Thursday, June 14, 2007

The First, Extended Day (A Belated Post)

I thought that I could write a little bit about our day of travelling from the great city of Chicago to Ireland. I haven`t had much of a chance to do more than be dumbfounded at how great this city of Dublin is, and so, my post comes to you a little late.

The day of travel started out fine, with everyone showing up on time. We all luckily fit the weight requirements on luggage and were sent to our terminal...that is after we were to wait in what seemed like a quarter-mile long line to get through security. It wasn`t until all of us got close to the front of this line that we were told there are no more restaurants in the terminal area and that if we wanted to eat, we would have to get out of line. We did. Luckily we were able to pull out some charm and were let in at the front of the line. Turned a lot of angry heads.

We eventually boarded and all had a seat near one another, which was great to pass the time. The flight was long, but went by just fine. We all had our own diversions in order to get through. Some played euchre, some read books, some slept, and some had awkward conversation. All in all it was great, especially the viewings of "Wild Hogs" starring the Old-Timer Gang and "The Astronaut Farmer" starring Billy Bob "Sling Blade" Thornton. I laughed and cried! The food was good for what it was.

The moment finally came when I switched to a seat by Liam (next to the window) and watched as the sun rose over what was now Ireland. I looked down and saw nothing but green land. We flew past Dublin and over the ocean in order to swoop-turn the plane around and come back into Dublin Airport. This was a great sight and I wish I had a camera with me. There was not a cloud in the sky and it made the whole landscape below look beautiful.

We got off the plane and surprisingly did not have to go through Customs. We hopped right on a bus and headed down to our respective hotel/hostel. The city looked great. We dropped off our things in our rooms and went straight out into the city to fight our impending jet-lag. We saw St. Stephen`s Green, the shops on Grafton Street and real, live Irish people. We all had lunch and I had a traditional Irish lunch (sausage, baked beans, and chips) and then the pain of no-sleep set in. We all took long naps in the afternoon.

After that, we met the Gaiety staff and were visited by both the Governor of Wisconsin Jim Doyle, his wife, and the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. It was an honor that they came. We finished the night with dinner and a show at the Peacock Theatre called "Terminus". It was a fantastic show.

Well, that was that. Since then we`ve had rehearsals, seen more shows, been to some museums, and just had a fun time. I`ll have more posts to come.

1 comment:

Theresa said...

I am really enjoying your posts regarding your trip! I feel that I am there with you...in a way! ha ha!!! The webshots are wonderful! Everything is so green and so fresh looking...I hope you continue to share, even as your schedule becomes more hectic! Enjoy yourselves!