You may be saying to yourself, "who are these girls?" Good question! Well this world, being small as it is, provided 4 girls from IOWA for me to travel with on my journey to Ireland. I caught a bus at 4:30 am Thursday morning from Glasgow to get to the airport which is about 50 minutes away. There were maybe 6 other people on the bus and these gals just happened to sit right behind me. I had some tea that morning and was surprisingly wide awake, so I just randomly asked them where they were traveling to. They said "Dublin". "Me too!" I said. From there, we realized we were all studying at Universities in Iowa but they were actually studying in The Netherlands and were just traveling through Scotland on their Spring Break. I ended up spending at least 3-4 hours with them while we were traveling. I mean seriously, what are the odds that on a 4:30 am bus out of GLASGOW Scotland I would meet 4 other girls from Iowa who were also on the same flight as me going to Dublin? Crazy.
Our hotel at the Grand Plaza. My friend Liz works at the Holiday Inn in Ames and so therefore gets AWESOME discounts at sister hotels all around the world. What would have been an over 100 euro room a night ended up being 39. Divide that by 5, and you've got some cheap accommodation in Dublin!
They had these fun rent-a-bikes all over the City Centre in Dublin-- you can drop them off at any of the stands you'd like!
Yes, we did the Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin. Now I have my excuse not to have to visit a distillery in Scotland. Believe it or not, it was pretty fascinating to see how their marketing/advertising has worked over the years and learn the process of making that dark black stuff!
At the end of the tour, we got a free pint of Guinness on the top floor, where there were amazing views of Dublin. First Guinness for me. Verdict: not a fan. Ick.
Just one of the many Supermac's around Dublin. My family started this chain in the 1950's... ;)
The walk to Blarney Castle.
Kissing the Blarney Stone!!
The magical Blarney stone man. He allows the magic to happen.
Iowa Staters! Allen (left) is studying in Wales, Myself in Glasgow, Liz in Edinburgh and Ally (right) is studying in France.
The view outside our hostel in Ennis. It was a lovely city.
MY STORE!!! :)
This was everyone on our tour! There were 11 of us, 5 Americans, 6 Australians and then 2 Irish lads (the bus driver and tour guide! :)
Team IOWA STATE! In IRELAND!
This is a lovely candid shot of me that my friend Dana took. :)
Taking the ferry across the river. We didn't spot any dolphins, unfortunately.
These aren't any Iowa cows... in Ireland they rule the road. Really. It's pretty hilarious.
We saw 3 rainbows within 3 days!
Outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.
Liz, Ally and I with our matching Claddagh rings. If you don't know the history behind them, you should google it! It's quite fascinating! :)
I realize I didn't give you much detail, but honestly I could write so much about EVERYTHING, I'm sure you'd fall asleep. Long story short, I FELL IN LOVE with Ireland. Everything was SO blue and green (right up my alley!) I thought I'd try and let the pictures do the talking. I'm leaving Glasgow in just a few hours to spend the weekend at a Monastery in Northern Scotland. It will be a weekend of peace, quiet-- much needed for me right now! Apparently it's a GORGEOUS area the monastery is set on, so I'm looking forward to some walks, enjoying the outdoors and no drunk people to ruin my sleep for 2 nights!! :)
Will write again next week.
<3 Sarah xx
Mountains, Cliffs, Green Grass, Blue Sky, Cold Rivers, And perhaps worst of all, the Atlantic Ocean with it's sandy beaches. I am SO jealous...
ReplyDeleteI'll get back to you once I see the Pacific in El Salvador.
And I didn't even mention the castles!
ReplyDeleteWow... That looks like a great time! Come back soon, okay? Maybe sometime around, say, June?
ReplyDelete