Ireland, Me Motherland

Day 1 of Ireland

Woke up. The time was 5am and we were to the bus station by 540. The bus to the airport left at 6 and we arrived at the airport by 7. When I brought my luggage through security they took my shaving cream even though there's almost nothing in it. They took my toothpaste even though it was less than half full and definitely under the 3oz but since the container itself can hold over 3oz they took it. Shampoo, also confiscated. Alyda, Sara and I sit down because we now have a 2 hour wait until the plane leaves so I decide to watch Sons of Anarchy, every video is corrupt so I have nothing to do now, I’m also heartbroken. We finally get on the plane and before takeoff I'm already sleeping. Next thing I know I'm being woken up by Ali because she's scared because the plane is shaking a lot for landing, it was really windy, Alyda also turned around to say she was freaking out, we landed perfectly. The bus we got picked up in is called the Paddy Wagon it's a big green bus with leprechauns on the side, a little embarrassing and definitely made for tourists but I like it now. Everyone was starving so we drove into Dublin and got dropped off for our first meal in Ireland, McDonalds naturally. Got back on the bus and drove to the Guiness brewery for a self guided tour. It was cool they had hops growing in the walls and Barley in giant containers that we could touch and a waterfall inside the building. It basically walked us through the entire brewing process and after 5 floors of the tour the top floor was called the Gravity Bar which was a bar with a 360° view of Dublin and we got a free drink. However earlier on the tour there was a free sample of Guiness and it was disgusting so I used my free drink on a Coke. After we left the brewery it was back to the big green leprechauny bus. We drove to meet our tour guide for a walk around Dublin. The tour was basically in the rain in 55 degrees weather but it was cool, no pun intended (when people say that they definitely intended the pun) We walked across a bridge that was made by the same people that built the Titanic, they told us that after we walked across it of course. We saw a church that was once a speak easy, a casino and a brothel, classy. Walked onto the campus in town where the library in Star Wars was based off of. And basically learned that the Irish failed at trying to gain their independence plenty of times and then plenty of people died because potatoes (mash em, smash em, put em in a stew) went bad. After the frozen wet tour Michelle Alyda and I set off to explore the city in more detail. I bought some socks and a delicious calzone that was stuffed with steak, potatoes and onions. I'm honestly nerding out over all the green and shamrocks here though (I'm back home) After a while I went back to the hotel only got get stomped by Sara and Katie in a few games of Farkle before heading to bed.

Day 2 of Ireland

Woke up. Went to the grocery store to get some lunch for later and went back to the hotel for the breakfast before heading back onto the big green bus. After an hour or so of driving we stopped at Limerick Castle and took a group photo, I ventured to a shop nearby and found sweet relics but they were asking too much so I went back to the bus as we took off for our next stop. After waking up from a nap we arrived in at The Burren which is a bunch of rocks right next to the Atlantic Ocean. Took some sweet pictures (that I will post on Facebook when I get decent internet) and did some mini rock climbing to get close to the water. We left there and went to a place called the Cliffs of Moher. Took a group photo and then were set loose, this place was spectacular. It was a huge cliff over looking the Atlantic Ocean again and on one side was a little castle and on the other was a long path where you walk basically on the edge of the cliff to get anywhere where a wrong step can send you 100 feet into the ocean. This was also the place where The Princess Bride filmed the Cliffs of Insanity. I wish I could explain this place better but I cant find good words for it. We left in the big green bus again and took a ferry to get across a channel, we were told there was a chance of seeing dolphins however none were spotted. After getting off the ferry we arrived in the town of Killarney and found our hotel, bad internet. It's kind of sad the first thing everyone does when we check into a hotel is check the internet...we're in a foreign country but want internet more than we want to explore this tiny town, fail. We go to dinner at a pub as a group and I get breaded mushrooms and fish & chips, it was quite tasty. Back at the hotel lead to Facebook and blogging, followed by sleep.

Day 3 of Ireland

Woke up. Had breakfast in the hotel, its never that great except for the yogurt that's delicious. After breakfast we went on a carriage ride thought the Killarney National Park where we stopped at an old castle and took some pictures. We continued our tour through the city but didn't learn much because our instructor was talking to our guide the entire time so I learned nothing. Thanks. After the ride we got on the bus for a long ride to Blarney Castle. When we got there we took the usual group photo and were set loose. As we were walking up to the castle I heard something that made me so happy, someone was singing Little Lion Man. Ran around the corner and two kids were playing guitar and singing so I requested another Mumford song and they played The Cave, so good! Blarney has a rock that if you kiss it brings you the ability to lie for seven years, so I got on my back at the top of the castle and hung over a ledge and kissed it. Then we walked around and crawled around in some caves under the castle and got a little dirty. After the caves we went to the dungeons, also under the castle, and were crawling basically like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, on all fours through tiny holes until we hit the end of the rocks. Back on the bus, napped and read The Goblet of Fire some more before we arrived at the Rock of Dunamase. The rock was basically the ruins of a castle, little pieces here and there. It was like an adult playground, so we climbed it. Took a really cool picture of all of us scattered around the remnants of the castle too. As I was climbing I managed to rip a hole in the front of my pants right between the legs, oops. Back on the bus and back to Dublin, in the time of two days we literally made it around the entire country of Ireland. Tonight's night consisted of us going to a restaurant where I ate goat liver, tasted okay but the after taste was like the smell of a wet dog, gross. Then I followed it with a steak that was super good. Topped the meal off with a warm chocolate brownie and ice cream covered in powdered sugar and a strawberry. I'm currently uploading to Facebook and watching Dumb and Dumber. Tomorrow, Northern Ireland.