Sssveeeden

I am in Stockholm currently and relaxing and having a great time with good friends. We just picked up Ellie at the station. She flew in from Germany. My favorite thing so far is picking apples off of apple trees during our walks and eating them along the way. Love it. I had my first experience in a sauna at Johanna's father's house the other day. We are about to go in again, only this time at her house. Yes, it's quite common to have a sauna in homes here.

I also got my hair cut today. It's short. However the woman didn't layer at the bottom enough so it's a little "mom-ish" so I plan to do a layer job myself tonight. We will see how it turns out. I haven't taken too many photos since I've been here.

I arrive back in Paris on Thursday morning and Momma will be here Friday morning. I won't be able to blog for quite some time. Apologies...

Oh me lucky charms...

I'm sorry I can't help meself. I must use all the chiche sayings at the titles of me posts now. So Dublin has been fantastic. Honestly though, I wish I was staying out in one of the towns on the coast and only coming into the city for brief stints. During the days I've been taking the DART out to the towns on the coast which is breathtaking. I promise that you will probably think that photos are fake when I post them.

A couple of days ago I went out to Killiney, which is south of Dublin. I walked around for a while and found my way to Bono's house. Many stories regarding that journey, but I'll save it for the full blog post when I have photos. From there I walked to Dalkey, another picturesque town. It's been raining quite a bit, but it hasn't bothered me too much. Gives me some time to sit in cafes and read. Which by the way, the Bob Dylan autobiography is beyond words. Cannot tell you how great this book is, an absolute must-read.

Yesterday I went to the eastern most tip of Ireland at Howth's Head. Then I went back to the hostel and made friends with an Australian gal, who accompanied me to Whelan's, a well-known bar that's not too touristy at all. We had a great time and met some cool people. Get this, a guy from Texas actually came up to talk to us. What? Seriously, first person, said he was from Texas and I almost punched him. I'm looking for culture people!

Today I'm about to hop on the DART again down past Killiney to the Wicklow Mountains. It's considered the garden of Ireland. I can't wait. Hopefully I will get some hiking in. Usually I hop off these trains with no idea what kind of scenery will be around me. Never know how much I'll need to trek to find what I am looking for. As long as there is land and water, I am happy.

It's my last day here, must get going. I leave early in the morning tomorrow. Then one day in Paris, then to Sweden.

Me an Irishmun...

My first day in Ireland. It's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
I was only able to bring one book because I was so fearful of going over my weight limit, which was so not an issue. So I bought the autobiography of Bob Dylan. Wonderful so far. I walked around a while, sat at St. Stephen's Green Park to watch the ducks and swans, then read for a while. Then I found this perfect pub, but was too scared to go in. I really want to go in one night this week because it's supposed to be the best for live music. We'll see. After, I went to find the restaurant Naked, which is owned by Bono's brother and is organic and very 'green' if you know what I mean. I wasn't quite hungry, so I walked across the street to O'Donoghue's Pub for a pint of Guinness (my first) and sat and read. I couldn't finish it. Just couldn't muster up the belly room. Afterwards I walked over to Naked and had the most fantastic chicken burrito ever. So healthy and so tasty. I sat there and read some more. On my walk back over the river, I found a Marks and Spencer's store (my favorite store in all of the UK) and bought some groceries to last the week so that I can save mucho money. I will be eating cereal, sandwiches and fruit. Cheap cheap. That's about all for now. I love the hostel I'm at. Well only I didn't know that I would have to bring my own towel, so tonight I'm going to bed dirty. I know, I'm gross. But I'm going to run first thing in the morning, so I'll grab a towel while I'm out. The hostel offers free breakfast...bonus.

Tomorrow I plan to travel to the country and coast. Oh and I will see Bono's house! Until then.

Oh and I am just at an internet cafe so I won't post pics till after I am back. Shoot, it might be September till I get around to it. Sorry peeps.

Dublin

I leave for Dublin a day and a half. I'm about to start packing and studying the city. I just went to www.weather.com and saw that it is going to rain the entire time I am there. Wouldn't you know it? Of course. It kind of bums me out, but those wizards that predict the weather are often wrong more than they are right, so we'll see. I just want a clear day for when I go to the hillsssss and the coastttttttt. Can you tell that is what I am most excited about?

What a day!

I love days like this. Actually not sure if I've had one like it before. And those of you reading this at work, don't hate me. I do know how blessed I am.

I woke up around 10:30 because the sun was hot on my face. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed for a book and read for a couple of hours before going downstairs to start my day. My kitchen doors have blocked out how much cleaning needed to be done, so I tackled it. And I'm telling you, I cleaned like a madwoman today. Nooks and crannies, clean. Down to scrubbing my rug, good gosh, I'm nuts.

I listened to music, sang, had a few dialogues, and a few monologues (with myself, of course). The windows were open and blowing in a great breeze. My gardenia is in full bloom and filling my flat with fragrance. All good. I had to stop and get ready for a picnic with girlfriends.

I took the bus over to the Louvre to meet up. Yesterday we spent time sitting on the Pont des Arts and had THE MOST RANDOM men come up to us. Disturbing and appalling things. It's all for a later blog. I'm waiting on photos from the girls.

So we sat and relaxed and ate and talked. Collette is a friend of Ellie's. She's also Australian. She's been in Europe for a couple of months on a tour. We spent time together just before she had to depart back to her native beach land. The sun was hot and beating down showing no mercy for those of us that dressed for fall/winter weather. Johanna was the photographer of the picnic photos.Thanks Joha for being my personal historian...Afterwards, Joha and I walked a bit before sitting near Tuileries. I had a song I wanted her to hear so we sat and spent some more time talking about how ridiculous our lives are. And when I say ridiculous I mean, it's just crazy. I'm still not used to things like leaving a conversation and saying, "See you in Sweden." Huh? That's what Ellie said to us as we gave bisous today before parting.Then I decided that I deserved some flowers. I rarely do this. It's just been an odd few days and felt that having flowers in my flat would be the most perfect thing. Then I walked to the fleurist down the street and picked out three different roses, two dozen total. I LOVE this place. Once you pick out the ones you want, you take them inside and they arrange and wrap them for you. Oh I love France! I walked home, listening to some tunes.I grabbed a vase from the family's flat, then went upstairs to give my flowers a home. The vase was too small, so I put some in an old Coke bottle I had and spiced that up with a ribbon. I picked up my Whole Foods bag and left again, this time for Proxi for groceries because my fridge was hurtin' for some food. I filled up the bag with all the good stuff, including wine. There is something about having a clean apartment, full fridge, fresh flowers, and a night off.Now I'm about to sautee some eggplant, onions, peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes and lay them on a bed of rice. Drink it with some wine and watch a good movie. I'll finish the night off with some coffee and reading on my sofa. And there you have it.

Slowly, but surely...

I went through all of my photos and did some Spring cleaning. It was excruciating. However, I've made enough room. Little ole me can't figure out how to put photos on cds, so until then, I need to lay off a little on snapping my camera button. As for now, I have enough room to download what I have. And what do I have? Oh, only 488 photos dating back two weeks beginning with Bastille Day.

It might take a couple days for me to post all the blogs, but I'm gonna do it. Scout's/Brownie's Honor.