Our luggage arrived unscathed and unmolested today. Actually that's not entirely true. At our last hotel in Dublin--quite a nice one--they had a great bottle of lotion I stuck in the suitcase at the last minute, and now it's gone. Beware! British Airways are lotion-stealers!
Scouter has also returned home, which she celebrated by immediately crawling under the bed and staying there for a while. She's out and about now and we had a little lovey session. It's good to see her.
Here's an Ireland story. We have a joke about an international Loaner Beagle program. This is where when you have to leave your beagle behind on vacation, the hotel would issue you a loaner beagle to pet and cuddle with. So far we haven't found any participating hotels (I'm beginning to suspect the Loaner Beagle program doesn't actually exist *grin*), but we came close in Clifden, a lovely little town in the Connemara in Ireland. We stayed at a great B&B, The Quay House (highly recommended), and the first thing we noticed upon our arrival was a little maltese who came to greet us. Lumbering behind him was a pudgy pug. I immediately went to the dogs, so to speak, and they were very friendly and accomodating.
Later we met a second pug, Babs, rounding out the collection. Winkie the maltese was amenable to holding and I got to love on him for a while, getting kisses in the process. Bunter, the other pug, did what looked like a very affectionate rubbing against Kevin's leg, until we realized he was really wiping his nose. It was funny--much funnier when it's not your leg. My dad loves pugs (in Germany the breed is called Mops) but this is really the first time I ever got to spend some time with them. And what they say about puggie's breathing problems are true. Babs and Bunter snorted and grunted the entire time. It was actually quite cute and reminiscent of our own breathing-obstructed hound.
I highly recommend Clifden and The Quay House. We ate at the excellent Marconi restaurant where I had a luscious roast duckling (I love me some duck). The Quay House's breakfasts were the best I've ever had at a B&B (although I have to say that B&Bs in Ireland tend to have really excellent breakfasts--or maybe it's just that I really like an Irish breakfast) and our room, the Blue Room, was spacious and wonderfully decorated. Paddy and Julia were impeccable hosts, not to mention Winkie, Babs, and Bunter.
Just so you know, I'll be posting details about our trip out of order (in other words, whenever the story comes to me). Clifden was the next to last stay on our trip. Stay tuned for more.
Posted by Shelby at July 19, 2004 02:48 PMIt's fun to encounter businesses with random resident pets. The groomer that I take one of my cats to has two or three that stay at the store; they're very friendly (or at least too mellow to care). A used bookstore in Ypsi had a small dog on hand, which I doubt was a resident, but probably was a regular. I remember a new age shop in Bowling Green had a very friendly resident cat. There was another cat peering out the window of an arcade and video game store, also in Bowling Green. (Given what my other cat does - sits on top of a warm monitor - I'm not surprised that a cat likes an arcade. :) )
- Erik
Sounds like a wonderful time! Glad you made it home safe and happy! (and Scout too!) :-)
Posted by: Annastazia at July 20, 2004 06:10 AM