When Dirk was in Dublin we went to Dublin Castle and we were told that Obama would be coming over in a couple of weeks. He would visit the Dublin Castle and visit some of the places his ancestors lived hundreds of years ago. Besides his visit he would also give a speech.
Because of the huge chaos that overcame Dublin, called Queen Elizabeth, I never thought about the visit of Obama again. Until a couple of days ago when one of the guests brought it up. We immediately decided to go to College Green with a group from the hostel. The gates to College Green would open at 2 o'clock and the speech would be at five. So we thought that leaving from the hostel at two would definitely be early enough to be on time for the speech.
Well, we were on time, but just on time. The security measures were extreme and everybody who wanted to enter College Green needed to be searched individually. Before we came to the checkpoint for this search it was 2,5 hours later... We needed to empty our pockets, go through a walk-through metal detector and last but not least another metal detector for an individual search by a cop.
After collection the stuff from my pockets the road to College Green was finally clear. We were at the College Green square at half past four and enjoyed a couple of performances by Jedward (participants of Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland) and Westlife. The atmosphere on College Green were excellent, but my legs started to collapse after three hours of hobbling through the streets of Dublin. I stayed put despite that and I was definitely happy when I saw the President of the United States enter the stage. It was memorable...
I was happy when it was over, I really wanted to sit down and eat something. We went back to the hostel and someone had the amazing idea to start a Harry Potter Marathon in our jammies! It was the absolute best way to end this absolutely perfect day... :)
If you want to read the whole speech, click HERE.
Hey Marcella, je zit weer lekker in je 'schrijfstoel', leuk om het weer allemaal te lezen. Als Obama in Barneveld zou komen (wat uiteraard niet gaat gebeuren!) dan ga ik ook!!! Het lijkt me wel bijzonder om erbij te zijn... En ik kan me voorstellen dat je voetjes aardig aan het branden waren, gelukkig heb je de rest van de avond op je krent kunnen zitten! De speech heb ik nog niet gelezen, best een hele lap om te lezen...wel goed voor m'n engels:) Ik had al wel wat van de speech gezien. Ik ben blij dat je het nu zo goed naar je zin hebt! Die jongens van het eurosongfestival zijn echt maf hé! Of deden ze deze keer wel normaal? Ik ga maar eens stoppen, kspreek je snel......liefs van mams
ReplyDeleteHey Marcella, wat bijzonder zeg, dat je Obama in levende lijve hebt gezien. Dat maak je toch allemaal maar mooi weer mee....
ReplyDeleteWelke schoenen had je voor deze gelegenheid aangetrokken, die met die hoge hakken of die met die hele hoge hakken ;)
Fijn dat je zulke leuke contacten hebt opgedaan inmiddels. Ik vind het heel leuk om je belevenissen te lezen. Je hebt talent om het op een originele manier te brengen. Ga nog even zo door zou ik zeggen!
xx tante Jeanita