I'll be 'Dam-ned!

This past weekend we ventured up north to Amsterdam to visit Jacob and Annette Cooper (see the previous blog “Weekend with the Coopers” to read about when they visited me in Luxembourg).

Random facts about Amsterdam:

* “Holland” and “The Netherlands” are one in the same. The official language spoken is Dutch. However, 85% of the country speaks fluent English so getting around is not a problem at all.

* Amsterdam is built below sea level.

* Some buildings are sinking and slightly slanted because the ground is unstable. In some of our pictures you will see houses that are significantly shorter than the others or that are obviously leaning because of this.

* Canals and bridges are everywhere throughout the city and the canals are set up almost like a train system (albeit a very expensive one): red boat line, blue boat line, green boat line, etc.

* Bikes are EVERYWHERE and are the main mode of transportation. The next most popular mode of transport seems to be walking. Consequently, everyone seems pretty healthy and fit.

* All the homes have these hoist beams with hooks on them at the very top. They use these beams and hooks to move people in and out of apartments because the stairs are so narrow and steep in most apartments. Picture it: rigging up your couch out on your front stoop, tossing the rope up to someone on the third floor, and “pullying” the thing up to the window…

* Because people move in and out this way, the homes are built at a slight slant so that when things are being moved up via ropes, they are less likely to hit the house.

* There are lots of beautiful flowers, especially sunflowers and tulips.

* The home where Anne Frank hid and wrote her diary during WWII is in Amsterdam.

* Excellent museums of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, etc.

* Prostitution and pot are legal (though not mutually exclusive).

So, back to our weekend….

We left on Friday afternoon and our plan was to be on the road at 2p and arriving at 6p (it’s supposed to be a 4 hr drive from the Grand Duchy). When 3:30p hit, we should have been some place in Belgium, almost ½ way to Amsterdam. Unfornuately, I was just picking Agnes up at our apartment at this time. We got a late start for one reason or another but we were finally on our way….for about 35 minutes. Then we were in dead traffic for about an hour or so. It really reminded us of our trip to Burgundy.

Eventually we got to the Coopers’ at 8:30pm and immediately headed out to the city to explore.
Jacob and Annette live in an excellent area of Amsterdam, known as “Old South.” They have about a 15 minute bike ride and 10-15 minute car drive to the city center. The area they live in is very clean and has very quiet streets. We were going to bike into the city, but we heard a few rumbles of thunder and opted to drive in. On the drive, we noticed the trams that run throughout the city and the amazing number of bikes. The bikes were everywhere!

More on the bikes: EVERYONE bikes and honestly, it’s a way of life in the Netherlands. The bikes are vintage style (think Mary Poppins). You sit up tall and the handle bars do not have breaks or gears on them. They are one speed and you stop by reversing your pedals (i.e., no freespin on these bad boys)…the good old fashion way! People have unique ways of carrying things and have baskets, wagons, cables, etc. People literally carry all of their groceries on these things. They’ll have wheelbarrows attached to the front and carry their kids in them. There are sidewalks, bike lanes, and then the road. Pedestrians have a light, cars have a light and bikes have a light to signal when to stop and go at intersections. Mix in the trams that run on the same streets, and you have to really pay attention.

Jacob said that 5pm rush hour is a mess….a mess with bikes! You think car traffic is bad, imagine trying to find your bike in the bike parking lot and then trying to leave with people all around you. It must be nuts.

Anyway, so we parked along one of the canals (no railing separating the cars and the water) and walked into the city center. There were street performers, people sitting outside of restaurants and coffee shops, ice-cream shops, etc. There were a variety of great looking restaurants to choose from and we picked a Brazilian style place. Our seating was outdoors and by this time it was around 10-11pm….prime time people watching!!

There was a club right next to our restaurant and honest to god, people were rolling up to the club on their bikes in full “clubbin’ gear.” We are talking skirts, heals, suits, etc. After they pull up and lock up their bikes (Pee Wee Herman style) they would straighten up their outfits and then strut their stuff like they just got out of a Mazerratti!

