Platonic Germanic Cuddling

OKTOBERFEST IS AWESOME.

As is Munich. Our hosts are AMAZING (shoutout to Felix and Chris... thanks for babysitting us haha). We don't have internet though, so this is the first time I've been able to get online. We've been having far too much fun for our own good... we're currently sitting in Felix's parents house outside the city, and it's just ADORABLE and gorgeous with gardens and we had a HUGE amazing home cooked German meal... so so fun. And beer with lunch, of course. We've gone to the actual center of Oktoberfest twice, and it's absolutely insane. I didn't realize that when people say Oktoberfest is like Disneyland for alcoholics, they mean it.. it literally looks like Disneyland with rides and rollercoasters and arcade games and cotton candy.. it's really awesome.

We've been hosted along with tons of other people... so it's been a giant fest of people splitting apart and sleeping either at the apartment or Felix's parents house.. Frances and I have gotten to cuddle on the couch most nights.. quite comfortable.

Every night, we play this really fun game with steins of beer.. basically, you buy one stein of beer (which is 10 euros, by the way.. but it's 3 beers worth, and each beer has 8% alcohol instead of 4, so it's equivalent to drinking 6 beers.. not too shabby hahah). So, you buy a stein (or maß) of beer, and whoever bought starts drinking. You get one drink without stopping, and then you pass it to the person on your right, and they take a drink, and pass it on, etc. The person who finishes the drink "wins," and the previous person has to buy the next drink- very simple concept, but very fun and you get very drunk very quickly, because you end up drinking tons to avoid buying drinks. We've started every night with this game, and ended with dancing, singing German songs, and running around in our dirdels. Frances and I both don't want school to ever start :/ hahah.

We have to go now, get dressed, and go back to Oktoberfest.. we'll post more and pictures soon! Auf wiedersehen!

Terrible, horrible, awful, no good, very bad day.

First one so far on this trip:/

I don't have the energy or stamina to write a nice long post, because I haven't eaten since a yogurt at 5:30 AM... but basically the 20 min bus trip into the center of Austria took over an hour, I got lost, took the wrong, sketch street down, paid 7 euros for 20 min in a museum, SPRINTED 4,000 meters back to the bus station, where it took over an hour to get back to the airport, and I had 20 min to get my back out of storage, find my gate, get through security, and board the plane. I was panicking and running and I realized I had no euros and I'd really wanted a shot glass from Austria but there was no way that was going to happen.. and then I started my period and I had no tampons (they're in my checked bag), and they don't sell them ANYWHERE and the airport, and then when trying to go BACK through security after scrambling around the airport, I realized I'd lost my passport and the bus to the plane was leaving and I still hadn't eaten and I started bawling and the lady didn't speak English and these four cute boys were all staring at me pathetically and my nose was running...

fast-forward to landing in Munich: I land at 4:35, get my luggage, then RUSH to the information center where I'm supposed to meet Frances. Then, I realize her flight is landing in 10 min, and I can just figure out her gate and meet here there. I go. I wait. She never comes. There's no internet. My phone is dead, and I have no minutes so I can't make any calls. I wait. I go to EVERY single other information point in the entire 6 story airport, lugging my bags behind me. She's not there. I go to the "Meeting Point" in the middle of the airport and wait. She never shows. I look at the time: it's 5:50. I start panicking, realizing she either a) missed her plane, which is so not like her or b) she's scrambling around looking for me too. I finally go to an information point and ask them to page her; they refuse, I start crying, then they agree and page her. I wait. She never shows. I finally find an internet hotspot, pay 10 euros, and find out that her flight was delayed 1.5 hours.. I just looked it up, and it's delayed another hour.

C'est la vie.

:/

I only have 10 minutes of internet yet. I think I need some food.

When in Rome...

