Red, Pink, Blue, Purple...Zebra!

Oh man – this blog is going to be a long one. Read on if you dare! Our weekend was what I like to call a weekend of misadventures. Everything turned out wonderfully and we had a great time despite all the mishaps. (P.S. the title of this blog refers to the colors of all our bags. Guess which one mine was...)

This past Thursday, I left with Amanda, Casey, Kaitlin, and Megan to go to Ireland for the weekend. We took a coach to Heathrow Airport and had a flight that left around 5:00. The flight was very short and I talked to a nice man for a good chunk of the way. He lives in Dublin and we talked a bit about Ireland and places I should travel in Europe. After the flight, we took a bus to our hotel. This particular hotel was mishap #1. Our plan was to try to fit 5 people into one room, even though hotels don’t like to book more than 2 to a room. When we tried to bring the 3 extra people in, the man at the desk was really mean and got very suspicious. I felt horrible at doing something sneaky like that – my conscious was horrible. Regardless, we left for dinner at Apache pizza (so good!) and had to sneak back in. It was immensely stressful and I can’t say any of us had the nicest of nights. Leaving the hotel the next morning, the three of us had to sneak out. Let’s just say we ended up in a parking garage with gates closed. Eventually we got out, though, and were ready to start our day out in Dublin.

Dublin was the type of big city that I can totally enjoy. The sidewalks were big and the people were SO friendly and helpful. We took a bus tour for the first part of the day and got to see the basics of Dublin. After that, our first stop was Trinity College. A few people went in to see the Book of Kells but I opted out. Instead, I ventured around the gift shop with Casey, looking at pictures and learning some Irish history. Casey was our little Irish tour guide – she planned and informed us about so much! Trinity College in itself was pretty cool. It was a bit rainy and cloudy, so the college probably wasn’t up to its full beauty. After the college, we went to get some lunch at a convenience store type place. We ate lunch at a cute little park with lots of plants and a statue of Oscar Wilde. The statue was quite smarmy looking and we had fun just hanging out there. After the park, we headed on to Christ Church. Christ Church had some really cool architecture and I enjoyed learning through the little guide they provided us. My favorite part of the church was seeing this mummified cat and rat that had gotten caught in an organ. It was so cool! Once we were done at the church, Amanda and I headed over to a modern art museum. I have to say, it wasn’t quite as modern as I had expected. There were a couple modern art pieces, but mostly I can’t say the pieces were super up-and-coming. I enjoyed the museum, though, even though it was a bit stark in some places. After that, we were supposed to meet the other three in our group for dinner. We ended up having some miscommunications (mishap #2) and not meeting until way after our planned time. Therefore, we had to grab sandwiches for dinner and head to the bus station. We had a train to Galway at about 8, putting us in Galway around midnight. We got to our second hotel and our 5-in-one room scheme worked a lot better. We had a peaceful night and a decent night’s sleep before going to meet our tour in the morning.

We joined a Paddywagon tour on Saturday morning. Paddywagon tours, contrary to our beliefs, were actually legitimate and, despite the bright green buses, were totally cool. We drove out of Galway at about 10 and mishap #3 happened on the way to our first destination. Our week-old bus ignited flames under the driver’s seat! We had to wait on the bus until we could get a replacement. Soon enough, we got one and headed off to lunch. I tried Shepherd’s Pie, which was delicious, and I was happy to eat some vegetables (shocking, I know!). We definitely ate well at that lunch. Following that, we made our way to the Cliffs of Moher. Unfortunately, it was so foggy and wet, we could barely see the cliffs. When the clouds cleared, though, the sight was beautiful!! I also should add that it was SO windy up there. We were blowing all over the place and our faces were so red by the end. It was hilarious! Once we left the cliffs, we stopped at a cute, little well where people leave wishes and good thoughts for loved ones. Then, we made a stop at a town called Lahinch. Now, we all think this stop was not really planned because (mishap #4) our replacement bus had another problem! This time it was tire-related and it took an hour to fix. So, we spent some time just wandering and shopping. After that, we drove some more and stopped at another little place. It was also really cute, with some little shops. My favorite part of this stop was meeting this group of 10 year old kids. We were climbing a hill and their ball came rolling down it. We caught it for them and, when we returned it, they asked “Americans?” and started chatting. They tried to pronounce North Carolina, which was hilarious. We actually passed them and then had to turn back around, at which point they jokingly made fun of us some more. It made me laugh. After that stop, we took a ferry over to Killarney. I wish we could have spent more time there, but we got in at night. We stopped at our hostel (not bad, but only one bathroom for 14 people – it was rough for some) and then went out to dinner. It was delicious! Then, we went to a popular local pub and had a blast listening to some Irish music and meet some Irish people. Very fun!

In the morning, we sadly had to leave Killarney. Before we left altogether, we took a horse and carriage ride through Killarney National Park. We almost thought we couldn’t go on it because it was pouring rain and then hailing (mishap #5?). It cleared up a bit and we ended up going. The ride was fabulous! Our guide was hilarious and he cussed up a storm – he seriously was like a stand-up comedian. It was a very cold ride and it did rain on and off, but the views were gorgeous and the mountains were beautiful. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. After the horse ride, we headed to Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney stone. Now, this whole kissing the stone thing was fun stuff. You had to lay backwards while someone held your legs and hold bars so you could kiss the stone upside down. Oh man – it was great! The castle was pretty, too, if not a little dangerous/slippery because of the water on stone castle dilemma. We went to a great little place called Kopi Café for lunch with nice owners. After our day in lovely Blarney, we had to head back to Dublin. The coolest part was that we saw a rainbow from the bus! When we got back to the city, we had to rush a bit to get to the airport. We got through security and such, only to find that our plane was delayed (mishap #7, I think). That gave us more time to get dinner and such, which was nice, though it was cutting it close with taking the tube back to the flats. We actually made it all the way to one stop away only to find out that our station was closed (final mishap). We had to walk back, which wasn’t bad, except that we got stuck in a gated park and had to backtrack most of our journey (ok that was the final mishap). Eventually, we got home safe and sound!

All in all, I really liked Ireland. I thought the people were super, super friendly and the landscape was beautiful. I would love to go back someday – maybe when it’s a bit warmer? It was a great weekend!