I left early this morning for DC, and I just arrived at Dulles Airport where I'll pick up Sasha. I'm early -- her flight will arrive in an hour.

We'll be watching the final between Spain and the Netherlands in Mackey's Pub in DC.

Last week Rome, Italy, then Washington, DC and now Montreal, Canada... Sasha is traveling quite a lot. She is presenting her paper at a conference there tomorrow.

Sunday morning she'll take an early flight back to DC to get ready for the big game! I'll drive up on Sunday morning. Things on my other website are absolutely crazy -- so many new visitors, all looking for a place to watch the final. A lot of fun.

Tuesday I took the afternoon off -- something I seldom do, but then the Netherlands are seldom in the semi-finals. Petra and Diana hosted a great event at their house to watch the game.

It was an entertaining game to watch, with a nerve-wrecking last few minutes.

Yesterday Germany lost 1-0 from Spain in the other semi-final. It would have been cool to see a replay of the 1974 final. With a different end-result, of course.

For the first time since 1978 the Dutch soccer team has made it to the finals at the FIFA World Cup. The Dutch have never won the title... will Sunday be different?

The game starts at 2:30 pm EST/11:30 am PT and will be watched by Dutch-American communities throughout the United States. Here is a list of entries as collected on our Facebook page. Many of these are organized by NLBorrels.com and local Dutch clubs.

Most events have limited capacity, so come early, and some bars are for 21 years and older only. The dress code for all events is orange.

West Coast

• Los Angeles, CA - The Happy Ending in LA (7038 West Sunset Boulevard) Facebook invite In cooperation with the Netherlands Consulate, NLBorrels.com, EUROFRIENDSLA.COM, DBCLA.COM
• Orange, CA - Danny's Cafe & Billiards, 1096 N. Main St, Orange, CA 92867, 1-714-771-9706 (through Petra)
• Orange, CA - Dutch in the OC Club is hosting at Danny K's in Orange, CA (great city, great color!) (through Julia)
• The Holland Soccer Club will be watching the game
• San Francisco, CA - Civic Center Plaza - http://sanfrancisco.the-netherlands.org/News/News_Flashes/Holland_in_th…. The City of San Francisco is expecting more than 8,000 viewers
• San Francisco, CA - Kezar Pub, 770 Stanyan St (through Menno)
• Seattle, WA - Dutch Seattle: http://dutchseattle.ning.com/events/finals-hollandspain-live
• San Leandro, CA - The Englander Sports Pub & Restaurant, 101 Parrott St (through Kroepoek)

Central US

• Austin, TX - Fado's at 4th and Lavaca. The place will rock, many many Dutch. (through Dirk)
• Chicago, IL - Sedgwick's Bar and Grill, 1935 N. Sedgwick, Dutch Club Chicago
• Detroit, MI - Beverly Hills, MI (Detroit Metro Area). About 30 Dutch people. It's at a private residence. If you're interested contact rvanderputte@gmail.com
• Grand Rapids, MI - Vander Veen's Dutch store organizes an event at Celebration Cinema, 2121 Celebration Dr. NE #425 Knapp St. & East Beltline
• Houston, TX - Intercontinental Hotel Houston, Netherlands Texas Business Association
• Louisville, KY - Molly Malone 933 Baxter Avenue (through Hanane)
• Scottsdale, AZ - local Dutch Club "The Dutch Connection" will be meeting up at a sports bar called "Versus Sports Grill" on 9030 East Via Linda at 11:30 local time to watch The World Cup. At least 50 Hollanders are expected to come, children more than welcome.
• Tucson, AZ - Trident Grill, 2033 E. Speedway Blvd., Tucson AZ, 520-795-5755 ...Next to Buffalo Exchange on Speedway & Campbell, NW corner. Everyone welcome, under 21 also (through Sybelle)

East Coast

• Atlanta, GA - FADO aka HOLLAND HEINEKEN HOUSE, 273 Buckhead Ave - with Dutch DJ, live music, bitterballen and orange colored building :) (Atlanta Holland Club, NLBorrels.com)
• Cary, NC - About 30 Dutch people at a private residence. If you're interested contact jvanderham@att.net de Wieken
• Fairfax, VA - public event in Fairfax, VA: http://www.destinationfairfax.com/worldcup.php Not sure how "orange" this is (through Margareta)
• Laurel, MD - Maple Lawn "I'm guessing about 10 oranje fans; the rest soccer fanatics, both Spain and Holland supporters; always a good crowd for the WC games so far." (through John)
• Philadelphia, PA - Fado Irish pub. NAADV and NLBorrels.com - "Huge World Cup party at Fado starting at 10am, Sunday - they will be closing off the entire block - 15th and Locust. It may not be the Museumplein but expect a sea of orange!"
• Margate, FL - O'Malley's in Margate (Miami/Ft Lauderdale area) organized by the Netherlands Association of South Florida
• Miami, FL - Crazy Pianos in Coconut Grove (South Miami area) (through Mischa)
• New York, NY - Tonic Bar Time Square, 48th Street & 7th ave & Mars 2112 Best places to go in the New York area. Superb event organized by NLBorrels.com (read their announcement).
• Scotch Plains, NJ - Stage House Tavern. This sports bar has a Dutch owner
• Stamford CT - Irish Pub Tigin, 175 Bedford Street, http://www.tiginirishpub.com (through Nicole)
• Tallahassee, FL - Finnegan's Wake. Not so much a "Dutch" or "Dutch Fans-only" event, but yours truly is working hard to turn the entire place Orange! (Steven)
• Washington, DC - James Mackey's Pub (DC Dutch, NLBorrels.com): "Mackey's Pub will open specially for us Sunday at 12:30 pm and show the match LIVE on their many screens all around the place. NL Borrels also replenished the supply of kroketten! Mackey's is at 1823 L Street NW, Washington DC."
• Winterpark, FL (near Orlando) - Fiddlers Green in Winterpark, Fl courtesy of Club Holland Orlando, usually a large turnout of Expats; Still looking for a place in Cocoa Beach, Fl.(through Arnold)

Click on 'Read more' to see some pictures of previous soccer watching events in San Francisco, New York and Washington D.C.



San Francisco: the Netherlands-Uruguay. Picture courtesy of the Netherlands Consulate General in San Francisco.



New York: Denmark-the Netherlands. Great event by NLBorrels.com.



Washington DC: The Netherlands-Japan. Great event by DC Dutch and NLBorrels.com

Yesterday was Fourth of July, and we spent a nice evening at the American Tobacco Campus.

The weather was great, and we listened to several good bands, drinking 'mate', an Urugayan drink, and 'locopops', a local Durham icecream. Around 9.30 pm there was fireworks in the Durham Bulls stadium.

The first band, at 4.00 pm.

The crowd later on the day.

Saying 'hi' to one of the bands.

Guus

On the lawn.

Drinking 'mate'.

Sasha and her parents are in Rome, Italy, exploring the city together.

Sasha was invited to present her paper at a conference last week, and she flew to Rome on Tuesday. Friday evening after the conference Milan and Nadia arrived from Bulgaria in Rome and they're having a great time together.

It's the first time in Rome for all of them so there is a lot to see; for example they were all day in the Vatican yesterday. Sasha is flying back to Washington tomorrow.