stitch.rip.repeat.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Ugg. And Ireland

I've been avoiding logging into blogger because I didn't want to see just how long it had been since I had posted last. I closed my eyes. Life and a 2 week vacation took over, and I'm still recovering!

I do have some decent post material, however, so let the fun begin!

Today: Travel plans.

Jason and I went to London for a few days to visit our dear friends the McCooeys who have moved there for work. They have a lovely apartment in Notting Hill, very near and awesome market and several really great restaurants and pubs. And super close to the Tube station.

We saw a few sights in London like the Tower Bridge and the Crown Jewels, the British Museum and we did lots of market shopping. There are all of these adorable neighborhood markets---HUGE with lot of food stands, etc.

We went to Brick Lane which was pretty exotic, and of course Portobello road, which is just around the corner from where we were staying.

There are a few letterpress stands at this market, but the day I went, the wooden type guy wasn't there. I did buy a couple of things from this guy, but they're reproductions, and they're not even type-high, so I can't print them. He said I could buy a stamp pad, but I was like "Dude. I'm way beyond the stamp pad."

We ate some truly delicious food in London. This is from Wahaca. (Oaxaca???) Such flavor!

After stopping in London for a few days to see our old Nashville friends, Jason and I joined my whole family--mom, dad, sisters, brother-in-law, and boyfriend (my youngest sister's) in Ireland for a week and some change.

We traveled down the Southwest coast and stayed in a lovely little town called Kenmare. We rented a cottage for a week and then struck out each day in search of castles, chowder and Irish beaches.
Our Cottage:

Pretty much everywhere you turned it looked like the set of Lord of the Rings.

The driving was absolutely horrific. Luckily my sister and my mom drove our rental cars. I would have taken a photo, but I was too busy saying my last words to everyone else in the car. The roads are more curvy, hilly, and NARROW than you can imagine, you drive on the left side of the road, oh, and then some giant tour bus comes along and blows you off into the hedge that serves as a shoulder there. Not a great time. I'm so glad we had cars, because we did whatever we wanted, and really saw the countryside. I'm also glad I wasn't driving.

We spent the last few days in Dublin. I was exhausted by this time and didn't take many photos.
The last night we were there we went to a pub with Irish Set dancing. Conveniently, it requires sets of 8 people, which we had. It's something like square dancing, where they call out orders and you dance them. Very fun.

Now I'm exhausted from writing all of this. I have much more in the hopper. I hope I can get back here to write it soon!