Marie Astrid Langer

I was filled with excitement as we left Venice because I knew my vacation would start when I met up with my very dear friend, Astrid Langer. I've known Astrid since my Senior year of high school. She came to little Rhode Island from Stuttgart, Germany to do a year abroad at LaSalle Academy. We met on the track team and have been friends since.
Hanging with Astrid is nonstop fun. She's super adventurous, independent, totally outgoing, super sweet--a gorgeous woman through and through. Whenever we meet, we pick up right where we left off, not matter how many years have passed. This time, Anna and I met her and her boyfriend, Steffan, at the Italian/Austrian border, and proceeded to head to Tubingen, Germany.
Too many amazing things happened in my week and a half with Astrid, so I'll sum it up and then elaborate on one particular day. We basically...explored Tubingen by foot and by bycicle; ate pretzels, drank beer, and experienced all sorts of German cuisine; witnessed the most breathtaking sunsets; hiked to a beautiful chapel perched on a hill, road bikes through the countryside; learned to rock climb; camped by a lake bordered by four countries; sunbathed topless in Zurich; ran a 10k; ate, drank, laughed, lived... and cried when it was time to go.
This was my very favorite day: we woke up in Astrid's gorgeous apartment with a beautiful view of Tubingen. Astrid doesn't mess around about breakfast. She put out a spread of cereals, Italian and German breads, jams, fresh fruit, and of course...Nutella (which Anna absolutely could not go a day without :) ). We feasted and prepared for the day. We spent the better part of the morning walking around Tubingen, doing a little shopping. Then we found ourselves some bicycles and went for a long ride through green fields and hills of German ocuntryside...to a lake where we had a snack, napped in the sun, and where we were almost attacked by swans. Anna was in the midst of admiring them, and I in the midst of telling her how nasty they can be, when one walked right out of the water at Astrid, hissing! It was...hilarious. Not long after that, we gathered our things and started making our way back to the apartment. On our way, we stopped and had a doner on the wall by the river (those of you who don't know what a doner is...should try one and find out. There are no words). While we were eating, storm clouds rolled in and we started to catch a few drops of rain on our heads. We barely made it into a tunnel with our bikes before torrential downpours and booming thunder roared all around us. It was nothing short of incredible. Bikers and pedestrians gathered in the tunnel with us to wait out the storm. When we thought we caught a break, we made a run for it...and only laughed when we got drenched moments before reaching Astrid's front door. We quickly changed clothes and biked to the gym to meet Steffan for a rock climbing session. I had never been before, but I LOVED it! Astrid and Anna agreed that I'd found my land sport. Back at the apartment, we got cleaned up, made dinner, and talked for a long while before heading to bed. I told Astrid this was my favorite day thus far. She kind of laughed and said, "It's so funny you say that because this is a typical day in my life."

Venice at last....

At this point, I had tried multiple times--unsuccessfully--to get to Italy. Even though Anna and I only had 24 hours to squeeze it in, it was well worth it. We stepped off the plane and welcomed the blast of heat, and the sun beating down on us. The first thing we did was get ourselves a hostel, lunch, and...gelato, of course! :)
Venice is an incredibly beautiful, incredibly confusing city. Each street we turned down, each bridge we crossed over the maze of networking canals was more stunning than the one before. We were--quite literally--blissfully lost the entire time we were there. We pretty much walked around, ate, walked, had coffee, walked, shopped, ate, and so on and so forth. Our hostel was located overlooking a square where a little restaurant set up their outdoor seating. About the hour we were ready to go to bed, people were just arriving at the cafe for their evening meal. We fell asleep to the sounds of the city, and woke to bells singing from countless church towers. It was an amazing experience, though I much prefer the seashore to the city... :).
Since we were in Italy for only a short time, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner--prosciutto and melon, fresh pizza, and a carafe of red wine...gelato for dessert. The only thing missing from our brief stint in Venice was a gondola ride--only because Anna wouldn't get cozy with me ;).

