Top of the mornin' to ya!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Another early morning for us…after eating breakfast we took the Dart (like a subway system above ground) to the town of Greystone, about 45 minutes away.

The entire way cliffs and mountains surrounded us, along with the Irish Sea. Once we arrived, we walked down to the beach and waded in a bit. It was freezing—but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I can now say that I have stepped in the Irish sea!

We grabbed ice-cream and walked around the shops a bit more and then took the Dart to the town of Bray. We ate a local café, this time I had homemade a chicken and mushroom pastry and vanilla latte. Again, the food was awesome! We then walked down to the beach and took some pictures on the rocks. I noticed that on the nearest mountain, there was a cross, I wasn’t able to get a close-up picture, but still the sight of it was really neat.

We then went to the Sea of Life where we were able to hold starfish and see seahorses, stingrays, and jellyfish, amongst many other things. We took the Dart back to Dublin so we could finish out our trip at St. Patrick’s Cathedral—something I had been anxiously awaiting sine we arrived. It was about a 20 minute walk, but once we arrived, it was so peaceful and breathtaking.

On the north side of the church was a garden where people could just come and relax by the water fountain, or just sit on the benches or lay on the grass. Once we entered the church, I was simply amazed. Even though we knew the Church was very historic, it really didn’t hit me until the moment that we entered. On the north and south entrance sides were statues of famous people who had passed away. This here is a monument to the famous chemist Charles Boyle's wife:

There were plaques covering the walls throughout the church as well of important people who had passed away. Upon entering, as I turned right, was the main part of the church, where the services are held weekly. (To the left was a gift shop). Here in this picture is the main part:

I forgot to mention, the Church is shaped as a cross. So as you walk towards the main part of the church, there are two wings—one to the north and one to the south. Throughout each wing there were historical symbols and descriptions of the artifacts. To the right wing, there were mainly just artifacts, including different keys used to enter the church, dating back to the 1850’s. These next two pictures are from the right wing:

Here is a closer look as you would have neared the altar. It's sort of hard to tell, but hanging above the seats are the armor of lords and those who served in wars:

Another picture from the right wing:

In the left wing there was two monuments for the World Wars and for those who had lost their lives. Hanging above and to the sides of these monuments were flags. And not just any ordinary flag—some of these flags dated back to the Crimean War, and even farther back. I just stood there for a couple minutes taking it all in, and how awesome it was that they could preserve things like that.

A somewhat closer look at the monuments for those serving in the wars:

But we're Americans!!

Monday, June 28^th

We woke up bright and early today to prepare for our day tour to Wicklow Mountains. This was a great opportunity to learn more information about Ireland as well. The tour started at 9:20 AM and lasted until 5:30 PM, which worked perfectly with the other things we still wanted to do. Our tour guide, Devan, was awesome! I couldn’t have asked for a better guide. He gave us tons of insight about the history of Ireland, where to eat, where to shop, and anything else you could think of. It took us about an hour to get out of the city and into the country, but once we did, it was amazing.

The view was spectacular everywhere we went. We traveled in valleys, passed by Guinness lake, and up into the mountains. I cannot express how breathtaking the view was, not even the pictures can truly capture all of it. Here's Guinness Lake:

It did start to rain during the tour, but it wasn’t too bad. Here's the location of one of the scenes shot for P.S. I love you:

We stopped for lunch in a small town called Glendalough. We decided to eat a café, which was really neat. It’s so neat to hear the Irish accent, and I’ve noticed how they say “ya” a lot at the end of questions/statements. For example, they lady who asked for my order at the café said “what would you like, ya?” So cool, I wish I could record it. The food was really good, I had a quiche and hot chocolate. All of the food here in Ireland is extremely good. It’s nothing like American food, everything is fresh and homemade, it’s so good. There are hardly any “fast food” places as well. After lunch, we toured the “7 churches”

and walked onto to see the Glendalough lakes. Along the way, the tour guide asked us "Does anyone know how long it takes to walk 1.5 kilometers?" Me, being the vocal one of the bus asked "Sir, what is that in miles? We're from America." The girls all seemed to find it hilarious and so now any time that we do something "American" they always make that quote. Back to the trip--again, the views were simply breathtaking. Here's us girls at Glendalough Lakes:

After the lakes, we headed to a small town, where the oldest weaving company in Ireland is located, the company is called Avoco. They demonstrated how they make their international famous scarves, blankets, and much more. All the material in this picture comes together in the following picture:

After that we headed back to Dublin, and stopped at the hostel to get ready for dinner and going to the pubs. We decided to eat at one of the pub’s our tour guide suggested and we invested in some homemade Irish food, I had a lamb stew with carrots and cheesy potatoes. The drinking is interesting here as well…it’s definitely expensive, we found that out quick! It’s very common to have a drink with dinner, and people do not abuse it. After dinner we went to the pub right next to our hostel and called it a night shortly after.

