Adventures on the Emerald IsleThurs 19.5
Landed in Ireland - noticed the grass and how much it looked like Tennessee grass. Wandering around the new city to find my hostel, as usual. Dublin is a newer city but still lots of old style buildings.I spent most of my afternoon looking up and trying to find out where swing dancing was going to be. I met LOTS of wonderful people at the dance, that night two of my favorites was a pair of old Irish guys who were "arguing" about the proper details of the Queen's visit. I love an Irish argument!! ahahaha This is when I found out that I had accidently planned my holiday around a visit from the Queen of England AND a visit from President Barack Obama! Security was crazy everywhere on the streets. They even welded shut all the sewer covers and mail drop boxes! Fri 20.5 I got up REALLY early for a day long tour to Galway and Cliffs of Moher. It was so great!! We visited a family farm, fed their baby cow and sheep, and walked up a part of the mountainside they owned. My favorite part of the visit was laying on the side of mountain in complete silence for several minutes - to which our guide said "Now you know how an Irish cow feels!" The visit to the Cliffs was really wonderful as well... but we only had barely an hour there, which isn't much considering hiking up and down. I wish I had known that the Puffins (cute little birds) live at the Cliffs when I was up there!! I would have tried to look for them! :) Sat 21.5 I had SUCH an amazing afternoon at a swing dance picnic in the park - Steven's Green. It was a HUGE park with so many paths leading off here and there. We danced in a small covered pavilion which was great because it ended up raining alot in the late afternoon. After the dance I went out to a few pubs and had dinner with my new dance friends. We ended the night by invading a hotel pub with live FUNK music (James Brown tunes mostly). We all danced like crazy people and had a great time! I met even MORE awesome dancers and finally had my first PROPER Blues dance in over 6 months!! Fantastic! Sun 22.5 I was REALLY sick most of the day :( I decided I HAD to do something though... so I went out with my hostel "roommate" for the musical pub crawl. It was amazing! Featuring mostly traditional irish music, they had a part of the evening - "The Nobel Call" where people would share songs - I sang "Rocky Top" :) I will hopefully post some videos of the night when I have a decent internet connection. Mon 23.5 I TRIED to walk around Dublin but too many people out, even early in the morning. Dublin was crazy with police, barricades, and people everywhere in preparation for Obama's speech. I wandered around the less crowded streets and found an AWESOME New York style pizza place. Came back to the hostel and watched the Obama event on TV with lots of others in the lobby. Ran upstairs to get ready for Swing dancing and TRY to beat the crowds across the river. (No such luck) EVERY bridge was shut down. Waited for a while then finally made it to swing dancing. Had a WONDERFUL night. The dancers here make it hard for me to leave...What a wonderful and welcoming scene!! I made LOTS of new friends. Tues 24.5 Enjoyed another free "Full Irish Breakfast" at my hostel. Then I packed up my bags and went to Natural History Museum. It was a very old collection, but fantastic none the less. I tried to nap at the hostel before catching my bus to the airport. I watched a bit of news about the ash cloud and got a bit worried about traveling...but I made it to Norway just fine! 10 hours then back to Finland again to move out and start my journey home! |
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