Spring in Dublin

Enough negativity and panic talk - it's time to be positive!  It's officially spring here in Dublin and we have a lot to look forward to in the next 2 months - we/I just gotta take it week by week.

This weekend we're going to Istanbul!  I'm both excited and slightly nervous visiting a muslim country for the first time but I think it'll be awesome.  After we get back, Drew's cousins get here!  That means I'll get to have not just one, but THREE hairy Solomon men in my apartment.  Woohoo!  (I already feel bad for my cleaning lady.)  The following week, Drew's mom is coming for a couple of days!  And then the week after that, one of my high school friends (my bro's age) and her brother are coming for a couple of days!  And then we have a wedding in San Francisco at the end of May, then a week here, and then we're off on the O'Solomon Farewell Tour of Europe!  We're hitting up the Amalfi Coast in Italy for a week (with Evan and Elise!), Greece for a week, and then Northern Spain up into Southern France for a week.  We're super excited about that.  And then we'll probably leave Dubs for good sometime during the first week of July.  So...it'll be a busy couple of months!

And like I said, spring is here!  I've been going on long walks during the day and try to capture the pretty sights I see on my shitty iPhone camera with not much success.  But I'm posting them anyway!  And I'm using a great deal of exclamation points in this post to mark my decidedly positive attitude!  Or something!

I went to Phoenix Park across town one day when it was really pretty out to walk and read.  Figured it might be one of my last times to go there so I spent about 3 hours there wandering around!

This is from another walk along the coast - I have about a million pictures of this beach and these two towers but I can't resist.

Sitting on the River Liffey outside Drew's office.

Walking through a canopy of trees in Herbert Park.

A stroll along the canal with the bench statue of Patrick Kavanaugh.

More pretty purple trees in Herbert Park.

The canal right by our house!

Merrion Square!  I've been going here to read in the afternoons like I did when we first got here and it's just delightful.

More Merrion Square.

This past Sunday, we took a 25-minute train trip to the coastal town of Dalkey for lunch and some exploring.  Bono lives here and we went to his favorite pubs but didn't see him.  Dangit!

Smooches in front of Dalkey Island.

Then we went to Merrion Square to read (Drew's a reader now!  I had to capture this on film or else people not really believe it) and a nap in the sun.

It's sunny out again so I'm going to wander out and see what else I can find.   See ya!