Off to Galway

First - Dublin, which reminds me of a quaint version of NY (without all the tall buildings). We were exhausted on Wednesday, but persevered and made it to the Guinness Storehouse and Pheonix Park....plus explored a lot of the city just walking around. While mildly disappointed by the Storehouse (I've been spoiled by New Belgium - best brewery ever) the Guinness tasted fabulous up there in the Gravity Bar. We decided that it was the longest day EVER - leaving NY on Tuesday at 7:40pm...catching a few winks on the plane and arriving in Dublin at 9:00 in the morning, we realized we had a whole other day before we could sleep. We nodded off a little in the park....which is when we decided it was time to get moving again ;p After a little something to eat we headed back to the hostel to crash....I was out by 10:30 and I can't even begin to explain how good it felt to lay my head on that pillow!! My 4 bunkmates from Rochester, NY and 2 from Germany all went out - thank goodness - for the night, so aside from waking in the middle of the night when they came in, I slept like a baby.

Thursday left us feeling most refreshed, and after breakfast in the dining hall where I met William, a piano teacher from northern Portugal, and two girls from Torrino, Italy, we made our way out to the Natural History Museum and Art Gallery. I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, seen so many dead, stuffed animals, insects, fish, etc. It was utterly disturbing at first...I mean you could see the stitching in some of the animals skin! After a while, I was surprisingly OK. The insect exhibit was soooo cool :) The Art Gallery was interesting - there was a Yeats exhibit which was pretty sweet. But I have to say - in general, the "Traditional" Irish art wasn't really doin' it for me.

On to the Archbishop Ryan Park - beautiful. One thing that stuck out as a bit odd were two headstones - one dedicated to those who have been abused and the other dedicated to children who died at birth.

We hopped on the bus and went out to the National Botanic Gardens (surprising I'm sure) ;p Gorgeous, simply gorgeous!! First we checked out the sights....more succulents and cacti than I'd ever seen - Linse, I got you some good pics! Lush green and bright colors everywhere... not to mention the trees...very cool trees...ahhhhh. We found a nice spot to play some frisbee (Adam got it stuck in a tree, but used his manly skill of stick throwing to retrieve it), write in our journals and play some tunes on the uke. Then it was off to Porterhouse Brewery - an Irish brewery with some damn good beer....my Weiss had serious banana undertones goin on and Adam's Porter was smooth and yummy. From there we walked to an Indian restaurant (Geeta you would have loved this place) that was quite different than we were accustomed to - all the more reason to try it! After some delicious food we made our way back to the hostel to grab some warmer gear and drop off our pack and headed to the Arlington Hotel (how ironic) on Bachelors Walk for some traditional Irish dance and music - pretty chill...good times - all that mattered was that we found some live music.

Our hostel was pretty nice, and huge! Almost 300 beds, but no mixed dorms - which makes sharing toothpaste and shampoo a little more of a challenge, but we managed. Today we're off to the Galway area - we're staying in a hostel (Ben Lettery) near Clifden at the foot of the the mountains for some chill time hiking and exploring. Ahhh, the cliffs of Ireland - the beauty that awaits. Figure we'll go into the little nearby town for some local action :)

Oh, and I have to say - I love the bus! The drivers are more than helpful and friendly, and we've met a couple interesting people riding around. Ahhhh, the joys of public trans ;)

More to come soon....
Peace and Love,
Lil