Miami and Caribbean

Oct 19 to Oct 23 = South Miami beach, nice beaches, glorious weather, a few nice restaurants and interesting locals, one who sang 1 in a million about me to Caro to get her takeaway food from her as a gift…... We met little Snitcovsky, Carla’s sister who lives in Miami for the past 10 years and her partner Renato.

Oct 24 to Oct 31 = Providenciales, or Provo to the locals, which we now count as after ‘living’ there for 7 glorious days. Bad start of rain downpour on the back end of a hurricane in Honduras and my bag being broken open by the TSA in Miami and left open in the hold of the plane, was made up for by the upgrade to the premium new suite in Italian Village (thanks Sharon in New Jersey) The rains stopped and we had 7 glorious days of crystal blue, warm waters and 33 degree days interrupted only by eating in one of the 18 restaurants and drinking a few different rum vodka cocktails on the white powdery sand. No laptop, no blackberry, no blog, no phone calls…. A relaxed chilled out break with some very friendly people. We made a few friends along the way, hi to Mike and Jen from Maine who got married there. Really nice couple and we shared a few dinners and drinks and even had a crack at Karaoke. Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop me now’ will never be the same again. In a good way ;-)

On day 1 we went out on a Hobie-Cat light sail-boat with Caro as the skipper. I won’t say I was scared because a local named Jack moved around just in time to stop us flip over J

We snorkeled over amazing reefs off a boat for 3 days running and on day 2 Caro found, or rather was found by, a large manta ray floating effortlessly and silently beneath her. She waved for me to come see and when I did he scurried for cover as he had either never seen such an effort-filled swim or someone so good-looking (you decide)

We played tennis, we had a food and wine pairing event and a little booze cruise one evening.

On our last day we went for one last swim in the stunning ocean, waved goodbye to Big-Bird and to Elmo, to Beverly who serviced our room so well and a really nice lady, our travel agent Sharon who visited from New Jersey and one of the beaches managers Andre who offered us a limo to the airport. It’s good to be well connected…..

Mau and Sis get married!!!

Oct 14 to 17 = Destination Camburi beach

Near Sao Paulo in Brazil for Carolina’s little sister Gabriela’s wedding to Mauricio the Corinthians fan. We landed in Sao Paulo after getting a nice move to Emergency Exit by a darling United manager in JFK and Alcides (Caro’s wonderful dad) was there to meet us after 9 hours of flying followed by a 2 hour drive to the beach. The torrential rain along the way took a little from the tropical landscape, but luckily the weather cleared for the wedding, which was right on the beach at Camburi. The next day it was unfortunately back to raining, which eased the sunburn opportunities sufficiently.

Caro: The wedding was amazing, starting with the weather, everyone at the beach. The venue was a restaurant by the sand and the ocean. All were beautiful, happy and relaxed, even bride and groom who in fact had tied the not at a private ceremony in SP. The day was only celebration all round. Delicious food, drinks, lots of dancing and a very personal ceremony that saw friends and family saying their most caring and tender words. I'm happy my sister found her beloved match!! Welcome to the family cunhado!!

Dec: We got to meet Caro’s bro, mum, uncles and aunts from both sides as well as many cousins and of course eat her mum’s great food and help her dad with the 6 kegs of Heineken he had brought for the occasion. Throw in a bbq by her dad on day 2 and the Brazil rapido trip was good until we return in November.

Last night in Sao Paulo before rejoining the rtw itinerary back into Miami, 5.30am start in Sao Paulo after a 1.30am finish when Caro’s friend Andrea called over to kill me for keeping her best friend in Australia. Crazy girl but likeable. We’ll see her later in the trip when she has told us she will join us on our trip... We paid for extra legroom on the flight to Miami and got good service from TAM who moved us to a direct flight!!

Goodbye for now.

