A COUPLE ARE celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary by taking the same CIE bus tour they met on 51 years ago.

In 1962, Nora ‘Norrie’ Coakley (87) booked an Irish bus tour that would change her life forever. Living in Dublin at the time, she and her father took the CIE Tours International bus tour to see more of their homeland.

On the trip, she met an Irish-American World War II veteran William ‘Bill’ Short (90). Bill hailed from Chicago and was travelling alone on a quest to learn more about his Irish roots.

In true Disney fashion, somewhere along the line, the two took a side trip to Killarney by car. The rest, as they say, is history.

Three children and six grandchildren later, they’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of their Shelbourne hotel wedding.

The pair have a vintage 1962 CIE Tours poster hanging in their Illinois home to remind them of their meeting, but now they’re back to visit the real thing.

Norie and Bill were greeted this morning by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the general manager of the CIE Tours International, Stephen Cotter, and are now set to embark on a similar journey to the one where they fell in love.

Tears, a million tiny tears.