Irish Memory

When Leonard and I lived in England, we decided to spend St. Patrick's Day 2000 over in Ireland. We had a wonderful weekend enjoying the festivities, touring Castles, the countryside, and the city. Now our favorite band is U2. They own a hotel in Dublin called the Clarence Hotel. One night we decided to go there and maybe have dinner or something just to check it out. When we got there there was a huge crowd of people waiting outside. We wondered what was going on. We heard people saying Chris Evans (England's version of David Letterman) was staying there. We decided to leave because we didn't want to brave the crowd just to see Chris Evans. We got half a block away, and decided to turn back. What if it really was U2 everyone was waiting to see? We joined the group standing near the door, when all of a sudden some police officers came and pushed us back to put up some barricades. In the shuffle we got right up front and personal. Now helicopters began to swarm the hotel, news media vans arrived on site with their camera crew poised and ready to catch a story, and then 4 black Mercedes pulled up. Soon after that, we could see inside the hotel Bono get off the elevator in the lobby. I felt like a giddy teenager. We then waited for what seemed like an eternity, (but it probably was only a few minutes) when all 4 members- Bono, The Edge, Larry, and Adam all came strolling out of the hotel. We were literally 5 feet away from them! My heart was beating so fast and my knees were knocking. A news reporter asked Bono a few questions, then the boys got in the Mercedes' and drove off to receive the key to the city. I remember at one point screaming, "America, Canada, and England love you!" What a dork! Len and I both had a huge adrenaline rush afterwards. We walked off into the Dublin night laughing our heads off. We couldn't believe we had just seen U2 nose to nose. It definitely was a case of being in the right place at the right time!