Day 62 - Paris to Limerick

We got up at 8 and rushed to get dressed, packed, and get to the bus station to catch our shuttle to the Beauvais airport where our Ryan Air flight was leaving for Shannon, Ireland. Our flight was only €19 each ($30 Canadian about) including tax, but the pain in the ass thing about Ryan Air is that although they´re very cheap, they always fly out of very remote airports that usually cost you as much to get to as the actual flight cost.

We took the Metro out to where we were told the airport shuttles left from and once we got there were absolutely lost. We met up with a girl from Calgary looking for the same mysterious ´parking lot across from the mall´where the bus was supposed to leave from for Beauvais. We finally found a parking lot, full of people with bags adn suitcases, looking just as confused as us. There were about 150 people and only one bus and we thought we were screwed for getting to the airport, but soon enough a few more buses showed up and about an hour after getting off the subway, we finally made it onto a bus for the hour bud ride to the station.

After getting to the airport and a quick bite to eat at the smallest airport we´ve seen yet in Europe (think Timmins here people...) we jumped on the plane and were airborn towards the green island by just after 2 o´clock (30 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time). We had a beer on the plane to help calm the nervous flyer between the two of us down and we landed in Shannon (just north of Limerick) at 2:30 (but really a 1.5 hour flight) local time adn then sat around for almost an hour waiting for the bus to take us to Limerick. the bus finally showed up just before 4 adn we got to Limerick just before 5. Rob´s brother Dave was waiting for us at the station.

Rob´s brother has been in Ireland for a few years studying medicine. He did med school at Trinity College in Dublin and is now doing his residency in Limerick.

So we took a cab to his place that he shares with two other med interns, we showered, dropped off our stuff, adn then went to a place called Luigi Malone´s (we magaged to polish off all of Dave´s beer somehow too before leaving).

Luigi Malone´s was definately the fanciest place we´ve been in on this trip and without Dave we had zero business being there at all. It was a sweet place. Me and Rob kinda felt like everyone in the place stopped talking and eating to stare at us as we came in. No. Everybody DID stop talking and eating to stare at us as we came in. I´m sure we were there first backpackers of 2005. We met up with Dave´s girlfriend, Maureen, and a few of her friends, a couple other random people, and one of Dave´s housemates, Max, from Edmonton (also doing meds in Limerick). We had a bunch of beer, wings, and then a big, and very good meal. The whole thing was awesome. And the bill definately reflected that. Huge. But thank god for us, Dave treated us. Very, very nice of him. Awesome guy.

Form there we went to Nancy ´Something´s bar where we had a few rounds, but not many because last call was called at midnight. Apparently all the pubs in Limerick close at midnight becuase otherwise there are too many fights that break out. The Irish apparently don´t manage their booze well. You can still, though, go to clubs after the pubs close, so we went to a place pretty much right across the road with a €7 cover charge then we hung out there for a couple hours. Rob went home with Max at about 1:30 and i stayed with Dave till about 2:30, then home to bed.