The Holidays

Ok, so as not to leave this any monger and be forced to go over weeks and weeks of what happened and catch-ups it’s time to nail this on the head and post an update about my holidays.

In one word they were lovely, bit of ups and downs but overall a good time I believe was had by all. The weather did no one any favors, except by not being too cold when Derek was visiting but it snowed (sometimes a lot) and rained and froze and it was a true feeling of a real winter, not like here were it’s -1 today and I’m not sure I can bring myself to go outside again!

My travel over to Montreal was rather uneventful and typical, sore bum and bored out of my mind. The trip for my bags was a little different as I only found one in Montreal instead of the two I’d hoped for. Alas orange bag was left behind in Paris. Now as you may know I am used to not getting my bags when I arrive in Montreal, this is the third time I’ve gone home and been delayed exiting the airport because I have to get in line to describe what colour and size my bag is.

I have to say this time, compared to previous times with British Airways, Air France surprised me by doing the one thing that BA lacked, and they uttered the word Sorry. It amazes me that sometimes politeness can do a lot to help a situation. The fact that Air France also delivered my bag the next evening at 11pm after a snowstorm also helps their case but it was the sorry that mattered the most. I have on my list of things to do to write a letter to Air France, not because they told me I could spend up to €100 on essentials and claim back my undies, pjs, socks and a top, but I think it’s important that their efficiency and politeness be recognized. That being said I don’t want my bag not arriving to happen ever again. Funny I only ever loose my bag on the way to Montreal and ever on the way home from!

I had a few days with my family before Derek arrived to I took care of a couple of must dos (renew drivers license… check) and spent some time with my parents and had an ol’ slumber party with my sister. It was good to have this time before Christmas to unwind and relax.

Derek arrived on Christmas Eve and I believe has nothing, not one single even forced, good thing to say about his trip. The flight was delayed leaving, he missed his connection and then the flight almost didn’t land in Montreal and was diverted to Toronto before they cleared the runway of ice and they were allowed to land. Frankly, I don’t think I could find much good to say about that either! Thankfully, after my suitcase’s absence on arrival he decided to travel with just hand luggage and that bit was speedy… that’s about it.

But he did arrive and I think he had a good time but to travel all the way from Ireland to Montreal for just 4 days was exhausting, although he insists this had nothing to do with the 4 nights pre-trip that he spent out drinking and working the next day had anything to do with the fact that he felt so rotten when we arrived back.

Yes, we both go hit with a case of the Sick in the New Year. Derek’s started a little earlier on the way home from Canada, lucky him right on the flight with a case of the barfs and the cough and cold. And for New Year’s he passed on the cough and cold for me to have on my last few days of vacation and this first week back at work.

Like a typical guy he’s not giving much feedback as to whether he liked the Christmas in Canada other to say it was different and good, he’s so diplomatic and doesn’t want to offend Ireland!