I know I’ve been slacking on my blogging- but since I’ve only had such a brief time in Rome, I’ve spent it running around (literally) and exploring the city, and then come back, crawl in to bed, and maybe skype with a friend or two for a minuteJ

Yesterday, we went to Napoli (Naples), to get a change of scenery and see the lovely little beach town. We took a 2 hour train ride and arrived, and the guy at the tourist information center was so nice and helpful, we were exceedingly optimistic. However, after leading my dad and grandmother down back alleyways and rundown neighborhoods, I began to feel bad that I was leading them through the “bad” part of town. However, after another hour of walking, it was apparent that the whole city was a bit rundown (I say “a bit” to be nice, but it was pretty bad). The museum was randomly closed (it was a Tuesday), and there was graffiti all over the sides of it- and EVERYWHERE else. Every church was shut down and abandoned, and the whole city was just a bit sad. We took the tram up to the top of a hill to see the view of the city and the Mediterranean, but after getting off at the top in a mostly abandoned town, trudging up a hill, and turning the corner to the “view,” we realized that giant fences and a building blocked almost the entire view, and the building blocking it was a museum, which charged enormous amounts to go inside and actually get to see the pretty sight. So annoying. So, after a harrowing effort to get back to the original metro station, because random metro stations were simply shut down, even though police officers and METRO WORKERS would direct us there, we ended up back at Napoli Central.

Now, by a sheer fluke, we ended up in Pompeii, which I’ve had a mild obsession with since I was 6 years old. When we first went to talk to the tourist information guy, my dad started asking about the “Pompeii Exhibit” (because I had told them that the National Archaeological Museum, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to see Naples, had a collection of artifacts from Pompeii- it was not an “exhibit” though, and the guy got confused.) However, he thought we were asking about GOING to Pompeii, which we had originally wanted to do when we were making plans for this Rome trip, but everywhere I looked said it was too far for a day trip, and too complicated to get there from Rome. We reluctantly gave up the idea of visiting Pompeii, and then settled on Naples. However, when the guy thought we wanted to go to Pompeii, he said it was simple, just get on the train to Pompeii and it takes about 30 minutes. So, we decided to ditch Naples and head to Pompeii. We hopped on a Metro (a really sad, broken down Metro), and 20 stops later, arrived at Pompeii! We got there at around 4:45 PM- and we had to be on the 7:30 train from Naples back to Rome, so we literally did a mad-dash tour of Pompeii.

Pompeii was SO COOL. It was way cooler in person than I thought it would be, and viewing the perfectly preserved ruins, some which were built in 500 BC, under the imposing Mt. Vesuvius which is always right in the corner of your eye, was awe-inspiring. Even though most of the bodies are on display in museums around the world (including, of course, the National Museum in Naples, which has a large collection- but they decided to close on September 21^st for no apparent reason), we were still able to see some of the plaster casts of the poor citizens of Pompeii. Their teeth and bones are also perfectly preserved, because the casing of hot volcanic ash created an oxygen-free time machine, that left the entire city buried- and forgotten about- until the 1700s. Literally an entire city, one of the most populous, rich, and booming of its time, wiped out in under 3 minutes, and left forgotten and untouched for almost 2,000 years. It sounds like such a sci-fi movie, but it’s REAL and I was THERE. Their statues and temples and mosaics are simply stunning, and the city had restaurants, bars, bakeries, spas, running water, and was basically run like any American city today.

After wandering the ruins and seeing their town, we ran back to the metro, ran through the train station, bought tickets, and hopped on the 7:30 train back to Rome, arriving at 9:30. Of course, Daddy and Beppe were exhausted (we’d been going-going-going since 8:00 AM), but when we got on the Metro to go back to our apartment, I realized we were going to pass the Trevi Fountain on our way- and I’d heard it was stunning at night. So, I convinced them to go see it with me. It was soooo worth it… the fountain is lit up and huge and imposing against the black sky, and the square is alive with people blowing bubbles and people playing guitar and couples eating dinner and it was just magical- something out of a movie.

Some other random bit of information that I may have left out of my narrative:

I’m currently sipping the world’s most delicious 1 euro cappuccino while typing this blog. I’ve had three guys walk by my table and stop to tell me how beautiful I am- which is not a bad way at all to start the day. J

There are tons of streets and squares and buildings called “Annunziata” in Naples- which was pretty excited. Even a Metro stop!

After breakfast, we have to go hunt for a post office to mail a giant package (thank you, Mommy… hahah).

Tomorrow, I leave for Munich! Ah! Such a different atmosphere that my current trip… I can’t wait though.

I start classes exactly a week from today… ahhhhhhhh! So not prepared. I have a read a bit though- but usually I read on trains or planes or metros or busses, and I fall asleep within a few minutes.

