Ireland - Introduction

Ireland was one of our best trips ever.  First off, you must know that we house swapped with a family from Ireland.  They had two girls, ages 9 and 12 named Lauryn and Ally.  They were at our house in DC & our beach house in DE when we were in Ireland.  Our Ireland home was outside of Dublin, just beyond the suburbs.  Frankly, near the country in a little area (not even a town) called Riverstown.  Nearest city = Asbournne.  Luckily we were still close to Dublin (about 30-40 minutes) and close to the airport as well.  The house we stayed in was laid out well for having Aunt Venita & friend Larry along with us as well.  We also had neighbors who turned out to be absolutely fabulous.  We got invited over for BBQs, Irish moonshine and lots of wine, beer and world cup watching.  Lily also made friends with the neighbors (who had a secret passage way straight between the houses).  Ever day we would go out and tour around and then bring Lily back to play with the neighbor kids.  It was a remarkable way to truly learn more about the Irish and we felt so lucky to have met everyone (Tony, Vivianne, Vanessa, Michael, Rachel and friend Izzy).  We were so busy with our friends that we forgot to take pictures of them, but they will definitely be in our fondest memories.  Hopefully they will come visit us in the states as well.

Probably also important to mention that the house we stayed in had a huge yard, chickens, bunnies, play houses, gardens, streams, and about 6 cats that didn't all belong there.  It definitely felt a little like the country.

Major surprises from Ireland were:  (1) the obsence amount of security in the house.  Gate, locks everywhere, security system, cameras, the works.  Come to find out there was a dead body found just down the road from us in the ditch the week before.  Maybe we should have taken the security a little more seriously.  (2) the hot water heaters.  They were only on certain times of the day.  Then we hit a wrong button and had no hot water for an entire day.  There were some cold showers going on.  (3) the people.  I knew they were going to be great, but they turned out to be absolutely wonderful no matter where we went.  (4) the small cities.  Don't get me wrong the big cities were nice, but the quaint little villages were the best and everyone was just so darned happy to see you.  (5) finally the food.  I expected food similar in quality to what we have had in Scotland and U.K.  but was pleasantly surprised to find some very high quality food at affordable prices.  And we kept finding very highly rated restaurants that were excellent.

We were joined on our trip by my Aunt Venita from Oregon and good friend Larry from Florida.  We could not have asked for better travelling companions.  How lucky we are.