a visit from my broham

hubs, myself, Erik my brother, Grieta our friend

My brother finally arrived in Dublin for his Christmas visit! After two days in London, Air Lingus finally got the go-ahead to fly. Grieta is a family friend (or more precisely the sister-in-law of my brother's best friend who are family friends) who lived in the bay area for college and who I'd met once before back home. Now she is studying international human rights in London and Erik stayed with Grieta while they were snowed in. After hearing the no-fly-zone was lifted (ha ha Larry David), they got their tickets for the 26th and flew into Dublin. 

We had a great little visit! I thought more would be open after Christmas was over but I guess the Irish take their holidays vrrry seriously. They are excellent Catholics, of course, and we found out the country essentially shuts down from December 23rd through the beginning of January. Shop owners are probably in the countryside with family so shops are all closed and dark and even pubs were closed (what the what?!). December 26th was St. Stephen's Day and a few late bars were open but the streets were positively empty. Still, we had a nice relaxing vacation-style visit. We slept in late, walked all around Dublin, and spent relaxing afternoons drinking coffee and enjoying the scenery. The ice covering the streets and sidewalks made for a treacherous time slipping around the cobblestones, but thankfully nobody fell.

Finally on the 28th when Erik and Grieta were flying out, the sun came out and melted all the snow. We took advantage of the beautiful morning and walked out to the Docklands. We got far enough to glimpse the ocean, saw a ton of amazing bridges crossing the Liffey, and saw the Dublin Eye--a huge permanent ferris wheel on the coast which I will be riding as soon as possible. We even found the famine museum aboard this crazy ship and saw the famine memorial. The most amazing part is we got along the entire time, which is not necessarily the normal state our sibling relationship. We didn't even argue or squabble once! Does this mean we are mature? I wont get ahead of myself, since Erik is planning another trip this summer (kidding), but it felt good to talk like normal human beings. So this is what adulthood is all about. Most of all, it was nice to be with family and hanging out with my brother made everything feel a bit more Christmas-y I think. I am so glad he made the trip and am looking forward to next time. Oh and the duty-free Christmas gifts? So awesome.

brothers-in-law

street art along the river-Docklands, Dublin 1

fam bam