Pre-wedding!


July 12, 2019

Today is a holiday in Northern Ireland but one tinged with anger. It’s to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne victory, when William of Orange defeated King James in 1690 - a win for the Protestants. So on July 12 every year, there are parades and lots of British flags flying and many huge bonfires on both sides. The Protestants burn the Irish flags on their bonfires and the Catholics burn the British flags on theirs. 

We headed south from Portrush and got caught in the middle of a parade, literally! The marchers would just keep circling around the middle of the street blocking traffic. A policewoman told us to just keep going. Later, Ciaran told us that our license plate from Dublin would have made us look like we were on the other side and thus they held us up! 

We finally made it to Ireland and we met up with Steven and Laura, who were coming in from Galway and Athlone in the West. Our place is a three story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathrooms with a full kitchen, laundry facilities and a den. Plenty of room! 

After some wine and cheese, we headed to Andy’s bar in Monaghan, where Ciaran and Kristen treated all guests to an open bar and plates of appetizers. The Clark family, Ricky and Jan Windhorst, the Parr clan and Ciaran’s family and friends crammed into the bar and it was loud and fun. Luckily we had a booth. Guece took lots of photos and Amanda had a GoPro. We have a ride back to Francoise and Brian and Brian's brother James. The party continued at Conor’s Bar at the Lodge on the grounds of Castle Leslie. There we saw Colin and Carla Buchholz, Linda Funchess, Rose Brady, Al and Yvette, and Alex and Amy Huddart. We finally turned in, but it was a great day!! 












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