I have yet to buy anything for myself in Italy! I’ve only bought postcards- so today, we’ve decreed it to be a shopping day. Wish me luck!:)

Prego, prego. Prego. (I have no idea what this means, but people say it ALL the time here- when they say hello, when they want you to buy something, when they say bye, when they say thank you… all the time. Maybe it means something like “hey”? I have no idea.)

Rome Exploring

I'm too tired to make a big, fancy post, so I'll just outline what I did today:

• Colosseum
• Roman Forum
• some archaeological site I can't remember the name of now, but it has tons of temples and ruins and statues and they just recently excavated the site they believe to be Romulus' Temple that marked of the three corners of the original Rome.. soooo crazy
• lots of temples
• Pantheon
• Trevi Fountain
• gelato!
• tons of walking
• Castel St'Angel (which I instantly recognized from Angels & Demons... such a cool building. Used as the home to the pope for 1,000 years, and there's a secret underground tunnel connecting it to the Vatican. Awesome.)
• Delicious dinner at Maccheroni.. the restaurant Michelle Obama had dinner at when she decided to frolic around Italy for fun
• got caught in a DOWNPOUR and destroyed my shoes.. gotta go get some new walking shoes tomorrow:D
• went to the grocery story
• lots of fountains and obelisks, which I just find AMAZING.. like one I saw today from Rameses II, who reigned in 1200 BC. That is an unfathomable amount of time ago. My mind just reels.

Photos are on Facebook (I took 500 today.. so hard to narrow them down..). I'll post some tomorrow.

So excited for a 75 degree perfectly sunny day tomorrow:)

Italiaaa

So, yesterday, I had to "blogen maken," and today I get to "crea blog,"... Italian is such a prettier language:)

I'm currently sitting in a fabulous apartment, eating gelato (1 scoop of coffee, 1 scoop of dark chocolate.. yummmmm), after going for a jog to Vatican City and back. Could it get any better? I know I'm missing a few days.. yesterday, I flew and traveled all day. I made a friend named John from Australia- he's an engineer with his own firm, so all he does is work occasionally and then go on amazing travel adventures around the world. He was just coming back from Kenya and a safari, and then spent some time in the south of France, and then was leaving Amsterdam to go back home. He told me I was one of the most "entertaining and enchanting" person he had ever met.. so that's sort of nice:). I also managed to spray half of my bottle of water all over the row of people in front of me on the airplane.. literally SPRAY them forcefully. Whoops.

But I survived, and my first full day in Rome was BREATHTAKING. Everything is so amazingly old and full of history, I think I could die spending a decent amount of time exploring everything the city has to offer- there's just too much. Seriously every street we walk down, I say "OHMYGOSH, look at that! Ohhh it's so pretty.." and then we turn the corner and once again, "AHHH it's so pretty! Absolutely outstanding!" (I'm sure I'm fun to walk with, especially this morning on the 2.2 kilometer walk to Vatican City.. haha).

The Vatican is indescribably. Literally, there is just too much art and beauty and history to even put into words... I got vertigo looking up at the roof of the Sistene Chapel, and seriously almost fell over. There are just ROOMS and ROOMS and ROOMS full of carvings and paintings and sculptures.. the history of the city is so plentiful and rich and widespread, that they have too many 2000 year old statues than they know what to do with.

I managed to get lost from the group at St. Peter's Basilica- and spent 45 minutes wandering alone in the rain trying to find them. The police weren't very helpful at all- I asked one officer if he had seen a man in a red shirt looking for someone, and he responded "No, why, is that your boyfriend?" and I replied, "No, it's my dad." He looked a little ashamed for a split second, and then he said "So... does that mean you don't have a boyfriend?" and tried to start a conversation with me. Entertaining, but far from helpful haha.

Every carving and fountain and sculpture and gold-decorated archway still takes my breath away.

Here are some photosss:

:). I LOVE ITALY. And sunshine! And gorgeousss buildings. Tomorrow is the Pantheon, Colosseum, and about 8 other monuments! Ciao!

Alone in the Big City

So, where did I leave off… just landing in Amsterdam! Oh jeez. Amsterdam was amazing- we’re currently in Hoorn staying with Geert, a distant relative. This place is awesome- and Alie and I have our own cute little bedroom on the 3^rd floorJ

We stayed in a hostel in Amsterdam- where they charged for EVERYTHING, including towels.. so Alie and I showered using just the one washcloth she brought to dry off. After that, we hit the town. We walked around, and were instantly hocked. Sex shops, and weed EVERYWHERE. We got delicious falafels and wandered around town, taking photos, exploring. We wandered to the Anne Frank Museum, and after an ordeal of finding cash, we went through. It was really awesome- but intense- and afterwards, we went back to our hostel to change for the night and walk around.

