Ireland Friday

Busy day today! We started bright and early, waking up at the oh-so-painful 4:30 am. We hopped on our first Irish taxi (interesting note: they’re driven by locals, but you still can’t understand them) and made our way to the bus stop to get on the 6 am bus to Galway.

The next few hours are a blur, as we both sleep quite soundly on the bus. We got to the Galway station about a half hour early, so we hightailed to a cute little cafe for breakfast. After waking up over a pot of tea, we went back over to the station to hop on our tour. For a 10 euro tour, the bus itself was about what we expected (aka, a little scary), but the tour was great. Also, before our tour, we made 20 euro by taking a survey at the visitor’s center. Hooray for money!

We made a huge loop around the Galway bay area, starting in Galway city and ending at the Cliffs of Moher. We traveled through a ton of cute little villages and saw lots of lambs.

Our first actual stop was at a tomb in the Burren. What a landscape! So high up and lots and lots of cool looking rocks. You could see around for miles.

After that, we passed by several ruins and drove through several towns, including Lisdoonvarna, which is home to Europe’s largest singles events, the Matchmaking Festival. Unfortunately, this is in September, so we weren’t able to be matched up with any Irish men. Next time maybe ;)

We stopped for lunch in Doolin. Using our freshly earned 20 euro, we both tried Jameson whiskey…fantastic! We also met Molly, the yellow lab. She was just hanging around outside the pub, so we got to pet her for quite a while. She was such a good doggy!

After lunch, it was off to the cliffs! For those of you that don’t know, both the Princess Bride and Harry Potter & the Half Blood prince were filmed here. They were absolutely gorgeous! We took a ton of photos and got as close to the edge as we dared. We walked along an “illegal” path to get really close to the edge, but since huge groups were doing it as well, we figured it really didn’t matter. No one fell off the cliffs either :D

Once we finished at the cliffs, we drove around to some more towns, stopped at the limestone walks in the Burren along the coast, and took some photos at a castle where they were doing wedding photos. Then it was back to Galway, back to Dublin, and back to our hotel, where we packed and toasted with the meade we bought at the cliffs.

So, we’re heading back tomorrow….but we’re both ready to come back as soon as we can.

In light of this being our last night, we’ll share some wisdom our driver gave to us today.

“In life, you only have two things to worry about: if you’re well, or if you’re sick. If you’re well, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re sick, you only have 2 things to worry about: whether you’re going to get better, or whether you’re going to get worse. If you’re going to get better, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re going to get worse, you have only 2 things to worry about: whether you’re going to live, or whether you’re going to die. If you’re going to live, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re going to die, you have only 2 things to worry about: whether you’re going up, or you’re going down. If you’re going up, you have nothing to worry about.

If you’re going down, you’ll be too busy shaking hands with all your friends to worry about anything.”

Love, Brit and Sadie

Ireland Thursday

This post was taken from my Ireland Travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

So, we had another bit of a rough start this morning, but it all worked out. Apparently, our wake up call was sent to the room next to us, so we didn’t get up at 7 like we had planned. Thankfully, Sadie woke up at 8, and we hustled our way down to Busaras (bus station) just a little ways off from the city center. There, we hopped on an Eirrean tour bus for the Newgrange/Boyne Valley Tour.

Our driver’s name was John, and we had a whole slew of people from Philadelphia traveling with us…and apparently, they all thought we were Irish. Bonus! This tour was worth every Euro. John was well informed, and while a bit soft spoken, had a lovely dry sense of humor.

We first stopped at the place of an old monastery that was now just ruins and a graveyard. It had 3 huge celtic crosses, and tons of old gravestones. The town and the walls of where the buildings used to be were still in fairly good condition, so we got lots of great photos.

After that, we traveled to Newgrange. Newgrange is one of many many passage tombs in Ireland, but it’s probably the biggest. We first visited the visitor’s center, which had a short movie and a walkthrough exhibit on the area and the people that built Newgrange. It’s older than both Stonehedge and the Egyptian Pyramids, and was built to honor the sun. After the visitor’s center, we ate lunch (and fed part of it to our bird friend Walter), and took a short bus ride to the entrance of Newgrange. The entrance way is due east…so when the sun first rose on the winter solstice, a shaft of light would shine through the passageway, and let the people know that the gods had not forsaken them, and that light was returning to the world. We got to walk through the passageway, which was very neat. You couldn’t do it if you were claustrophobic though! At several places, you had to turn sideways to get through.

