Blogs from Ireland, Europe - page 343

It was a pretty bold, last minute decision - but we decided to get amongst our geographical surroundings, and missioned over to Ireland for tiki touring good times and to celebrate St Paddy's Day in Dublin. We had such a blast, the vibe was supreme and it's been confirmed - the Irish are drunken and crazy! We arrived in Dublin on St Paddy's day itself and picked up our backpaker van (similar thing to Wicked rentals in NZ) then missioned into the city to check things out. We parked up on a back street and headed into town to watch the parade. It was simply amazing! We had a great time and Sam got amongst some home video action and took 200 hundred photos of the parade (no exageration - the fully charged camera battery died ... read more

I had a few friends from America visit me for their spring breaks. Jill, my friend from home, was in Dublin with me for St.Patrick's Day. The celebration was more than I could have ever expected. Until a decade ago the holiday was a low key celebration and national holiday in Dublin. It was only after Americans started coming to Ireland for St.Patrick's Day that Dublin really capitalized on the holiday. The city was filled with American tourists everywhere. The St.Patrick's Day festival was stretched out over four days. They closed down the center of town to traffic and put up a carnival. On the 17th there was an interesting parade. It was nothing like the St.Patrick's Day parades in American cities. There was absolutely no traditional irish dancing, music or bagpipes. Instead, the parade had ... read more

First blog - Ireland Well, this is the third time I've tried to start this blog and each time I've been interrupted. Anyway, I'lll try to finish it this time. I'm here! in Ireland! It's beautiful! (of course) But it does rain. A LOT. Even when you look outside and its sunny, there's probably a 50/50 chance that its raining. And when its sunny and you are walking along, the weather will defy the laws of weather and it'll rain even though the nearest clouds are close to the horizon. It is also pretty cold and windy, though I'm used to that because Boone is cold and windy. They have a weather joke here - Nine months out of the year it's cold, wet and windy, and don't get me started on winter. The town I'm ... read more

Well, I took a two night trip to Galway (the city of Tribes) in the Republic which is considered the art center of Ireland and called one of the sexiest cities in Europe (which is good to know). It is not a very large city but there are a few things to see and more outside the city. I enjoyed just walking by the sea and walking through the town square (Eyre Square) which is home to a monument of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy who visited Galway shortly before his death. On my second day, I went to the Aran Islands (to be more exact, I went to the largest of the three islands, Inishmor). On the Aran Islands, everything is in Gaelic and everyone speaks Gaelic and English. For example, I stopped at a store ... read more

Don Lagohire and left for London... read more