Ireland 3/13-3/17:
The ride to Ireland was a little hard on our ears with the pressure, but it was quick. We found out that there was one hour time difference as well. We got to the airport in Dublin, went through customs, went to the luggage claim, and headed out to get a taxi to our hostel. While waiting in line for a taxi, we started chatting with two guys from Switzerland: Estebon and Urs! They were aiming for Dublin as well, so they joined our taxi and split the cost. Since they didn’t have a place to stay for the night yet, they checked in at our hostel, too. The night was still early, so the four of us went out for our first night in Dublin. We went to a place with live music, and we had the pleasure of soaking in the Irish accents from all the people we met or chatted with: Among them was Russell and Alan. We had so much fun just taking in the Irish life, and we also played Foosball while I drank my water:) It was delightful just walking around the Liffey river, and then we called it a night and crashed in our hostel. What a great night for our first day in Ireland! Everyone was so nice and fun!
Wednesday 14th: Colleen and I woke up at 7:30 am for no good reason. We were both wide awake by then even with the little sleep we actually got. So we got a jump start on making plans for the day. It’s a good thing we did because as soon as we were done getting breakfast, we rushed to catch a bus to Kildare at 9:30 to go to the Japanese Gardens and Irish National Stud. The bus driver was super friendly and everyone was so helpful! Irish love their country, and they are never afraid to share about it! The gardens were beautiful! There were cute little signs pointing us toward the Hill of Ambition, or the Path of Learning. There was a horse museum, and then we headed toward the barns. In the foaling barns, we got to see a foal that was born 2 minutes prior. There were more gardens, and this is where we met Paul and Juno. Paul was a nice older Irish man who worked on the lands. We chatted about many things , and he gave us good advice for traveling Ireland. His yellow lab, Juno, was a sweet, cuddly thing. He suggested the Brazen Head restaurant, and we actually ate there that night where we had Irish Guinness beef stew and mushrooms in a bread bowl. Such good advice! We saw the rest of the pastures and stallions and mares there and then we headed back after a short stop at the café on the grounds. We got back to the hostel to find that our 16 bed room was full of French people (just when we thought we had gotten away from the language for a couple of days, haha). It was interesting to sleep in a co-ed room with 14 others with only 2 showers (having only a thin curtain). I got out of the shower to a guy shaving at the sink! Interesting experience, to say the least.
Thurs. 15th: We woke up super early again the next morning and caught the early bus toward Galway for our lovely bus tour through the southwest Ireland! Our goal was the Cliffs of Moher. It was such a lovely tour, and the countryside was exactly what I was hoping to see! Narrow, winding, and rolling roads led us toward the cliffs. I’m in love with the countryside, and I got my fill of acres and acres of sheep pastures and stone walls in vibrant green grasses. We stopped along the way at a castle, a craft shop (where I picked up some real wool yarn), and a café. Then, we got a delicious bowl of vegetable soup and continued on our way. The weather was a little chilly and misty, but it set the tone for Ireland. We finally arrived at Moher, and it was beautiful! The water was white where it met the dark charcoal-colored shore, and the grass on the cliff-tops was so green. The black cliffs cut through the mist and you could count the number of edges that jutted out. It was breathtaking!
Fri March 16th:
After checking out, we trekked our way across town with our luggage to Sean O’Brien’s house. I had looked into Couchsurfing.com, and we had contacted Sean since staying in Dublin on St. Patrick’s weekend was quite expensive. We met him, and then left our luggage there while we walked around Dublin in the sprinkles. We crossed the liffey and visited Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, had tea and dessert at a little café, and then continued walking until we were off the tourist’s map. We saw many colorful doors, and we found a lovely swan invaded man-made pond. We had to catch a bus to get us closer to town since we wondered so far! Then, once on O’Connell street, we booked it back to Sean’s because he had told us he had made dinner. He was a great cook! We had a mixed meat and vegetable stew and garlic mashed potatoes with a little wine and tea to top it off. The sleeping arrangements were a little silly, but I guess I should have expected it for a free place to stay for a night. We had breakfast in the morning and took off, thanked him for hosting us, and lugged our luggage toward the parade.
Sat. March 17th:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We stored our luggage and headed out for the day. There we definitely over half a million people watching the parade on O’Connell street! Craziness! We headed to a bagel shop and people-watched as leprechauns and already-drunken people walked the streets. We then, went to the Dublin National Museum to listen to a harp ensemble collection to add to the festivities. We headed toward Temple Bar to listen to some music in the Meeting Square- which was another great place to people-watch. We had dinner at a pizza shop and split a piece of cheese cake:) yum! After a while, we had made plans to meet up again with our Swiss friends, and we had a complete blast! We met more Swiss, Australians, and Irish. It was such a great St. Patrick’s Day! I love meeting people and especially people with cool accents! The city was pretty insane by this point, and I think I was one of the only sober ones! Sadly, we had to leave to pick up our luggage. We had such a blast with our new friends! We headed through the hordes of people to catch a bus to the airport. We missed the last bus, but we ran into two Germans headed there, and we split a taxi instead. Therefore, we started off our Dublin experience splitting a taxi with two Swiss guys and ended it by splitting one with two German guys! Once we got there, we found that many people shared the same ideas as we did, and there were masses of sleepers on every inch of the floor in the airport for those who were flying out the next morning. There were people sleeping on the couches in Starbucks, in the playplace of McDonalds, on the floors, on the tables, you name it! Our plane didn’t leave until 7:30 am, and I didn’t get a wink of sleep.
I adored Ireland, and the southwest is exactly what you see when you think of Ireland!
The ride to Ireland was a little hard on our ears with the pressure, but it was quick. We found out that there was one hour time difference as well. We got to the airport in Dublin, went through customs, went to the luggage claim, and headed out to get a taxi to our hostel. While waiting in line for a taxi, we started chatting with two guys from Switzerland: Estebon and Urs! They were aiming for Dublin as well, so they joined our taxi and split the cost. Since they didn’t have a place to stay for the night yet, they checked in at our hostel, too. The night was still early, so the four of us went out for our first night in Dublin. We went to a place with live music, and we had the pleasure of soaking in the Irish accents from all the people we met or chatted with: Among them was Russell and Alan. We had so much fun just taking in the Irish life, and we also played Foosball while I drank my water:) It was delightful just walking around the Liffey river, and then we called it a night and crashed in our hostel. What a great night for our first day in Ireland! Everyone was so nice and fun!
Wednesday 14th: Colleen and I woke up at 7:30 am for no good reason. We were both wide awake by then even with the little sleep we actually got. So we got a jump start on making plans for the day. It’s a good thing we did because as soon as we were done getting breakfast, we rushed to catch a bus to Kildare at 9:30 to go to the Japanese Gardens and Irish National Stud. The bus driver was super friendly and everyone was so helpful! Irish love their country, and they are never afraid to share about it! The gardens were beautiful! There were cute little signs pointing us toward the Hill of Ambition, or the Path of Learning. There was a horse museum, and then we headed toward the barns. In the foaling barns, we got to see a foal that was born 2 minutes prior. There were more gardens, and this is where we met Paul and Juno. Paul was a nice older Irish man who worked on the lands. We chatted about many things , and he gave us good advice for traveling Ireland. His yellow lab, Juno, was a sweet, cuddly thing. He suggested the Brazen Head restaurant, and we actually ate there that night where we had Irish Guinness beef stew and mushrooms in a bread bowl. Such good advice! We saw the rest of the pastures and stallions and mares there and then we headed back after a short stop at the café on the grounds. We got back to the hostel to find that our 16 bed room was full of French people (just when we thought we had gotten away from the language for a couple of days, haha). It was interesting to sleep in a co-ed room with 14 others with only 2 showers (having only a thin curtain). I got out of the shower to a guy shaving at the sink! Interesting experience, to say the least.
Thurs. 15th: We woke up super early again the next morning and caught the early bus toward Galway for our lovely bus tour through the southwest Ireland! Our goal was the Cliffs of Moher. It was such a lovely tour, and the countryside was exactly what I was hoping to see! Narrow, winding, and rolling roads led us toward the cliffs. I’m in love with the countryside, and I got my fill of acres and acres of sheep pastures and stone walls in vibrant green grasses. We stopped along the way at a castle, a craft shop (where I picked up some real wool yarn), and a café. Then, we got a delicious bowl of vegetable soup and continued on our way. The weather was a little chilly and misty, but it set the tone for Ireland. We finally arrived at Moher, and it was beautiful! The water was white where it met the dark charcoal-colored shore, and the grass on the cliff-tops was so green. The black cliffs cut through the mist and you could count the number of edges that jutted out. It was breathtaking!
Fri March 16th:
After checking out, we trekked our way across town with our luggage to Sean O’Brien’s house. I had looked into Couchsurfing.com, and we had contacted Sean since staying in Dublin on St. Patrick’s weekend was quite expensive. We met him, and then left our luggage there while we walked around Dublin in the sprinkles. We crossed the liffey and visited Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, had tea and dessert at a little café, and then continued walking until we were off the tourist’s map. We saw many colorful doors, and we found a lovely swan invaded man-made pond. We had to catch a bus to get us closer to town since we wondered so far! Then, once on O’Connell street, we booked it back to Sean’s because he had told us he had made dinner. He was a great cook! We had a mixed meat and vegetable stew and garlic mashed potatoes with a little wine and tea to top it off. The sleeping arrangements were a little silly, but I guess I should have expected it for a free place to stay for a night. We had breakfast in the morning and took off, thanked him for hosting us, and lugged our luggage toward the parade.
Sat. March 17th:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We stored our luggage and headed out for the day. There we definitely over half a million people watching the parade on O’Connell street! Craziness! We headed to a bagel shop and people-watched as leprechauns and already-drunken people walked the streets. We then, went to the Dublin National Museum to listen to a harp ensemble collection to add to the festivities. We headed toward Temple Bar to listen to some music in the Meeting Square- which was another great place to people-watch. We had dinner at a pizza shop and split a piece of cheese cake:) yum! After a while, we had made plans to meet up again with our Swiss friends, and we had a complete blast! We met more Swiss, Australians, and Irish. It was such a great St. Patrick’s Day! I love meeting people and especially people with cool accents! The city was pretty insane by this point, and I think I was one of the only sober ones! Sadly, we had to leave to pick up our luggage. We had such a blast with our new friends! We headed through the hordes of people to catch a bus to the airport. We missed the last bus, but we ran into two Germans headed there, and we split a taxi instead. Therefore, we started off our Dublin experience splitting a taxi with two Swiss guys and ended it by splitting one with two German guys! Once we got there, we found that many people shared the same ideas as we did, and there were masses of sleepers on every inch of the floor in the airport for those who were flying out the next morning. There were people sleeping on the couches in Starbucks, in the playplace of McDonalds, on the floors, on the tables, you name it! Our plane didn’t leave until 7:30 am, and I didn’t get a wink of sleep.
I adored Ireland, and the southwest is exactly what you see when you think of Ireland!
Estebon (left), Urs (right)
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