Dublin!!

One day in February I was randomly searching travel websites (I do this from time to time when I have the urge to travel somewhere) and I came across incredibly cheap travel to Ireland (yahh Ryanair). I quickly asked everyone in the house if they wanted to come and Emily immediately jumped in with me. We bought our tickets within minutes of finding the cheap, tax free fare. Eventually Judith would come to realize that Dublin sounded kinda cool and also bought her tickets to come.

We woke up incredibly early (are you sensing a pattern) and proceeded to the train station so we could take the Charloi bus to the airport that's about an hour outside of town. We checked in, making sure our ONE carry on bag could fit into the TINY lugguge restrictions and we were off.

Our first interaction with the Irish people was at border control in Ireland. Originally I was nervous because the people in Brussels told me I wouldn't be able to get back in the country if I left, but I thought I would chance it anyway. The Irish man stamped my passport and wished me well on my weekend.

Because we were all hungry, I immediately suggested we find an Irish breakfast. Best decision of my life. Most Europeans don't eat breakfast. The Italians have an expresso, the French a croissant, and so on. The English have a good breakfast, but I3m sorry but Ireland just wins best breakfast of the year for European countries.

The Irish breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatos, toast, beans and black pudding. (Note* I just found out that black pudding is made with animal blood. Everything in the Irish Breakfast is good except for that...oh man..I cant believe I ate dried up pig's blood) I had it all and wiped the grease off with my bread it was that delicious. The others don't seem to know how I did it, but I think it might have something to so with my dad's delicious breakfasts of bacon, eggs, and fried potatos. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and the most important. I get hungry just picturing it in my mind.

Moving on from food...Friday we walked around Dublin a little bit. Saw St. Patrick's, Christ Church, the Guiness Factory, and Temple Bar.

Saturday however was my favorite day!! We decided to book a tour of Wicklow and Glendough. It was reallly funn and super beautiful! Our bus driver was super nice and funny and very informative. We got to see the place where they filmed PS I Love You where she meets her future husband. We also heard about these two snowboarders who got stuck in a snow storm on the top of the hills and the Irish government rescued them for free. We also learned about their community housing that puts low income housing and regular housing in the same communities (novel idea eh?).

With recommendations from our driver, we also went to Howth which is in Dublin but its right on the water because its a yacht club and fishing port. We had fish and chips, went to a local bar to watch Bulgaria v Ireland, and met the captain of a boat. He was such a cute old man and from the moment he walked in the door he looked like he could be a captain. He was wearing a navy blue peacoat, a cute little hat, and a scarf. He had his pint of Guiness, talked to us and some of his other friends, and then went home to his wife.

Other excitement of the day included being almost flashed by a 12 year old drunk boy, learning to put Black Currant into Guiness, finding the best cider ever...Bulmers, and just having good conversation and good fun with people who speak english as their first language!!

Getting back into Brussels was actually no problem. I think the border patrol just wanted to scare me. I am glad I took the chance because Ireland was a blast!!