After dinner and people watching, we walked around a bit more and then headed back home. On the way, we noticed several bikes passing with a guy driving and a lady riding on the back….these were obviously bar hook ups and I’m not going to lie, the line from “40 Year Old Virgin” came to mind, “I hope you have a big trunk…..‘cause I’m gonna stick my bike in it!”
Saturday we woke up and had some breakfast and then ventured out on our bikes to explore. Jacob and Annette borrowed an extra bike from a friend for the weekend so they rode together and Ag and I each had one to ride. This really provided the true Amsterdam experience!

The day was absolutely beautiful, cool morning and in the 70’s by 1pm. We rode into the center again, parked our bikes and just walked around the shopping/pedestrian streets. There were many people out and about and lots of shops restaurants, coffee shops, etc were booming. There was a random sand soccer game going on in one of the center areas too.

There were canals everywhere with small boats going under the bridges and bikes, trams and people crossing over the tops. It was just a sight to be seen. Most homes that we noticed are built next to each other and all had the hooks and beams on top. Bikes lined all the streets and canals.

After we toured the city center area we jumped on our bikes and headed to the Red Light District….at 2pm in the afternoon! I will give my best PG-13 version of this “Prostitution” area. There are many adult stores, bars, coffee shops (Note: coffee shops are where you can legally buy weed in Amsterdam) and cafes in this area. There are also many doors. What I mean by that is imagine just a wall of doors, one after the other and each door has a big glass window with a red curtain. Inside each door sitting on a stool is a woman dressed for success, advertising, waiting for visitors, etc. If the curtains are closed, the small room was being occupied and was in use. There are red lights above all the doors too. The thing was, none of the women were attractive…they all looked like 45 year old ladies that you’d picture would be cleaning your house…not selling the goods.

Once we washed our hands and headed out on our bikes again, we went through a few parks. The flowers, windmills and views were great! The main park with the “I AM STERDAM” (see pics) was kind of in the middle of all the museums and reminded us of a college quad. People were just walking around everywhere, hanging out, etc. I have to say, most of the time when you go to a park, you see lots of squirrels. Well, for some reason, squirrels do not exist in Amsterdam; rather, wild chickens and roosters roam the land. Very bizarre!

We headed to the market area of town next, parked our bikes and went in to shop. Veggies, fruit, clothing, batteries, frames, fish, everything was on sale here for really good deals! The only thing that really restrained us from buying too much was the fact that we had to ride our bikes back with it! Speaking of which, these people have it down to a science when it comes to their bikes. They have wagons, extra seats added, bags, baskets, everything…MTV Pimp My Bike would be a hit here.

By this time it was close to 4 or 5pm and our booties needed a break from riding all day. We headed back to Jacob and Annette’s to relax, watch a movie, shower, etc. We then jumped back on our bikes around 8pm and went to the city center for dinner. Again, the city was lively with people everywhere. Guess where we ate dinner….at an awesome MEXICAN restaurant. Agnes and I were drooling as we sat drinking our Coronas, waiting for our chips and salsa.

Again, we sat outside and took in the sights as we enjoyed our company, drinks and dinner. One thing we noticed were a lot of bachelor and bachelorette parties passing by. We saw probably 5 or 6 go by in the time we were sitting at dinner and most of the groups had on matching t-shirts. We noticed that these parties dress like this a lot in Ireland an Prague as well.

After dinner we walked around a bit and thought we would be brave and head into the Red Light District just to see it in full force….and it was electric! Same way described it before, just lots more people (men) and craziness and way better looking talent (for the most part). After that tour we headed down a random street that was really happening. Unfortunately for Jacob and myself, we were in the “boys’ town” section of Amsterdam. I affectionately termed the street “Hamsterdam”. To each their own, but when Agnes and Annette were a few feet back, giggling and telling us that guys were checking us out, we got more than a bit uncomfortable.

So, we got out of that area in no time flat and headed back to our bikes. It was pretty late at this point and felt it was a good time to hit it.

The next day we slept in and then Aggie and I went on a canal ride for an hour or so. It was a decent tour of the water ways and a nice way to see the city as well. I do have to say, we saw the trailer parks of Amsterdam…boats rigged up like houses along the canals. It’s pretty amazing that people live on these little boats! Apparently, it’s pretty expensive property to be “canal side”.

The weather was awesome again and after the ride we walked around, shopped, grabbed some sandwiches and then headed back to Annette and Jacob’s. We left around 2:30pm with the high hopes that we would have no traffic….and we didn’t! We made it back in less than 4 hours.
Overall assessment: Amsterdam is awesome and it’s definitely a city we could live in. Jacob and Annette are also excellent, excellent hosts.

