Back from Ireland!!
Ohmygosh the trip was...well, it was excrutiating. We went to three different major cities in four days, spent hours in the car, slept in random housing...but basically, despite being freezing, wet, and exhausted, I had the time of my life.
15 March:
We all met at DH at 4pm to get a bus to the airport. Our flight left at 7pm and we arrived around 8:30. Security stopped me for having water and assumed my aerochamber was a bottle of water as well, but let me go when I showed them otherwise. There were tons of problems with renting cars. The car rental place allowed someone 21 to book the cars, but you need to be 23 to drive them, so we could only get 2 instead of 3. 2 cars for 13 people! But we crammed in, with Britt in the back with the baggage. Christina, who had never before driven on the left side of the road, took an experimental drive around the parking lot (did I mention all cars here are manual?).
We got to the hostel (Jamaica Inn) and got our rooms, which was one for ten people and one where three people stayed with strangers. Matt was the only guy in the 10-room. We put our stuff away and went to walk around the town to find food. We ate at a pizza/burger place, and found a sign that read "O gCearnaigh"...which is the last name Matt has always found when looking up his ancestry. When he discovered we were in fact on the West coast and found a "Kearneys Cycles" sign, we were nearly positive we had found his hometown! It was such a great coincidence.
16 March:
We woke up and left the hostel at about 9:00am. We drove to the Cliffs of Moher and Tower O'Brien. We stopped by a tiny store for food on the way and they had a GF section! Go figure. The cliffs were really amazing; the birds sitting on the cliffside looked like tiny specks compared to the massive cliffs. The waves and wind were so strong that we got "rained" on by Atlantic Ocean water. The view was absolutely breathtaking. And the bathrooms were very futuristic, with water-fall type faucets and a picture of the cliffs painted on the stall doors.
We stopped by a random castle on our way to Des's to have lunch. There are so many ruins of old homes and churches in Mayo (the county we were in). We'd see just one wall standing, or a whole building standing with no roof.
We stalled 3 times trying to follow Des's car and got separated at a roundabout (which they have instead of interstates, very dumb). We played hide and seek with the other car for about 2 hours before we randomly ended up at a place where Des used to work, and he came running up to find us, and then chased our car until we passed safely through the roundabout.
Des's mom made us bangers and mash for dinner - basically a shepard's pie without a pie. It was the best meal I've had, probably because it was homecooked. Then we all prepared to go out.
The pub we went to first was where Des works. We played Circle of Death. By the time we got to the third pub of the night (Cosy Joe's), we were having a wonderful time. Some random older lady, who appeared to be drinking alone, started dancing with us when we all fromed a circle to sing Piano Man. They played lots of Johnny Cash as well. Some creepy guy asked Kim, Matt, Aimee, and me if we were American, but when Steph told him she was from Manchester he backed off.
After the bars, we went to Des's sister's house for coffee and some guitar playing. Then we split up and some of us went back to Des's, where we stayed, and others slept at Rachel's.
March 17:
The group who stayed at Des's woke at 7:30am to eat beans, toast, sausage, and tea (very Irish breakfast) and went hiking. We climbed Croagh Patrick, which is 2510 ft high at its highest peak, but we only made it 1/2way because of the terrible rain and wind! It was like a hurricane! All our clothes were soaked through, but I am so glad we got up early to climb it. It was beautiful. However, the rest of the weekend I was cold and wet.
We drove to Galway after a short nap and drying of clothes, where we met up with Des's friends who were allowing us to stay in their house for St. Paddy's Day night. We watched some rugby 6-Nations games, then went out to walk about town. It was drizzling on us the entire time. We stopped in bars, and boy do those Irishmen start drinking early, especially on this holiday! By 7:00pm the pubs were PACKED. We mainly went to four bars, including Des's favorite "Taaffes". In the end we stayed at Spanish Arch to drink and listen to live music.
At the end of the night, we walked home and crawled into random places to sleep in the guys' unheated house. We all cuddled to keep warm. Suffice it to say, not a very comfortable sleep, but an adventure nonetheless.
March 18:
We left past noon for Dublin, just Matt, Des, Chris, and Christina. The others (Britt, Kim, Aimee, Steph) took a bus - Carlos, Augustine, Amandine, and Sheyla had already split from us the previous night. We had time to stop at Dublin's city center, so we did. We arrived to sunny weather...and then got snowed on!
The snow was heavy and wet, like pouring rain, and came on suddenly. It ended just as quickly. I bought a couple necklaces (one for Stephie) and golf paraphenalia for mom and dad. I plan on sending those sometime this week before I leave for Barcelona. Des pointed out the spire in the city center which...well, we don't know why it's there, but it's famous. He also pointed out the post office, where the Easter Uprising occurred in 1916.
By the end I was exhausted and grumpy, but really glad I had the experience of Ireland. It was one of those "fly by the seat of your pants" trips, and every minute was exciting. Ireland is absolutely beautiful, and in the summer I'd love to try climbing Croagh Patrick to the top. I did wish some KH people could be there, because I knew they'd appreciate it a lot.
Now, I have to prepare to finish editing my NH paper, shop for traveling gear in Glasgow with Kim, and plan our Haiku pub crawl. Possibly I will get to Paris and London between finals but for now...Well, Barcelona awaits me in 8 days! I can't wait to get back to Euros...the exchange rate is fantastic compared to the pound.
One more note: On the way home, I ditched my water. The security guy stopped me for my contact solution. It cost me five pounds so I was NOT pleased. Then, the guy used common sense and told me if I could use some he'd let me keep it. Thank goodness some people out there actually think before following stupid laws.
-A-
