I'M IN IRELAND!!!!!!!
Turns out Janis was on my flight, but I didn't see her till we stood up to get off.
We are about to leave the airport, and I will finally really be able to see this gorgeous country. I did catch a glimpse out of one of the windows and was able to get a lady to take a picture for me, which was nice. Patchwork fields were mostly what I saw, then some of the city.
We have met up with Janice and then Ruth, and as soon as Janis finishes her phone call, I think we're out of here!
(at the Dublin airport)
Ruth and Robbie's house is so beautiful, and they are so nice - I feel at home already! When we arrived here, we toted our luggage up to our rooms: we each get a separate one, and they are all so lovely and have great views out the windows. J and J have rooms at the back of the house, so their windows look out on the back garden, which is just effusive with the most beautiful flowers and plants and birds and is just picture-perfect. You can also see beyond it to other people's gardens (meaning yards, by the way - but they are so full of flowers and such that the word garden is very appropriate) and through Janis's window you can also see a distant stone tower rising above the trees. Janis says it is a castle, but I'm wondering if it belongs to a church.
Through my window you can see the street and the other lovely homes in this lovely neighborhood in Dun Laoghiare (sp?). This town is right outside the city of Dublin and is about 15 minutes from the airport. It was a very scenic drive to get here, and I was constantly snapping photos, to the amusement of the other three women. I rode on the right-hand side of the car, behind Ruth in the driver's seat. Awesome - that was one of my first tastes of distinctly European culture! (I don't think I'd ever be able to drive a European car!) And of course they drive on the other side of the road as well. It was a bit trippy sometimes as I watched our car maneuvering so differently.
It seems like we are in a quiet neighborhood, and everything here is green and blooming with all kinds of different colored flowers. The houses all look the same as far as I have seen, and the way they are structured inside is different than what I've seen in America. (I wish I could draw; then I'd sketch the layout of the house in here. Alas, I shall have to use the camera instead.) I especially love the kitchen at the back of the ground floor - it is really a sun room, with glass paneling all along the back, so you can see the garden very well. It's like a greenhouse, sort of. [Edit: Well, actually, not really like a greenhouse. I remembered wrong. There is a very large window in one half of the back wall, then a bit of solid wall in the center, and then a set of sliding glass doors at the other side.]
Shortly after we arrived and met Robbie, we all had tea in that beautiful room, with toast and some distinctly Irish breads and red currant jelly and blackberry jam (home-made). It was delicious! And I put milk in my tea, and I liked it. The Burnses asked us about ourselves (where we're from, families, etc.) and we got to know each other a little bit.
Then Ruth had to run out somewhere, and we girls decided that we should nap for a couple of hours to recover from the jet lag that will surely hit soon. I am supposed to be sleeping now, but... heh. I just had to write about how beautiful and wonderful it is here! I've had a shower, and I'm in my comfy pajamas, and I am rather tired now. I'd better do what I'm supposed to be doing, then.