After we walked through the inside, we got to walk around the entire tomb. There were several stones around the place, as well as a stone hut and a circle of stones, and little pathways. We ended up climbing on top of the tomb, only to find out you weren’t really supposed to do that….(our next blog will be Brit and Sadie go to International Prison) We celebrated not going to jail by eating chocolate cake…it was delicious.

After Newgrange, it was on to the Hill of Tara…the throne of Irish Kings. We watched a very cool slideshow given by one of the farm owners nearby, and then walked around. TONS of mounds…that we WERE allowed to climb on. We climbed on the mound of hostages, and the interlocking circles. We touched the stone of destiny, but since it didn’t roar, we must not be the true queens of Ireland (personally, we feel the stone is mistaken). We also walked down to the Holy Well of Tara and made wishes. Brit also took a bottle of water back with her…people had left little shrines in the well, and a candle was burning in it. Very neat.

By this point, we were on our way back and very, very tired. After making it back to city center, we grabbed a quick sandwich and headed back to the hotel early.

We just booked our bus and tour tickets for tomorrow, so boy will we have some stories for you! Not only are we getting up at 4:30 am to catch a taxi to catch our 6 am bus ride to Galway, we’re taking a tour of the Cliffs of Moher, a few castles, Blackhead lighthouse, and the Burren. Why the early getup, you ask? Because all the tours that started later cost nearly twice as much. We’re getting a great deal…..

So yeah…that’s where we leave you for today! We need to get to bed ASAP…and we triple checked with the front desk that they had our wakeup call correct.

Love,

Brit and Sadie

Ireland Wednesday

This was taken from my Ireland travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

So we had a bit of a slow start today, due to not having an alarm clock and the buses getting delayed/being wonky this morning. We didn’t get into the city until almost noon, but it worked out okay.

After grabbing some sandwiches and some much needed caffeine for brunch, we hopped on the tour bus and headed over to the Museum of Architecture and History. The museum was gorgeous. Throughout the entire place, the floors were covered in tiles in a vaguely Grecian pattern. The museum had Egyptian mummies, Irish bog mummies, the largest collection of Irish gold, a tree canoe, viking displays, swords that had decayed and rusted so much only bits and pieces were left, and LOTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN! Oh jeez…they were everywhere! It was rather cute though…especially when one precocious 7 year old boy ran up to a display and said “What the hell?!” We had to leave that display because we were laughing too hard.

Fun fact: If a man had his nipples cut off, he was no longer eligible for kingship. One of the bog mummies was a nobleman without nipples.

After the museum we finally went to the Guinness storehouse! This was a ton of fun, as you can imagine. 7 stories of history, the process of, the advertising, and the world’s largest pint glass. Seriously…the entire building is built around a 7 story pint glass. We didn’t learn how to pour our own perfect glass, as then we couldn’t drink it at the very top, and there was a large group ahead of us that was taking a while. But the view at the top was great…we got our pints, and sat down next to some very nice Scottish people. They apparently go to Dave Matthews Band concert every year, in whatever country they want to see/can afford to see at the time.

Sadie and Brit determined that they are not really beer girls. Brit finished hers just fine; Sadie needed a bit of coaxing. We both decided, however, that Guinness chocolate is delicious, and prefer our beer in this form.

After the Guinness, we attempted to find a place to get cheap Eirrean bus tickets and a USIC student card. Supposedly, they’re sold at Dublin City University, so we got on the bus and headed over there. We failed at finding what we wanted, but we still got a good look around the college, and, as usual, had an adventure.

After that, we decided to head back into the city center and find a place to eat. We attempted Temple Bar district, but found it was a bit too expensive for our tastes. After wandering around for far too long, we finally sat down at O’Neill’s, which has been serving food and beer in Ireland for over 300 years. It had AMAZING food…we both got stuffed chicken with potatoes, and the atmosphere was great. There was a rugby game playing, so it was quite boisterous.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel, where we are now. We’re currently looking up tours to see the Hill of Tara, and hopefully the Cliffs of Moher.

Tomorrow’s plan: Day tour to the Hill of Tara and Newgrange, through Eirrean. Only slightly more expensive than the bus that doesn’t quite take you all the way there, so we figured it was a good deal.

Friday: Brit is anxiously trying to convince Sadie to go to the Cliffs of Moher…the tours are a bit more expensive, but if it all pans out, it would be sooo worth it. Anything to see the place where Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince were filmed, right? (Mrs.P, if you’re reading this, feel free to send just a bit more cash :P Kidding. But not really.)

