A weekend with Roxie

Hey All - 

So this pas weekend has been exhausting! Ann had to go to limerick this weekend so she kicked us out. LAME!!!!! 

It was ok though because I just stayed at one of  my friends apartments that was right across from school. 

The big news was that Roxie came to visit, and I guess still is visiting. She leaves wednesday afternoon. 

She had an early flight in on friday so I got up at 5 am to get to the Airport in time. She's doing great. She brought me notes from Wendy who is the advisor for IOU and our friend ellen. A brownie from my favorite sandwich shop which has the best brownies in the world, Uncle Sammy's, a T-Shirt from University Ministries. Pretty much the best bunch of gifts ever. 

We made our way down town dropped our bags off at my friends place, I showed her school and then we went exploring. We went to Dublin castle which she really liked and then over to Christ Church Cathedral but it was about to close. Then that night we met up with our friend Julia and went spontaneously to a concert. 

The concert was this group I use to love called "Flogging Molly." They were big in about 8th grade to Freshman Year. They play irish music, but add rock. There's just something about a punk rock band with Irish accents, a banjo and an accordion that you just have to love. It was great. Julia was planning on going alone which was crazy. She said her mom told her to go, which I thought was strange. Turns out her moms friend from the Dog Park said they were a good band. Thank god we went because she would have been on the ground floor by her little self all dressed up in the midst of an angry mob. As it turned out we sat in the balcony and enjoyed the madness of the 1st floor from a safe distance. 

The next day we woke up at 5am again to go on a bus tour of Derry and the Giants Causeway. It was a great tour. We took a bus up to Belfast, then met our bus. It took us up through the mountains to a castle and then to this really cool out cropping that looked like a mini cliffs of Moher. 

Then we went to the Causeway. Its a giant cliff with a lot of really cool rock formations. Legend has it that it was built by a mystical warrior who could grow to the size of a giant  who had heard about a lovely lady in  Scotland so he built a rock path to scotland. I should point out that Scotland is only about 7 miles away and you can see it quite clearly which is very strange. There's rocks that look like pipe organs, one that looks like a boot, a chimney, and some really just beautiful things. 

Then we went to Derry. Derry was one of the main sights of the troubles, and is still to day bitterly divided. It was really strange to see the different neighborhoods whose curbs are still painted to mark protestant and catholic neighborhoods. There are murals on a lot of buildings that tell the story of the troubles. It's also home to the Bloody Sunday massacre and we saw the memorial. We took a walking tour from a young kid who had bright red hair and was most clearly republican. They way he talked about the troubles was extremely moving. 

We were all so exhausted when we got back at about 7 that we forced ourselves to stay awake until about 10. 

We slept for about 12 hours and hit Dublin again. Roxie and I went to the guinness storehouse and then where off to Kilmahnium Gaol for a tour. She loved both of them

When we got back to the city center we walked into a giant Christmas celebration. They had a huge road blocked off with lots of people on stilts and music playing. They lit the tree downtown and had a big to do. Downtown looks gorgeous. Personally I think it's a bit early, but I guess when you don't have Thanksgiving to block it up, Christmas can start right after halloween. 

We went up to Ann's for a quick bite to eat and so Roxie could see my digs. Ann invited her up for diner tonight. So we're doing that. Tomorrow we're going to my friend Julia's for diner and then out for some traditional Irish music. I can't wait.