NYC & Bronx

Hello Times Square & 42^nd street and Broadway, welcome to Bloomingdales and 5^th Avenue (which had a massive interesting Columbus Day parade), around Rockefeller centre to see the skating rink and 10 guides, strolled Central Park, from Grand Central Station to Lexington Ave to see the Chrysler Building, Park Ave eating at Spark’s great Steak restaurant downtown.

We met Lee & Cara Coomber for an Italian dinner in Soho and met Robbo and her man who were visiting.

Visit was short but sweet and left us wanting to go back for more.

The Bronx

Getting Uncle Charlie’s GPS and computer working the way he wants. Getting to know some of the local treats and locals in the Bronx (Italian bread), deli cold cuts and getting Caro’s nails done $8 and Dec’s Vanilla Ice haircut $12. Caro’s home cooking of pasta & soup to help me get over my traded flu. Mum & Dad visiting for the last day from Ireland.

From Caro: Shame we didn't get to spend more time with Ambrose and Eileen, but their visit won us a delicious Turkey dinner before we left, yum!!

OKTOBERFEST!!!

Not having booked a spot in any of the tents, we were told it would be impossible to sit down and eat/drink so when we got in there at 10:30am and got a place at a Beer Garden we did not move. It wasn’t busy at all then and we thought we might have a boring two or three ours missing all the fun… we couldn’t have been more wrong!!

After making some really nice new friends, eating some great organic chicken and drinking litres and litres of beer life was fun and good! I think we left at 7:30pm, no point asking Dec as he didn’t even know who I was!! We walked back to the hotel where apparently we must have got our keys and bags and crashed after a bath. Next days was pretty much written off along with my stomach… The funniest part was walking out of the room into the corridor and not knowing which way to go to find the lifts!! My body hated me for about 5 days and made me feel the pain I inflicted on it.

Train to Frankfurt where I thought I lost my handbag with all the passports (shock and heart attack!!) and then off to the USA…

France and Germany

Strasbourg is a beautiful little town, the old town is an ‘island’ in the middle of the canals. It feels like walking in the past… The cathedral with it amazing apostles’ clock that comes to life everyday at 12 noon, the restaurants by the canal, the old bridges… it’s beautiful. We had some amazing food, despite some rude and poor service in one of the restaurants.

From there into Germany through the Black Forest. Every single road with took had a detour sending s a different way. For a while we thought we would never leave Villingen-Schwenningen after going round and round in circles for about an hour… Aaahhhhhhh!!!

Konstanz is in the border of Germany with Switzerland, so before heading out we went for a walk across the border. Fun. Forty minutes later we were having lunch in Austria, the joys of driving through Europe.

Funny thing happened, we hit traffic on the main road and took a random exit, the town was pack jammed because of the same traffic so after a mini wrong way bit of road we ended up in a small country road. Dec was buried in the map while I drove, I sign came up and I said “Dec, Plan C”. He was like “What are you talking about you insane Brazilian, we don’t even have a plan B”… the road was heading to PLANSEE!!! Which by the way was the best detour we took as it is an amazing huge green lake amongst the mountains in the border with Austria. Cool!!

Fussen and Schwangau (right beside Wank mountain!!!!!) pardon my French…

Stunning part of the world. Lakes, mountains, crops, castles. After exploring Schwangau on foot and having a nice dinner and beers, we call it a day.

Up early and fresh next morning we headed to the fairytale castle at Neuschwanstein. Built by King Ludwig II, it was never finished because he was ‘diagnosed’ mad and mysteriously drowned alongside the psychiatrist.

Onto Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a day and then Munich.

California dreaming...

Who would've thought that the fog would take an autumn holiday and leave San Francisco during our stay? Super!

We arrived on a weekday and were welcomed by Dec's cousin MaryEllen and her daugther Lilly.

What a host!! ME showed us around San Francisco, mostly those amazing spots you don't get to see as a tourist without a car! We had a lovely brunch by the ocean, walked around the park, saw whales playing by the coast and then drove over the Golden Gate bridge.

Dec spotted Hulk Hogan sitting by his chopper and being friend to fans - all a bit surreal!

