Dublin take dhá

A third weekend of rugby! Not that we are rugby heads, but the chance to watch all three All Blacks tests seemed too good to pass up.  Up early Saturday morning for our Ryanair flight.  In typical ruanair fashion we were lined up at gate 440, when over the PA it is announced we will now be boarding from gate 443.  A mad human crush followed as people rushed to keep their place in line.  Oh how I wish for allocated seating. A short flight later we landed in Dublin and let the gunniess flow!  We went to the temple bar to watch the Kiwi league teams last minute semi-final win over the English.  We then walked around the city, taking in Trinity College (the oldest university in Ireland) and two Cathedrals.  Nath and I headed back to our hostel for a nana nap later in the afternoon before heading out for dinner with my cousin + girlfriend and Scott + his friends.

Next morning Nath and I headed to Jameson's Old Distillery home of the famous Irish Whiskey.  We didn't think it would be open at 10:15, but it was, and we had our first whiskey of the day at 11am!  The whiskey hit us in the head so we grabbed a bite to eat before slowly making our way to Aviva stadium.  We stopped at a pub called Oil Can Harry's and had a guinness with some pretty funny older Irish guys.

Game time and what an amazing atmosphere.  The Irish supporters were writing off their team before the match and were stunned to score an early try - an then another and another to take the lead at half time.  Luckily the Irish scored no points in the second half and the All Blacks were able to win the match in over time.  What a game! An Irish supporter gave me his scarf afterwards and shook my hand - so lovely.  We celebrated our victory at a massive pub called O'Neills where we had Irish stew to warm ourselves up.  Time to take the bus to the airport and board our last ever ryanair flight.  The best of the three rugby weekends by far.
Ah Dublin you were grand!

All Blacks V England @ Twickenham

Off to our second rugby game in as many weekends.  It was a lovely sunny day so we met Aaron along the river for some pre-match guinness (preparing for next weekend) then walked to the stadium to watch a pretty exciting game of rugby.  The opening quarter was very action packed and NZ was dominating.  Unfortunately England was able to put a stop on our point scoring, and at one point even took the lead. The All Blacks never looked in doubt and came back to win 30-22.

After the game we walked along the river from Twickenham to Richmond.  Of course we stopped at a lovely old pub along the way.  Nathan and I went to Acton to catch up with my brother as he left London the very next day for life back in NZ.  

Paris take deux

 We traveled to Paris on the eurostar to watch the All Blacks play France.  As the game didn't kick off until 9pm we had some time to sight see.  We started at the catacombs, which is an underground ossuary holding the remains of roughly 6 million people.  I was totally fascinated by all the bones and loved every minute of the visit.
The remainder of the day was spent lunching (had the yummiest croque monsieur), stopping off for a quick drink at an Aussie pub (it was not our intention to have a drink but when we saw that pub we thought it would be rude not to), having a few pre game drinks in our hotel room before leaving for the game (detour via the eiffel tower so we could photos of lit up at night).

The rugby game itself was pretty ho hum.  Not the best game of rugby; but we did have amazing seats and the stadium looked like a UFO.
We started Sunday off with a leisurely French breakfast (coffee and croissant) before taking the metro to Notre Dame. After the regulation jump shot we walked along the seine to the eiffel tower, stopping off to buy some authentic art works from river side artists.  After more regulation jump shots at the tower we then walked to the arc de triomphe to see the crazy round-a-bout.  We fitted in a cheeky beer at an Irish bar before boarding the train back to London.  Au revoir Paris.