Ok, so it's been a busy 36 hours.
Currently, we're sitting in my friend's apartment in Limerick watching Casino Royale. I've been up for pretty much 36 hours straight at this point. I'm old, can't do these type of things as much as I used to.
It all started yesterday....
At Newark airport, where flights are listed at being on time until the time they are supposed to actually leave and THEN they change the time, we had the pleasure of being delayed a mere five hours due the plane being: lost, then de-iced, then lost, then finally brought to the gate like a mystical warrior. We left around 2AM EST, which is actually 6AM in Ireland. We arrived around noon Ireland time.
When you fly on Continental Airlines, it's never magical, it's always average, like when you take a bus ride on a city bus, or eat at Olive Garden, it's never spectacular, but it gets the job done. Humans, by the way, should not be allowed to ride coach on international flights, its inhumane.
On the plane, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting in the middle seat on a 3 seat section. I still can't feel my legs. As for the meal? The meal selection went like this: "Chicken or beef" I had the beef, I like adventures.
After landing, we were pleasantly surprised to find our friend Bernd met us a the airport, which was a particular good thing, since I was about to rent a car and drive to his apartment. Have I mentioned that they drive on the LEFT side of the road in Ireland? Oddly, even though I slept all of 15 minutes on the flight, driving on the left side of the road was oddly familiar. Speculation as to why this was is due to the fact that I've been known to do this in the US already so it was as if I was coming home.
Oh, the car I'm driving, a Nissan Micra. Guess what, I know the name might not indicate it, but the car is tiny. The car is small enough that it can fit in the trunk of my friend's tank (they call it an SUV) in Dallas.
This is a Nissan Micra:
It's really, really small. Go Karts are bigger. Everytime I open the door of this car, I keep expecting 15 clowns to climb out of it.
The drive to the apartment was really cool, Ireland looks like nothing in the US. Green fields, castles, and livestock.
Oh, and weather, more to come on that...
After a quick brunch, which involved some muffins of excellence. We headed over to Limerick and saw some amazing sites. Check the pix for today, you'll see. Europe just looks so different from the US it's amazing.
I did learn one thing about parenting in Limerick, oddly enough. Parents are dumb here too. Proof of this was when a father decided to cross illegally against the light by leading with his 4 year old son and then cursing us out for bad driving. We think that this was a show, and that really, he didn't like the son and that he was trying to thin his flock by sending his son as a scout into traffic. (Yes folks, that's reason #4569 that I'm going to hell)
Oh, and we found a Texas BBQ place too (see pic in the album for today)
Oh, let's talk weather too. You know how people say "if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes"? Well, here in Ireland, it's literally the truth.
In the span of 5 minutes (and I'm not making this up) we had the following weather conditions:
- Sun
- Rain
- Snow
- Wind
- Hail
- Sun and rain at the same time
The weather is very interesting in this new place we are visiting.
From Limerick, we headed over to Adare where we saw some amazing old structures and of course, Texas cheerleaders. Yes, in the middle of Ireland, we came across a large group of Texas cheerleaders which is what one would expect to find in the middle of Ireland. Well, I guess I would as that is how my life seems to operate, just plain oddly.
After walking through the following weather conditions to get back to our car:
- Sun
- Rain
- Snow
- Wind
- Hail
- Sun and rain at the same time
This was followed by a drive through some amazing back roads...you'll see pix of this when we take them later this week.
And back to the apartment. Where we are watching Casino Royale as we speak, and I see if I can stay up. I'm pumped full of more artificial substances than Sylvester Stallone right now, although my drugs of choice only involve sugar.
Plenty more to come, we'll see where tomorrow takes us from 4 hours in the future in Ireland....