Other than that, we walked a lot, got the cable cars, took photos on Lambard street, ate at some really nice restaurants and had a special visit from Oregon: David Sheehan, Dec's mate from Uni who drove 9 hours only to see him after 11 years! Good man!!

On our last day we went to San Jose to visit Great American Park, for all of you 'amusement park fans', we had a ball. The park was very empty as far as those places go, and we got to go on every roller coaster or scary ride of sort soooo many times! Funnnnnn!

Up early the next morning to collect our truck!! We had booked a Mid-SUV but got given a Grand Cherokee Laredo. We drove south to Highway 1 on the coast, saw amazing places like Big Sur, a waterfall that end on the beach sands, had lunch in Carmel, and ended up in Santa Barbara for the evening.

The next day saw us driving even further south to San Diego where we stayed at a resort in the middle of Mission Bay. Pretty cool. We visited Mission and Pacific beaches where we had lemonades and walked the promenade (almost got run over by a thousand cyclist), had traditional Mexican in the old town, used the pool and the spa, relaxed, slept and had a few margaritas. Our hotel bar had manta rays, little sharks and other amusing creatures in its 'pond'.

All relaxed and ready, we headed to Los Angeles. Hollywood, here we come!! An afternoon of chasing stars and driving the big city ended with a super nice dinner at an uber cool burger place in Santa Monica.

Next day, more parks!!! Six Flags Magic Mountain was the best I've ever been too. But if you ever go, make sure to save and go Platinum, it's worth it every penny. And don't miss the X2!!

To end our Californian dream, we caught up with Dec's Dunbar mate Phil who has been living in LA for a while. Had some well deserved drinks and dinner and closed that chapter of our trip with a golden key!!

Off to Nevada folks... also known for VEGAS!!!

TORNADO IN ARIZONA!!!

The headline of this blog should be "clueless"...
... that's Dec and I in the past 2 days driving through a tornado in Arizona.
Two days ago, 15 minutes ahead of us on freeway 40 a truck got turned over by hail and winds, we stopped for lunch and your man came in afterwards with details of what happened.
This morning we heard how some of the roads were closed due to the tornado, houses destroyed, cars and caravans turned.
We thought we were just driving through really bad rain, well, and hail and snow...
Well, family and friends, we're in Utah now, safe and sound (except for my tornado flu or would it be a Vegas flu??) in Zyon Canyon and we promise that tomorrow when we go for our trek, we'll avoid the flash flood areas.
Mwah!

Photos link

http://picasaweb.google.com/104178915399064971814

We've been in the USA for the past 10 days and having a ball but the blog will take a little while to catch up. In the mean time, enjoy the latest European Adventures photos.

Love from Decaro

London is a long way fromTipperary...

What happens in Ireland stays in Ireland…

…so we went to London!

We shot to Paddington from Heathrow in 15mins. Very efficient train service. We were staying in Docklands and much to our surprise 50% of the tube closes for repair on the weekend, so it took approx 1.5 hrs to get from Paddington to O2. Welcome to London.

So we checked in and went for a pint and pub grub (as you do) and saw some football on TV at 3pm on a Saturday, finally at a normal time, without needing Foxtel IQ at 12am. Fed and watered we rambled into the big smoke and went to see my namesake Big Ben, very cool.

When we rambled to Westminster House and Abbey. Saw Buckingham Palace and the guards marching out front. Then I spotted the b@st@rd Oliver Cromwell statue out front of Westminster beside a statue of Richard the Lion Heart. Only 2 statues, Richard, Couer D’Leone I understand, but that other fecker! Seriously. Melt him down and put up Churchill or someone decent!

From there we went on the ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary….’ Tour thru (goodbye) Picadilly and (farewell) Leicester square. We also had a stroll along Oxford St

Anyway, rant (almost) over from DB. Caro and I got to meet her good friends from Aus, Brooke and Sam, in the Marleybone High st, v nice. They went for some local Turkish nosh, while I darted out to Selfridges to check out the wares and of course to sneak in the 2nd half of the Liverpool game over a Sunday roast and a pint – fabulous – top class, I am!