So….we are now back for two weeks and then heading to Sardinia, Italy for a weekend beach trip. Sardinia is an island off the West coast of Italy. Apparently it’s mandatory for men to wear Speedo’s on the beach in Sardinia. Stay tuned for those pictures!! Until then, a lot of work here and there and then relaxation awaits…

Life as we know it

The past few weekends have been pretty slow in the “fun” department for Agnes and me. So we felt this would be the perfect opportunity to write about life as we know it....Luxembourg style.

The goods, the bads, the differences, etc.

Things I really miss are Mexican food, ESPN, baseball games, mass spoken in English, and good radio stations. Things Agnes really misses are good Mexican food, Sushi and pedicures.

Differences....there are lots of them! Besides the obvious (we are in Europe, very little English is spoken outside of work) some differences worth noting are:

* The very, very French culture. People have their croissants and cafe's and sit around and look proper, and everything is clean and in its place. Most shops close for lunch hours. On Sunday, everything closes down except a few gas stations and a few restaurants. Otherwise, grocery stores, clothing stores, etc, etc are all shut down and it's like a ghost town.

* People drive very expensive cars. And I mean EVERYONE drives really nice cars.....the cabbies are rollin’ in $40,000 Mercedes and our secretaries at work are driving BMW's. No joke. In all honesty, I drive a Saab and it’s basically the equivalent of a rusted out Pinto with the confederate flag in the back driving through the Knob.

* Luxembourg has really good beer. They basically have the best from Belgium, Germany, France and Holland available all the time, plus the four main Luxembourgoise beers, each of which ain’t too bad neither (there's my Lindenwald english coming out!). My favorites are Leffe Blonde (Belgian) and Erdinger (German). They are both wheat (or weiss) beers that are a little heavier and have a lot of flavor. My favorite Luxembourgoise beer is Diekirch, which tastes most like Budweiser.

* The wine is very high quality and very very cheap. You can get a bottle of decent Burgundy or Pinot Noir or some other good French red wine for 2.50 euros (about $3.00). The other night we found Luxembourgoise Reisling Grand Cru (the best of the best in the Reisling category here) for 6.40 euros a bottle. Overall we’ve drank our share and have only had one bottle that we didn’t like. The most expensive stuff is the American wine!

* Bottled water is hilariously cheap. For the store brand, a 6-pack of 1.5 liter bottles is about 1 euro. That’s 9 liters of drinking water for 1 euro (about $1.25). We usually spring for the brand name, which runs about 1.20 euros. That’s just the way we roll…big spenders.

* No one knows how to line up for anything. At first I thought people were just rude, but now I realize, it’s the way they learned. Everyone just kind of assumes that if you push toward the front of something, you will eventually get in, get served, etc. You’ll line up for something and people will literally walk up and stand like 2 cm in front of you with their back to you, like you were taking their spot or something. I’d say that, above all things here, has taught me the most patience.

* The public buses are really clean and really nice. The bus drivers never pay attention to if you pay or not. I think 80% of the city rides on the buses for free.

* Everyone recycles. Plastic bottles, glass bottles, boxes, toilet paper, underwear, batteries, ovens, EVERYTHING. They are very energy and environment conscious (sp??) here.

* There’s no air conditioning in most places, including our apartment and my work office. Can I tell you how much I sweat in a day?? These days it’s been a heat wave…like 95 every day. It’s all because of global warming, which, as every European knows, is George Bush’s fault (just like the reason why France lost the World Cup and Floyd Landis tested unusually high for testosterone and Israel is attacking Lebanon and the dinosaurs are extinct…those were all his fault too).

* All runners wear spandex....it's like a law. A very "Richard Simmons/Lance Bass-ish, makes Matt uncomfortable, makes Agnes giggle" law.

* All the buildings have really small, cramped elevators. When you get in, you have to wonder if you will be able to get out or if it will break down on you and the other two people in there because you’ve overloaded it’s capacity.

