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Well after a hectic few weeks, my birthday appeared out of nowhere which seemed a bit scary, yet another birthday!!! The first half of the day was spent doing things like buying train tickets to Gatwick Airport (positive moves towards my great weekend ahead) and having every oddball come up to me and tell me all about their problems, their missed anniversaries and lost loved ones. They were all rather sad stories, so felt obliged to listen. I hope I helped a bit but in any case, good to know my oddball magnet was still alive and well! Making me look forward all the more to the weekend! The rest of the day was spent working, kids going a wee bit mad! Was it a full moon as well as my birthday, must check!!! Came home very late and decided packing would have to wait for the next day!
A very excited 6 year old came to wake me up rather early, at least I got lots of time to pack a weekend bag! And a few jumps on head later, we finally set off to the station, only a train later then the one we'd set out to get,
all good so far! After what seemed an eternity, they called a gate and obviously nature called for Luna just as the gate number went up! So by the time we got there and I double checked the number, we encountered queue rage/ gate rage, take your pick so we decided to just sit it out which turned out to be a wise decision!
At last we'd made it to Ireland after a two and half year absence. Luna was very excited that she was missing school and I was excited to see my old friends again. One whom I hadn't seen in 15 years!
Got the airport bus whose driver when asked how long it would take to get to the delightfully named Leopardstown, answered, well I'd say an hour! It made me smile! It was so lovely to see my friend Susan, who would be hosting us for the weekend and her gorgeous kids who had kept themselves awake just to say hello to Luna. The kids all went to bed to make sure there was plenty of playing time the next day! And our friend Suzy arrived whom we hadn't seen in 15 years, all
emotional stuff and yet it seemed like we'd seen each other only last week. Funny how that happens!
The next day, the kids were so happy to see each other and play! Eventually we got out there, car, LUAS and city centre. We had a great lunch at Milano, where they had a fantastic play area for the kids, genius idea! Then, of course, it started to drizzle away so we got on a city bus tour and made it as far as the guiness storehouse so we obviously had to go round, the only way to spend a birthday! I had been to the brewery, years before with my friend Rob and for a few minutes was a bit confused till someone pointed out, the storehouse was opened in 2000 therefore I had been to the brewery before! We had a great time, pretending to be Bond, drinking all the tasters, (the kids joined us too!), playing practically in the barley (very therapeutic) and of course enjoying that perfect pint whilst looking over Dublin from the gravity bar (oh and they sang us happy birthday). The pint was just gorgeous, absolutely no bitterness there, just a lovely smooth
market
We're not quite sure what these statues are but they seem to be around various parts of Dublin. taste.
We realised we'd run out of time so we walked back to the LUAS and back to Ashford, co Wicklow. We had all these great ideas of going out on the town but at the last minute we thought "it is eurovision, we should get a take away, wine, make up some score cards and get wrapped up in the cheesiness of it all" And that is exactly what we did.
We had such a laugh, in only a way that old friends could. We were surprised Jedward didn't win, (we were already organising reunion 2012!!) and Blue did even worse but at least Italy, after a 14 year absence came a very respectable second!!! Azerbaijan won! I'm not sure if one could justify a weekend trip to Baku! We'll have to see if they do special deals on flights. We have discovered though that BMI fly to Baku, the capital.
And off to bed we went, having eaten and drunk just a tad too much but having had an evening full of hilarity!
Next day, we just had to see Ireland's tallest waterfall, Susan was worried we wouldn't be impressed but Suzy and I
Yeahy we're here!
They seemed drunk from the athmosphere. thought it was wonderful and we really liked it! The entrance fee might be a wee bit high though! 5 euros each! After appropriate photos, we went to have lunch at Powerscourt House, and WOW, what a beautiful house, quite incredible! And the Avoca cafe served up some incredible food which allowed us to forgive their huge price tags. I was so impressed I bought the Avoca bake book!
After a quick glance at the gardens, very beautiful, we realised that time had run out and it was with great sadness we said our goodbyes and made our way to the airport.
Bye, bye Ireland we'll be back soon, well if we can still manage to afford it 18 euros for two sandwiches and some water, I kid you not!
But you can't help but love Ireland and the Irish and even if we didn't have great friends here, we would still be returning. Luna, actually said she wanted to live in Wicklow! Who knows what the future might hold.................
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His Dudeness
Ralf Kreuze
Happy Birthday!!
Sounds like you had a great time. So you think 5 euro's is a tad bit expensive for a waterfall. Come to China, you pay 25 euro's for visiting a mountain! So what did Luna think of Guiness ;)