Living the Legend

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Hello Everyone!
I have to say I'm very sorry I havn't written for a while. Tom and I have been very busy moving around a lot, and havn't spent very much time on computers. We left London and went to Dublin for St. Paddy's day which was a blast. We bummed around Dublin for a couple days and saw some of the sites; Christ Church, the Dublin Castle, and Trinity College. We also took tours of the Jameson Distillery and the Guiness Brewery. At the top of the Guiness Brewery, there is a bar that overlooks the city, so we had a couple of the best Guiness pints I've ever had up there. I'm normally not a fan of Guiness, but it tastes different in Ireland, especially at the brewery--much more smooth.
We left from Dublin and went on a 6 day "Shamrocker, Living the Legend" coach tour, which was AWESOME! We basically traveled around the entire country, met some really cool people from all over the world, and just had a great time. It would take me ages to list everything we did, but here's a brief list of some places we went and things we did:
Day 1
Drove through the Boyne Valley to a pilgrimage town "Knock"
Learned the history of St. Patrick
Toured the Locke's Whiskey Distillery and drank some whiskey
Stayed the night in Westport-went to hear some live music at great pubs
Day 2
Went hiking in the mountains
Drank some Irish coffees
Stayed the night in Galway, where we had a crazy night of clubbing.
Day 3
Went to Corcome Roe, a beautiful burial site beside a church.
Went to the Dunguire Castle
Saw the "Giant's Bed"
Visited the Cliffs of Moher, a very beautiful part of the coast
Stayed in Doolin, the home of traditional Irish music.
Day 4
Spent the day hiking around the Dingle Peninsula. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. The coast was amazing!!
Stayed in Killarney
Day 5
Hiked around Killarney National Park
Went to Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney stone
Toured the Mitchelstown Caves
Went to "Rock of Cashel"-an awesome castle
Stayed in Kilkenny
Day 6
Went to the ruined fortress of the Rock of Dunamase
Went to Wicklow, the garden of Ireland

The trip was a really fantastic experience. We took tons of pictures everywhere we went. Ireland has the most beautiful countryside and coastline, and we thouroughly enjoyed every day. When we arrived back in Dublin, we headed up to Belfast, where we stayed for 3 nights with Christina, a foreign exchange student that Tom's family had stay with them years ago. She showed us around the city and took us up to the Giant's Causeway, an amazing part of the coast. We also went on one of the black cab tours of Belfast to the murals in the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. The cab driver told us the whole history of the fighting, and took us into both neighborhoods where the fighting has occured/is still occuring. There is a huge peace wall dividing the two neighborhoods, and we got out and signed it, wishing the nation peace.
We arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland two days ago and are begining to look for accomodation and work here. We have a new mailing address at the BUNAC office here, and can recieve mail there for the next couple months. The address is:
Alyssa Knier
BUNAC
60 High Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH1 1TB

I hope all is well for everyone back home. Keep filling me in on what I'm missing, and keep emailing!!
Cheers!
Alyssa

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