FRIEND OR FOE FRIDAY!!!!

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1)   FRIEND!  There is no better introduction to a city than a free tour!  Meet Mik, my tour guide in Dublin.  Sure he was unkept, sure he threw around dodgey dates from time to time, but Mik made it FUN to learn about Irish history! During the three hour tour, Mik was full of energy and kept the tourists guessing on what to expect next. 


2) FOE!  How do you take a tour of the Guinness Factory in Dublin and order something else from the bar at the end?  Even if you don’t like Guinness, you have to suck it up and drink it on this special occasion.  I hope this woman had an allergy that I don’t know about because I see no other reason to be a party pooper at the Guinness factory.

3) FRIENDS!  They’re from New Zealand, of course they’re friends.  I met these brothers at the Guinness factory and ended up going out with them for the night.  The older brother works in Finance in London so we had plenty to talk about.  These guys were a lot of fun.

4)   BOTH!  I had a good time with a couple of these guys the first night but then they ditched me the next night!  Since I didn’t have a phone I had to make 1995 plans where I told them I would meet them outside of a specific bar at a certain time.  No quadruple checking!  Just have to stick to the original plan.  I guess it was too much for them though because I got stood up!  I can’t be too mad- I did the same thing to someone else the night before.

5)  FOES!  This loser couple in Fedora hats tried to take a picture of themselves with the obelisk about 15 times.  It’s as if the camera knew not to photograph two people in those ridiculous hats at the same time.


6)  FOE!  This guy looked like a real creep.  He was by far the oldest guy in the bar and just looked like the type of person that buries things in his backyard.  As you can see, he totally caught me taking his picture here.  Haha.

7) FRIENDS!  These guys were awesome!  I went into a bar alone after getting stood up by the London guys. Within seconds I started talking to these two guys from Long Island and New Jersey!  We had a great night in Dublin!  

8) FRIEND!  This woman must be a real-life leprechaun!  I’ve never seen anyone this short.  She can hardly take pictures over the protective barrier to the Cliffs of Moher.

9)  BOTH!  This is great camera work by my friend Maarja!  This guy is sitting there in a red Wisconsin jacket, red Wisconsin mock turtle neck and red Wisconsin hat.  So, naturally, I went up to him and said, ‘So where ya from?’  I thought he must coach at Wisco to be wearing so much garb.  Nope, he graduated from there about 35 years ago and just loves his glory days on the football and track teams.  Unbelievable.

10)  FRIENDS/FAMILY!!  While in Ireland, I tracked down distant relatives!  Justin and Maria Tuohy (brother/sister) were AMAZING!  They were so excited to meet for dinner and discuss the family tree.  My great grandfather and their grandfather were brothers!  They were two of nine children that all came over from Ireland in the 1920s in search of work.  Five of the children remained in the USA while four returned.   Justin has done some significant work in tracking down the genealogy and I’ll be able to help him when I get back home.  These two were incredibly nice- I still can’t get over it!  They walked me along the boardwalk, took me to dinner and surprised me by putting me up in a cozy B&B for the night.  Just when I thought my family couldn’t get any better!

11)  FRIEND!  I met Maarja from Estonia during my stay in a hostel in Killarney.  She was so cool and I was psyched that she was able to join me for my road trip along the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula.  I’m confident that she’ll be making her way throughout Europe and then onto America in the coming years so I look forward to our reunion!