Where are we? What time is it? What IS that?

This was my most recent thought! I had fallen asleep waiting for Bryon getting done using the computer at about 7PM our new time. Not long ago - we were jolted awake but a loud buzzing sound. It was so loud and irritating - what IS it?? Ok... we are exhausted, have no idea where we are or what time is it and then the friggen fire alarm goes off and I am telling Bryon we are on vacation - turn off the alarm!!! Talk about being disoriented. I hope you are laughing because it was hilarious.

P.S. - There was no fire.

Anyway. We are here. It's been a crazy ride... but here we are. We arrived in Dublin yesterday (yes - it's 1:30 AM here now so it was yesterday)at 8:30 AM. At this point nothing unusual had happened except that we could not sleep on the plane. It was full and terribly uncomfortable. But we were raring to go now being in Ireland. We stood in the cue for customs for about an hour. Luckily, we were quickly acquainted with our line neighbors, Brian and Lisa, a newlywed couple from New Zealand traveling around the world for 6 weeks! How cool is that? So, we thought after waiting in line that our bags would be set off to the side and waiting for us. Wrong. It took about another 30 minutes to get our bags. But hey they ALL made it and we will never complain about about the wait at O'Hare ever again.

We were not happy to find out that we would have to pay about double than we thought for car rental insurance. Bryon actually called the company - they said one price, we had to pay about double. They quoted him the base insurance IF you already have coverage, which is impossible given you can't get car insurance in Ireland. BUT... now we understand why. I think I almost had about 17 heart attacks driving from the airport to our hotel. It is absolutely insane. But we made it and thank god for our friend Vic at our hotel this evening physically coming outside and pointing to me how to get to the carpark. It's very strange to feel so stupid about something that should not be that difficult.

So yea! We got to the hotel and got checked in. There's a king size bed not common in Europe! YIPEE! It's well worth the chaos we just experienced. I decide to get out my shoes from my suitcase...only my suitcase falls on my foot. OWW! That hurts! And I quickly realize why - my big toenail is split right down the middle. Not only does it hurt like hell - but I am furious about my beautiful manicure now ruined. My mommy, however, taught me to be a MacGyver of sorts and thanks to some superglue and nail polish no one else will ever know that my toe is killing me!

Then, we have been having wireless issues. We cannot figure out why our wireless card is not picking up any networks. So, basically unless we can actually plug into a connection, we can't get on at this point. Our hotel tonight has one though and we were able to log on earlier, only to find out some more bad news on the work front.

I finally convince Bryon to get off the computer and go explore Dublin. Afterall, we are really only here for a half a day now -- now that it is 1PM after taking so long for everything. It was actually sunny in Dublin today (ODD) so the several mile walk around town was very delightful. It rained briefly while we were touring the Jameson Distillery - and now we hope our luck is looking up. Plus... 5 shots of whiskey on an empty stomach makes the afternoon much more pleasant. We walked from there across the river Liffey to the historic district. We went to The Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral as you will see in the photos. We then walked down to the Temple Bar area and had a beer at the Temple Bar. We walked up to Grafton Street and Bryon started dragging. However, I find out when trying to purchase an adapter that my hairdryer nor my iron will work over here. What's a girl to do? I was able to pick up a reasonable iron, but a hair dryer was going to cost me at least $100. It looks like I will be air-drying the rest of the vacation. UGH. We walked back down O'Connell Street and back to our hotel. Oh yes... Bryon was getting so tired (mind you we haven't slept since Saturday night) that our first meal on our honeymoon/vacation in Ireland was Burger King. (Mom---reminds me of Paris no?)

This brings us back to the beginning... where the fire alarm went off and I was unable to go back to sleep and that is why I am sitting here typing this and emailing those of you that are at your computer.

Tomorrow (well today actually) we will be leaving the crazy streets of Dublin and heading down towards Kilkenney and then on to Waterford where we will be staying overnight.

Cheers,
B&T

***If you have any comments and or questions for us you can leave comments to posts and we will be able to see them next time we are able to log on.