So, that’s where we’re leaving you for tonight. We have an early rise (and a wakeup call to make sure we get up), so that’s all for now!

Love,

Brit and Sadie

Tuesday 2.0

This post was taken from my Ireland Travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

Hooooo boy…today was a fun busy day!

So, after getting all ready this morning, we bussed back into the city center. After grabbing a pastry for breakfast, we hopped on the tour bus and were on our way.

Our first stop was the National Gallery. LOTS of paintings. Unfortunately, the keynote piece, Caravaggio’s Taking of Christ, was on loan to Rome, and we couldn’t justify flying out to Rome (well, we tried…who needs spring semester anyway?). At any rate, it had a lot of neat art and a few statues, a great Irish art section, and lots of very old depictions of Christ.

The second stop was Trinity College. Sadie and Brittney are now enrolled. Okay, maybe not, but we wish! The college is absolutely beautiful! We walked around for a good while, and then went to go see the Book of Kells. We almost didn’t go, since there was a hefty entrance fee, but after learning it also included the library tour, we gave it a go. BEST DECISION OF THE DAY. The book of Kells was neat, and the tour had a lot of old books and some grave markers (that you could touch!), but the best part was the Long Hall library. It gave us chills. It was absolutely gorgeous, and neither of us wanted to leave.

Stop three was Nassau St and Grafton St. Nassau St is kind of like the Irish artists’ lane…lots of fun little shops, which everything Irish. Grafton St is your very posh, upclass shopping. We went into a store called Brown and something, and omigosh, did we ever feel out of place. The first 2 levels were normal enough…kind of like Macy’s, or Saks 5th Avenue. However, the 3rd floor, well, floored us. Vera Wang wedding dresses, a bath shaped like a stiletto heel, and A HOT WATER BOTTLE COVERED IN ALPACA FUR. We pretty much ran out of the store at that point.

At this point, we grabbed lunch at a cute little cafe and hopped back on the bus.

Stop four was the Christ Church Cathedral. We originally picked this over St. Patrick’s because we though there was no entrance fee, but there was a small one. Oh well. Best part was at the beginning where, upon learning there was a fee, Brit swore “God dammit!”…in the cathedral. Luckily, no lightning bolts hit us or anything. It was a lot of fun…Sadie was a bit creeped out, but Brit loved it and dragged Sadie through the entire place. The Cathedral itself was pretty neat (lots of pretty architecture), but the real highlight was the crypt. Old graves, grave markers, costumes from the Tudors, and neat stonework.

Unfortunately, by the time we got done with that and got on the bus, the last Guinness tour had just ended. So that’ll be tomorrow. However, we rode the bus back into the city center and caught a showing of Alice in Wonderland at the Savoy Theatre. The movie was okay but the theatre was gorgeous! It was probably the original theatre, going back to when people actually dressed up and movies were silent. It had a red velvet curtain that actually covered the screen until the movie started. In a word, classy.

After the movie, we grabbed dinner at Cassidy’s. Unbeknown to us, it was famous! Bill Clinton ate here a while back…which apparently makes it famous :P At any rate, it had great food, a great atmosphere, and a really good bartender who served Brit up her first Irish Guinness (she decided she couldn’t wait for the factory this time).

And now we’re back at the hotel! Tomorrow’s plans include the Museum of History, the Museum of Modern Art, St. Stephan’s Green, and the Guinness Factory.

Cheers,

Brit and Sadie

Tuesday 1.0

This post was taken from my Ireland Travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

So yesterday when we left you, we had just gotten back from our tour, and were unpacking/taking showers. That sort of turned into a nap. Which was okay, actually, because we got the rest of our week planned out in the rough, so we actually have a sort of game plan!

Anyway, after we finally dragged our lazy butts out of the hotel, we ate at this lovely little pub called Fitzgeralds…nothing special, but it looked fun, and was cheap. Sadie has potato leek soup and a chicken salad sandwich (note: “chicken salad”, is chicken, with lots of lettuce and tomatoes, on bread. Literally, a chicken, salad, sandwich). Brit had the Fitzgerald special…mince steak with onions, garlic, and herbs cooked into a pita, and served with chips. No drinking yet…decided our first Guinness here had to be from the factory. Which is today :D

After dinner, we just walked around Dublin city center for a while…the town pretty much closes up at 5, except for the pubs, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Also, it gets dark very, very early here right now. At 5:30 it was almost completely dark. But it was fun just to walk around at night with all the lights, so that’s what we did. Then we hopped back on a bus and went back to the hotel.