Work for me has been going okay. I have been working my long days but I don’t mind since we’re able to travel pretty much whenever we want. I do have to say that this office is a lot different than in Chicago. People just don’t seem to want to take any responsibility and they will spend more time looking for a short cut than they would have taken had they just done things the right way from the beginning. Now that’s good because it makes me look good when I actually do things the right way. It’s bad because they give me a lot more of the “messes” to clean up. They've given me my own portfolio of clients to manage now, so I'm looking forward to those jobs starting since I can do things my way.

Agnes has been keeping herself busy with lots of little jobs. Not only is she taking care of me, she is taking care of her new best friend, Sabastian. Sabastian is the 5 year old boy that she babysits for. The family has been a great connection for Ag as they have really bonded and she enjoys working for them. When she is not sitting, Agnes has been doing a few random apartment cleaning jobs and doing some work for her company back in Chicago.

So, that is all for now. We are off to Amsterdam this weekend. We will be blogging about that next week!

Ireland 2006

So….Ireland. Well, I had a very long, busy week at work (somewhat due to the events of the previous weekends, I must admit!). So by the time June 30th rolled around, needless to say, we were ready to get our vacation started. As I have mentioned in past blogs, we went with one of my buddies from work, Robbie White. Robbie grew up in Nenagh, Ireland which, if you look at a map of Ireland, Nenagh is in the middle-south of the country (closest large city would be Limerick.) The population of Nenagh is 6,300 people, so it kind of makes Hamilton look huge.

I do have to say that, yes, it rains a lot in Ireland and the weather is either a hit or miss….well, the luck of the Irish was upon us because we had BEAUTIFUL weather (70’s and partly cloudy) most of the time we were there. It only rained 2 days out of our 10 days there.

Our flight from Frankfurt Hahn on (the once-forbidden, now just glared at with a questioning eye) Ryanair was not till 10pm. So right after work, Ag met me, Robbie and Robert McEwen (another guy from work) for a quick bite to eat at a bar near the office. We watched some of the World Cup games and then headed out around 7pm. At the airport we checked in with no problems and actually ran into our friend Eoin who was on his way to London for the weekend. (Eoin is the dude with the Irish hat on in the Kaiserslautern pics.) Of course it was chaos getting onto the plane but we managed alright and landed in Dublin around midnight. Robbie’s uncle picked us up from the airport and we were in for the 1 ½ hour drive to Nenagh.

When we got to Robbie’s home, we were greeted by his mother and 14 yr old brother, Danny. Their home was lovely and had a very welcoming feeling. We chatted a bit, had a few sandwiches and some tea and then headed to bed. The next day we didn’t wake up till close to 11:30am! When we came downstairs, we met Robbie’s father and all sat down for a huge Irish breakfast. An Irish breakfast consists of the following delicious items: bacon, sausage, black pudding (curiously similar to goetta), beans, eggs, bread and tea. A heart attack waiting to happen if you will….ah, but it was delicious. Also, please note, the bread in Ireland is really, really tasty.

So after our feast we walked into town to see the area. We ran into Robbie’s grandpa who lived down the street (like Clete, he was just kind of hanging out on the porch) and met several other relatives and friends throughout our tour. The town was very quaint and small, with little shops and bars lining all the streets. The funny thing was that Robbie knew everybody.

After our walk Robbie suggested a swim in the River Shannon. Well, okay! So we went back to the house, changed into our suits (“swimmin’ togs” to the Irish) and headed out. The “road” leading us to the River was crazy, as are most of the side streets in Ireland. Robbie was saying that most of the roads were created by horses and buggies and farmers, and then cement was basically just laid on these paths to make the ride a bit smoother. Anyways, the roads are really narrow and are supposedly two lanes, but most of the time you have to slow down when cars coming the other way were ready to pass you or you have to pull into a driveway for the other person to pass. Crazy. Needless to say, it’s not the quickest way of traveling. But what it lacks in expediency is more than made up for in the scenery and excitement.

Anywho, so we got to a town by the River (Garykennedy) and grabbed our first of many pints of Guinness, then walked out on the pier and checked out the view of the River. It was beautiful with the water glistening, boats passing by, etc. Then we went to a little swimming area where there was a diving board. So, I go first and jump in….I can honestly tell you the water was ALMOST as cold as my shower water in Prague. Almost, but not quite. That convinced Ag right away NOT to go in! We didn’t stay too long, but definitely long enough to swim around for a bit before my body froze and my…ah hem….manhood….threatened to pack up his balls and leave!