GUINNESS!!!!!!!

Hi everyone back home!!

Today was the day we FINALLY got our luggage!!!! Yayyy :) Going three days without clothes, and everything us just stinks. The downfall was it took us four hours to get it.

We came back to the hostel around 12 PM and met up with Sara and Irina, the other two girls from MSU. We walked around Dublin, and headed to the Guinness factory. The pictures below are some of the sites we saw along the way:

The Guinness factory was really neat. There were 7 floors to it, each explaining the steps of how Guinness is made. At the top was a bar and all the walls were windows, so we could see the entire town of Dublin.

We came back and zonked out for a couple hours...I think jet-lag finally hit us. We headed out to dinner, and realized that most pubs and restaurants are actually closed on Sundays. We ended up at a Italian restaurant with some great food. We weren't able to hit up Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College, but hopefully we can do all that before we leave on Tuesday evening. Overall it was a great day!

Finally! In Ireland!

Hi everyone~

Kasey and I landed in Ireland about 9:00 AM (4 AM Michigan time). We had to wait for Emmalilly who was on a flight from Atlanta, and then we took a taxi to our hostel in downtown Dublin. The people here are really nice, including our taxi driver who gave us some tips on what to see and where to shop :)

We are still without luggage...for Kasey and I this is now 3 days. The airlines told us that it should be in tomorrow, so we're going to go first thing in the morning to get that.

After checking in at the hostel, we went and explored downtown. It was so neat to see the shops and the culture. The accents are so cool! We stopped at Penney's, a reasonable store that was recommended by our taxi driver for clothes. It was insanely busy there, and we soon found out why--the clothes were reasonably priced...as cheap as 3 euro's! We each bought a top and shoes to last us through today, praying that we will get our luggage tomorrow. The picture below, was taken right in the heart of downtown Dublin, on O'Connell Street:

We came back to the hostel and rested a couple hours before getting ready and heading out for dinner. We went to a local pub (which really there are about 5-6 per block). There was a band playing and the food was really good. We then ventured out and about to some other pubs and just took in the scenery. Luckily the weather here has been in the high 60's-low 70's so its not bad walking weather.

The hostel set-up isn't too bad, along with the three of us, we're sharing a room with two Australian girls, and now a guy from Florida we just found out.

Tomorrow, we're waiting for our luggage and Sara and Irina to join us, and then we're heading to Trinity College, Guinness Factory, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Dublin Castle....

I'm alive!

Hi all-

Whew, I'm lucky to have finally found free wi-fi, its amazing what airlines want to charge~

Just wanted to post saying that I'm alive (barely)...I'm thinking I may need a drink before these next two flights. (totally kidding Mom =)

Our flight to Atlanta is already delayed--now leaving Orlando at 5:20 rather then 4:30. But, still should be making it to Dublin by 8:30am on Friday.

Here's a look at what I saw on the flight from Detroit:

Go figure, there was clouds =)

Well, until I get free wi-fi again, that's all for now! Hopefully the number of crying and kicking kids decreases for these next two flights =)

3 days until I am Ireland bound!!!

Ahh so here goes-- my first blog post for the summer!!! I'm so excited to finally begin this amazing opportunity! Here's what I have planned so far in case you want to know where i'm at :)

Thursday 12:10 PM- 2:45 PM -- Leaving Detroit and going to Orlando

Thursday 4:30 PM- 6:08 PM -- Leaving Orlando and going to Atlanta

Thursday 7:30 PM- Friday 8:30 AM (Dublin time) -- Leaving Atlanta and landing in Dublin, Ireland!

Here's the outside of the Hostel that we'll be staying at in Dublin from June 25-June 29:

On June 29th, we (the girls and I) will be flying out of Dublin at 9:10 PM and arrive in London at 10:25 PM. We're staying in a hostel overnight:

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/london/hostels/london-thameside/index.aspx

Finally, on the 30th, we will head to Landward Apartments where we will be staying at for the remainder of the time.

In case you want to check out where I'll be taking my class, here's a link:

http://www.regents.ac.uk/

Well, until Thursday, that's all for now! Please pray for safe flights and no bad weather!