As the last open top bus was finished at 6 (not 8pm as we had been told) we went for one more drink with Sam and Brooke and walked back thru Oxford Circus and Piccadilly to Waterloo station for more Underground adventures.

Next stop Pancras station and the TGV in the Eurochunnel to Paris and on to Strasbourg.

IRELAND AGAIN…

Tuesday was Mike Kelly’s birthday (best friend since 5 years old, he was only 4 and impressionable!), so we went for a few pints with him and his lady Margo in the Killinaskully pub in Ballinahinch, soon to be their local. We bought him Ballinahinch GAA lottery tickets, but no winners. Happy birthday again Mick.

Then we drove to Galway to visit my uncle Charlie, on a trip home from the Bronx, my cousins Anne and Clare (Charlie’s daughters) and of course da brudder!

Another feed in Kelly’s pub and another pint, then off out to Headford for another feed and some wine.

Oh my God, 5 Briscoes in Galway at the same time!!!

So you never know which celebrities will pop in to Birdhill on a night out. For my dad’s birthday we had Jakartan/Aussie/Corkonian guests in Morgs and Kel en route around Ireland in 24 hours for 7 weddings J. We sank a few Guinness at Matt the Threshers (or Matt the Slashers as Morgs prefers to call it), had a few steaks and caught up...

Early September in Hurling country

What can I say, but timing is everything. Caro and I returned from sunny Spain in time for the great Boz's wedding to the lovely Catey the next day. A great day was had in Kilkenny City, the heart of the over-confident cats. There were bets between them as to the amount of points they would win by and the town was to be closed on Monday as usual from 9am to 11am for the 5 in a row. I smellt opportunity and couldn't wait to bate them!

We got Caro kitted up in the Tipp colours to support the premiers and after a few wardrobe issues we were off to Dublin with dad. Rendevous point the red parrot to meet Fahey, the Rooneys and half of Birdhill, even the president passed us and waved.

Having scoured the country for tickets, Micky G in Sligo, Jim Fahey in mayo and the bould Daz Rooney from Laois all came up trumps to make sure there were a few more avid Tipp supporters in Croker.

What a day, what a game and youthful exhuberance and confidence as well as well prepared shone through for the Premier County to get the hurling All ireland crown back home to Tipp. Bhi an athas ar cupla de na ard sturatheoiri and Carolina got a few unexpected hugs and kisses after the full time whistle (hello to Paul Ormonde's uncle that works in Croker)
Having winded our way home along the M7 for 6 hours we were home for a pint in the Coopers bar in Birdhill to soak up the euphoria. On Monday we drove to the home of hurling Semple Stadium to welcome da boys home It was a good evening and again a celebratory drink was had. Well done to Conor from Newport, Shane from Ballinahinch and all the boys.

España!! OLE!!

Madrid Highlights:

- the food, the food, the food!! The wine! ;-)

- siestas

- Museo del Prado, architecture and grandeur!!

- Dec's favourite: the Tour Bernabeu - Real Madrid's stadium and museum ;-)

We loved it all, and luckily the weather wasn't too hot so we didn't mind when I got us completely lost in the old town on the way back to the hotel - so much for being the NavCaro!

Costa Blanca:

We arrived in Alicante to meet Paul, Mary and Robyn; we stayed in Benidorm - aka British mayhem summer haven - for 1 night, enjoyed dinner, walk and some shows that night.

Next day, Torrevieja. Nice to stay at Mary & Paul's place as we could stop hotel hopping for a few days. The beach was great and we found some really nice restaurants.

Highlight - Carnival/Amusement park

Valencia and La Tomatina:

We went into Valencia on the search of my past - well, we were there so it kind of worked out! See, my greatgrandmother was Valenciana so I went to the Archbishop's Diocese to try to find her baptism papers. We'll see what happens.

Valencia is stunning, we stayed in the old town and if it wasn't for the Navman, we would still be trying to find our hotel.

