I love Ireland!!!

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So I have decided that I'm in love with Ireland!! This has been such a fabulous weekend (minus the ferry ride over here!) Okay, so I'll try and remember everything we've done the last two days.... yesterday after getting here and having some breakfast, we went to Sadie and Charley's (the people that we are staying with) and just got settled and chatted a little bit with Sadie. After that, we took the bus back into the central part of Dublin. Although the city is quite big, it is very, very different from London. People are not as dressed up and it just feels more laid back. Although they are not very nice if you accidentally run into them (I ran into a lady and was basically given the look of death!!!). When we first got there, we went down Grafton Street. Grafton Street was a crazy pedestrians-only road with tons of shops, mimes, artists, etc. We went into a few souvenir shops (which were sort of refreshing considering we've been into so many London ones!) and then saw a store that said there was a major sale going on up to 50% off!! Well us, being very cheap college students were like, "HEY, SALE, LET'S GO!!" ha, not much of a sale when it's 50% off of a shirt that is 200 euros!!! So needless to say, we headed out of there pretty quickly!! After that was finished we walked towards Trinity College. We must have gone in a circle 3 times looking for the place! There weren't very many signs directing you to it, and finally when we asked someone they told us that we were standing next to it!! Obviously after that, we decided we should have a guided tour of the city instead of trying to find our way around this unfamiliar city! We took a city bus tour which was nice because it dropped us off at all of the places we wanted to go. So we got on the bus, stopped at Dublin Castle, which was cool to see but we decided not to go on the tour inside because it was relatively long and we had to pay for it, so we took a few pics and then got on the bus to our next stop, Christ Church. Christ Church was absolutely beautiful and although I've seen many churches since being over here, it was quite different from the rest that I have seen. I don't really know how to describe it, I'll post some pictures up when I get back. Then, we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral which was also very beautiful. And most importantly, we then headed to the famous Guiness Brewery which I really enjoyed!! You go in and have a self-guided tour, which starts off telling you that the founder signed a contract for 9000 years with payments of 45 pounds per year and then it basically explains the process and the ingredients from which the beer is made. It was really quite interesting!! Then, there was a little exhibit that talked about how the Guiness Book of World Records was created... I never put 2 and 2 together and realized that both the Brewery and this book were interlinked!! Once the tour was finished, we were sent up to the "Glass Bar" which is at the top of the building and overlooks all of Dublin. It is surrounded by windows with incredible views!! A part of our tour fee included a pint of Guiness, so we each had a pint and man... I don't really like beer but I really did enjoy it!! One of my friends actually thought it was disgusting, so my other friend and I split that one. Quite strong beer, I must say. ha. Anyways, that was very fun! After that we were pretty tired, as we'd had little sleep from our journey there and had been on our feet all day. We came back to Charley and Sadie's, and Sadie made us a delicous dinner... a chicken dish with potatoes and vegetables and then a lovely dessert. We couldn't keep our eyes open much longer and went to bed after that. Boy, I don't think I've slept that well since I've been over here!!!
This morning Steph and I got up and went for a run as we usually do, but it was very refreshing to have some new scenery and it was quite a nice morning for a run. After we got all ready Charley was nice enough to drive us out to Wicklow Mountains to a place called Glendelough. Absolutely, absolutely beautiful. It was about an hour drive and was a valley with a beautiful lake in the middle and lovely waterfalls. I really can't even describe it and even the pictures don't do it justify it! It was everything that I've always imagined the country of Ireland to be... green, rolling hills, lots of trees, waterfalls, little houses and villages along the way.... just breathtaking. I could go on and on about it but I don't even know how to describe the views!! Definitely the best trip I've made so far. Charley took us to lunch afterwards at a hotel nearby where I had a delicious chicken wrap with mozzarella cheese and pesto. DELICIOUS!!! We walked back to the car from there on another lane where we saw even more amazing views.
Once we left Glendalough Charley took us to a suburb of Dublin which some refer to as the seaside. I didn't even know Dublin had a part like this!! Charley bought us all 99's... which are vanilla ice cream cones with a Cadbury Flake in them and then we walked along the pier. The pier was all stone and not like anything I'd ever seen. There were many sailboats along the coast and it reminded me sort of what I have always pictured Greece to look like. Sailboats and the pier, overlooking the colorful city. We sat along the pier for a while and talked.
After that full day we came home and relaxed for a bit and then Charley and Sadie took us all out to dinner. They have really been taking good care of us!! Such nice and animated people... I just adore them!! I feel bad that they keep paying for everything... hopefully we will find something nice to give them as a thank you when we head back to the city tomorrow. They have so many stories to tell and they have traveled all over the place... they've been giving us some good advice as far as places to go, although unfortunately there is no way I'll ever be able to cover them all!!! Now we are at home and tomorrow we head back to London at 2:30. We hope to go back to the city and get a few more souvenirs before taking off and then a long journey back home. I'm a little nervous to go back with all of this news about the bomb threats, but I'm sure we will be safe with the high level of security right now. Then back to work on Monday!! Mom, Dad, and Annie get here on Wednesday and I am very anxious to see them!! It will be fun showing them around and hopefully I'll get to a few more new sites as well with them (even though I've been here for 3 weeks, I still feel like I have so much more ground to cover!!) Tour de France begins here next weekend as well, so that should be fun to see!! Well, I will try to post when i get home tomorrow night and put up some pictures, depending on how late we get back, otherwise I will for sure post on Monday. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!! Cheers!!

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Comments

[James]

Hello
Thanks for the nice blog.