We went to the Red Light District.. a guy working at one of the “Live Porn Shows” told us to shut our mouths, because we looked silly walking around shocked. The girls were just wearing nothing-or practically nothing- in windows. Boys would go in, they would shut the curtains, and the guys would in would fork up 140 euros for 15 min. 15 min! Crazy. There was LIVE PORN shows you could watch, and every souvenir was definitely at least PG-13 rated- if not much worse. We ambled around for a while, decided we didn’t really want to be there anymore, decided to walk to the more tourist-y bar area of town, got halfway there, got tired, then went home and fell asleep like the super-fun crazy kids we areJ

The next morning, we woke up decently early, packed up our stuff, and went downstairs to ask if we could leave our stuff behind. They said no. So, we lugged our suitcases through the POURING rain to a coffee shop, sat and used the internet for a while, then trekked to the train station and paid like 12 euros to stash our bags in lockers for the day. We decided to head to the Van Gogh Museum, and ambitiously bought museum passes that let you go into any of 450 museums in all of Holland! Such a deal! We spend a few too many hours in the museum though- it was very well designed and the art was so diverse and fun to look atJ

We then went and got coffee, went to the flower market, got my phone fixed (so I could contact Geert, my awesome Dutch relative), and then decided to head to the Rijksmuseum. However- it closed at 6 PM, and we arrived at around 6:07. So depressing.

We wandered around, and Alie tried to find someone to buy her museum card off her, so she didn't spend double the amount necessary for one museum. We finally met Roy, who's from Boston and is traveling around for 3.5 months alone- all funded by unemployment checks. Gotta love America. He bought her museum pass, and then we all decided to take a canal cruise, even though it was raining.

We did the cruise, it was gorgeous, then we literally had to RUN to the train station to try to get our luggage, buy tickets, and make it on the train in 10 minutes. We spend 5 minutes trying to buy tickets, to no avail: their machines won't take our cards, because they're American and don't have a chip in them. The line to buy tickets at the counter is at least 10-15 people long, and we have to get our luggage still. We get our bags, and realize our platform is the farthest possible one away. Sprinting down the hallways, up SEVERAL flights of stairs (with bags in hand), and we make it to the platform just as the plane is pulling in. We don't have tickets, but we decide we can just explain to the guy on board what happened, and buy them on board (this happened once in Scotland as well, and it was no problem at all). I ask a random man leaning against the railing if this is the correct train, he says yes, and we run on board.

We settle in, I read a sweet book on Unicorns I bought for 1 euro!, and all is well- until the ticket man comes through. We explain our story, but then we realize that he is the same man we asked if it was the right train. He keeps asking us why we didn't ask him about tickets, and we keep insisting we didn't know he had anything to do with the train, and that if we had gone to get tickets, we surely would have missed the train. He starts yelling at us, and tells us we have to get off at the next stop. I then try calling Geert from my phone with the same number I used to text him earlier- and it says "this number is out of service." We panic.

Then, we hear the voice announcing that we are now entering Hoorn- and I realize that this is the name of the town that Geert lives in. I could have sworn he said to get off at another stop, but then I realize I was probably wrong. We get off the train, this nice guy explains that I put too many zeros in the phone number, and I try calling again, and explain the story to Geert- who explains that we were at the right stop, and he'd be there in 5 minutes. Our lives are blessed.

We get to Geert's, it's really cool, we sleep, wake up, and go to Zaanse the next day for a real Dutch culture experience- cheese, goats, windmills, and klompen- wooden shoes!

It was awesomeee, and I love it. SO MUCH CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE! Heaven.

I'm about to walk to the bus station, take a bus to the train station, and take the train into Amsterdam- alone! Wish me luck- pictures will come when I have more reliable internet:)

A Different City Every Night...

I can’t remember where I left off, but Alie and I are currently on our plane to AMSTERDAM wooo! We made a few scheduling errors, which I will discuss shortly- but it’s been an adventure, to say the leastJ

On Saturday night, we took the LUAS into Dublin to experience a weekend night in Dublin- we were going to leave in the afternoon for Galway, but decided it’d be nice to stay in a home for one more night, than going to a hostel and being tired for the night. So, we took a train into Dublin, and headed for the Guinness factory to do a tour.