On the second day we drove in the morning to Buñol, and ignoring advices to be there before 8am, we arrived with the hords at 9:30am. Goggles on and 3euro sandals on, we headed of to find the square of the ham, we never made it that far as the multitude of people flooded the streets and every square meter got populated by 17 people at once.

The crowds would shout "Agua! Aqui! Eh eh eh eh eh" - Water! Here! and whoever got the best chanting going would be blessed by a bucket of water from the skies!! Well, from the top of the buildings where the locals watched safely.

Being squashed like a sardine four times, every time a truck went past empty, finally the 5th and last truck came packed with flying tomatoes. It's good fun, I recommend!!

After the storm comes the calm... well, not really!! After the storm of tomatoes comes the river mayhem where everyone headed to get washed as the few hoses from the neighbours weren't enough to wash out all the tomato sin!!

Sevilla - the land of Flamenco

What can I say! 44 degrees!! One of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

We saw a Flamenco show that almost brought me to tears, we had more nice food, climbed the tower of the catedral, visited the Alcazar and were cooked alive.

By the way, did I mention we ate Iberico Ham everywhere?? Yes, we did.

Funny thing, Dec asked for toast with butter, tomato and ham and the man behind the bar looked at us like aliens and said "Manteca y tomate????? No, no, no - Aceite de Oliva!!" And that was that, olive oil and no arguments.

The last days - Jerez, yum!

We drove to the Costa del Sol and on the way stopped at Jerez de la Frontera where they make the famous Jerez/Sherry wines and Sherry Brandy. Two hour-tour, tapas and tasting everything later, we walked off with some really nice bottles and sleepy heads!

Then Ronda, where 5minutes turned into 1 hour as the town was colourful and crazy with the celebrations of the Virgin.

We finally made it to Fueringiola in the coast for one last day at the beach before heading to Malaga airport and back to Ireland.

What a trip!! I think I want to live in Spain...

Greece!!

We departed Dublin at 3:30pm and didn’t arrive in Greece until about 9ish pm and since we couldn’t get a ferry that same night to the islands, we decided to stay in Athens, as close as possible to the port as our ferry next morning departed at 7am.

You see, Dec kept telling everyone I had booked accommodation at a wh*re house… I didn’t!!! Yes, it is true that the port area is not the ‘nicest’ one, but it was ok and the hotel was clean.

Jet lag. I didn’t sleep all night. Yawn…

Greece for real. On our first morning we boarded the ferry to Thira/Santorini. As soon as you approach you are already amazed by the island. It’s stunning and the houses and building hang on the edge of "Caldera".

Highlights!!

- Accommodation on the first day – Port area of Pireaus: Dec wasn’t impressed with my booking skills… fair enough, I got us right in the middle of the “red district” ;-)

- Arriving in Santorini: what an amazing Island. It’s the caldera of a volcano, roads either go up or down, and it’s all very steep!!

- Oia, Santorini: the village on the north of the island where we stayed, sunset in the ocean, dinner on the rooftop of an amazing restaurant with good wine and good company. As good and romantic as it gets!! (1800 is the name of the restaurant)

- Steak at Blue: I got a steak right, it was HUGE! And it was just a veal steak. I had a normal knife and was working away when Spyros the chef came out of the kitchen, saw my poor work (mind you, no English spoken here!) went inside and back out with a steak knife from the kitchen and started chopping my steak for me!!!!! Ahahahaha!! That’s what I call service! I felt like I was 6 again. ;-)

- Swimming in the black beaches and forgetting that there was Sulphur in the water, yes, we now have yellowish/greenish swimwear!

- Driving a Smart on the windy roads from Fira to Oia competing with the quad bikes and scooters (scary!!!)

- Mykonos: not getting our “room with ocean views” and after ‘complaining’, getting the ‘superior room’ with a balcony bigger than the room, with a spa bath, sun beds, table and chairs facing the Aegean ocean. PRICELESS!! But wait, there’s more: two free “mud treatments” at the spa, two 5 courses meal, a bottle of wine and fruit in the room. I could get use to it!!

