Luck of the Irish

Needless to say we had quite the entrance to Dublin. Please refer to previous post. We headed straight for our hostel to check in and meet up with our friend from Finland, Johanna. Sarah and Johanna went to the Guinness factory, while Renee had some R&R after the traumatic flight experience.  

Sarah and Johanna arrived back at the hostel with a bottle of cheap Irish wine, in preparation for the pub crawl. We filled ourselves up with Guiness (Renee - baileys), fun Irish music, and new friends. 

We woke up in a rush for breakfast and feeling fab from the night before.  After breakfast, Renee was curious as to why multiple people kept on giving her strange looks. In that moment Sarah realized not only was her shirt inside out, but her shorts were on backwards. Question resolved. It's unfortunate when things like that happen at the start of your 5 night stay. 

We figured we would conquer the day regardless of how we were feeling. We stopped dead in our tracks as we rounded a corner and saw a sign advertising Tim Hortons. Since the start of the trip Sarah has been craving a Timmy's coffee. 

We wanted to pick up some Irish souvenirs so we stopped by one of the main Irish shops. With our purchases in hand we picked up some lunch at a local grocery store. Sarah got caught trying to steal a plastic bag, and declined when they asked for 22 cents. We opted to be eco-friendly and use our paper bags from the souvenir shop. Bad decision. As soon as we left the grocery store there was a torrential down pour. Being islanders this did not phase us. We were slipping and sliding in our flip flops, no jackets, and summer shorts, clutching our paper bags, heading back to the hostel. Sarah laughed as Renee's bag started to rip. Sarah, feeling invincible, started swinging her bag in the air proudly. This lasted all of one second. Moments later Renee looked up just in time to see the contents of Sarah's bag sore through the air, buns skeetering across the flooded sidewalk, and a wee cry of upset as she realized her postcards were lying in a puddle. Renee being the good friend that she is, was keeled over laughing, turned away from the scene (If she looked at the sad scene of Sarah and the scattered contents of her bag, she surely would wee her pants.. Not that it would have made a difference, as she was already soaked through from the rain). Renee finally gathered up the strength to pick up the soggy buns, but by that time a kind Irishman had already stopped to help the poor Canadians. He offered to carry our stuff back to where we were going, but we were so close and couldn't get any words out through our laughter, so we respectfully declined. Thank you kind Irishman, you are a real gentleman!

We arrived back to dry off and eat some food (that seems to be the only thing we do). Once dry and full, we joined Johanna for some more shopping that afternoon. We got caught in another down pour.. Who knew a place could have more rain than raincouver itself. Attempted to partake in the free movie and popcorn night, but apparently they didn't have any popcorn and the movie room was filled with people more interested in drinking. We went back to our hostel and learned that the hangout room in the basement was flooded. All signs pointed to an early night.

We woke up this morning with a pleasant surprise of a sunny day. We seized the opportunity to visit the beach town, Howth. We lucked out as it only drizzled a little bit while we were there. We could hear the thunder showers in the distance. If you have the chance to visit Dublin, take a day trip to Howth. It is an absolutely beautiful little fishing town. We met a few old Irishmen fishing in the harbor, but were not having much luck. We also met a seal we named Murray, who was probably to blame for the lack of fish being caught. We had a lovely day down by the water. To hide from the rain we stopped at Mauds cafe for a spot o' tea. Of course there was some people watching involved too!! 

Day three. We got up early and headed out on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the City of Galway. It was a long day, but well worth it. The cliffs of Moher were absolutely spectacular. Our tour guide warned us of the wind, but we did not realize just how strong it was. We nearly got blown off the cliffs. We heard that Harry Potter and the half blood prince was filmed here. Another stop on Renee's impromptu Harry Potter tour of Europe. The pictures do not do the cliffs justice. The only thing that scared us away, were the rapidly approaching rain clouds. 

On our way to Galway we stopped at Burren Atlantic edge walk. Miles of granite is actually a pretty cool site. Even the country side is post card worthy.

Next, we stopped at the city of Galway for a little bit. We toured the city center and had a delicious lunch at a local cafe. We enjoyed learning about the Irish history from our tour guide along the way as well. Brushing up on the local history is always a bonus. Our tour guide told us of an Irish drinking game, which would work quite well back in the farmlands of Black Creek and Merville: every time you see a cow, you drink. On this  6 hour bus ride we would have been a wee bit intoxicated in the first ten minutes. Another very successful day in Ireland. 

Day four. We joined in on the walking tour around the city. It was interesting, and bit heartbreaking to find out that St.Patrick himself wasn't even Irish and his name wasn't even Patrick. He was Welsh and we couldn't even pronounce his real name. Universe shattered yet again (Although it will take a lot more than that to stop us from celebrating St.Patty's day in the future!).

That evening we went out to a cool Irish pub for dinner and some good live Irish music. We made friends with the singer and he played the only two Irish songs that we know, along with some Beatles. 

We were up before the sun to catch our flight to Berlin. We are really going to miss Ireland and their friendly accent!

On to another country. Only a week and a half left :(

Renee and Sarah