The Guinness storehouse is SO COOL. The architecture and design of the building were awesome, and we learned more about Guinness beer and brewing than I think I’ll ever need to know. At the 7^th floor, the Gravity Bar, Alie and I got our free pints of Guinness… and managed to sip on them for maybe 5 minutes before we couldn’t handle it anymore. The view was amazing though, and we got a 360 degree view of Dublin- albeit in the rain.

Afterwards, we aimlessly wandered around, looking for fun and adventure, without much luck at all. Then, we saw a large group of people standing outside of Trinity College- and decided to go check it out. It turned out to be the line for a pub crawl- which we decided we might as well try. We were a bit hesitant to pay the 10 euros each though- and when it came our time to sign up/pay, the guy had run out of wristbands. He told us just to follow along anyway, and we ended up being able to do the entire thing for freeJ We got free drinks and met tons of cool people- some Australians, some Americans, and lots of Canadians. It was a BLAST, but we had to leave early to go meet up with the Maxwells, who were just down the street and kindly agreed to give us a ride home.

The next morning, we woke up nice and early, packed our bags, and headed to the DART, to a bus, which would take us 4 hours to travel clear across Ireland to Galway. We slept and read the entire time, and it wasn’t too horrid of a trip. However, halfway through, Alie woke up from her nap, gasped, and opened her calendar book, with a look of sheer horror on her face. I had no idea what was going on, but she finally pointed out that our flight was scheduled to leave from Dublin on MONDAY at 11:45 AM, not Tuesday, as we both had thought. It was currently Sunday, at about 1 in the afternoon, and we were heading clear across the country. We realized that we would have less than 12 hours in Galway before having to trek back across the country to Dublin Airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam. Cest la vie.

We got to Galway, trudged down the road to our hostel, and changed superfast in order to explore as much as possible. We managed to see St. Nicholas Cathedral, the Spanish Arches, the river, the sea, swans, a canoe polo game, and most of the center of the city. It was SO much cooler/cuter than Dublin, with little stone winding streets, open-air markets, street performers, and fresh ocean air. We loved the place, and decided it was worth our ridiculous journey to get to see.

We got yummy crepes from this cute couple who use all natural ingredients they get/grow themselves, and sat and people watched. We then made the dangerous error of deciding to look inside Penney’s- a super popular store here- after seeing hundreds of people carrying bags. Penney’s is basically Forever 21 on steroids, but cheaper. After spending a little over an hour, we departed- only after I bought 4 headbands and 4 scarves :/. Oops. But, my total price was 19.50 euros- not bad at all. We got coffee, wandered by the sea, then changed and got ready for our final night out in Ireland. We went to a cute little pub to write postcards, and bought our very first drinks for ourselves- coffee & BaileysJ- and sat and enjoyed the cute Irish music. Then, these two guys ambled over, asked if they could write something is Gaelic on a postcard- and the rest is history. We went to another pub, where all the locals were celebrating a “football” match, and it was like a crazy frat party full of Irish jigs and tons of Guinness. We made friends, left, got bombarded by people with stamps that promised they would get us into the best nightclubs ever, we went into one, it was empty, then I got exhausted and we headed back home. We had to awkwardly pack in the pitch dark with 6 random strangers sleeping at 1:30 AM (almost impossible), and I ended up just sleeping in the same clothes I wore on our Glendalough bike ride, I wore into Greystones for a day, I wore on our bus trip into Galway, and are probably the grossest things ever. Tis the life of a poor college student traveler, I suppose (I’m currently still wearing the same clothes on the plane.. I might be the grossest person ever right now).

We’re about to land- hello Amsterdam!

PS: Final Irish Ginger Tally: 298!

pictures will come soon:)

End of Dublin, Greystones, family life, bike rides, and plenty of coffee:)

On our last day in Dublin, we went to Christ Church Cathedral, which was gorgeous and ancient and beautifully mysterious. From there, we went to Dublin Castle (but decided not to pay the 3.50 euro fee to take the tour, since the castle was built in the 1800s, which is SO modern and not worth it.. hahah).