- Swimming in the beautiful sea waters, the pool, the lots!!

The photos are now up on Picasa too, so if you want to check them out go to http://picasaweb.google.com/104178915399064971814

Look who's back!!

Weeks of disappearance

A few trips happened since we last showed our pretty little faces in this blog.

It’s becoming more common, but I suppose you don’t go on holidays to write blogs, well, some people might, but you’d have to be making money from it I suppose.

Anyhow…

THE RING!!

The Ring of Kerry is a stunning drive of the south west coast of Ireland. We did it in two days. We drove past Limerick and as soon as we hit Kerry the sun started shining for us!

We stopped for some toasties, soup and Guinness in Kilorglan an continued towards to coast. Visited Waterville and the house Daniel O’Connell lived by the beach. I have to say I was very impressed to see people in the water!!! Even though it was sunny and they were wearing wetsuits! Brrrrrr!!

Drove by beautiful Waterville and said a quick prayer for uncle Donie. Then continued all the way to Sneem where we stayed the night. Saw a blue bull, the Stone outside Dan Murphy’s door, the statue of their world champion wrestler and a beautiful little river and waterfall under the bridge. It was a pleasant surprise of a little town and the B&B where we stayed, Bank House, had some nice and friendly hosts.

Up early next morning and continued our journey to Kenmare, say hello to Sheehan;s dad and continued to Killarney and back to Tipp. Up Tipp!!

Back in Birdhill we caught up with Dec’s longtime mates, Mick and Fahey and their lovely halves, Margot and Mary. Had a great night at the pub and a late one to all.

The brother came to visit the next morning and cut some wood for the fire. I had my first ever driver’s classes – for the lawn mower and the tractor!! Fun, fun! Thanks Ambrose!

Dec had Boz’s stag and that night Mary and Paul arrived in Birdhill. We went to the pub. The plan to be home by 1am never happened. Hours later and pints later and I went to bed at 4am. Ouch!!

more to come... we are in Madrid at the moment after a week in Greece!!

Mwah

This blog doesn't require explanation...

... or does it?

News of the missing two

It's been a while since I last wrote, we've had a busy week!!
July 27th was Dec's birthday, full of activities in the house.

I got a pair of socks and wellies (galochas!!) and helped Dec and Ambrose to move the neighbour's calves from one field to the other. I used my witchy powers and it all worked well. I came face to face, or better, face to leg with my first horse fly. And it bit me through my jeans!!!
After that, I had my first (and probably last) 'game' of hurling.

At night we went for dinner to Adare, to celebrate the birthday. Yum!

We had birthday cake and everything!!

On Wednesday we drove to Headford to stay with Cyril. Big night, drinking and boys playing hurling at odd hours of the night.






Thursday was the big races day in Galway, Ladies Day! It was packed!!!
The real experience: Guinness, Beef Rolls and lots of bets.

Not much luck until the very last race when Cyril and I decided to put a MAD bet on a horse that was 171 to 1 to Win and 30 to 1 for place.
Presenting Nama was the hero of the day coming second and paying an amazing 120 euro to our 5euro bet!!! Dinner and drinks in town until late.

Mum arrived on Friday with Edilma!! Yay!!
Galway was so chaotic that even though I arrived 20min late to collect them, the bus was still not at the station, but stopped in jam-packed traffic. Mae jumped out of the bus with Edilma and came walking to the station to meet me.

We had lunch at The Quays, walked around town, dinner at Malt House. Mum even had time for a nap by the river Corrib.

They left of Saturday and Dec and I had another round of races. A lot less packed and glamourous, this was a much more relaxing day. Last race, same luck! Cyril asked me to put another MAD BET for him and I did it for me too.

Isabellereine came sprinting out of NOWHERE to finish in first!!!! Did I mention the odds were 20.5 to 1?? I made 104.50 euro on my 5euro bet. And if it wasn't enough, the horse I picked for Cyril on the same race came 3rd and I made another 46 euro for him!! Good times. That's why he calls me the witch.

