What have the Irish ever invented??: On Friday, we go to Dublin... and Sharon Campbell is BAD

Friday morning, we leave the beautiful Irish countryside of small towns and lonely sheep, to go to Dublin.

Normally this trip would take you about 2 hours to drive from Limerick to Dublin. That would be if we compare to driving in an America where we have turnpikes and freeways. However, in Ireland, they have narrow two lane roads which extends across much of the country. So it takes a while to drive by small country towns, to limp behind dairy trucks and other small-engined automobiles-- at speed limits of 80 KM Per Hour. Let me convert this for you: 80 Kilometers Per Hour = 42 Miles Per Hour. Not exactly Johnny's ideal driving speed.

But what kind of makes driving fun over here is: Roundabouts.

Using a european roundabout is so much better than sitting at an American traffic light. Number one, you are moving not sitting. Number two, you can roll all the way around again in a circle if you're not sure which route to take and check over the signs. You do feel like a donkey, driving around again for another full loop, looking at the signs, but hey- i have time. Number three, you can improve your position against other cars in the roundabout; lots of passing opportunities exist here. Here's a shot of me passing Dave Van Ommeren and getting inside position against him and on other Irish drivers in a roundabout:

Textbook technique. You could almost think of (well, i got to think about) euro roundabouts as a mini-NASCAR event. You try to get your front fender under another car, in front of another Irish driver, on a roundabout-- and you take that position. "He did not hit you, Paddy, he rubbed you. And rubbin' is racin." Right, it's a bit childish. But i had to do something to amuse myself on the 3.5 hour drive at an average speed of 42 mph all the way to Dublin. Remember, i am driving that proud American machine with the bowtie on the front grill; a Chevy Epica. This thing drove so badly its nickname was the E-Piece-Of. Oversized for euro roads, sloppy steering, poor brakes, low power and only one cupholder. The boys at General Motors must have been like, "I've got an idea. Let's rebadge a Malibu, and sell it in Europe. Europeans might just like an America car thats too big to park and gets below average gas mileage. Yeah it'll cost money to put the steering wheel and controls on the other side of the car, but so what? We're GM." I swear to you, my Chevy must have only 1 of 300 sold in all of europe, as we didnt see another E-Piece-Of all week.

We finally make it to Dublin. Check in to our hotel. Feed our American faces with some more food. And, finally, we get ready to go see a outdoor rock concert featuring some band called U2.
Now, if you know our good friend, Sharon Campbell, you already know she's a big U2 fan. And she likes to, after a few glasses of wine, sometimes sing U2 songs. Which is okay, because generally the rest of us have had a couple glasses too, and, she is actually is a good singer. Her favorite song: BAD. And i promised not to tell her if U2 performed her song, made famous by U2 at the Live Aid Concert 20 years ago. You didnt hear it from me Sharon, but i rumor is U2 performed BAD here in Dublin, and that it was freakin' awesome.

One of the most fun part of going to see U2 in thier home town of Dublin Ireland is the long walk through the city of Dublin to the massive rugby/soccer stadium called, Croke Park. You're walking through older neighborhoods along with thousands of other fans, from England, Spain, Amsterdam, America, you name it-- stopping to enjoy pints of Guiness with the good local Irish people: