Blogs from Ireland, Europe - page 327

Wow!!! Only 3 days until we leave on our trip of a lifetime!! The backpacks are full, hostels booked, and we kinda know what we want to see. We are sure of one thing.....go where the locals go! Lisa and I have been planning this trip for a couple of years. I have been very fortunate to have done lots of travelling but this is Lisa's first trip out of North America!! She has dreamed of seeing Ireland since she was a little girl. We will be arriving in Shannon then taking the bus to Galway with plans to spend the weekend on the Arran Islands. I travelled to Ireland in 1991 with a group of Girl Guides and look forward to returning to show it off to Lisa. Look out cause here we come!!!... read more

Day 4 Our B&B again tonight is the Woodstock Arms in Inistioge. It is really kind of charming and located right above the pub. Inistioge is such a nice little place. We had our breakfast and then headed to our relatives house again to meet up with more of the family. Dan (our newfound relative) showed us a lovely little church called Clodigh which survived Cromwell’s attacks because it was built in a little valley and surrounded by brush and trees and the English soldiers didn’t find it so it survived the raids. He also showed us a tiny little cave where the priest would hide when warned of an attack. It is a very small place right on the side of the road which hundreds of people pass everyday but not many people know about. ... read more

When we landed in Dublin i was shocked to find that all of the signs were written in english. Conversations going on nearby were in english. my native language was so familiar but its ubiquity was out of place. we arrived after midnight and were promptly herded to the city buses. even though the hostel was right across the street from the main bus station, there were no buses going anywhere near the hostel. we walked 15-20min down dimly lit dublin streets. we slept in bunks with a family of four from utah. we stored our packs in a cage in the basement of the old hostel while we explored. as we left the hostel a taxi driver dropping off a customer, said,"...but i wouldnt walk down this street at night." We bought tickets to Ennis ... read more

...that I'm leaving Dublin today, which means I won't update this often. I've no idea how many Internet cafes there are on the west coast, or how much they cost. So not updating doesn't mean I'm dead, it means Internet costs 2€ for ten minutes, dig? I don't know why I keep forgetting to mention stuff. Yesterday I also went to Dublinia, a museum for medieval Ireland & Vikings. My expectations were low; my travel guide (book, that is) says it's especially good fun for kids, but most of the visitors were adults, and it actually was good fun. Most of the stuff were reproductions, so you could touch them, even try on medieval clothes. There was also a woman who played to be, well, medieval. She kinda looked like a wax figure, which was weird. ... read more