But before we get to Ireland, 24 February, I kissed the Crown of Thorns at Notre Dame. It was a really cool experience. I am definitely more holy for the season of Lent, now. I also ate McDonald's fries for the first time in probably 5 years after we met up with our French friends for a few drinks. Overall, a pretty good start to winter break!
Now for Ireland!
The beginning--Saturday:
We left bright and early-- well not really bright since the sun wasn't out yet. Surprisingly, I slept on the bus to the airport, the plane, and the bus to Galway. Our bus ticket said that our bus to Galway was leaving at 10:30am, so we rushed to catch the bus and ended up sitting there until 11:15am. We were very confused, but it worked out fine. We just had to send John a message so he knew when to meet us at the bus station. When I had to go through the passport check in Dublin, I spoke French to the lady. Oops. Forgot what country I was in. I thought it'd be comforting to here English being spoken, but I was wrong. The Irish accent. I couldn't understand anyone. I definitely know what is going on better in France then in a place where they speak my own language? Mind blowing.
After the 3 hour bus ride through farms, sheep and cows, we arrived! John came to get us shortly after :) His apartment is less than a 10 minute walk from the station, so we didn't even have to pay for a taxi. More money for spending $$ We dropped our bags off in his room and he showed us around Galway. We brought the sunshine with us since it was such a beautiful day, and that's quite rare for Ireland.
We walked to the little open air market with many street vendors selling crafts and food. The best of all was the Doughnut man. These doughnuts are indescribable. Definitely the best doughnut I have ever eaten, and probably will ever eat! I of course tried all 3 kinds; chocolate, cinnamon, and sugar. And it only cost me 2euro for all of them! Such a good deal.
Since I was starving, I got a bagel as well. It's hard to find bagels in Paris, so I was glad I finally got to eat one! John also showed us the original Claddagh store, where the rings were first made. There was even a mini museum in the back of the store and we saw the world's smallest claddagh ring--through a magnifying glass, that is. Next, we walked by the docks. It was beyond gorgeous. I just took in all the sights and sounds and it was a great afternoon.
When we got back to the apartment, we went out to dinner with John and Joe to a pub called Monroe's. I had chicken fajitas. They were very good. It was a typical pub scene. A lot of drunken guys screaming at the TV. One of the waitress' actually told them to quite down! Exactly how I pictured Ireland to be <3 After dinner, all the other Fairfield kids came over to the apartment and we all hung out for a while and then headed off to a pub called Skefs. I really enjoyed the bar/club atmosphere and actually finished my first full Guinness. It was a tough one, but had to make Daddy proud! A boy even bought me two drinks! :O
Sunday started off with us going to the wrong church. Oops. I thought Ireland was all Catholic, but apparently only Northern Ireland is Catholic. So we went to an Anglican mass. It was a cute church, right by the market. We stopped at the market after mass and I bought a really cool/different claddagh ring. I was happy with my purchase and we finally set off to find the burgers we've been craving for so long at a pub called The Front Door. Boy, were they good! We needed to do some exercise, so we walked around a little more and then John took us over to the University. It's funny to see where they study and compare it to our tiny four room building where we take classes. Joke school? Maybe. John had to stay to do some work at the school, so we stopped to get coffee and did some souvenir shopping. We ordered pizza for dinner and everyone ended up coming over again to hang out. Definitely a different life in Galway than in Paris, but to each his own!
Monday involved a lot of shopping. The department stores are so cheap in Galway. I bought cute flip flops, some cute scarves, and finally a 100% wool scarf :) Had a good day. We stopped and met a few Fairfielder's for lunch at their University cafe. So much better than Barone! They have actual food! After lunch, we went food shopping because we were going to cook dinner for John, Joe and Kim (the three we stayed). We were planning on having it ready when the boys got out from class, but got sidetracked talking to Kim. No big deal. We made pasta with chicken, broccoli, tomatoes, feta cheese, oil and garlic and had garlic bread as well. It came out really good and we had tons of left overs. They all seemed to enjoy it, too! We headed over to the girl's apartment later that night to watch The Vow. It was a fun, relaxing night. Everyone is way too sweet!
The day I was waiting for! TUESDAY! Cliffs of Moher. One word: WOW. It was a wonderful day and we had such a great tour. We stopped at a bunch of locations on the way there and on the way back. We started off with an old castle, a graveyard, a coffee break, a stop for a great view of the islands, the cliffs, a very old tomb, and a fairy place. Sorry I don't have better descriptions of the exact things, but everything was really cool.
It was a pretty long day, but right when we got back we had to get ready to go out. We went to a bar for karaoke first and then to a club close to the apartment. Every Tuesday night at the club they have "Silent Disco." Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done. And such a great concept. Everyone wears headphones that have 2 or 3 different DJ channels. So the room is basically silent and everyone is listening to different music and dancing. I had such a great time. And my 5 euro cover charge got me a free drink as well. Not bad, Galway, not bad at all !
We slept in Wednesday, but headed off to the Galway museum. It's a free little museum, but I enjoyed it. There were lots of interesting facts about Galway! After the museum, we tried a cupcake place. I had a chocolate one with blue frosting. Yum! Right down the street from the cupcake place, there was a protest going on about free education. Lots of people were buzzing around as well. We walked around the mall and stopped for some gelato. I had to try the Bailey's one, since I was in Ireland! It was great. Next we found the 2 euro store. Stocked up on some candy. I love Europe because I can eat a lot of different candy here that I can't in the states. Nestle's is fine for me! So got to have some different types. Cadbury is very big in Ireland. It seems as if it's their main chocolate bar! We walked over to the school to get some Starbucks. So cheap in Galway. Good thing I don't study there or I'd be broke from all the Starbucks I'd drink! It was a nice treat. We headed back to the apartment complex to get Laura, a friend from my math classes, and went out to dinner. We tried a fish and chips place called Kettle of Fish that was rated highly. It was really really good. I had calamari and french fries and it was so affordable. That's always a plus. Danielle and I stopped to get some Jacques (Irish cider) to celebrate Leap Year day! The Fairfield kids went to a play through the program so we just hung out and watched TV. A popular show in the UK now is called Geordie Shore. It's basically a UK version of Jersey Shore. It was actually quite entertaining. Basically just ridiculous, but pretty funny!