Lahinch, surf town Ireland

Anna Cronin, dear friend and co-worker, met me in Lahinch shortly after Noel and I had parted ways. Just a few months earlier, I had told Anna of my plans to go to Ireland for my friend's wedding, and my intentions of doing some traveling while I was at it. I asked her if she wanted to go to Europe for a couple of weeks. She said, "Yeah, sure," and proceeded to go about getting herself a ticket.
Anna arrived on a dreary, rainy evening. We settled into a charming bed and breakfast that was quite like a very upscale hostel. A young couple, along with there very adorable puppy named Annie, had just opened the place a couple of months prior. Anna and I were right at home. We spent our time in Lahinch relaxing, enjoying lots of tea and great live music, and every so often, checking the water for surf....At one point, we decided to jump in the ocean anyway, waves or no waves!
The day we were meant to leave Lahinch, the surf picked up! I rented a board and paddled out. It felt so good to be out, even on a crappy old soft top, surrounded by dozens of surf campers. I had a blast, and a good, long paddle down the beach before I got out and walked back to meet Anna.
I turned in the surf board, we gathered our belongings, and headed for the bus. We had booked a 6:00 flight out of Shannon the following morning for our next destination--Venice, Italy! Our journey to the airport would be one for the books....
The bus route to Shannon requires a transfer in Ennis, a very small, quaint town that was almost eerily quiet on this particular evening. We had time to kill, so we decided to find a cafe and see what Ennis had to offer in the way of a cappuccino (side note:stick to tea if ever you're in Ireland). The gentleman who was taking care of us expressed an interest in our travel plans (it was so obvious that we were from the States). We told him that the available public transportation would find us at the airport in time for a 4 hour nap before our flight. He promptly suggested that we take a cab to the airport instead, and that we stay in a bed and breakfast not too far from there. While he seemed harmless, there was something awkward and almost creepy about him. I looked at Anna, and she was glowing the way that I had been when I'd gotten out of the ocean earlier that day. She wanted an adventure. We agreed to allow our waiter to set up a cab and a room at this mysterious bed and breakfast.
Upon conferring with another man in the shop, our new friend then offered us a ride to the B&B. Once more, I looked at Anna, and she didn't seem as though she felt threatened by either of them, so we went along. As it turned out, the van that was to be our mode of transport was a delivery van, and did not have room for both of us. The driver offered to take one of us and come back for the other. We definitely were not comfortable with that, so instead...Anna sat in the front seat with our driver, and I sat on the other side of the gate that separated passengers from cargo, nestled amongst boxes of empty liquor bottles.... True story. It's amazing how two intelligent women find themselves in these situations. We kept track of where we were going, and arrived at the B&B, not sure what to expect. It could have been something out of Psycho, or it could have been what it was--absolutely delightful and the makings of a good story. Mrs. Healey and her sweet husband owned the B&B, and welcomed us with tea and cookies, and a gorgeous room with two very comfortable beds and lots of fluffy pillows. We couldn't help by laugh at ourselves as we settled into our home for the evening.
Our cab arrived precisely on time the next morning, and everything went off without a hitch to get us to the airport in time for our flight. Venice, here we come!

on to the Irish west coast

From Dublin, I headed west to Galway, where I met up with Noel, a relative of one of my beloved regulars at People's Coffee. Noel and his room mate, Danny, pretty much spoiled me rotten during my short stay. As soon as I met up with Noel, he treated me to a delicious cup of coffee and then showed me around town a bit before we headed home.
Noel and Danny live nestled in a quiet neighborhood not too far from downtown. When we arrived at the house, Noel welcomed me by showing me to my own room with a ridiculously comfortable, fluffy bed. I felt like a princess! He then made tea and we sat down to enjoy a cup, accompanied by delicious scones he had baked earlier that day. We chatted and listened to the rain. It was so relaxing and calming, especially after all the excitement of a wedding and a bustling city. Danny came home and took us out for a fantastic Indian dinner at a restaurant called Kashmir. We totally overindulged, so Noel and I decided to go for a walk, and ended up at an old bar called O'Connell's. It was one of those places that had been collecting antique miscellaneous items over the years that they proceeded to hang on every surface in the place--lanterns of all sorts dangled from the rafters, old road signs and wagon wheels could be found on the walls, as well as a fake deer head that spontaneously sang and bobbed its head every so often. It was quite the experience!
Danny picked us up when we were ready to head home, and insisted that I relax and warm up with a hot bath before I headed to bed. I figured I'd just have a quick shower, but I walked in the bathroom to find that he had lit candles for me, turned on the heater, and put out lavender bubble bath and a big fluffy town to wrap up in when I was through...I was speechless then, and I'm speechless now recounting it. It absolutley did the trick, and I instantly slipped into a sweet slumber the second I sank into that big, cushy bed :).
I was planning on taking a bus down to Lahinch (Ireland's very own surf town) the next day. I was astonished when Noel said that he had planned on driving me. He not only gave me a ride there (a 2 hour venture), but showed me practically every surf spot on the way down. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty nasty, and there weren't any waves, even in Lahinch. I took him out to lunch at a wonderful little restaurant as a thank you, and we parted ways. I was disappointed about not being able to surf with Noel, but the drive down was beatiful--through hills of gorgeous Irish country and along a stunning coastline in Noel's beat up surf mobile...classic :).