Staying with family in Antrim

We arrived at my cousin, Ann Marie’s place, in Antrim a small town about 30 min. from Belfast in the late afternoon. I can’t say enough about the hospitality and generosity of the friends and family we met on this trip. Because of the great people we met on this trip, we did not pay for one nights stay.

After arriving we hung out and relaxed and ate dinner. After dinner me, Cait, Bre, my cousins Ann Marie, Siobhan and her boyfriend, and Helen and her boyfriend went to a club in town. At the club one of the guys bought me a glass of Jameson’s Whiskey. Since I was already feeling a slight buzz and being used to drinking shots I gulped the whole thing down in one take. He looked at me wide-eyed and said “JAYSUS your supposed to sip it. It’s not a bloody shot!” oops. That Jameson’s is really good whiskey.

The girls had been trying to get my ass out to the dance floor all night but I don’t dance. No way, no how. Well after taking in pint after pint and shot… I mean glass after glass of Jameson’s… I had to relieve my bladder. Only thing was, in order to get to the bathroom you had to cut across the dance floor. Well I made it half way there before my cousin grabbed me by the arm and forced me to dance! Now here I am pissed out of my mind and doing the Pee Pee dance to Shania Twain’s “I feel like a woman”. Yup, I’m cool. At least I wasn’t the only drunk guy out there.

We stumbled back to Ann Marie’s and crashed for the night.

The next day we started out with a tour of my Dad’s hometown with my aunt and cousins. We saw the church my dad used to go to, a small shopping mall, and a British base. Ann Marie yelled at me for taking a picture of the base because she said the Brits frown on that type of activity and would harass us. After the tour of Antrim, we drove around the north with Ann Marie. The scenery is unbelievable. We tried to go to the Giants Causeway but due to the damn foot and mouth we couldn’t. That night we met “Tayto” from the chat room in Belfast for a few pints and a driving tour of Belfast. We went up Falls Rd. and down the Shankhill and saw some of the murals by the IRA and the UVF.

When my cousin found out where we had been, she was pissed. Although the terrorist activity has simmered down, I guess it is still a little dangerous.

The next day we met up with “Tayto” and his son in Bangor near the coast. and hung out for a couple pints and some sightseeing. That night after another great home cooked meal from my aunt, we all went to a pub with my Uncle Bobbie.

The next morn… I mean afternoon, we departed Antrim and headed to Limerick (stab city) to meet some friends of Cait.