We came back home to another feast. This time Robbie’s mom made chicken, potatoes, ham, veggies, that really good bread, etc. It was so good….then we showered and got ready to go out for the night. We ended up doing a small pub crawl and hit 4 bars in total. Please note, people thought we, the Yank’s, were weird because we were drinking Guinness. Honestly, almost all Irish people were drinking Budweiser. We thought they were weird!

At one bar we ran into Robbie’s sister, Amy, and some of his close friends. At this bar, the craziest thing happened….around 11pm the waitress just started bringing these plates of heaven (aka chicken skewers, spring rolls, ribs and other goodies) out and handing them to everyone. The thing was…they didn’t stop, honestly. I was actually turning the waitresses away, and you know it’s serious if I‘m out drinking and turning food down! Apparently this place has one of those French “magic kitchens” (see the Bourgogne, France blog) and this is a normal occurrence there.

Needless to say, we enjoyed the food immensely, as one is prone to do after a few drinks, and moved onward. After a couple more pubs we decided to move on back to the homestead. On our walk home Robbie felt we needed to go all out the Irish way and stop at his favorite late night food joint that has the greasiest steak sandwiches, tastiest curry and cheddar cheese chips and delicious chicken wraps. Who were we to argue? I know it sounds like all we did was eat but really, other things happened in between…they‘re just kind of fuzzy so I don‘t want to comment too much.

Sunday we had a “simple” breakfast (cereal, tea and coffee) and then climbed a mini-mountain that provided an excellent view of the River Shannon and the rolling hills. The climb was rough but we made it and it was worth the view. Again, we came home to a great dinner of lamb, mint sauce, potatoes, veggies and bread waiting for us. After that good meal, we went for another swim in the River Shannon.

We got home and showered then headed to a pub along the River with Robbie’s parents and a few family friends. The patio on the lake was beautiful and it was an awesome evening. NOTE TO SELF, IF SOMEONE IN IRELAND SAYS YOU ARE GOING OUT FOR JUST ONE PINT, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM. IT’S A LIE. YOU WILL BE OUT ALL NIGHT. At one point in the night, Robbie’s mom looked over at me and said “Now this is what we call an Irish session!!“ Long story short, we hit 3 bars total with this group. We were out till 1am and at the end of the evening, all 8 of us piled into a taxi mini-van. The grease shop interested everyone so of course, Robbie, Robbie’s dad and I ran in for chips, sandwiches, etc.

Monday, we drove about 45 minutes and ended up at Bunratty Castle to tour around the grounds. After that, we went into Limerick and grabbed some sandwiches and did some shopping. We were planning on having a low key evening which was good because we were pretty worn out from the few previous days' events. However, Robbie’s girlfriend’s dad, Mr. Mitchell, rang us around 6:30pm (just as we were settling down on the couch) to see if we wanted to go to a hurling match. Of course we did!

Hurling is a sport that I could compare to a mix of soccer and field hockey. It is a native sport to Ireland (like baseball would be to us) and is played with sticks and a ball. It’s a pretty rough sport as one is hit with the stick often! The game was a Tipperary county matchup between Nenagh, representing North Tipp, and some other team representing South Tipp.

After the game, Mr. Mitchell wanted to grab a pint. Well, it was 9:30pm at this point and we were tired and hungry….sure, why not? Again, that one pint turned into several and we were out till 1a. Steak sandwiches and chips….here we come!

On Tuesday, Mr. Mitchell was going to drive us to Limerick to catch a bus to Galway. From Galway we were going to the Aran Islands. We were picked up at 8:10a and Mr. Mitchell was wearing the same exact clothes that we left him in at 1am! So that entertained us to say the least. We got to Galway (2 hr bus ride) and caught another bus that took us to the ferry (1 hr bus and ½ hr ferry ride). The bus ride from Galway to the ferry was through the countryside, and I mean the REAL countryside. Have you ever seen the movie “Snatch” and noticed Brad Pitt’s character is part of a group of traveling Irish gypsies that live in a cluster of trailer homes and speak some funny language? Well, we passed such people on the way.

