Ireland - 2007

The Emerald Isle

For those of you who dont know, last Wednesday I returned from Ireland. My first trip outside the U.S. The pictures I have posted I guess describe it better than any words can. Still I will probably fumblely try.

I never knew how miserable a plane ride could be until I had to spend over eight hours straight stuck in between an unconscious sleeper and the tiny window. Waitng for those in acoma to open their eyes when you have to use the facilities is not a pleasent or bearable feat. Thankfully the British man on the other side of the sleeper, was nice enough to tap him, " sir , sir" he repeated, then pointed at me gesturing to get up. Crisis averted, I made my way to the back of the plane, and thats when the turbulance nearly knocked me into the sink.

After I made it back to my seat I tried to just go to sleep and i did, in and out of it anyway. The darkness adding to the sense that I was closed in, the seat contributing to my out- of- joint neck. But finally morning came, we crossed the rest of the Atlantic, and glided to the safety and free leg room of the Shannon AirPort.

Just when we thought our cramped travel was complete we met our rental car. 5 seats and a trunk. Did I mention that 6 of us were traveling together. We realize that there are seats in the back that fold up, but we still need to fit our caravan of luggage. Jay and Paul tried fitting the bags in with one seat up and one down. only managing about half inside. Julie walks to the counter and explains she said she needed one car to fit 6 people and their luggage and this 'Z' car wasnt going to cut it. Walks over an obviously not irish man, throws open the trunk and looks at us like we're nuts. He piles all six or seven bags in under a minute and slams the hatch shut. He slides his hands together, dusting off a job well done, says there you go and walks away, as we look on mistified at the transfiguration of our luggage into such a small space.

Poor Rocky sat surrounded, window to her left piles of roller bags to her right, for 2 hours down to Killarney.

We finally found the "hidden gardens" B&B, after several death defying turnabouts, got our rooms unloaded the car, and went to the pub. It was mid afternoon so they werent too packed we ended up, at our 3rd or fourth stop, a place called O'Connors. There were patches from several states police departments. I found Chicago PD hiding at the end of the bar and promptly shot a photo, even if my brother was laughing at my touristic enthusiasm. Back at the bar there were dollar bills taped to the ceiling with corny messages enscribed on them. Rocky handed me a single and around the edge i wrote all of our names and chicago IL USA and "GO CUBBIES.. too close to the curb" which was inspired by retaliation to the "go whitesox cubs suck" dollar already displayed. The "too close to the curb" was a reference to the lovely driving from the airport complimments of julie and trisha. in retrospect i should have written "ice 'em!" again a driving reference. it sounds a little less lame. back to the point....

Now it was about 8 or so and we were all severely jet lagged. We headed back to the very MOIST damp roomd of the b&b and tried to sleep. personally i felt a little uneasy with the door to my room exiting to the parking lot rather than a hall, in response i slept with the light ablaze and the tv on, in my clothes. in the morning i took a flipping cold shower after being woken an hour early by julie (she thought id be up and ready for a cigarette), then joined the rest in the dining hall for breakfast.

Day 2 underway, we loaded the car and headed to Macroom, where we were staying for the wedding. The ride wasnt too long and i volunteered for the storage compartment!



To be continued... i cant sit here all day