From there, we went to the covered market, where we met an extremely handsome Trinity boy who worked at a cupcake shop.. an hour of chatting won us 2 free cupcakes, and lots of advice on good places to go around town.. quite fun:)

From there, we went to St. Stephen's Green, where we had just sat down to people watch and I was about to sneakily cut my finger nails in the park, when these four boys walked up and struck up a conversation. Turns out they were actually from Manchester, and they stole Alie's camera to take a "model photo shoot"... here are some of the results:)

So much fun:) We had to leave though, run to O'Connell's bridge, get our luggage, run to the train station, and catch the DART to Greystones to meet the lovely family we're staying with. We got there and met the Maxwell's- Alan, Jean, Jessica-Mae, Nic-Nic, and Christian, and had our first homecooked meal in a week.

The next morning (September 9th), we slept in and had a nice relaxing day exploring the town. We biked down to the shore, walked a bit, got coffee, looked in a bookstore, mailed postcards, walked some more, got more coffee, sat on the beach and read/looked for awesome rocks, and basically just wandered and enjoyed. We went back home at night, built puzzles, had another delicious dinner, and relaxed and made plans until we passed out.

That brings us to today, September 10th.

We managed to sleep through our 9:30 alarm, which we needed to wake up in time to catch a ride to the Dart station to go to Bray to hop on a bus that would take us to Glendalough, an ancient monastic sight in a valley. However, we managed to wake up at 11:45 AM, panic, look up the train schedule, threw ourselves together, power-walked downtown, and managed to run aboard the 12:30 train leaving for Rathdrum, hoping we'd be able to catch a cab from there to Glendalough.

When we got to Rathdrum (aka the middle of nowhere, Ireland), we had NO idea which direction to head into town. Luckily, there was an adorable little old man with a giant suitcase getting off the train as well. I asked him if he was from the town, and he said no, but he'd lived there 40 years ago, for 40 years, and knew it well. We ended up chatting with him and he told us his life story (his sister was married in '58, he lives on a tiny island now, etc. etc.), and we walked with him into "town." The town was one street with a few restaurants, a supermarket, a pub, and a clothing store with CREEPY dolls posing as mannequins. We decided to get coffee at the "coffee shop," which was actually just a bar. When we walked in, I asked the lady if they had ice. She said "Yeeess... why?" and looked quite concerned (I've started asking this first, because most placed here only do BLENDED cold drinks, or hot drinks, and find iced coffee to be gross/they can't do it). I asked if I could just get a few shots of espresso, with milk, over ice. She looked absolutely BAFFLED, and ended up handing me some espresso, a gallon of milk, and a cup of ice, and told me to help myself, because she had no idea what I wanted. When I explained that the drink was quite common in California, she said it was the strangest thing she'd ever heard. Then, she suddenly said "OH! I've heard of this strange new thing people are drinking called iced tea.. have you heard of it?"--- I almost DIED laughing. I felt like I took a time machine back to 1962. So crazy.

(sidenote- the coffee ended up being delicious, and she said we could have it for free, because the locals don't ever drink the espresso because it's too strong-- we left her some money anyways, because the coffee was GREAT)

From there, we went to the tourist information center, which was just a wooden shack with an old lady and some papers inside. She ended up telling us that our only options were to take a cab, which would cost about 20 euros both ways, or we could "hire" bikes for about 10 euros each. We decided biking would be more fun and cost efficient, so we headed over to the "bike hire shop," which was actually a canned gasoline shop, where an old man also had a few bikes that he lent out. We got our bikes, paid the 10 euros, and set off on a 14-something kilometer trek to Glendalough. It was GORGEOUS and sunny and pretty on the bike ride, and we saw so many cows/sheep/hills/cute little cottages along the way.

As SOON as we parked our bikes at Glendalough, it started POURING rain. Buckets from the heavens, pouring on our heads. We ran inside the visitor center, where they convinced us to pay a euro each to see the museum. As soon as we'd done that, the rain let up to a light drizzle, so we decided to go back outside to see the monuments, ruins, church, and lake first. It was gorgeous and magical and mysterious, and some of the tombstones were so old, they had eroded or crumbled completely.