The Aran Islands are comprised of three islands (Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Óirr) located at the mouth of Galway Bay. The names are Irish language (Gaelic) for 'the big island', 'the middle island', and 'the south island', respectively. We stayed on Inis Mór which has a population of roughly 900 people, and once we arrived we were “wowed” by our surroundings. The island was beautiful, stone fences lined the countryside, people were biking everywhere, horses and buggies were all around and the roads were really small and looked like alleys instead of streets. To sum up the Aran Islands, it is one of the most beautiful, unique places I have ever seen.

(If you check out the pictures, I have to admit that I may have gone a little overboard with teh camera on Inis Mor, but please understand that it was fascinating to see the walls and structures that were built with no cement, just some wildly intense rock stacking…..)

We checked into our B&B around 2:30 and the owner of the place suggested a hike for us to do before dinner (which was to be served at 7:15pm sharp). We stopped for a bite to eat at one of the few bars on the island and then started our hike. The hike put us at to top of some cliffs where the Dun Dubhchathair (Meaning: The Block Fort) was located. Along the way, there were just open fields of rock fences, cows, sheep, horses, etc. The thing you noticed was that there were no other people. Anywhere. It was almost eerie.

When we got to the top, the view was incredibly amazing. The pictures do not do the height of the cliffs justice….you could seriously walk out to the edge and the drop was like 400 feet straight down into the sea. It was nuts. Several boats were passing on the sea and we were honestly the only people around for miles. It was us, the rocks and the cows…..

Once we got back to the town area, we went to the only grocery store on the island and grabbed some snacks for our bike ride the next day. We got back to our B&B just in time for dinner - a four-course meal that was very delicious. After dinner we went to the lounge area where the only TV in the entire B&B sat with the intention of watching the World Cup game. There were only 4 teams left in the tournament and we had been so good about following it that we couldn’t pass up the chance to catch Germany and Italy battling it out. (Italy won) After the game we headed to bed, very happy and relaxed.

Wednesday was probably the best day, weather wise, in Ireland. You talk about luck, we had mostly sunny skies and the temperature was around 70 degrees. It couldn’t have happened at a better time either…while the Aran Islands are pretty, there wouldn’t be much to do in the rain. It’s really a place you can only get out and explore in good weather. We woke up to the delightful smell of an Irish breakfast, ate and headed out to our bikes….which by the way, were 10 euros for the day and they were delivered to the B&B for us earlier that morning. It was perfect. We rode around for hours just covering the island from top to bottom and stopping to eat snacks, take pictures and explore sites.

You were really on your own out there. There were times where we would pull up to a site and have to park our bikes and walk a bit to see whatever it was we were after seeing. Those were the times where were like, “Okay, do we try climbing over this stone wall and take the chance of running into some cows?”

We got into town (“town” meaning roughly 5 shops and 3 bars) and dropped off our bikes and jumped into a buggy. Time to relax and ride around a bit! I found the most authentic-looking buggy driver (he is the dude on the picture above) I could, and on we went. Of course, we think he may have been a bit drunk because as we walked up, he was downing a pint-can of Bulmers cider. Then once we got into the buggy, Ag noticed a few opened and empty Guinness cans.

The trip was entertaining to say the least. After touring us around, our driver dropped us off at the pub by our place because at this point it was close to 6pm and we were thirsty! Well, you want to talk about door to door service….he pulled the horse and buggy right up to the door, parked it, and came in to have a drink with us. Of course I bought him a cider as a tip! It was so funny to see this guy meander out of the bar, hop up into his cart and yell "Yup Charlie!" to his horse and clip-clop off.

We got back to our B&B, showered and headed to our dinner which was at 7:15pm again. Being that there are seriously maybe 10 places to eat on this whole island and the fact that none of these places are super close, this was a fantastic setup. The price was very reasonable and the food and service was excellent. Of course we watched another World Cup game that evening, Portugal verses France. (France won and moved on to face Italy in the final)

On Thursday we had our yummy Irish breakfast and then I headed out for a jog. There‘s not a better place in the world to go out for a run. You are completely alone. One mile you are along a beach, the next in some of the greenest fields you‘ll ever see, and the next overlooking some cliffs. Amazing. On the way back in from my loop, the cows even lined up on both sides of the street to cheer (okay, moo) me down the homestretch. Anyways, we then caught the noon ferry back to Galway. Robbie and his girlfriend, Laura, met us in Galway where they both went to college….or as they say here, university.