May Bank Holiday Weekend

This weekend was fantastic, two counties taken care of in one long weekend, not bad. Our trip to Leitrim was the nicest part, we left early on Saturday morning and made it to Carrick on Shannon for lunch, beautiful little town, kinda reminded me of a small little tourist town with a river that runs through the middle, it was a beautiful hot sunny day... yes I did say hot, we managed to get sunburns on the boat trip... I'll come to that. Back to the story, we stopped into the tourist office just to get our bearings and to see if the woman could recommend a nice place to stop for lunch, she was useless.... so we went across the street to a pub and had lunch, yummy pub grub and then crossed the river and had a drink out on the back lawn of a pub on the Shannon, it was lovely. We had a stroll around the rest of town and then took a short boat ride down the Shannon, not really all that great of a boat trip but we agreed that we would have regretted not doing it. After Carrick was seen, we headed over to the B&B that we had booked to check in and see what was up. Let me tell you this was the prettiest B&B that I have ever been to in my life, we had the best time and since then have talked about nothing but when we might be able to go back. The house was on a hill overlooking the canal; our room had two large picture windows that over looked the canal and the fields. The place was run but a nice couple who also run a small restaurant out of the other side of the house and we had been told to book dinner for that night as well and had reservations for 7:30. We relaxed till it was time to go and then enjoyed the best meal of my life, The best thing is that the bill the next day when we checked out was only 152 euro for the night and dinner and it was worth every penny, the bed was fantastic slept like a baby , the room pretty and clean, and dinner was so good, even Derek, the pickiest eater in the world, was torn on what to order but went with a chicken dish as well as vegetable soup to start and cheesecake for dessert. I started with a homemade pate with little slices of toast and Cumberland sauce, yummy, and then had fish in a white wine sauce with, and get this, pan fried green grapes, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm just thinking about it makes my mouth water. It was all served with mashed and scalloped potatoes and fresh steamed veg all home grown, god it was good. I was too full to have dessert and Derek had to roll me back to the room and we couldn't move. Breakfast the following morning was just as good, the husband that owns the place is the chef for everything, god I'd be massive if I was married to him. Derek and I loved the time we spent there and would not hesitate going back tomorrow.... if only we had the time!! The best thing we (I) did in the planning was to try not to replicate the same experience the following night in Sligo. We left the B&B and the weather wasn't the best raining and cloudy so we figured there was no rush to get to the seashore in Sligo as there would be nothing for us to do there and we had reservations for the Seaweed baths only for 3:30. So we took one of the more scenic routes from the tour book I have and went on a tour of Yeats county, lovely back roads and lakes and waterfalls, it was a nice little tour and then once we got to Strandhill in Sligo we weren't so low about the weather anymore. We sat in the car for a while and watched the surfers in the waves, which are huge, some of the biggest in Europe. The surf is so strong that they don't allow swimming there because so many people have been pulled in and drowned from the undertow. Crazy. So we went to a cafe to get a snack for lunch and then over to the seaweed baths. MMMMMMmmmmm perfect on a cold rainy day is a bath, we decided to do it together and there was more than enough room, won't go into detail though. The room was set up with a steam sauna room (basically a large shower with the top blocked in) and a huge claw footed bath tub filled with warm water and seaweed. The seaweed is harvested every morning at low tide and then cleaned, used once and then sent to an organic farm to be used as fertilizer, the whole thing was lovely and we both left feeling relaxed and moisturized but not greasy, even Derek’s dry skin was softer! After we went up to the B&B which was more like a basic room above a tavern and took a nap. When we woke, hungry we decided on pizza and headed into the town of Sligo to see what we could find, nice quiet night, but ended up in the tavern downstairs where there was live music and extremely excellent and cheap Guinness, imagine 5 rounds for 22 euro!!! We had a nice time and eventually made our way up to the room.
This morning was beautiful again so we ate breakfast and went down to the beach to take a photo or two and then went and did a little bit of sight seeing of Megalithic Tombs and ruins and stuff. We wanted to get home early as long weekends are known for having traffic when everyone is trying to get home at once so we didn’t stay too long, just enough time to get some photos. So we beat the traffic and made it back to the city in time to join Derek’s parents at that lovely church pub. Mmm.

Easter weekend in Roscommon

County Roscommon was visited Easter weekend when we were invited to the home of brothers Owen and Paul. It was a beautiful home that they have restored and it was a lovely break from the city, slept so well as at night it was pitch black and you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face!!!
We took a trip one afternoon to Galway as it was only a short drive away (is anything in this country really THAT far???) Anyhow, had a great weekend, little too short as Derek had to work on Saturday and Monday afternoon but it was worth the trip. Happy Easter! Hope the Easter Bunny was good to you!

