Irish Spring

Hello again.

I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my Mother and (yesterday) my brother....but I guess i just typed it, so won't bother actually saying anything now. badumpum.

Oh, this blog isn't off to a good start....

It's fully raining outside and we are at a fairly cozy little hostel in Kilkenny, Ireland. Jen and Matt and their boys are off in their Bed and Breakfast outside of town while we're hoping that the other 6 beds in our bedroom will be filled by respectful/qiet/non-snoring people. In the meantime, there is a fireplace right next to us just waiting to be lit, but the hostel employee can't find a lighter, so she's off to the store through the rain to buy one. It has been a long time since we've been able to sit in a big soft couch next to a fireplace in cold weather and it sounds like the perfect way to spend a Friday night right now. I found an old copy of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy here in the common room and have persuaded Alicen to give it a go (generally she doesn't read fiction at all) while i type this and we both sip cheap red wine.

A couple of days before Jen and Matt arrived in Dublin, we finished our Scottish adventure with a lovely drive around the northern whiskey region and visited an old distillery and some great old ruins of Cathedrals and Castles.
We went to St. Andrew's where a friend spent some time in University, went on an underground tour of a 17th century neighborhood in Edinburgh, and found Alicen's Scottish clan (the Lindsay's) ancestral castle south of Aberdeen (like Aberdeen, Washington; an almost unbearably grey city). The guy working at Alicen's famiy castle was great; she bought a few things with the Lindsay Family Crest on it and he asked if she happened to be a indsay; when she said Yes, he said; Well, welcome home then, dear! and proceeded to tell her the history of her clan's time in the region in a very slow, deep scottish voice...i think she may have been crying through the smile by the time we drove away.

We ended up back in glasgow for one brief night before getting up early the next day to take a train/ferry/bus/train/cab combination into our hostel in the center of dublin, where we met up with Jen and Matt the next morning.

We've had a really nice time the last few days strolling through the city and, today, poicking up a rental car and beginning the drive out into the countryside. Sadly, the beautiful weather we were blessed with the first couple of days in ireland has faded into a cold, windy, rainy day....

oh, sweet, the girl is back and is lighting the fireplace now!

Word.

that smells like a fire.....ahhh, peacefulness...hopefully we won't get a crowd of rowdy spring breakers in here from france like we had in our hostel in Dublin

I've said it before and I'll say it again; What the hell is wrong with French people?

The next couple of days we're exploring southwest ireland before we have to leave the Cornwell family behind and head back to Dublin for a flight to Paris....from there, we haven't decided the next step yet but it will involve a month of train rides, hostels, hopefully decent weather, good sights, and overall good health and fortunate circumstances.

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