The Kuh That Goes Buh and Smells Like Poo!

For those of you avid followers - ED - I apologize for the lateness in my posts. For the majority I have not had the availability of time to write what I was up to. Having said that, there is a lot to fill in. Sam arrived. She enjoyed and got to experience what Utrecht had to offer. Yay! for culture shocks! We decided against a visit to Paris. It was jam packed in to our other plans and there was a lot of mental anguished involved - believe me. We decided to start our trips abroad by going to Ireland. In Ireland we were going to meet Brian Smith, an old friend of Wesleys that was going to provide us with the things needed to survive for a while. Unfortunately, we were not exactly on the right side of tour season to get a bus straight from Utrecht, Holland to Dublin, Ireland and so we had to improvise. We started by getting a bus ticket from Utrecht to London. We would spend the day putzing around London to kill time. Then, we would board a bus and head to Dublin that evening. Both of the buses we were taking were over-night buses - thinking we were geniuses because would be able to save money on places to stay. Needless to say, we were wrong. The buses made far to many stops and there were to many stinky, loud, annoying people to actally rest. The result - Sam got really sick and I became overtly cranky. We rode the first bus into London and we went and saw Buckingham palace. After that, we thought it would be the best idea to just go and rest in the bus station until that evening when we could board the bus for Dublin. 10 hours later, we still had not rested because while I tried to take a nap, a police offiver informed us that we were not allowed to sleep in the bus station because the camera's couldn't see our faces. So we sat there until our bus arrived. This bus, worse than the first, was filled with the most trashy English people. Comfort was not an option. We finally arrived in Dublin at 7am where Brian Smity and his boyfriend Brian Holland picked us up to take us on an adventure. Sam was still filling quite unwell and asked if she could just be taken to a hotel for the day and rest while Brian, Brian, and I (plus several of their friends) went into the seaside country for a camping excursion. After getting Sam settled in the Brians and I headed out. We grabbed some food and met with their friends. The wonderful about the Irish is the most sterotypes are true....and it is what makes these people absolutly the best people ever to be around. In the morning after waking up, we went down to the seaside and went for a dip in the Irish sea - mind you the air was only around the mid sixties and the way stung when it touched you. I woke up very quickly. We headed back into Dublin where picked up Sam and did some walking throughout the beautiful, old city. We got to see the Sea Lions which are a very intelligent, beautiful animal and relax overall. Once we had a late lunch Sam, myself, and the Brians headed back out to the country to their second home. It was a lovely little cottage again adjacent to ocean. We saw an old cemetary and lots and lots of beautful landscape. Ireland is beautiful country. Today - Sam and are I exploring a little bit of Dublin by ourselves while the Brians are hard at work. They will meet us to take us to the airport this evening where we will fly to London.....Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will add those when I make it back to Utrecht on Wednesday! Missing you all. See you soon!