Friends in Dublin!

My friends are here!!  Wooohoooooo.  Though I've been blowing up Instagram with pics, I thought I'd post some on here.

Mere got here bright and early on Saturday morning around 9:30.  She took the Aircoach bus in and we met her at the bus stop and made a scene with hugs and screaming and spinning around like kooks.  I think I told everyone my eyes were watering because of the cold but really...I was just happy.  Words can't express how happy, actually.

We brought her back to the apartment and sat around awhile, and then headed over to Junior's (by way of a tour through Ballsbridge) to get her an Irish breakfast.

Then...more walking around, and home to take a baby afternoon nap so we could all be ready to go that Saturday night!  We met some pals at Slattery's and Mere had her first Guinness!  We hung out there for an hour or two and headed to Paulie's Pizza to show her our go-to place.  It didn't disappoint.  Duh. And we all pretty much laughed the entire time...which has been a theme of this trip.

We wandered around Dublin's City Centre trying to find a fun pub to pop into for a drink and settled on Kehoe's (one of the pubs that says they serve the "best pint in Dublin").  More Guinness.

Then home to sleep on the air mattress!  Great day had by all.

Molly got in bright and REAL early the next day.  I set my alarm for like...6:25am and she texted right before my alarm went off to say she was almost at the bus stop.  Crap!  Drew and I frantically threw on clothes and ran to the stop in time to see her climb off the bus and run into my arms!  I think I pulled the  I'm-not-crying-it's-just-cold routine again but we all know that wasn't true.  Such happiness.  Seriously.

I think Molly was wound up and pumped up but we were all tired as can be.  Molly came in and jumped on top of Meredith and woke her up but then we promptly tucked Molly in with her and told her we were alllll going back to sleep for at least 4 hours.  And so we did.

Gettin ready for the day.

 Then we naturally took them to Queen of Tarts!  Yay!  I think they liked it as much as Drew and I do.

Spinach, Pecan, and Brie Tart.

Queen of Tarts is pretty close to Guinness so we strolled over there and took the Guinness tour!

There was a place at the museum where you could type out a message and they would display it all over the wall.  Meredith and Drew took full advantage.

We headed up to the top of the Guinness museum, the Gravity Bar, to have one while looking out over the city.  REAL nice views, yall.  Moll had her first Guinness and thought it was rather bitter.  Ah well!

Guinnesstache.

There's a pub here in Dublin called The Brazen Head, and it's evidently supposed to be the oldest pub in Ireland - established in 1198.  We'd heard good things but had never been, so we thought it'd be a good idea to take our visitors there after Guinness.  And BOY are we glad we did.  We ended up having one of the most authentic Irish experiences we might ever have here in Ireland.  We got drinks, sat outside a bit, and then wandered into a crowded room where there seemed to be some commotion happening in the corner.  The commotion turned out to be a table full of older Irish men with instruments, including spoons, and they rang a bell, quieted the ENTIRE ROOM full of people, and began playing songs and singing passionately.  Everyone was mesmerized.  They would stop and tell jokes and laugh and then they'd ask for everyone to be quiet again and would begin playing again.  An older man who appeared to be a regular there stood up and sang some slow sad songs that had everyone in the crowd crying!  I can't really explain much else about it but it was so special and cool to be a part of.  And I'm glad Mere and Moll got to see it and experience it too.  

We walked from The Brazen Head to Crackbird, one of our fave restaurants here, then stopped in a sweets shoppe that looked like a Willy Wonka/Apothecary type place for some goods, and headed on home.

Molly with a statue of Molly Malone, one of Ireland's famous "ladies of the night".  They have more in common than just their names, am I right?

Best friends on an air mattress!!

Meredith being a creep.

Day 1 was a huge success full of good times and a LOT of laughter and great conversation.  Drew and I are so happy and blessed that they're here with us for the week of Thanksgiving - we're hardly even thinking about what we're missing at home!  Except for Annie and Murphy because they're always on my mind.  I digress.  We're happy and blessed and thankful our pals are here and we're having a great time already!