When last we were here, half of our crew had fallen victim to the smell of freshly fried fish an entire pavillion away.....
We passed by the Great Beers of the World booth in an effort to find our fallen friends, who were smacking their lips and licking their fingers at the Fish and Chips stand. Again, I sighed. We were here to pay ridiculous amounts to sample tiny amounts of food, and there they were cheating and getting a whole plate for the bargain price of $7! BLASPHEMY!
We all just agreed to disagree and met up at Ireland for the finest working mans stews this side of the pond. Im not sure if trifle counts as a working mans food, in all honesty, but we dont have to dwell on that.
An aside: I spent three years of my young adulthood living in Edinburgh, Scotland and if there is one thing I miss the most, it is the soups. They have a hearty, wonderful soup for all occasions and I was forever surprised at how the same base ingredients (carrots, potatoes and celery) could combine with an additional one or two items to create completely different flavors. Plus, seeing how it is almost always miserably cold and rainy, they were always great comfort foods. In fact, I have a fond memory of almost all of the foods I had there excluding haggis and black pudding, of course. NO ONE should have to be subjected to THAT.
By the grace of God, there was no black pudding to be found at the Ireland booth, but I did scarf down some fantastic potato leek soup, a trifle, and a generous sample of OMaras Irish Cream. I am a HUGE fan of Irish Cream and I have to say that this particular one was even better than Baileys.
Lionel had the lamb, bacon and cabbage stew with a sample of authentic Guiness. When in Ireland
.well, you can try the beer that resembles the depths of a boggy creek but chances are you wont ask for a second helping. In truth, I do like true Guiness, but I find the stateside version to be far more bitter.
All of the geeks found something they liked in Ireland. Geeky eyes were smiling. There we were, all 14 of us - only 6 booths in, and all steaming drunk. Well, except for the pregnant one.
By the time we stumbled to France I was announcing loudly to strangers that there was Chocolate Crème Brulee. CHOCOLATE! CRÈME! BRULEE! Can you imagine a better combination of decadence? Im fairly certain that I paired this dessert that embodies all of my worldly desires with a sparkling wine but Ill be darned if I cant remember what it was. I do know this: in France, they are not stingy with the portions. In fact, my little tin of creamy goodness was approximately the same size as the soup I had in Ireland, if not a smidge larger. And the wine? FULL SIZE FLUTES.
We all gathered around a trash can, for these make perfect tables for the drunk and disorderly, and we shared our goods. I tried the escargot, which I think tasted pretty good. My only recollection at this point is that it resembled chewy garlic. I tried sips of various wines. I wolfed down my crème brulee AND the remainder of someone elses (who I am pretty sure was one of our 14, but I was steadily losing track at this point) and managed to summon up enough will power not to demand that Lionel go and buy me another one.
For
.it was FAST PASS TIME.
Ever tried to round up 13 drunken geeks and one pregnant one? Epcot really needs to rent out herding dogs. We made it as a collective drunken crowd alllllll the way from the France pavilion to THE BRIDGE. Which is all of maybe, oh, I dont know
..100 feet? Then it was picture time. So now would be a good time to scroll back to the original post of this thread and look a little closer.
See how squinty my eyes are? Yep. Thats a sure sign of my tipsiness, along with the rosy cheeks. See the gal with the chicken? See how happy she is? See how big that glass of sparkly wine is? In fact, do you see anyone who doesnt look totally smashed? Now, see if you can find the pregnant lady. Hint: shes the only girl who isnt me, or isnt holding an alcoholic beverage. And one more thing
..see that big guy right in the middle? There is something I discovered while hanging out with him, and that is this: apparently when you are 7 feet tall, EVERYONE wants to talk to you. More on that later.
On the way from the bridge to Soarin, we stopped approximately 187 times. Between bathroom breaks and general drunken distraction, I do believe it took us nearly an hour to arrive at our destination. But there was stuff! And over here, theres more neat stuff! And ooh, theres some stuff you can BUY! Hey look, a McDonalds! Wow, topiaries! A boat! Fellow humans!
The intent behind the mid-afternoon Soarin fast passes was that we would take a nice leisurely break from the rich food and beverage and allow our stomachs time to recover. This way, we could pick up again where we left off and start fresh.
Yeah. Whatever.
Soarin itself is a wonderful ride but I do not understand why one would wait for upwards of 90 minutes to experience it. To be honest, I dont understand why anyone would wait that long for ANY ride. I will admit that I am a jaded Floridian with an annual pass who can come back at any time and ride whatever she wants in the down season, but even back in the day before fast passes I was never a fan of wasting so much time in line. There are only so many phrases you can fit into the tune of Rock the Boat (believe me) and then what do you do for the other 45 minutes?
Ok, back to Soarin. This is only the second time I have been on it, but I noticed the scents much more this time. There was something incredibly refreshing about the citrus and the pine that almost fooled me into believing my stomach was not already stretched to maximum capacity.
ALMOST.
We left our breezy hang gliding experience feeling refreshed and chipper, but still very full and markedly sloshed. Ah, well. It was a good idea anyhow.
Next: we go back to France, and I totally pass right by the Spanish Marcone Almonds.
about your son - tell him to look us up 
