This answer is only about the second part of your question. Your are using lots of ranges there which is not as intended and indeed very slow.
First read the complete range and then iterate over the result like so:
var xx[,] = (MySheet.Cells["A1", "XX100"] as Excel.Range).Value2;
for (int i=0;i<xx.getLength(0);i++)
{
for (int j=0;j<xx.getLength(1);j++)
{
Console.WriteLine(xx[i,j].toString());
}
}
This will be much faster!