Like two teenage girls screaming and shouting over the latest boyband, Sue and I finally greeted each other in the airport. I, delighted to see a friend from home, Sue delighted to get her adventure started. We checked into the hostel at 8.40pm, the receptionist informed us there was a pub crawl organised for 9pm. Sue and I looked at each other, both of us wrecked from travelling all day, and not for our better judgement we went on it! We got talking to a few people and quickly won them over with our Irish charm ( to be honest most of them had been drinking already!) we met two marines (not in uniforms I'm afraid!), Jackson from Utah who had also just arrived after driving twenty hours straight, Matius from Argentina who wasn't drinking but was more hyper than all of us. A great night of drinking and dancing ensued. The hangover was not as fun! Good start to San Francisco though.
The luck of the Irish helped us out in the next few days, it's fleet week here, a celebration of the US Navy and a heat wave arrived also. We seen an air show, a parade of ships, bands on the pier and plenty of marines hanging around! We did yoga in the sunshine, relaxed in the park while listening to bands playing and indulged in frozen yogurt with all the trimmings. We booked a ferry to take in the magnificent fire work display on a Saturday night.
There is a strong Irish connection here in San Francisco( despite the behaviour of some J1ers!!) There are plenty of football and hurling teams, and nearly every construction van has a shamrock on it. We were welcomed into the home of a friends aunt and uncle who moved here 27 years ago for a year and never returned. The moment we walked in it felt like an Irish house. The tea pot was produced, Barry's tea of course! The obligatory oh go on you'll have something to eat, go on go on, sure you will. And we did. More tea and wine followed as we argued about not being able to beat the Irish craic and banter. We all agreed, our heads swelling with pride. We felt most welcome and felt the sincerity when they said we could call anytime. I guess Cead Mile Failte really does exist.
The luck of the Irish helped us out in the next few days, it's fleet week here, a celebration of the US Navy and a heat wave arrived also. We seen an air show, a parade of ships, bands on the pier and plenty of marines hanging around! We did yoga in the sunshine, relaxed in the park while listening to bands playing and indulged in frozen yogurt with all the trimmings. We booked a ferry to take in the magnificent fire work display on a Saturday night.
There is a strong Irish connection here in San Francisco( despite the behaviour of some J1ers!!) There are plenty of football and hurling teams, and nearly every construction van has a shamrock on it. We were welcomed into the home of a friends aunt and uncle who moved here 27 years ago for a year and never returned. The moment we walked in it felt like an Irish house. The tea pot was produced, Barry's tea of course! The obligatory oh go on you'll have something to eat, go on go on, sure you will. And we did. More tea and wine followed as we argued about not being able to beat the Irish craic and banter. We all agreed, our heads swelling with pride. We felt most welcome and felt the sincerity when they said we could call anytime. I guess Cead Mile Failte really does exist.