We woke up very late Thursday, but thoroughly enjoyed our last day in Galway. Did some last minute shopping, of course. And it was another beautiful day! Everyone was sitting outside, drinking of course. Literally exactly how I imagined Ireland. So cute. People were buzzing around, some even playing music on the streets. It was great. We stopped at Monroe's to get actually fish and chips and some Irish coffee. The fish and chips were really good, the Irish coffee was a bit strong. I mixed the cream in it and added some brown sugar. Oddly enough, brown sugar is popular to put in coffee in Ireland. Not a bad choice!
After lunch, we walked around the docks again to enjoy the beautiful weather. We even touched the water! :)
Since we had a big lunch, just picked up little things for dinner/breakfast for the way to Dublin. We all went out again on Thursday night, this time to a smaller pub but then headed to The Front Door later. I randomly spotted a girl I know from the states! Such a small world. We were both in amazement and it was nice to catch up! On the way home, we stopped at Super Bites. It's a small fast food/kebab place in Galway. Everyone told us we had to try it before we left. I'm pretty sure it's opened until 4am! We were not there that late, but I just got a burger and fries. It was good!
Now we're off to Dublin!
Friday started off good! We originally booked a commuter bus that would have taken 4 hours to get to Dublin, but the nice man at the station let us switch to the direct one. We even were able to get off at Dublin city and walked to our hostel from there! Saving money all over the place :) Our hostel was fine. Right in the center of town. Perfect location! We got our room upgraded from a twin to a double, so we actually had some space. It seemed clean as well, which is really all I care about. We'd only be sleeping there.
Another girl from our program, Jen, met us there as well and was in the room across from us. We decided to walk around and stopped at a burger place for lunch. Of course I forget it's Friday and ate meat...but I gave it up this weekend completely to make up for it. The burger was delicious. I had chicken, mozzarella, pesto, tomatoes and lettuce.
Then we tried to walk to the Guinness Factory, but got lost over by St. Patrick's Cathedral. We finally figured out the route and ended up at Guinness for the afternoon! It was really cool. We first pledge to make March 17th the happiest day of the year! They are trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records. Then we had a self guided tour through the factory. We stopped to sample Guinness at one of the floors. The lady taught us how to drink it the correct way. After a few more floors, we learned how to pour the perfect pint and got to do it ourselves.
I finished my Guinness again and this time it wasn't as hard to get down. I guess you just have to acquire a taste for it. We went up to the Gravity Bar and saw a 360 degrees view of the city. It was really magnificent. I couldn't wait to explore on Saturday!
After Guinness, we headed to Ireland's oldest pub called The Brazen Head for dinner. I had scampi and chips, not knowing the scampi would be fried. Of course, it was delicious anyways. We walked around a bit by our hotel, but called it a pretty early night being we wanted to be full of energy for Saturday!
We got up Saturday and headed to Dublin Castle. It was about a one minute walk from our hostel. It was really something to see. We didn't go inside, but the outside was beautiful enough!
Next, we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral because we wanted to go to the mass at 11:05. We walked in the garden and looked around inside the cathedral before the quick little said ANGLICAN mass began. Oops. Definitely thought it was a catholic church once again. Anglicans: 2 Devan: 0.
After that was Trinity College and the Book of Kells. It's kind of hard to believe that students actually attend this school being it is such a huge tourist attraction. I didn't think the campus itself was that wonderful, but we didn't go into any of the buildings.
We did, however, pay the 8 euro fee to see the Book of Kells exhibit. It was pretty interesting though, but definitely not worth 8 euro! The exhibit ended with us walking through a very old library. It was so adorable with the little ladders and all the books. It even smelled ancient...but a very pleasing smell, if that makes any sense. We stopped at a pub called The Quay's for a bite to eat and it was BY FAR the best fish and chips I had in Ireland! I was so happy!
After lunch it was Jameson time! We headed over to the Jameson Distillery.
It was really crowded so we had to wait about a half hour for the next tour to begin. It was a great tour, though and I actually even liked the drink at the end. I tried the Jameson and cranberry juice. It just may be one of my new favorites!
We walked down O'Connell street, which was the Champs-Élysées of Dublin. We stopped briefely at a souvenir shop and picked a few last minute things and headed back over to the hostel to get the half price pizza for dinner. I enjoyed the pizza! It was the same chain we had when we were in Galway. Just like a dominoes/pizza hut...but for less than 5 euro for a 9" pie!? Can't beat it! Then to finish our time in Dublin, we stopped in a bar for some Bulmers. The bartender was beyond friendly and really funny! It was a great end to a great day full of lots of Irishness.
Speaking of Irishness, we even saw a leprechaun. A REAL ONE. It was quite bizzare....
We had to get up at 3:30am to go to the airport. It's been a long day, but everything went smoothly and Ireland was definitely worth it :D The weather was better than I expected. It drizzled here and there...but nothing like I imagined. I learned the Irish phrase "What's the craic?" meaning "what's up" and enjoyed listening to all the lovely Irish accents.
Cheers Ireland, but Paris will always have my heart <3
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