Irish Monks came to Luxembourg 13th century. They converted them to Christianity. When we moved here 1973, we were the only Irish in Grevenmacher. When Michael and Marie-Paule got married – 25 came – that was in 1981. Some of ye remember.
For my 70th birthday – 11th of Dec. 1995 - 13 of ye came over and now for my 75th birthday 13 of ye came over as well and ye entertained by singing, dancing, story-telling, reminiscing, laughing. I am just making a few remarks for the ones that could not attend: 1st ye made a lot of noise. At times I thought, ye wanted me to be evicted out of Luxembourg, other times I thought, ye just wanted to exercise your lungs.
Seoirse drove the mini-bus from Hahn Airport (9 persons) to our house, having left Shannon Airport 10:40 – arr. Hahn 13:40 by RYANAIR – round-trip: Irish £ 56.
I met Marty, John-Willy, Padraic, Mary, Seoirse, Angela, Tom, Margaret and David. John-Willy then waited with me to pick up Mickey two hours later, while the others went to the house.
I am trying to analyse, why each brought so much food: leg of pork, sausages, black pudding, bacon, ham, home-made bread, cakes, cheese, salmon, sweets, biscuits, Irish coffee-glasses, Irish Flag, pictures, alcohol to name a few. My conclusion: ye were afraid, ye would go hungry, but Roswitha had made provisions for all of them. As usual, she is always concerned about being criticized for not supplying sufficient food, needless to say: we solved the problem by buying another deep freeze – thanks a lot! Our New Year-resolutions are gone to hell. Roswitha said, the next time to bring the same again and we then shall only buy what’s missing. Our life-style is geared for two meals. I am sure nobody could fault the breakfast. It was a buffet-breakfast at the Hotel Muehlengarten. Midday was at their own discretion. We calculated, that nobody would die of starvation in five days.
Wednesday 13th of Dec. 2000, in the evening, Roswitha cooked Goulash, with salad and duck-liver-pate for starters and Ice-cream-tart as dessert for about 12 people, afterwards singing and usual talk about the absent ones.
Thursday 14th of Dec. we looked at AAA-stores, had a cup of coffee, went for a sightseeing tour of Luxembourg. On that day the weather was not kind to us. Seoirse with the mini-bus turned back from a trip to Vianden and relaxed at “Club 25” at the hotel. Kevin picked up Brian and Rita, coming in from Dublin direct to Luxembourg Airport.
Kevin invited us all, including some of his friends (23 in all) to Albert Govers’s Restaurant. Plenty of food and drink. Tom played and the usual sing-song, everybody enjoyed themselves. Nuna, Albert’s wife, a well-proportioned blond from the Eastern-block, was in demand. The die-hard’s then retired to “club 25”. The old saying: the bus stopped running at 12:00, but they kept going till 04:00 in the morning.
Friday 15th of Dec. we had the Christmas-Dinner. Marty and myself picked up Anita Urgyan at Luxembourg Station, coming in from Nancy. Most of the relations stored their energy for the dinner-dance at the Hotel Muehlengarten – 46 total. Food was in abundance with choice of meat, typical German portions with spuds and vegetables, dessert-buffet and unlimited amount of drink: wine, beer etc. Tom with Terry O’Brian, a fiddler and Paul Reid, a banjo-player provided the music. The clan entertained some business-friends of AAA. They were all very happy. The Irish standing out, leading the way, stopped at 01:00 hours. The hard core continued at the bar till 04:00 o’clock, again the thirsty finished up at “Club 25”. Next morning I went over to the Hotel. A little anxious of what mischief the clan got up to. The owner of the hotel laughed, saying the Irish behaved themselves. Wonders shall never seize.
Saturday 16th we all went to Luxembourg to the Christmas-market and had a glass of hot red-wine-punch. It was a bitter cold day. That evening we had the meal in our glass-house. The starter was Irish Smoked Salmon, main dish the Leg of Pork donated by Angela – by God it was huge - with spuds and vegetables. We were still trying to finish it off a week later. Everybody present claimed it was the most enjoyable night. I had to ask them to cool it at 01:30 hours in the morning and was convinced the Luxembourg police would be around. I am not so sure, where the hard core went afterwards, but rumours has “Club 25” was in full swing still at 03:00 hours in the morning. The German police visited “Club 25” and was offered a drink and to row the boat.
Sunday 17th of Dec. everybody made it to the Cathedral in Trier for 11:30 mass. I was surprised the Irish didn’t sing. After mass Marty, Tom, Margaret, Roswitha and myself visited Roswitha’s mother in the Rehabilitation-clinique and Tom played some music for her. The rest of the clan went to rest in their hotel. A girl asked Tom, if she could play the melodeon, while he danced with her mother. Roswitha and myself have done a few rounds, while Marty showed the girl (the melodeon-player) the fine art of dancing. New twist to the above: a few days later Roswitha visited her mother and what do you know? There was the girl with her own melodeon playing music. Tom started something!
At 4 o’clock that day we all went to Annie’s and Math’s place for bowling. The teams were lead by Seoirse and Michael. On the bowling-alley they served a nice meal and the usual singing and dancing. Some of the wind was out, no wonder five days and nights of GO-GO and the early start for home on Monday to Shannon – Dublin – Glasgow, returning where they came from. Seoirse driving the mini-bus to Hahn. All got home safe, thanks God.
We greatly appreciated the effort, expense and offering your time, not to mention all the presents, we really enjoyed the visit. We look forward to the next invitation: Scotland, Ireland, any place, any time, any reason – where ever!
But please: don’t all shout at the same time.
We were a little inebriated when we wrote this.
Having Irish coffee with candlelight.
Ye know, who to blame: Prost, Slante, Cheerio!!!
God Bless from
Padraic and Roswitha