Smell The Coffee

Easter weekend was spent in Ireland- our very first visit. My cousin was getting married and it was all “Go-Go-Go”!!!. Heavy-laden with wedding supplies, I arrived with 4 kids in tow to Dublin Airport.  Ok, they’re big kids now- so at least I didn’t have to shout…(too much).

I’d decided to get a hire-car, as we were headed to Naas in  County Kildare, a 35min drive away from Dublin. My GPS behaved and delivered us safely to our hotel.

Later, bags delivered to my cousin, we clambered back in the car and asked my GPS to take us to the nearest Nando’s (a spicy chicken and chips place).  We ended up in Newbridge (another town)….about twenty minutes away from our hotel. The meal was nice enough but rather expensive; as a matter of fact, everything was on the pricey side in County Kildare….so we tightened our belts a little for the rest of the trip.

In between wedding preparations and errands, (more family pouring in from around the world) we managed to stop for a spot of mini-golfing at an address within ‘Tougher Industrial Estate.’ Before proceeding I checked Trip Advisor to make sure it wasn’t a den of thieves. It was fine…just an unfortunate name, that’s all.

We also observed an interesting artifact dubbed, “Perpetual Motion”- which was near our hotel (on the M7 motorway) and it very soon became a landmark for our navigations.

On my to-do list was to visit the famous Japanese Gardens….but time was against us- as  the wedding loomed- so I settled for its image instead. (I have a dream  …to sit here one day and let my muse loose on some Japanese poetry…sigh!)

Saturday 31st- Wedding day!

It was amazing in every way. My little cousin changed from her wedding dress into several other traditional outfits. But my favourite image  was this one; the men in the family with the couple.

There aren’t enough gigabytes to describe the fun we had…. but suffice it to say, I’ll be returning very, very soon for more sights and family fun.

On our return, I remembered- at the last minute -to pay the motorway toll fees (thankfully-online). I then got lost for 10min trying to return the car- silly one-way systems! Car returned safely and kids herded onto the waiting shuttle bus, we headed for terminal.  It was 5.30am and we caught a glimpse of Dublin Airport in the dark……”Beautiful,” I murmured. We all sighed at the same time. It was home-time.