June 22, 2007

Today marks 9 months of marriage! After a very difficult May with the loss of Loreley and Deaglan we just slipped into June and hoped that life would get back to normal. Business is picking up for Aidan and I am close to the end of my second-last course before I have to do the dissertation. We had a relaxing trip to Dublin after Brendan and Suzie's wedding and we're grateful for that as we were able to regroup and figure out what comes next.On a brighter note, we adopted a new kitten on June 16th. Artemis Penelope is a pure white terror. She is more vocal than Matthias has been in his whole 8 months in our home. Still, they have taken to each other and we are enjoying the antics of a kitten in the house. I look forward to seeing how she will grow up!

May 31, 2007

We definitely had a very different holiday day today. We drove to the bike shop at University College, Dublin in Stillorgan and rented two bicycles. As part of the deal, you receive a map and a course. And so we headed off down the cycle path beside the N11 to the Ramada Hotel and turned left down to the coast. There we cycled the coastal path through a park and then along the breakwater by the railway to Sandy Cove and Blackrock village. There we passed the Royal Irish Yacht Club, the Royal St. George Yacht Club and the Irish National Yacht Club and on to the sea port. There was a very large ferry for Holyhead departing as we arrived in the port of Dun Laoghaire. We cycled to the end of the pier and back and had some fun with a sundial. You can see this on our photos. We then continued along the coast road towards Dalkey. It was about this point where I observed that the Irish Sea must be sloped as we seemed to travel most of the journey uphill and still end up at sea level after each incline. We cycled around the James Joyce Tower and into the centre of Dalkey, where we stopped and had lunch at the Queen’s Pub. Following this we continued along the Vico Road which took us around the ritzy part of town – it seemed everyone had a Mercedes. It was a very, very long steep hill. We were overtaken by a Ferrari on the way up. Apparently this is the “Beverly Hills” of Ireland and we passed houses owned by The Edge and Bono of U2, Enya and Eddie Irvine of racing car fame. We then travelled back via a slightly different route to Dalkey and Blackrock and then up the hill and back to UCD. The whole journey took from 10:30 until 3pm. Following this we travelled back into Dublin and went to Trinity College, Dublin to the old library where we saw the Book of Kells, copies of the four gospels written in illuminated script in about AD800 as well as the books of Armagh and of Mulling. Then we went for a bit of a wander around the shopping areas, before heading back to the hotel for a relaxing meal at O’Connell’s and an easy night. We are very much looking forward to meeting Aidan's cousins tomorrow evening.

May 30, 2007

The day started off not so bad. There were a few showers around. We headed out around 10:30 to do our “grand tour of Co. Wicklow”. The driving was quite easy and we made our way to Blessington. We stopped for a few minutes to have a look around, but it started to rain quite heavily so we went back to the car and continued on. We took the small road out to Valleymount and stopped a couple of times for pictures. In Valleymount we visited the church and walked down to the lakeshore. Once again a shower came over, so we left there and carried on into the mountains and through the Wicklow Gap to Glendalough. Unfortunately, due to the light showers and part fog, we were unable to see very far, but what we could see was exceedingly picturesque. It was in Glendalough that we had a very nice lunch in the Wicklow Heather Restaurant. Whilst there, we found a couple of newspaper articles dating back to 1952 when the Blessington valley was flooded, which made for interesting reading. The lunch was extremely good. We then carried on through Kilmacurragh and Rathdrum, stopping off at the Woolen Mill, where we picked up a couple of Aran wool sweaters. Then on through Glenealy and Rathnew and a detour out to Wicklow town. From here we drove up the coast road through Newcastle, Kilcoole and Bray and ended up in Dublin right on rush hour.In the evening we visited the Merry Ploughboy pub just south of the city and were treated to a show of Irish music and dancing following a very good meal.

