Historically it hasn’t been my jam but the dominance of the USWNT has gotten me very invested in the current World Cup. I didn’t think it possible but the Canadians seem to be even less interested in soccer than Americans. After much Facebook searching I found a pub way to the south that was going to be showing the game.

After working and working out in the morning I grabbed one of the bike share bikes that litter the city and headed that way. Vancouver may be tough to get around given the absence of transportation options that most cities have but these bikes are so cheap and ubiquitous that they make up for a lot of it. Oddly I never see anyone using them…

I rode all the way out to the suburbs to this pub only to arrive to find that it had literally burned down or something! Luckily I got there early. But now I was too far out to make it anywhere else and as I was in the suburbs there were no cabs. I once again frantically searched to see if they had any sort of Uber equivalent. Luckily I found Kater which had just launched. But they only had one driver and he had to come all the way from the city to get me.

I rolled the dice and told him to take me to the first Irish Pub I was able to look up. His response “Are you sure you want to go to that part of town?” Looking back on my history I had an internal laugh at this. Got him to take me out there and arrived at The Blarney Stone only four minutes into the game.

Those who know me know that Irish Pub’s are one of my great passions in life. This is the Pub I’ve been missing in Denver. If you’re ever trying to find me on the streets of Van this is probably where I’ll be.

After watching the US defeat England I had to head home to make some work calls. Productivity was flagging after that and I still had things to do so I headed down to Trees Organic Coffee. This is a decent little coffee shop which has the distinction of being one of the few downtown that’s open late. They also apparently have been voted as having the best Cheesecake in Vancouver, though I’ve not tried it (yet). They also roast the beans right in the front room there which is both neat and distracting.

Worked there for a while and then home and to sleep.