Irish weddings and London living

So it's been a couple weeks since I arrived in London. I managed to carry my ridiculously heavy bags all the way across London to my friend Jackie's flat, where I have been staying while I have been in London. I spent my first few days in London, doing some sight seeing, checking out the pubs (thanks to Jackie and his flat mates) and looking for a van.



Last Tuesday I flew to Ireland to visit Lorraine, who I had lived while I was in Melbourne, Australia. Lorraine and Ciaran got married this past weekend and I came out to catch the festivities. They were nice enough to put me up in their house even though they were both running around doing last minute errands before the wedding. I spent quite a bit of time leading up to the wedding driving around the country side keeping either Lorraine or Kelly (her sister) company while they were running the errands... at the same time I saw quite a bit of Ireland. I spent an afternoon wandering around Belfast, a day in Dublin, a morning in Newry and Dundalk and I even made it out to Port Beach.

Port Beach - Nicole, Kelly and Cian

Dublin - St. Patrick's Cathedral

The crazy part was that every evening friends and family came by the house to drop of cards and gifts and, more importantly, have a drink or two. Visitors even came by on Friday night before the wedding! A strange Irish custom that promotes lots of drinking (and tires out the bride). Saturday morning I helped getting the bride, bride maids, and two children out the door and to the church... barely even had time to get myself dressed.

Lorraine looked stunning and the ceremony in the church was beautiful, accentuated by the Dublin Gospel Choir, who had everyone swaying in their seats. After the church everyone made their way to the hotel, where the party began. I managed to have a couple glasses of the punch and a some fruit dipped into the chocolate fountain inbetween the thousands of pictures that had been taken that day. The dinner was fabulous, which was followed by a band and a DJ that went on to the wee hours of the morning. I don't think my feet could have handled another dance when the music finally shut off.


But in true Irish fashion the wedding was still not over... the next morning (or was it afternoon) we got ourselves out of bed and slowly made our way over to the local pub. Lorraine's dad had organized a band and food so that the party could contiue into Sunday and even early Monday morning. I have to say that this was the biggest wedding that I have attended... 280 people (and I think 278 were Irish), lots of drink and great music adds up to a very memorable wedding.

Michelle, Michelle, Lorraine and Kelly

Yesterday I arrived back in London... I think I need a couple days to recover from the effects of Ireland. Now I am concentrating on finding a van and I am looking forward to Mark joining me sometime next week.

Montreal

So I have left Mark behind in Calgary and made my way over to Montreal to visit my good friend Nicole Kolar. Thus far it has been a crazy fun time. Visiting Montreal during the Grand Prix weekend is definitely the way to go. There are soo many people here and everything is buzzing. On Saturday I went to the Grand Prix to watch the F1 Race. It wasn't the finals - we just got to watch the qualifying, along with the Ferrari Challenge and F1600. The F1 was the best ... it was crazy loud. You had to wear ear plugs. We were standing on a corner where they downshifted from 6th to 1st and then they went all the way back up to 6th. All that was between us and the cars was a concrete barrier and a chain link fence. You could feel in your chest the cars as they passed. It was soo amazing to see... way better than on TV. One of the Ferrari Challenge cars spun out right in front of us so we watched a bit of spinout action. Lewis Hamilton had the fastest qualifying time (he won the race on Sunday as well).

Anne, Nicole and I with Ferrari Challenge going on in the background

Going out in Montreal during this time is a blast... people in the streets all hours of the day and night (actually morning is the most quiet time). Saturday night we went out to Newtown (Villenueve's bar/restaurant) and then out to some club. Sunday we took it easy and climbed up the "mountain" (I'm not actually sure why they call it a mountain as it is more like a hill...).

Nicole, myself and Mimi on Mont Royal

Almost on the road again...

Ah .... I can't wait. The last three weeks have been super busy, ever since I finished work on May 4th. First was a quick visit to my parent's new place in Comox. They had barely moved into their house (I think it was the third time they slept in it the night I arrived) so it wasn't entirely a relaxing visit. I spent much of my time unloading boxes, putting on door handles, putting handles on kitchen cabinets.... but it wasn't all work. I did manage to paddle a couple times on the local rivers - the Brown and the Puntledge, and I spent a few gorgeous mornings/evenings on the spit in from of the house.


The last couple of weeks have been a flurry of activity trying to get ready for the trip and to take advantage of the flowing rivers. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our house have been converted from a cozy living area to rooms with blank walls filled with boxes. Tomorrow we will deliver all our accumulated stuff to its new residence for the next few months.

So I am almost all packed... next stop Montreal to spend a few days with my good friend Nicole. Let the adventure begin!