My So Called Parisian Life: Ireland

Saturday

Okay so where to even begin. Friday night we came up with the brilliant idea to not go to sleep considering our cab was coming to pick us up Saturday morning at 2:55am. So the cab gets here and takes us to Baker Street where we then have to take a coach bus to a smaller airport an hour outside of London. So we get to the bus stop 20 minutes early and at this point some of us are getting a little slap happy, or a case of the whoopies as we like to call it. So finally the bus comes and some guy attempts to get on the bus and the bus driver won't let him on because he's been drinking. Then the driver and this guy get into it and the guy has customer service on the phone and he's refusing to get off. Fifteen minutes later, the guy finally gets off the bus and we get on the way to the airport. On the bus the two morons in front of us had their seats all the way back so Sarah and I were completely squished. Great start off to the trip. And it was only about 3:45am at this point.

So we get to the airport and at this point I'm hot and really nauseous. Not fairing too well. So the way Ryan Air works is once you get through security you have to wait by the boards to see what gate you're at. Once that gets posted everyone makes a mad dash to the gate because there aren't assigned seats. Throughout the whole flight I didn't feel well. The flight was only an hour so it wasn't too bad. We finally get to Dublin and it's absolutely freezing outside.

We got on another bus to get over to the hostel and the bus driver was so nice! We weren't sure exactly where to get off but the bus driver was like okay girls in the back this is your stop! By this time its 9:15am and we get to the hostel and everyone is in the reception area having breakfast. I had this picture in my head of what I thought a hostel would be like and the real thing fit the bill pretty well. I pictured people walking around in sweatpants that were rolled up with tshirts and ski hats and thats exactly what I was seeing. We had all planned to check in and take a nap and then head out to explore. Well that didn't happen. We weren't able to check in until 2pm but we were able to lock up our stuff.

Still not feeling well, I dragged myself out with everyone else. We decided to go to Grafton Street which is a big shopping strip with cobblestone streets, street performers, and christmas decorations. We also walked around Trinity College where the Book of Kells is kept. The campus was gorgeous. After that we were all starving so we went to a pub. The bartender was really funny. We started playing bar games with him. He must have thought that we were all missing a few brain cells. We were all so tired and delusional that we couldn't figure it out. But one did! So we got free drinks. Not too bad. After that it was just about 2pm so we ventured back to the hostel and fell asleep right away. Later that night we went to a bar/restaurant about 50 feet from the hostel and came back and crashed early. Our room at the hostel was an 8 person room. The two guys that were there were the rudest and most inconsiderate people I have ever come across. They were up drinking the entire night and would come in and out and turn the lights on and off and were loud and laughing. I really don't think they even went to sleep that night.

Saturday

We decided to go on an organized tour of County Wicklow and Kilkenny. The tour company we used was called Paddywaggon and the bus was a big green thing with two leprechauns on the back. Let's just say if I saw that bus on the street I would point and laugh. But actually. So we get to County Wicklow which is the mountain range. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was also pouring where we were but off in the distance it was blue. And it was absolutely freezing. There was a really old cemetery which was cool to walk around. We walked around one of the lakes and saw sheep. It was a typical Irish countryside setting.

After County Wicklow we drove to Kilkenny. If you've seen the movie P.S. I Love You, we drove over the bridge where they first met. We made a pit stop, I'm not really sure where we were, but we stopped to see an old Pagan tombstone. I was half asleep when he was talking about it as well as my roommates so I'm not 100% sure what the story behind it was. But basically it's a big rock in the middle of a field.

We got to Kilkenny and it started raining again. The bus dropped us off and we went to Kilkenny Castle. We didn't go around on the inside, we just stayed outside. There was a dog show going on. I was kind of laughing to myself trying to picture Zoey attempting to run up and down the seesaw or jump through hoops. She would probably just look at us like, "um is that a joke? i'm not doing that!" Then she would probably just lay down somewhere or hit you to pet her.

After the castle we went to find somewhere to eat to have lunch. We hid from the rain and the cold for a bit which was nice then we walked up and down some of the streets. It was getting close to when we had to meet back at the bus so we picked up the pace a bit so we could walk along the river. Our bus driver said that if you're late then you have to sing for everyone and we didn't want to have to do that! But just in case we picked out the most obnoxious American song we could think of... "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. Good thing we didn't have to sing! But other people did. One person sang in Russian and the other person sang in Spanish. It was actually kind of cool to hear.

That night we went back to the same bar/restaurant that we went to on the first night only to discover that they had stopped serving food by the time we got there. So we went off to find a new place. It was good. We were once again exhausted so we went to sleep early. We did however come up with a new verb. To wifi. I wifi, you wifi, he/she/it wifis. The only places in the hostel that had wifi was the basement/lounge and the reception area. We would say things like, "I'm going to go shower then wifi" or "I'm going to wifi before I go to bed." We were that desperate. Our roommates the second night were the ideal roommates. I went up to bed earlier than everyone else and they were already sleeping! Best roommate award goes to these strangers.

Sunday

We got up really late on Sunday morning. We wanted to find a place that had a traditional Irish breakfast. I think we left the hostel at 11am. Let me just say that I am not a fan of Irish food. The breakfast had blood pudding, sausage, beans, mushrooms, eggs, and hash browns. I only had the beans, mushrooms and hash browns. That was stretching it. We all know that I have such an advanced palate... I wanted to be like, "Um, excuse me, but um, can I have some waffles?" Hahahah I think the waitress would have laughed at me if I actually said that.

We didn't wind up leaving until 12:45ish. From there we walked about 40 minutes to the Guinness Store House. My roommates were all booking it there and I was taking my sweet time taking pictures and enjoying being outside. We got there and guess what was outside... Horses!!! So I got to pet the horses and they were all nice and fluffy with their winter coats. Ahhh I miss the ATRC horses :( After being pried away from the horses we went into the Store House. It was really cool! The middle of the building is shaped like a Guinness Cup. We got to see each step of the process of making Guinness. Then we went to the Guinness Academy in which we learned how to properly pour a pint. There is a specific science to it. The cup has to be at a 45º angle and then you have to slowly straighten the glass out when the beer gets to the crown and all this stuff. Then you have to let the beer sit for a little bit and then fill it up the rest of the way. After this you got a certificate with your name on it. It was pretty cool! We sat around after and drank for a bit but I could only tolerate so much. I really don't like beer so I took off and went to the Dublin Castle alone.

I took a cab there because I wasn't exactly sure where to go. I just walked around the outside and then wandered down some alley ways. I had no idea where I was. But it was okay because where I wound up there was a Louis Vuitton and a Chanel and Lactose so I was like, "Okay, I'm not going to die." I actually wound up on Grafton Street which is where we were the first day and I knew how to get back to the hostel from there. I was freezing so I went and sat by the fire in reception and wifi-ed for a bit. When the rest of my roommates got back we went out to dinner at the same place we went to the other nights. I decided to pack up my stuff when we got back since the taxi was coming at 4am to pick us up. We all slept in our clothes so when our alarms went off at 3:30am we were pretty much ready.

Monday

It was the same deal at the airport as before. Stand at the boards and watch to see when your gate goes up. The flight coming back was only 45 minutes I think. I fell asleep so I don't really know... but it was really short. We finally got back home around 10:15ish. Now I'm comfortable sitting in my bed, catching up on tv shows and uploading pictures. What a great weekend!