Girly Good Friday

Today I had the day off for Good Friday and met up with Derek’s Mom, Susan and his brother’s Fiancé Niamh and we went to Powerscourt for the afternoon. A little about Powerscourt:
The gardens at Powerscourt are probably the finest in Ireland both for their design and their dramatic setting at the foot of Great Sugar Loaf Mountain. The house and grounds were commissioned in the 1730’s by Richard Wingfield, the 1st Viscount Powerscourt. New ornamental gardens were completed in 1858-75 by the 7th Viscount, who added gates, urns and statues collected during his travels in Europe. The house was gutted by an accidental fire in 1974, but the ground floor has been beautifully renovated and now accommodates an upmarket centre where they sell hand made beauty and bath products and hand woven wool sweaters and clothing and food. There is also an excellent restaurant and Café (Avoca) where you could buy inexpensive healthy meals like quiche and salad which is what I enjoyed for lunch. Derek’s cousin works at Powerscourt and we ran into him there and he sent us off to walk around the grounds for free entry which was nice and definitely worth it. I took loads of photos and have uploaded many of them such as:
The Perron: Leading down from the house to Triton lake is the Perron, a beautiful Italianate stairway added in 1874. Beside the lake, it is guarded by two statues of Pegasus- the mythical winged horse and emblem of the Wingfied family.
Triton Lake: made for the first garden the lake takes its name from the central fountain which is modelled on a 17th century work by Bernini in Rome.
Japanese Gardens: enchanting Edwardian gardens created out of bog land, contain bamboo trees!

http://www.powerscourt.ie/

Beautiful day, good company. We ended the day off at Derek’s parents for hot cross buns and tea. Good way to start a long Easter weekend.

Welcome to Ireland; Failte Ireland

After a long night and a sad goodbye at the airport I'm all nerves and sleeplessness. And a transfer of airplanes in Heathrow airport has calmed my nerves, I got to talk to Derek, and now I feel reassured and ok about the crazy things that have been going through my head over the last 6 hours or so as I travelled over the Atlantic.

I have to say that the best thing I did was spending the extra money and bring a third piece of luggage. That way I know I’m travelling with all sorts of useless items like cookbooks and oven mitts that may seem stupid to one person but will make me feel at home over here. It also allowed me to bring more shoes than I think some people own in a lifetime!!! But no one has to judge me about that, it’s really about whatever makes me happy!

So I’m at Dublin Airport, and my three bags have made it, this is a good start to the adventure, now I just have to hope that Derek is there to meet me and, he is and I think he might be looking as weirded out by this situation as I'm feeling (I’m hoping I’m hiding it better than him). Awkward silence, followed by sneaking side glances and wondering if this will be as good as it should be.
So we’re off to see the apartment that Derek has chosen for us to live in, I’m sure he has felt the pressure in having to pick and provide the deposit and sign the lease without being sure if this will work. And not to mention the pressure he’s under to prove that he has decent taste in apartments and that he hasn’t found something I’m going to hate living in. But to be fair I did see some photos of the place before I left Montreal and I did give my ok on the place, but it was still up to him to make the final decision.

And when I walk into the apartment I can see myself living there? after putting my mark on the place, and I can see he’s made an effort, he’s made the bed and he’s put glasses and cutlery away, he’s even gone so far as putting a set of candles from his soon-to-be sister-in-law in my bathroom and I can tell he wants me to love the place so badly and there’s good news for him, I do.

Prologue: Setting The Stage

Left behind: Well most importantly left behind was my family and friends, although I feel I had their full support for making the move and changing my life. Leaving was hard, airports have not become my favorite place and they mean change and taking a risk. This is a big one. I have left my job, granted I have taken a leave of absence so if things don't work out I can go back, my position in the hierarchy system of the hospital is safe. I have handed over the keys and belongings of my apartment to my sister, a bit coincidental how things worked out that when I was ready to leave she was coming home. So while I was looking to find something to do with my things, Katherine is looking for the exact same things! Perhaps it wasn't a coincidence... just a thought. I also think I should mention that I have left behind the winter, the freezing chill you to the bones can't get warm again cold is just about to arrive in Montreal and I'll have left that behind! Although I will miss the snow, I'm not sure I want it if it means the minus 30 degrees temperatures!
Looking forward: So I set out on my journey, I take what has to be the biggest risk of my life, I try not to look back and instead look forward to what ever there is in store for me. I think the most important thing is I think if I didn't make the move, pack things up and try out something new, this would be the biggest regret of my life and in an effort to have no regrets I'll take on the challenge and see what's in store for me.