We walked around the main center area which was very quaint. There were many pubs, shops, restaurants, etc., lining the pedestrian streets. Again, we were going to have a low-key evening because Laura’s dad, Mr. Mitchell had wanted to take us out the next night. So we went for ONE pint at a really cool swank, Arabian style bar. From there, we went to a pub called the Kings Head to meet up with a few of Laura and Robbie’s friends. There was a really good live band playing, a good college-type vibe in the bar, and the funniest thing happened…we ended up dancing and staying out till 1a!

Friday we walked around the town a bit, saw National University of Ireland and went to see the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean II.” Afterwards we headed back to Neangh. We had some Indian food (which was very tasty), showered and went out to meet Mr. Mitchell and crew. My good friend, Brendan, came over from Dublin that day and went out with us too.

The place we went to was called Rohan’s and I am not going to lie….it’s pretty unique. You walk in and you are in a room about the size of a small bedroom. You can see part of the bar that was cut into the side wall and there is a mini-market in the front of the place (just in case you need band-aids or Tide on your way home….)! The second room is the main bar area and the walls have original posters from 30+ years ago advertising different events. They were pretty cool. There is another small back room and that completes the bar. Ag said the ladies bathroom is upstairs in their house! Bathtub and all.

The owner is the bartender and knows everyone. If you are new to the pub, he personally comes up to you, welcomingly shakes your hand and asks who you are and why you are here! The evening was a great time. Mr. Mitchell and many of his friends did a “sing-song.” This is where they all get together and basically sing these awesome old Irish songs. Robbie said that this doesn’t happen that much anymore and it’s only a few times a year that they (Mr. Mitchell and crew) do this, so we really lucked out.

As 2am rolled around, the lights suddenly went out. I thought it was closing time but then I got the weird feeling that everyone was looking at me. All of the sudden the owner of the bar came though the back room with a cheese cake and candles lit up. Someone let it slip that my birthday was coming up. And I am serious when I say “cheese cake”. It was, honest to God, slices of Velveeta-like cheese cut up into squares with candles stuck in them!

Everyone started singing “Happy Birthday” to me, which somehow morphed into “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” It was hilarious and I am not going to lie, I was embarrassed…good thing it was still kind of dark in the pub!

Saturday and Sunday were actually very relaxed days. It rained both days and we just shopped a bit in Nenagh, watched movies, etc. Sunday morning we caught a bus at 9am that put us into Dublin around noon. Our flight wasn’t till 6:30pm so we just grabbed lunch and walked around Dublin for a few hours.

The flight home was pretty uneventful and I was a little antsy because the World Cup final was on and I wanted to watch. When we landed, the game was still going, and we listened to the rest of it (in German) on our drive home from Frankfurt Hahn.

So now we are back and hanging out in Luxembourg. Last weekend was pretty chill, and the next weekend will be as well. Then the travels start again…Amsterdam, Sardinia, and Cinque Terre are in the immediate future. More long term plans include Big Fred and Andre touring France, Switzerland and Germany with us in September, and then Pete and Steph joining us in Bellagio (Italy) and Venice during October.

Stay tuned!

Home Again

Hello....

Back home again after a week in Ireland. It was an eventful trip and we got to see a lot of the country. We'll blog in (much) more detail this weekend when we have time. For now we are both very busy catching up on life and work.

We've got no immediate or concrete travel plans for the near future. We most likely will go to Amsterdam for the last weekend in July, and maybe try to hit Brussels or Brugge (both in Belgium) some random weekend coming up.

The next definite trip will be for the end of August, during which Agnes, me, my buddy from work (Robert) and his lady friend Alexandra will meet up with Darren and Nicole Ludwig (our friends from Chicago) in Milan and then train it to Vernazza - one of the five Italian coastal villages that make up what's called the Cinque Terre. Word on the street is that the Cinque Terre is pretty awesome...you can hike between the five villages, go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, take boat rides and much more. The atmosphere is meant to be laid back and the scenery is supposed to be amazing. So we're excited for that trip.

Anyways, work is work. The weather is nice. We're looking forward to spending a couple of quiet weekends in Luxembourg and relaxing after a string of fun and exciting trips. That's it for now, but make sure to check back this weekend (probably Sunday) for the full update about Ireland.

Later on.....