We hiked down to the lake, it started raining again, and we hustled back to the visitor center, walked through the one-room museum, then began our rainy uphill bike ride back to Rathdrum. 14 km later, we arrived, an hour before our train was due to leave. We bought stamps, mailed more postcards, returned our bikes to the man's house (!) (SIDENOTE: I realized when we were in Glendalough that other than taking our 10 euros apiece for the bikes, the man had taken NO deposit, no form of identification of us, or any means of ensuring we would actually return the bikes... he basically handed over 2 nice mountain bikes for a total of 20 euros. crazy. and then asked us to return them to his home. we're definitely not in California anymore...)

We hopped on our train home, where we saw 3 more rainbows to add to our Ireland rainbow tally:

Rainbow tally: 7

Ginger sightings: 92

After having Dublin Coddle for dinner (a traditional dish of sausages and potatoes.. delishhhh), we settled in for some tea, coffee, and teabrack. YUM.

Now, we must decide whether we want to stay here for longer (we were invited to stay through the weekend), or to head off to Galway. Decisions, decisions...

Exploring Dublin: Our First Taste of Ireland

Dublin is lovely.. and rainy.

It will be sunny and pretty one second, and then literally POURING rain the next.. my poor uggs are on their last leg after a downpour today:(

So, to begin our trip in Ireland, we were EXHAUSTED and napped most of the first day. We ended up wandering around the city, buying a replacement adapter for the one I left in Sarah's apartment, found a cute little coffee shop with the BEST espresso, and walked around Trinity College in the sunset, where they had a sweet photo exhibit set up. We met a German boy named Patrick, and we all ended up hanging around and exploring for a few hours.

After that, we went back to our cute little room and changed for the night.. we went out to Temple Bar Street and wandered into a few pubs.. where they had LIVE Irish music. Some nice American boys (ironically, everyone we've met and hung out with is NOT Irish.. sort of frustrating) bought us our first pint of Guinness. I'm glad I tried it, but I think that will be my last.. waaaay too dark and bleggghh for me.

The music and company were FANTASTIC.. it was the cutest little pub with a red-headed Irish tin flute player named Daniel O'Leary or something Irish like that.. it felt straight out of a movie.

Speaking of redheads..

Our first day out in the town, I decided to see if the stereotype of redheaded Irish people was accurate, so I started an official Ginger Sighting Tally. After a mere 24 hours in Ireland, the current status is:

Ginger Sighting Tally: 82

As you can see, that is quite a few people with flaming red hair.. they are EVERYWHERE.

Also, we've already seen 3 rainbows.. a double one on our first day, and a single HUGE one today. We're taking it as a good sign that the rest of our trip will be as amazing as it's been so far.

Until later!

Dublin! (where it says "Eiraenn" everywhere.. way cooler spelling of my name)

Loch Ness was AMAZING. So so gorgeous. Urquhart Castle was awesome.. the first parts were built in 500 AD, NBD.

The weather was perfect, the castle and view were amazing, and I could so see how people believed in fairies and monsters living in their lakes.

We had to depart Scotland last night, after a wonderful last day in the highlands. We had 2 hours to kill in Inverness, but unfortunately everything closes at 5, and we had until 7... so we ended up going to Starbucks, Subway, and Dominoes.. the only three stores open.

I have more fun stories, but I'm literally falling asleep writing this.. only 2 hours of sleep last night before our 5 AM extravaganza to the airport.. wheee!

PS: here are the answers to the word definitions, in case anyone really cares:)

Jobby- poop

Fanny- vagina

Trousers- pants

Joggers- sweats

Trainers- tennis shoes

“to let”- to lease

bum bag- fanny pack

minging- disgusting/nasty

box room- closet

taking the piss- joking

chav- council housing and violent

(you can see why our Scottish friends DIED laughing when we said "fanny pack"... hahaha)

bye!

Last day in Edinburgh:(

We haven't had internet for the last few days, but I have a few minutes on this bus on the way to the airport. Our wonderful hosts weren't getting WiFi until Wednesday, and we had been mooching off of the neighbors, but they shut it off and so we've been isolated for the past few days.

On Sunday, we took the train into Sterling and saw Sterling Castle (GORGEOUS) and the quaint little town. The castle was home to tons of kings and famous monarchs, including Mary, Queen of Scots, and Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII's sister.

After getting back into town on Sunday night, we saw thee most amazing fireworks show, which they put on at the end of festival, right over Edinburgh Castle. It was set to music in 4 parts, which was played live by the Edinburgh Orchestra. It was absolutely stunning, and we got great seats right on Princes Street.

