Dublin' my time in Ireland

Hi everybody!

It's about that time to post about my last endeavor. Where to? Back up to Dublin. Why Dublin again? To visit Gary, someone I'd met during my first visit and hit it off with.

So after Taylor and I had an adventure throughout Northern Italy, we took the train back up to Milan where we said goodbye and I caught a flight out to Dublin. The Ryan Air flight crew could not have peeved me anymore than they did that day. I had already been running around all day taking various forms of transportation (ending total: 4 buses, 1 train and 1 plane). I had previously paid to check a 15 kg bag but I knew that with my Italy purchases it may have exceeded 15kg. So like any normal airline, I tried to go back online and pay for the 20 kg. But of course Ryan Air decided they can profit from this too, and tried to charge me 100 extra Euro to check my now 20 kilo bag (20 euro PER kilo). Instead, I decided to throw out 5 kilos worth of stuff to make it work.

When I got to Dublin I was happy to see Gary again! That night we headed out to Porter House which is the pub where we actually met. We got dinner and drinks and just enjoyed each other's company. The next day we took a tour of Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison built in 1796. We tried to go there on our first trip but there were too many people signed up for the last tour of the day. It has a very rich, yet dark history. It once held the former Irish Revolutionaries seeking Independence from Britain, some were eventually executed. It was such an interesting tour. Gary had never toured the jail so he too was very impressed.

Just hangin' in jail

On Wednesday we headed to the busstation where we took a bus tour from Dublin to Galway. I was adamant about seeing The Cliffs of Moher because I didn't get to see them last time we were there and decided that I will see them next time I'm in Ireland.

The tour was an all day tour and was really interesting! We got to see the country side filled with acres of green fields and sheep of course. It was beautiful! It still threw me off that they drive on the other side of the road though.

Those stone walls were everywhere. The stones had to be removed from the fields so that farmers could farm, they used them to build walls.

These have been found throughout Ireland that serve as grave markers for up to 15 people.

Look how rocky the ground was! 

Typical Ireland sheep

High crosses

When we got to the Cliffs I couldn't believe how windy it was! When everyone talks about The Cliffs of Moher, no one tells you how insane the wind is! At times you could literally lean back and the wind would support you. My hair was all kinds of crazy. The wind was so nuts that it was raining upwards, up the cliffs! It was difficult to go from the sometimes 90 degree weather in Italy to the sometimes 50 degree weather in Ireland! Even though I felt like I was in a hurricane, they were beautiful. So worth it!!

They were MASSIVE!

It was a bit windy!

After our time in Galway we headed back to Dublin. We went to this beautiful park full of flowers and had a gorgeous pond with swans in it!

I had such a great time in Dublin. It's such a great city and I'm so fortunate to have visited it twice. And from Dublin, it was back to the good 'ol US of A. Stay tuned for my last post(s).