Mom, Grace, Dan, and Mackenzie have come and gone, and it was great. Here's a brief rundown of the past week of awesomeness.
Friday - Laurel flew in Friday night and we had a great time. Her flight got in at about 7 and we went off to go meet my friends at their apartment. A few of the kids from the program wanted to go to a pub by school that night so we met up with them and went out. It was great. Laurel had the chance to meet some of the kids in the program which was great fun. Turns out they have free BBQ on Tursday's at 6...guess where I'll be! We came back that night and Ann was still awake. She made great fun of me, and even Laurel a bit. Laurel loved her, and Ann like her a lot.
Saturday - We had to be out the door by 7 am to pick the fam up from airport. We got there just in time. It was wonderful to see everyone. Grace looked ridiculous as usual. Big baggy sweat pants, some crazy t-shirt and giant sunglasses - she was inside. Not to mention her hat that had ear covers and little tassels with balls on the end hanging off of the ear covers.
We had a great day. Got them settled in and then headed off to explore. We went to Dublin Castle which they loved. I've been there four times now so I could have given the tour my self, but it was still fun. Everyone loved it. Mom also took decorating tips...
After the Castle we went to Christ Church Cathedral. Mom loved it. They had the organ playing when we first walked in and when we were on our way out we got to hear the choir warm up for the service an hour later. They were starving and exhausted though so we headed out before the service.
That night we went to a really neat pub close by for diner. Great burgers. Dan told the story of how he and Dad went out to Karioke some nights while they were here. I had to laugh, like father like son.
Sunday - We went to bed early and woke up late. Then we drove to Galway. Laurel and I had planned to take a bus back that night, but we didn't get there till 4 and our Bus left at 7:30 so we decided it was ridiculous and took the train the next morning. Everyone loved Galway. We went out for an amazing dinner. I got Irish stew, Laurel got Shepherds pie (which I think was bigger than she was), Mom and Mackenzie got the Chowder and Grace and Dan got the Chiken. Fantastic. We had an amazing waitress who forced grace to share her French Fries. The best was the Bailies Irish Cream Cheese Cake though.... heavenly.
That night we went out for music. The musician loved us cause we sang along with this other group of Americans that Dan made friends with. He sang Laurel Galway Girl and she swooned. On our way back we couldn't all fit in a cab so Mom, Grace and Dan took a cab while Laurel Mackenzie and I walked back to the B&B. We stopped by Supermacs for fun. Terrible as usual, but I figured they had to have it.
Monday - Laurel and I caught at 5:20 train which was awful. Let me tell you tooooo early. She got a flight back to London. I went back to Ann's, changed and met everyone at School to go to the American Ambassador's house. No one gets tours of this place, but because the Ambasador's Private secretary did the program in 2002 she got us in.
It was fantastic. The house was the house of the Viceroy in the old days - or the Kings man in Ireland. It's right across the street from the Presidents house which use to be the PM's man in Ireland's house. Very Very Very cool. Be-utiful. I forgot my camera though!!!! HOW LAME! It's ok becase i'm going to steal everyone else's. The grounds were amazing and the inside was decadent. JFK, Nixon, Regan, Clinton and many other presidents had all stayed there. Evan and I joked - perhaps a little to loudly - that the only reason Clinton came three times was because the isolation of the house gave him a chance to walk around in naked outside, something I'm sure the Rose garden isn't too well suited for.
The family woke up and drove to the Cliffs of Moher, which I hear was an experience to say the least. Then they got into Killarney at about 8:30 that night
Tuesday - I took an early train to Killarney, met up with everyone and headed out. We drove around Killarney National park and it was amazing. Mountains, valleys, lakes and sheep (which almost fell on the Car one time!) Then we did the Ring of Kerry. I was excited because I had heard so much about it. The whole day's drive was breathtaking. That night we canceled our reservations in Cork - Mom got an Irish ear full - and made the longest drive to Kilkenny ever! We got in late, had dinner and then found some traditional Irish Music. They had never seen Irish bag pipes before and they thought it was awesome. The difference is that scottish bag pipes you have to blow into. The Irish don't have the time for that though so they pump air in with their elbows.
Wednesday - We drove back to Dublin and went to the Dail. We had to stop at the house so I could change. We got a personal tour of the Dail from one of the Ushers. Dan loved it. He said he thought it was his favorite part. Billy was really busy though because it was the last day that a committee he's on was meeting. We ate lunch there, had tea in the visitors pub, which I must say is s-wank. velvet couches all around with leather stools. Grace wasn't sure if she was aloud to sit down!
That night I took them into the sub-burbs to listen to some traditional Irish music. I've talked about it a few times. It's down in a basement of a Hotel and they do sessions where people from the community come in and jam. A little old man flirted with mom and tried to impress her by playing the Accordion, a difficult task if ever there was one.
Thursday - We woke up early and met everyone from the program at school to go to the Hotel. We took a two hour coach bus ride north to the Slieve Russel Hotel. The Irish call it the "Ba-Jaseus Hotel." Because when you turn the corner and see it thats exactly what you say. They don't lie, it was incredible. Its on huge grounds, I didn't get to walk around outside as it was getting dark but a few others did and their pictures are great. This place was crazy. Lounges with fire places everywhere. The rooms were huge. The hotel was massive. The food was out of this world.
Diner was amazing. I had Lobster, Duck, and Apple Crumble all while the live pianist played away. Not your traditional food I know, but wow was it good. This being said Grandad's noodles would have been a drastic improvement! We sat with Michael the Director of the Program and had great conversation. He once again amazed me telling us that he's been to the states about 20 times and goes on Music vacations, and from time to time hob nobs with Van Morrison in Dublin.
Friday - I woke up at 8 after going to bed at about 5am to go for a swim, sauna, and steam room...as one does. I forgot my baiting suit so I snuck in wearing plaid boxers, stole a swim cap too. Had a massive breakfast and went back to Dublin. We went to the Guinness store house where we ran into the family we met in Galway (The husband didn't remember Dan which was hilarious) and into a family from Charleston how bizarre! We got out of there late and got some diner down town. We ended up going to bed kinda early because they had to be out of the hotel by 7am.
Saturday - The end of a fantastic week. Driving to the Airport was an adventure. Dan did a great job, it was just me as the navigator who failed. I really must commend him on an excellent stint with the whole driving thing. I think we only ended up in the wrong lane one time and that was on his first round about, so not bad at all. They got there just in great time.
I headed home and crashed until about four and have done nothing sense. I've attempted to finish my final, Final Paper but as I'm blogging I think we all know how well that has gone.
I've started watching House online. Well I started at midnight last night stayed up till 3 and laid in bed till 4 doing the same all day. I am a bum.
Ok back to paper writing, sorry for the length, but this week required it!
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