stay awake to type on his computer. It’s been a LONG day, but I am really looking forward to our journey tomorrow. I think today was the most fun we’ve had on our journey so far. We met some people from California that gave us some good advice as far as sight seeing goes, so we’ll try and follow their advice. There is an abundance of snow/rain in the Ireland area right now, but we are determined to press on and see this country. Please contact either Jake or myself if you would like to donate to our bank accounts.

I’ve been in three different countries today, and it’s only 3pm. We had to wake up at 5:30 to catch our bus to the airport. From there we flew to London, and then onto Dublin where we are right now. We promptly had our first pint of Guiness and now are trying to decide how to best spend our next 2 and a half days here. Once again, the weather is not cooperating with us, as a mixture of snow and rain continues to meet us everywhere we travel. The place we are staying at, is called the Avalon house, and is packed with many people our age, so hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to get to know some of them. We are contemplating the idea of taking a day trip outside of Dublin into the unknown, but we have to make sure we are confidant in the trains and that we will be able to find a place to stay. Jake says that sleeping in a barn is out of the question. Hopefully, we’ll have some interesting stories to share with everyone come tomorrow. Until then…

I was sitting in an Irish pub in Barcelona last night waiting for Jake to walk by from using the internet cafe that I am currently sitting in. After a few drinks this guy from Leeds comes up and is asking Jake and I all sorts of questions. He informed us that his biggest dream was to drive across America, eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, go to taco bell, crash a prom, and eat a steak in Texas. He loved Eddie Murry and Chris Rock, but hadn´t heard of Dave Chapelle.

Our last night in Amsterdam was great. We had to leave our hostel at 7am in order to make our flight to Barcelona. We took a one and a half our train ride to Einhoven, Netherlands, where we boarded a Ryanair flight which took us to Ginova, a city about 45 miles outside of Barcelona. From there we loaded into a huge bus which dropped us off in the center of the city. We still don´t know if that´s where we are getting picked up from, but I sure hope so.

Yesterday, consisted of about an hour searching for our hostel. It´s difficult with street names in spanish to read a map or get any idea of where we are going. Luckily Jake is an expert at foreign subways stations and has gotten us flawlessly around. We went to the top of a Christopher Columbus monument, and to a place called the Temple de la Sagrada Familia, which is basically the worlds biggest construction project. It was started sometime in the late 1800´s and is scheduled to be finished sometime in 2025. I think it will be worth the trip back in 25 years just to see thing thing completed.

Today, we spent time at the Picasso museum, the temple mentioned above, and an old abandon castle. Trying to tie up our last second travel plans to Dublin, which I´m sure will include more planes, trains, and busses. Aside from not being fluent in Spanish, Barcelona would be a wonderful place to call home. Unlike Amsterdam, there are certain places that you can just see yourself making a life for yourself. I guess there were certain parts of Amsterdam that had that appeal, but not as strong as Barcelona.

Tonight, we are going to try and find some of the clubs we were told we could get into because we are handsome, otherwise, you can´t come in, so we are going to see how we measure up. Hopefully, we´ll be able to leave Barcelona the way we left Amsterdam, wanting just one more day, even hour, to finish up little details of our trip.

Really looking forward to Dublin, I hear the guiness is good there. I trust all of you are keeping it real.

Amsterdam just won’t stop raining and snowing. In between weather breaks we’ve covered a lot of ground. We just got back from an Indian restaurant (same 30 min wait), and the Van Gough museum. Both were interesting. The new hostel we are staying in is the downtown Flying Pig, and it’s sooooo much fun. Right now I’m on a computer next to jake with a live dj spinning records in the back. To my left there is a big lounge area with tons of pillows and tables. This city is absolutely great for people watching. We have a small but inexpensive bar here, so we’ll spend some time here before we head out on the town. The girls from London, Charlotte and Emily have been a wonderful addition to our group, and I can’t wait to meet up with them again in London. I can honestly say that I’ve never laughed harder and for so long than I did with Jake and them, it was really great.

Jake and I have to check out of the hostel by 7am to catch a hour and a half train ride to our airport which will take us to a little spot outside of Barcelona. We’ll have to take another short train ride from there, and we’ll be checking in to a nice (supposedly) place in the heart of Barcelona. Hopefully, it will be as amazing as Amsterdam has been. We American’s have it pretty good as far as CD prices, a new cd costs about 2 times the amount here as it does in the states. I’d have to get a second to have the record collection here like I have at home.

Please note - I’m not using a spell check here, just getting this posted.

I’ve just awoken to the news that the shuttle bus that takes people into town has already left for the morning. This really sucks because what would normally be a free service has just turned into a 7 euro bus ride, and a 14 euro train ride. We did a lot of sightseeing yesterday, and the main part of today will consist of the Anne Frank house, Van Gough museum, and whatever else we happen to come by. This are super expensive in Europe, and the dollar really doesn’t get you very far by comparrison. Tomorrow (Monday) we leave for Barcelona, where we will be staying for two nights until we depart for Ireland. It’s been a pretty amazing trip so far, and I wish I had the time to go into great deal about just how different everything is over here. Service in restaurants is absolutely horrid, most likely because you don’t tip like you do in America, if at all. So, they are in no hurry to take your order and in most cases, like last night, you’ll wait 30 mins in a not crowded place, before you place your order.

Pictures are probably out of the question. At least until some semblance of normalcy resumes with our busy schedules. It rained yesterday, all day long. Our hostel is bout 30 miles from Amsterdam, located right on the ocean. They are teasing us with a bunch of surfboards that will inevitably go unused due to the unfavorable weather conditions. We spent the majority of the last evening in Amsterdam, wandering around and trying to find a more centralized location to stay, which we found for Sunday night, but not tonight.

Our friends Emily and Charlotte arrived about an hour ago, and will be joining us in the next few days of our trip. Today we’ll be visiting the Van Gough museum and the Anne Frank House. I’ll hopefully be able to take some better pictures as the weather has improved significantly.