We partied all night last night at The Blue Note, Cyril and Gaffne rocked the place until 2:30am. Great fun, lots of dancing and drinking and very little sleep.

Not going anywhere today. Couch, TV, duvet, tea and computer. At least I finally found sometime to update my blog and upload the photos of the week.

Happy belated birthday to my dear friends Elaine and Carrie. Lots of love ladeez!!

Catch you soon!!
Mwah

A quiet day at home

Not much to report today but to be honest I should have written about the last few days.
A lot on, Birdhill has been on fire (see 2 posts before this one).
I'm almost recovered from the jet lag, or at least I think so, even though I still fall asleep at any opportunities.
I had all the best intentions to go into town with Eillen today, but then the sun came out and I thought I'd go for a jog. Eileen came with me and instead of a 30minute jog, we ended up going for a 2hour walk! No town for me.
Dec and Ambrose worked all day on something, who knows, they say it's men's stuff ;-) there were pipes, lamps and dirt, it's the 'tannest' I've seen Dec in a while. I said: You look very brown, it must be dirt hi hi hi!!!

Did I tell you how Dec said we should go to this restaurant recommended by Shaz that's one of the top 100 restaurants in Ireland? I said: Surely it is, are there even 100 restaurants in Ireland?? Ouch!!!!!

I'm off now. Drop Peggy at home after a pint at the pub.
Beijo!

Hurling at Croke Park

Fun day in Dublin watching my first hurling match live.
Dec and Cyril were supporting Tipp and Ambrose supporting Galway so I was sold to the Galwayegians to even the count!! Marroon jersey and all!! Sorry Amo!! Tipp won anyway.
Back on the Luas to Tallaght and to Mary's place in Ballycullen.
We had dinner with Robyn and back to Dublin, but not in time for the Sunday show. Aw!
It's a real Irish experience, fun and fast game. Very well behaved too (at times!)
All for now.

Birdhill Festival

Annual Birdhill Song writing contest, song written by John Mulcahy and sung by my mum Eileen Briscoe. Championship winning performance. That's 2 in a row for the talented artists.

The weekend was full of activities, starting with the unveiling of the plaque celebrating 150 years of the Birdhill train station. Followed by set dance competition and drinking at the pub.
The following day saw the vintage cars and tractors parade that stopped the road, tug wars, pig on the stick and the singing competition. Plus more drinking, of course!!
All fun and games. Well done for all the organizers.

First days in Ireland

No upgrades but at least we got 3 seats together.
And after a 2hour delay in Heathrow, we finally arrived in Shannon (West Coast) where mam and dad were waiting for us.

I think Dec thrives here because he gets all alert and funny. Me on the other hand, still recovering from the jet lag.

First day I got ready to go for a run whilst Dec and his dad where cutting the grass by the road. I'm all intent and no action... didn't really do much that day except for eat and rest. Yum, we had a really nice fry!!
Yesterday we drove Cashell to see the Rock. I'll post the photos on the Picasa Web Album I created (thanks Elaine!! She got me going on this thing and told me what to do... let's see how long it lasts!!)

Anyhow, it was a beautiful sunny day and we tagged on the back of one of the tours. We saw King Cormack's chappel and all. He's the one on my book, cool when book caracters actually existed.

After that we went to the Bru Buru centre, where we met Eileen's friends who own the place. They are the patrons of Tradiotional Music in Ireland and he is even a Senator! I've never met a Senator. Tea, scones and some singing and chatting later we stopped for din dins and that was it for the day.

Next week we have the races in Galway! I should have more news then.

Slide show of our small farewell with some friends at the Sheaf.
Noice!

The Planning Stage

A couple of months planning but finally the itinerary has been decided on. Not that it has all been organised and booked but at least it is a start.

A couple of crazy weeks of packing! All ready to go, and now just one day to go.
Yay.