You know what? I was wrong about Ireland. It did not belong on my secondary list. It belonged in the top 5 of my primary list.
Close your eyes. Picture those travel lists you have in your head. Move Ireland up in the list of priorities. Open your eyes. Keep reading.
We arrived in Dublin in the afternoon without much of a set plan. After dropping off our stuff at our hostel, the nice girl from the Midwest with an "I have lived hear one year" Irish accent directed us toward a Mexican restaurant. Our hostels fabulous location let us walk to the center of the city. After a while looking for the restaurant in the rain, we almost gave up. Luckily, we used our English, which we've all been studying for a while now, to ask some nice Irish people who kindly directed us to the right location. Luckily the corn tortilla tacos were delicious. By the time we were done, around American dinner time, we decided to head back, make some plans for the next two days, and venture reallyyy far to the pub next door. Sometimes working hard for something brings the best rewards, but sometimes just checking out something right in front of you makes for the best nights. We sat down at the bar and quickly befriended the bartenders, whose accents were almost too thick to have a comfortable conversation and who turned out to actually be brothers, although we doubted them for a while. A rowdy group of cast and crew members from Dublin's Avenue Q sat behind us (thanks theatre spirits) and the pub started filling up with Trinity College students; not surprising since the college was right across the street. We met a really great group of engineering students. My new friend Dave (yes, everyone's name actually was Dave, John, or Mark O'something) was very impressed that I go to Berkeley. Just because I don't actually participate in our top notch engineering program doesn't mean I can't brag about it, right? Dave plans to move to New York after he graduates, so basically we're going to magically meet up again and become best friends one day. You just wait, doubters. Anyway, the bartenders started kicking people out to close up right around when a Madrid bar would start filling up, but kept assuring us that we could stick around. So basically, being friendly and American gets you the change to hang out with the bartenders (also students at Trinity, btw) after everyone else is gone. We felt really cool. Probably because we are...
The next day, we joined an organized for hostels free walking tour around the city. It was cool to see some sites like the Four Courts and the Dublin Castle and the Cathedral and hear some history, but the tour guide wasn't thrilling (get what you pay for I suppose), so we decided to leave the tour early and grab lunch. Of course, the "traditional" (read: touristy) restaurant we went into happened to be the place where our tour stopped a few minutes later for a bathroom break. Awkward, "oh we're hungry and cold so we're going to stick around here." After lunch, we walked around the Temple Bar area and then hopped on a bus to the Guinness Factory/museum. Yes, the Irish love their beer so much that they devote a museum to it. It was actually pretty cool. It teaches in a quite flashy manner how Guinness is brewed, what ingredients are used, etc. There are also some fabulously cheesy videos about the history and the factory. At the end, you get a free pint served at the top of the pint-glass shaped tower where I happily sipped on my sprite looking at the views of the city. Then, you get lured into the gift shop. Pretty typically brilliant if you ask me. That night, we chowed down on pad thai and then headed to what we thought was another cool pub that everyone had told us to go to the night before. Turns out that the huge language barrier led to a misunderstanding. It was a club, not a pub. Our low-key underdressed group didn't last long. The whole scene was pretty comical actually. I don't know if it's the stereotype of Irish people singing and drinking beer in jolly little pubs, but nobody at that club looked like they belonged there. To make the night even more entertaining, it hailed on the way home. Yes, hail. On our Spring break. Just for the 10 minutes it took to get back. All we could do was laugh.The next morning called for an early wake up call so we could take a three hour bus ride to the West Coast of Ireland. Now, for when you go to Ireland (because we've already established that you're going), don't be deterred by the 7:10 AM bus departure time because you must go on this tour. We chose the brochure that advertised a tour of a family farm as well as the famous Cliffs of Moher. Once we arrived in the city of Galway, the small group from our tour was transferred to another bus where we were greeted by our tour guide/bus driver and his adorable 8ish year old son. Once at their family farm, we were handed off to the 30ish year old nephew for our tour. We walked through the greenest grass I have ever seen encountering some cows and sheep along the way. We walked up a hill that sported some fertile rock at the top. As we climbed, the view kept getting better and better. We chatted with some women from San Diego, one who is getting her doctorate in psych after already getting her MSW. Clearly, we bonded. At the top of the mini hike, our guide explained the legend of the fairy tree. Tying something to the tree symbolizes leaving your troubles their for the fairies to take care of. I think the green hills turned me into an Irish folktale believer. On the way back down, Caitlin was given the responsibility of closing the farm gate once everyone was through. I doubted her farm skills, but she closed that gate valiantly. As if the whole thing wasn't picturesque enough, the next part of the tour took place at Granny's Cottage where you drink the most delicious coffee and have a choice of homemade pastries. They also bring out a puppy for you to play with while our bus guide and his son play a traditional Irish game outside on the lawn. You doubt that this is real life, and they assure you it is. Then you go into the porta-potty style bathrooms and they're, gasp, nice. With real soap and wood floors. You question everything you know about life.
Our next stop was the "most popular tourist attraction in Ireland," the Cliffs of Moher. Now, I know we all like to think of ourselves as a little hipster and avoid the really touristy stuff but, to put it lightly, get over yourself and go to the Cliffs of Moher. I know I talk about how gorgeous views of cities from the tops of towers are all the time, but this is really something else. There are two cliffs to climb--one very safe with protective walls and one with warning signs about danger that hundreds of people seem to ignore--and both have incredible view of water crashing onto the rocks, endless shades of blues and greens of the water, and the rock formation that are the cliffs themselves. There's a visitor center, but despite the strong freezing wind, we chose to spend the whole time outside enjoying the phenomenon that is nature. Fun fact about the cliffs: they are featured in the 6th Harry Potter movie. Here's a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0mVNFCcMXQSo, if I hadn't convinced you yet, cue Harry Potter fans flocking to the cliffs.
After more scenic driving, we warmed ourselves up with some coffee back in Galway and then boarded the bus back to Dublin, still amazed by everything we had seen that day. Our tired crew ate dinner and collapsed into bed for and even earlier wake up to catch our flight to Edinburgh. Honestly, we were sad to leave Ireland but excited for the rest of our trip still ahead.
With a similar sentiment, perhaps you're sad this post is over, but anticipating the rest.
P.S. I love you
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