And so it ends...

We woke up at the ridiculously early hour of 6am in order to drive an hour and a bit to the Shannon airport and catch our flight to London. Fortunately things went off without a hitch and we successfully made it to my friend Sumi's place a few hours later. We even stopped at my mother's favorite sandwich chain Pret a Manger for lunch. After getting ourselves settled in and checked in to our flight home, we set out to explore the neighborhood. Sumi's flat is located a couple of tube stops from the Liverpool station and the fascinating markets around them. We poked around, drank some wine, drank some beer, did a little shopping, had a fabulous Indian meal, drank some more beer and then headed for home. It was an excellent day.

Tomorrow the honeymoon ends but I find myself excited for all that life will bring. It will be fun to settle into our newly roommate-free home and settle back into the routine of everyday life.

Redemption!

I am redeemed! It is now pissing down rain!

More Pics

More pics are up.

Pushing pigeons

Jer is horribly upset with me as the weather in Dublin has been decidedly not rainy. In fact, both of us got a bit of a sunburn yesterday as we hung out on the Trinity campus with my friend Colin and his girlfriend. Today is yet another sunny day, though the clouds roll in from time to time and drop some rain.

We arrived in the city center on Saturday and couldn't get into our guesthouse for a couple of hours. We headed over to a little Italian restaurant that I used to go to and hung out there reading up on Ireland and eating a tasty lunch. When we could finally check in, there was a mix up with the reservation and Jer and I did not get the double room we had reserved. Instead we were given two twin beds separated by a bedside table. Very 1950ish and hilarious. The place itself is upstairs from a neat old pub and is incredibly Irish. I love it.

Jer has been treated to the (probably) boring "tour of Elizabeth's former life". It went something like this: this is the bar where I used to work, this is the bar where I used to drink, this is the restaurant that used to have really good Asian food, this is the coffee shop where my roommates worked, etc. He handled it like a champ. And then we went to the awesomely named Kathmandu restaurant, "Monty's". Ha.

Yesterday we wandered around a bit more, picked up our clean (yay!) clothes from the laundromat, changed and then went to meet Colin and Catherine. After grabbing a bite to eat, we headed out to Colin's parents' house to feed the dog and get in a good game of frisbee. After we wore the dog out with that, Colin suggested that we go pigeon pushing. This sounded like a very exciting new game. Unfortunately, rather than suggestion a game of sneaking up on sleeping pigeons and pushing them around, what he had actually said was "pitch and putt". This is apparently a game related to golf where you have a miniature golf course with sand traps and all that, but no weird castles that you have to hit balls into.

As it turned out, the pitch and putt was closed, so we went to the driving range instead. Jer is a good shot. I, too, am a a good shot and somehow managed to hit the ball straight up, bounce it off the ceiling and back onto my head. I have the bump to prove it. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would and it made for a good laugh.

Today we are meeting up with my second cousins who are here in Ireland for a music tour. They are in the bluegrass band Mountain High and are currently doing a live interview on Irish radio. Unfortunately we aren't able to listen to it, but will be meeting up with them in just a bit for lunch.

It is wonderful to be back here and it really feels like coming home again. And you have to love the accents!

Warm Irish Welcome

We have arrived in Ireland to find spitting rain, fog, and 20-degree temperatures. This is a nice change from Sardinia, to which Elizabeth's burned shoulders will attest. But while the weather is less than sunny, the welcome could give a sunburn of its own.

Immigration agents are not normally known for their sparkling personalities, but ours, upon finding out it was our honeymoon and that we were on our way to Galway, gave us a recommendation of a wine-bar/restaurant in Galway.

We will let you know how it is...

Ach! The sun! I'm melting!

Sardinia really is as beautiful as the pictures that you have probably never seen portray it to be. The water is ridiculously clear and the beaches are made up of fine white sand. It is stunning. Now if we could all just come with our own personal butlers to shade us and keep us cool as we lie on the beach! It turns out that I am too pale for the place and Jer isn't much better. We are loving that spf 50 sunscreen....

Sardinia was described as a place to experience rather than to see things and I do believe that to be true. There simply isn't too much to see or do here. There are a some ancient ruins, which are really cool, and I'm sure that there are a few museums around, though Jer and I are avoiding those as much as possible. On the other hand, wandering the back streets of the old parts of the cities is really fascinating. We are currently in a little town on the west coast called Bosa. It is essentially a beach town, but there is an old center that has been around forever. We got ourselves lost in the narrow, winding streets today and noted both how small the doorways are and how good the food smells wafting out were.

Tomorrow we are headed to the north part of the island to hang out and explore around for a couple of days before we head to rainy ole Ireland. Apparently it is expected to rain the whole time we are there. I'm sure that I will fit in with all of my paleness just fine there!

All in all, we are having a wonderful time. The food is excellent, the wine is splendid and the company is highly entertaining!