I'm not sure if this is the best movie or not, I took like 5- I just picked one at random because I can't watch/listen to them on the bus right now:)

Yesterday (Monday), we hopped on an early bus up to Inverness/Loch Ness. It was mayhem when we arrived trying to figure out how to get to the actual lake, but we figured it out and it turned out perfectly.

AHHH AT THE AIRPORT ALREADY GOTTA GOOOO. I'll post more when I can.. off to Dublin!

Day 3.. more castles, TONS of walking, and funny words:)

We walked like, 5 miles yesterday.. did the Royal Mile, saw Holyrood Palace (the queen's home when she's here visiting her loyal Scottish subjects haha), and hiked Arthur's Seat. This place is GORGEOUS. Alie is amazing with a map, and we managed to find our way back home in the dark, only after wandering through streets with the hugest, more gorgeous houses on Mansionhouse Road (not a joke).

We have to go catch a train to Sterling Castle, but in the meantime, here's a fun little quiz. Here are commonly used in day-to-day life here, and when they were said, Alie and I went... "?"

Guess what they mean, and I'll post the answers later! I know, I know, so fun. hahah

Jobby

Fanny

Trousers

Joggers

Trainers

“to let”

bum bag

minging

box room

taking the piss

chav

bye for now!

Photos

so, it won't let me add photos to the previous post.. so hopefully it will here?

Day 2- Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, ghost tours, and pints!

We've been in Scotland for only one day and I'm in love already. The weather was gorgeous, there are just castles and sweet buildings EVERYWHERE.

We just came back from a ghost tour.. it was cool, but SUPER creepy... I was legitimately scared. There is SO much history in this city, it's nuts. I had my first "pint" ever tonight.. and we get carded everywhere, but 20 is legal for everything! I think we're going to an engagement party tomorrow.. it's so awesome staying with people who live here.

• sidenote: they have a soda here called "IRN BRU" and you can ONLY get it in Scotland- they tried to get it in the USA, but they have secret ingredients they won't reveal, and the FDA wouldn't let them sell it if they wouldn't tell the ingredients. it sort of tastes like a mixture of bubble gum and fanta, but it's almost inexplicable. haha... it was interesting! Also, Indian food is quite popular here... which is strange? But delicious:)
• Unicorns are EVERYWHERE here.. on crests, tapestries, artwork... I'm convinced they roamed the countryside here at one point.
• Boys actually wear kilts here.. like around! We looked at prom pictures, and girls wear fancy dresses and boys wear kilts.. SO CRAZY! it looks like our school uniform and knee highs... hahahhaha I laugh every time

Day 1

• England is awesome. Obviously. In one day, we managed to do Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, changing of the Guard, Picadilly Circus, go out to a "Sherlock Holmes" themed bar (with 10 pound drinks! ahh!), ride the tube, get souvenirs, eat Hadley's fish & chips, and walk about 10 miles. awesome.
• I'm going to move here someday.. everything just sounds 800x times cooler and nicer in an English accent.
• today was also the day I managed to re-injure my ankle (thank you, Mikey..).. so I've been hobbling since. I think I might have torn something (it's BAD), but I will soldier on. I currently have a bag of ice taped to my ankle, and I'm sure the Scots think I'm insane. haha oh well:)
• We are currently sitting in a cute little coffee shop called "Black Medicine" in Scotland with our awesome room hosts. Seriously, they're the best. Alie and I are sharing a "box room" (basically a large closet) with a mattress on the floor with sleeping bags on top. It's like upgraded camping- but everything is better in Scotland because the accents are AWESOME, we had DELICIOUS Indian food for dinner sitting around a table on the floor in the cutest little apartment ever, and our hosts are the best. We couldn't possibly begin to thank them enough.
• Alie woke up sick this morning, and my ankle is getting progressively worse, but we are TOUGH and we're still going to walk the Royal Mile today and do Edinburgh Castle.. which is right down the street from where we're staying.
• Also- sidenote- the mascot of the high school of the girl's we're staying with is the unicorn. the UNICORN. They have school jackets and sweatshirts, all with a sweet unicorn crest on them. I cannot express in words how jealous I am. I think I missed my calling to grow up in Scotland.

I'll post more later- but as of now, Scotland is one of the coolest places I've ever been:)

here are some picssss: