Susanne summer spectacular 2025

Susanne’s annual visit was yet again a huge success, to the best of my knowledge. We were busy but also had a decent amount of time to just enjoy a beautiful Dublin summer. Overall she benefitted from perfect weather and even a heat wave (by Irish standards!).

We started strong with of course our annual welcome dinner at the Local, where they treated her like family (as she is!) and she enjoyed her traditional faves - a glass of Guinness, the roasted cauliflower, and a 99 (ice cream cone) to top it all off. 

The follow afternoon, for father’s day, David had gotten tickets for Taste of Dublin at Merrion Square Garden. We’d seen this every year as we went past on the bus, but this was our first attendance. Such a cool event! Food vendors of all types, live music, fun various seating arrangements. 

That weekend while Sally and I were in London seeing Dua Lipa, David and Susanne had some adventures back in Ireland. They had a rainy day checking out the Hill of Tara and Trim Castle. They they had a fancy dinner at our favorite nearby fancy spot, Mae. 

Then the heat wave kicked in so after school that week Sally and I took Susanne to check out the Forty Foot…and I think every teen/20-something in Dublin County was there in a tiny bathing suit, soaking up the sun. I’m the only one of our party who went in, but we enjoyed the pretty walk from the DART station (and saw so many seals!) as well as the people watching. We also apparently looked responsible because not one, but two sets of teens asked us to “watch their stuff” while they were in the water. Given that the water is still pretty darn chilly, we felt sure we wouldn’t be beholden for long.

While Sally was in her final week of school I took Susanne to one of my favorite attractions - the National Stud in Kildare. I was suspicious she’s really enjoy the horses and gardens and walking trails and coffee shop…and I was correct! We had a fabulous time doing all those things. 

One day that week David and I headed over to Manchester for a concert, but Sally and Susanne had a great night at the Bord Gais theater seeing Six, the Musical.

The next weekend Rebecca Blanchard joined us during her surprise visit, and we all enjoyed High Tea at the Intercontinental on Sunday. While service started out a bit sketchy, they rapidly turned things around we had a fabulous time, eating too many tiny sandwiches and desserts as usual.

The following week, Sally was done with school so the three of us headed down to Russborough House and Gardens in County Wicklow one day. We explored the maze (I’m not sure I would have found the end without Sally’s directional perseverance), had a gorgeous walk through the gardens, and enjoyed a snack at the cafe. The weather was lovely so we didn’t do the house tour, but I’d be happy to go back on a rainy day to check it out.

That weekend we headed to Killarney for David’s fourth annual Ring of Kerry cycle. We have previously always stayed at the same hotel, but since we had increased in number we stayed in a cute Airbnb just outside of town, in a cute little neighborhood called Old Killarney Village. On Saturday Sally and I showed Susanne some of our favorite spots in the area - Torc waterfall, Killarney National Park, Muckross Abbey, and finally explored the town a bit until we watched David come across the finish line.

That night we had our traditional dinner at the Tan Yard and were not disappointed. Sunday morning we headed up to the Gap of Dunloe, thinking we’d do a jaunting cart up to the Gap itself, but the weather was pretty misty and it was early enough (so not many people or horses out yet) that instead we drove up. It was gorgeous - none of us had been up there before and it was absolutely stunning.

The following day we left for Spain to belatedly celebrate Susanne’s 80th birthday. We flew into Bilbao and drove to San Sebastián, where we met up with our Airbnb hosts (who were so sweet and helpful) and then spent a fantastic few days there. The city is beautiful, clean, and not that busy with tourists compared to much of Europe. Because it’s on the north coast, and an old city, and immediately adjacent to France, it had the best of all worlds - it felt like Venice or Siena before they became over-packed with tourists, but with lovely French pastries and the laid-back Spanish attitude. We explored the town a little and spent a lot of time at the beach (Playa de la Concha) and in the lovely warm (compared to the Irish Sea!) ocean. There was a beautiful coastal trail and trails up the hill so I enjoyed my solo runs, and walks with each David, Susanne, and Sally. We ate well, though admittedly pintxos aren’t the best for vegetarians. We did, however, find the original home of the Basque style cheesecake (La Viña), which resulted in an entire cheesecake coming home and some people eating breakfast cheesecake.

One day we drove over to Biarritz for lunch and a quick explore. Biarritz was stunning - gorgeous coast and such a cute town. Both Biarritz and San Sebastián turned out to be huge surfing hubs, which made for a great CA-esque vibe as well. 

One of the days we were out exploring a lovely local man gave us an approximately 15-minute impromptu history of the city and region, just because he felt like it…it was such a nice treat. The interesting thing about this Basque area is that of course their primary language is actually Basque, not Spanish. Basque is language isolate, meaning it is not related to any other language, so there’s a bit of a cultural barrier there - though of course most people spoke better English, and certainly better Spanish, than us anyway. 

Our final day we stopped in Bilbao on the way to the airport and checked out the Guggenheim. This was everything you would expect and want from a modern art museum, right down to the awesome architecture. My favorites were the flower dog out front and the drapery made of alcohol bottle cap labels, sewn together with golden thread by Nigerians over the course of a year.

We had one final crazy trip the day after we got back from Spain. Stein and Søren invited us to their party celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in Copenhagen—and it seemed like fate that it was while Susanne was visiting. We we packed up our fancy outfits and headed there for the night. The party was 100% worth it—gorgeous, loving energy; dapper crowed; delicious food; top-notch service (right down to the umbrellas when it rained); and stunning venue. I may have understood only one word of the ceremony, but it was the key one, I'd say—"love." It was so great to see Stein and Søren, to see/meet so many other family members, and to be a part of this beautiful event...totally worth only getting 3 hours of sleep that night!

Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention that Riley got about 800 walks in with Susanne while she visited, she and Sally enjoyed several board games, and I got myriad wonderful walks with her as well. She’s always a delight to have here, and we miss her when she leaves!