We made tea, read for a while, and then slept oh so soundly….the beds are very comfy.

At any rate, that’s where we are this morning. We have plenty planned…we’re taking advantage of the hop-on-hop-off tours, and actually getting off at some of the spots that looked the most interesting…National Gallery, Christ Church Cathedral, Guinness storehouse, Museum of Modern Art….the list goes on.

Love, Brit and Sadie.

Ireland Monday 2.0

This post was taken from my Ireland Travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

So, jet lag is starting to hit. The fact that we’re checked into our hotel room, and it’s in the new wing, and the blankets are reaaaaalllly soft doesn’t help much.

So that Get Out of Jail Free bus pas? WORTH EVERY EURO! We rode the entire guided tour, and it was amazing. We get to jump on and off as much as we want for 3 days, plus the normal bus routes, and it goes by all of the major Dublin attractions.

Brit will be uploading the videos she took in a little while…she basically filmed the entire tour. We also got some fun photos, and plan on going out again and actually hitting up some of the spots once we’ve showered/rested/eaten/feel human again.

Highlights of the day so far: singing the Bad Horse Chorus on the top of a tour bus, and waving to a bus full of schoolboys, who eagerly waved back and made faces at us.

Love, Brit and Sadie

Ireland Monday 1.0

This post was taken from my Irish Travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

We arrived, safe and sound. Well, mostly :D

Getting here was mostly uneventful. Shout out to Mrs. Lenartz and Mrs. P (Mom!) for driving us to Chicago and buying our “last American” meal at Giordano’s. Got checked in early, waited, got through security fine, waited, got to our terminal, and yep, you guessed it, waited.

Flight was excellent. We highly recommend Aer Lingus…complimentary pillows and blankies, and really, really cute food. And tea. Lots and lots of tea. Tea = <3

We attempted to sleep on the plane; it never really worked, but we had our eyes and bodies rested for quite a while. Woke up the sunrise and seeing the peaks of some of the mountains in Ireland.

Got the airport just fine, and that’s where the adventure really began. Sadie almost got denied entrance into the country for apparently not having enough money (word to the wise…apparently you’re supposed to have over $80 per day you’re staying here). Then we walked around, trying to get our luggage (another word to the wise…we already know we overpacked). Brittney failed miserably at getting a luggage cart out, but then we got our 3-day Freedom Pass to get on the buses, and we were on our way to the city center.

…

Yeah, the 3-day freedom pass? We’re going to call that our 3-day “Freedom from mistakes” pass….because we make a lot, and this way it at least doesn’t cost us. We managed to get on the right bus, only to be on the one going the wrong way. Also, getting off the wrong bus, Brittney almost sat on some poor gentleman waiting for his bus. Us = smart American travelers :P

The bright of this was, as we were waiting for the correct bus, and then getting on the correct bus, we met and conversed with two very nice elderly ladies, who were nothing but smiles and fun advice. “Be friendly…but you know, not too friendly. But I’m sure your mothers told you that”.

So after finally getting on the right bus and asking the driver to let us know when we got close to our hotel, we get dropped off and HAVE NO IDEA WHERE OUR HOTEL IS OR WHERE WE ARE! Then Sadie spaced out for a minute, and lo and behold, the sign for our hotel appeared. Of course, we have to run across 5 lanes of traffic to get to it, but at this point, what does it matter?

So here we are. At our (very nice!) hotel, with our luggage stowed away until we can check in, and breathing!!!!! And it’s not even noon.

Plan for the day: utilizing our Get Out of Jail Free bus passes to to the hop-on-hop-off tours, take lots of photos, and see what other trouble we can get into.

Also, we might not be coming back. Dublin is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Brit and Sadie

The Adventure Begins!

Taken from my Ireland Travel blog: britandsadiegotoireland.tumblr.com

Greetings blogosphere!

This is Brit and Sadie’s Irish Travel blog! Join us as we travel across the pond, try real Guinness, navigate foreign bus systems, and attempt to find the luck of the Irish!

“Don’t bother to pack your bags, or your maps, we won’t need them where we’re going, we’re going where the wind is blowing, not knowing where we’re gonna stay…”

…Or maybe not. The bags are packed, we’ve got some maps ahead of time, and we know where we’re staying (a very nice hotel in Dublin, thank you very much!). However, as far as going where the wind is blowing…let’s just say we’re going to try to have as much of an adventure as we can!

Hope you enjoy following us! The adventure begins tomorrow!

-Brit and Sadie