PS I love... Ireland

I keep adding to my travels, and went to Ireland this weekend with Christina, Casey, and Andrea. Just. Those. Three. Prime? Yes.

Before I get to the Irish bit, here's a little bit of backstory: during the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I came down with a serious case of food poisoning. I was super sick all day, and recovered enough by Thursday to eat an egg, a piece of toast, and a handful of blueberries. So, I was still a little unsteady on my feet by the time I had to meet Christina at Gloucester Road to go to Baker Street to get on the bus to Stansted, which is possibly the most inconveniently located airport.

We made it to the bus stop with enough time for me to grab a snack at Tesco, and made it to the airport with tons of time to spare. The flight was shorter than the bus ride, and we made it to Dublin around 10 pm. After some difficulty and a lot of asking directions at kebab shops, we made it to our hostel at 11:30. Because of the overall hellish temperature in the room and my undying need for food, we left and got some pizza, which was nearly the only food available at midnight on a Thursday. It was delicious and the guy was actually Italian, which was a nice little throwback to spring break.

Friday dawned fairly early, and we set out to see the city. Dublin is fairly small and very walkable. We saw the Ha'penny Bridge, the Viking Part of town, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and a really nice park where some crazy guy allowed over 100 pigeons to be on or within 5 feet of him. Crazy. We also saw a street performer, who walked on fire, swallowed fire, and juggled fire on  a 9 foot unicycle. It was insane. Soon after that, as I was still recovering, I was too tired to function and we went back to the hostel for naps. After dinner, I went right back to bed so I would be refreshed for the next day.

If you've ever seen PS I Love You, you should recognize the name 'Wicklow Mountains National Park'. We had all seen the movie and wanted to see some countryside, so we went on a 'bus' tour of the park. *Auntie Lisa and all other family members going to Dublin in a few weeks, go on a tour. It's less than 30 euro, and you should take the Over the Top company. you'll see why*  When we were looking at pamphlets, we saw that one company kept their tours under 16 people and went 'where the big coach tours don't go'. Since it was the same price, we chose that one. Best choice ever! It was only an airport shuttle-sized van, and our driver was a cute old Irish guy.

Our first stop was about 30 minutes outside the city centre, where we had an amazing view of Dublin Harbor. Our driver told us this is where they usually stopped for tea and coffee, but there was nothing. Just a tree and some grass and a stone wall. We joked about not bringing our own tea, until the driver pulled out a hot water container and tea/coffee fixings and proceeded to make us tea and coffee - to order!- on the side of the road.

We then proceeded to go down a bunch of little roads and saw tons of gorgeous views and lakes and cliffs and bogs and such. We also saw a bridge which is where they filmed a scene from PS I Love You (if you haven't seen it, watch it. Bring tissues), which was exciting.

Lunch was in a little village called Laragh (Lara), where I had some delicious tomato basil soup with rolls and some Bulmer's. Let's not judge here, it's cider and I was cold and it's legal. Totally called for. We then proceeded to Glendalough, an old monastic settlement/monastery where we saw some cool ruins and an old church and a tower. Then there were the lakes...

There are two lakes at Glendalough, creatively named the Upper Lake and, you guessed  it, the Lower Lake. It's about a mile to the Upper Lake, and we wanted to walk there. It was really pretty, the sun was shining, and then it got dark. Fast. Not night time dark, storm dark. Then it started sprinkling, and got windy. Pretty soon the sprinkling had turned into pouring rain and hail. 'Twas a good thing I was wearing a raincoat and Andrea has a waterproof camera. Strangely enough, the rain stopped less than 15 minutes later, and by the time we got back to the beginning of the trail the sun was shining again . I don't understand weather.

In short, it was awesome and I would love to go back a million times. Apparently Christina and Andrea are going back, because tradition says that those who leave wearing Claddagh rings (which they purchased... I didn't, by virtue of the fact that I don't wear rings) return to Ireland. If anyone needs a travel companion, I'm up for it.


Pictures (in no particular order):

hug this cross and make a wish! (to be continued)

round tower at glendalough

gorgeous lake

'nobody get too close to the edge."
'im not too close. I bet that rock is too close. I'm gonna stand there'

ruined church at glendalough

a brook at glendalough

me in the cold overlooking Dublin Harbor

our bus, and Casey. Make sure you get this company!

lunch: soup, rolls, and cider. yum!

a valley

fire!

I'm the only one who could reach all the way around with my monkey arms

PS I Love You bridge

rain on the Upper Lake

RAINBOW!!!