May 29, 2007

We finally managed to make up our mind on which sightseeing tour to take yesterday. We caught the 10.15 shuttle into the city center and had a taste of Irish humour. The bus driver was crazy! We were laughing our heads off as he drove through the city with his "non-tourguide" commentary. At one point he had the bus racing another bus in order to cut it off to allow us to get onto the actual tour. the new bus was packed so we were dropped off at the tourism center shop to catch another bus. We took this opportunity to buy our bus passes and get a little something to eat.When we finally boaarded the tour bus we climbed on the second level but sat in the covered area. It was sunny and somewhat warm but there was a breeze so I was better off under the shelter. We went along the full route first to hear the commentary. Again, the 2 busdrivers that we had during the loop were hilarious. We learned about the history of Dublin, local jokes and their personal observations (perhaps the funniest of the lot). We then decided to get off at the Guiness Storehouse. It was a good tour and the highlight was the Gravity Bar where you got a free pint of Guiness while taking in a 360 degree view of Dublin. We then jumped on the bus (again we sat on the top level but this time outside) and rode to O'Connell Street. We walked to Trinity College with the intention of seeing the Book of Kells but the line was too long. Instead we went to LUSH for a few bath ballistics and then along Nassau Street to look at the Irish crafts, crystal, wollens and jewelry. It was then time to eat so back to Bewleys on Grafton Street for some really good pizza. We went back to the hotel to allow me to complete some homework. Aidan called his cousin and tentative arrangements were made for Thursday. We also booked dinner and an Irish dancing show for this evening. All that was left was to find something to do for the evening at hand. We decided to go to the cinema on Purnell street to see Pirates of the Caribbean. The tickets cost almost 20 euro and a regular popcorn and two drinks cost about 11 euro - good lord! The commercials before the movie were silly, as expected. We enjoyed the movie. No, it's not the most serious of content but it is not supposed to be. Listening to critics is a waste of time. It was a few hours of mindless entertainment and I enjoyed watching it. After the movie we went to Eddie Rockets - it was basically Johnny Rockets with a different name (I noticed the same with TJ Maxx, which is TK Maxx over here). We had a good dinner and then caught a taxi back to the hotel. We got yet another fascinating taxi driver - granted the taxi driver that we had going to the cinema was the best yet. We ended the evening with me doing more homework. It just doesn't end...

May 27 & 28, 2007

May 27th was a cold and rainy day. It suited my mood. We had a wonderful breakfast and then went out for a walk but it was so cold and windy. We went to the Promenade by car to see if anyone was using the Model Yacht Pool. A man had a really cool tugboat but it was so cold that we decided to get back into the car and drive around. After maybe an hour we went back to take a nap but our room was being prepared for the next people to check in. We loaded our stuff into the car and eventually went to the Links for lunch. There were twelve of us for lunch and there was so much food. We sang happy birthday to Aidan's mom and then we went to head out at 1.30. I checked my blackberry in the parking lot and there was a voicemail message. Dr. Colin wanted us to call him immediately. Aidan made the call and when he got off we had to make the tough decision. Aidan called Dr. Colin and I just sat in the car and bawled. I then called my mom while Aidan told his family in the restaurant. It was now 2.15 and we knew we'd be late to the airport. We managed to get there by 4.40 but our flight had closed and they couldn't get us on another flight until after 10pm. We sat in the airport for hours. I did my homework and we played scrabble and eventually read the newspapers online. The Ryanair flight was an experience - somewhat rickety and bumpy but it got us into Dublin safely. The airport was packed at midnight. We got our bags and got the car and took about 55 minutes to find the hotel. Needless to say, we slept like logs that night.Yesterday we stayed in bed until after 12 noon. We needed to recover. Aidan was up for most of the morning but I would wake up and then go back to sleep. We got ready, had lunch and then headed out in the beautiful sunshine for a walk down to Ballsbridge Bridge to see where we were and to buy a map. We then got the car and drove to St. Stephen's Green. We went to the shopping center which exited onto Grafton Street. We did some necessities shopping, visited the Tourist Center to get a few brochures and then had tea at Bewleys. After visiting a few bookstores we headed back to the hotel in order for me to do my homework. We had dinner in the hotel because Aidan was still feeling a bit jetlagged. The service wasn't great but the food was amazing. We decided to have an early night but discovered a great documentary on Hillsborough Castle (the residence of the Secretary of State of Northern Ireland) on the tv and watched it though to the end (around midnight).

Bad News...

I have bad news. The vet called once the operation began. Deaglan's liver was very bad. He had multiple shunts and not the type that he could recover from. We were asked what we wished to do as he would not survive for long. We agreed to put him to sleep.

May 26, Part II

The wedding was beautiful! The church was wonderfully decorated and the pastor had a lovely sense of humour. It was definitely a wedding ceremony where the newlyweds can say that it went off according to plan. At the end the organist came over to Aidan and said she was so happy to hear such beautiful singing. He seems to end up with a fan club wherever he goes!The reception was equally as lovely. It was cold but we kept busy to keep the blood circulating. Aidan was the keeper of the photo guestbook and was a real politician when it came to getting people to have their picture taken. He even managed to get the bar and kitchen staff to have their pictures taken for the book. The festivities went into the morning but a great day and evening was had by all.