All 11 of us went on this adventure. We had to wake up at 4:45 for this one. I took a lovely 4 hour nap before I had to wake up. Uggg! The taxi came for us at 5:30. As we entered the airport parking area, "Come on Ilene" came on the radio in the cab. That's how I knew this was going to be a good trip.
At the airport, we go past the swipe in area and enter the line for security. After waiting for about 5 minutes we reach the front of the line. A crotchety old lady was at the front. She asked how many and I told her 11. She took my boarding pass and told me I couldn't go through because I needed a Visa stamp. I showed her my passport, not fully understanding what she meant. Apparently we needed a stamp on our boarding pass. She tells us she won't let us through and we had to go back to where we swipped in.
We begrudgingly trudge back to the man on the podium. We waited and then asked him if he could put the stamp on our boarding pass. He told us that they do that at the gate. I calmly explain to him that they wouldn't let us past security without them. He gets on his phone and calls over to security. He tells them that we are fine and to let us through.
We head back to security. Wait in line once again and are met with an old man instead of the crotchety old lady. He let's us through. We wait for 2 hours until we can board.
At the front of the line and ready to board, I hand them my boarding pass. They get mad and tell us we have to go all the way back to get the stamp. I told them that we were told we could get stamped at the gate. They radio someone to come over. We get another lecture about getting our passes stamped. Signs them, and then he proceeds to rip my ticket in half. I demand an answer because our returing flight is on the back of the ticket. The man then tells us that we will have to reprint our tickets. "We are staying in a hostel. We won't have access to a printer I say." He tells us to go find an Internet cafe to print at. And if we can't find one, we will have to pay 40 pounds to print it at the airport. Awesome! We finally get our ripped boarding passes stamped and we are finally able to board the plane.
The flight was 30 minutes long. Which as good because we booked a bus tour at 11. We bought bus tickets and headed off. By the time we board the bus, it is 9:50, which gave us some time before the tour. We weren't too worried. But we were stop 11 out of 12. We came to stop 7 around 10:30. We could get off at at stop 7 and go straight for the bus tour, but we decided against it. Risk it for the biscuit! We get off the bus at 10:37 and ask the bus driver where our hostel was. We charge toward it. We only had to stop and ask for help once.
We barge through the door and tell the person working the desk that we need to put our backpacks in the luggage room. And I told him to call a cab while we were down there. We threw our luggage in a corner in the luggage room and rush back upstairs. He said our cab should be along shortly.
As soon as we hop in the cab I tell the cabbie that we need to go very fast because we are going to be late. And since we were running behind, we didn't have time to go to an ATM. We were scraping our wallets for any euros we might have left over from Paris. We get 10 euros in coins. Whoot whoot! We get to our destination at 10:55. He tells us that we owe him 12 euros. That wasn't 12 euros worth but we had no time to argue. We hand over the change and I bolt out. I had to exchange our email for tickets so I told Lindsey and Karli to stay back and hold the bus. I successfully exchange our email voucher. But while this was happening, the cab driver started yelling at Lindsey and Karli. They ran out of the car but the cabbie ran after them telling them that he wouldn't accept our money. Apparently we accidentally gave him zloty (polish money) which means absolutely nothing to him. Oops! He thought we were ripping him off, but we had been to 3 different countries last week with 3 different currencies. It didn't help that we only got 4 hours of sleep. They sorted everything out before I even came back outside.
Fortunately, the bus didn't leave without us. We rushes upstairs and sat in the back row so we can sit together. We had a live commentator.
First stop, Malahide Castle. It was beautiful. He allowed us 1.25 hours to go on a tour and explore. The castle was beautiful. We were put on a guided tour for free. We toured several rooms. We met 4 other teachers on the tour that were also on our bus tour. That was really weird. The rooms were brightly colored and had many pictures. In the large drawing room there were a few interesting items. First, there was a couch. It had a one person space, a two person space, and then another one person space. The two person space was for a courting couple and the one person seats were for aunts to sit and listen to the couple. Keeping an eye on them. The second interesting piece was a screen. It sorta resembles a music stand bit it was fully covered with a decorative outside. This was to put in front of the women's faces so their wax makeup wouldn't melt off.
The Castle
Courting couch
Make-up melting shield
Back on the bus and we are starving. We hadn't had anything to eat since early that morning. Luckily, the next stop was a cute harbor with lots of food places. We walked toward the harbor looking for the cheapest place to eat. We eventually find a place with 8 euro fish and chips. We walk inside and sit down. We notice the menu has the same fish and chip meal for 4 euros more. We get up and go to the take away line. We get ours to go. We find a ledge in a parking lot and sit down to eat. I finish most of my meal before all of the birds descend upon us. They were at our feet, backs, and side begging for food.
We finish and head toward the water. Oh my goodness! It was so beautiful. I was literally in a Pinterest picture. It was really windy, but really pretty. Mountains, the Scottish sea, and boats were all around.
The 5 hour tour finished up back where it started. We hit an amazing gift shop. Food was next priority. We walked around to several shops but didn't find anything cheap enough for us. Finally we settle on a Mexican restaurant. We find a bench in the median of a busy street to people watch. We eventually got cold and shuffled to Starbucks.
I got white hot chocolate. We sat in for free wifi and to get warm. I looked up specific directions to our hostel so we wouldn't get lost.
Leaving Starbucks, we had a heading. We actually knew where we were going and it only took us 20 minutes!!! Wow! That is a big difference from 3 hours. We paid and got our room keys and luggage. Our rooms really weren't too bad. There were 3 bunk beds and we had our own bathroom. We went to bed early, because we were extremely tired.
Saturday June 7
We slept in until 8:45. That was really nice. We got partly ready and headed downstairs for free breakfast. Toast and cookie things. Not too bad.
Off to the hop on hop off tour. We walked to the pick up place. We got on and then we were off. the third stop was were we wanted to get off--Trinity College. We wanted to see the Book of Kells. This is an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels. We had to wait in line for 15 minutes. We get inside, buy our tickets, and head to the exhibition. There was a lot of reading. It was very pretty with its gold colors and great calligraphy. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures. Then we went to the actually library part. Holy cow! It was filled ceiling to floor with old books. The books were arranged by largest books on the bottom and smallest at the top. it was crazy that college students actually went into the library and checked books. After several pictures, we left toward the bus tour again.
We found Eddie Rockets. It was like Steak 'n Shake. They came to take our order. I saw a meal deal and ordered that. Chicken strips with fries. A drink came with it. I ordered still water. The waiter said sorry we can't do that. We have coke, diet coke, fanta, ad sprite. I got wide eyed and said I can't do carbonation. The waiter sat and battled himself on whether to let me have it or not. He said he isn't allowed to but he will do it this one time. I was so happy I could get my water. I just can't believe it was that big of a deal. The chicken basket came. It was smaller than a kids meal and it looked like chicken nuggets instead of chicken strips. I was not a fan of that place.
We finished out the tour and then headed to a tourism office. We had a lot of time to kill and we wanted to see some Irish scenery. We asked the people at the tourist office about getting to the coast. They said day tours were the only way to get exactly where we wanted. But he suggested a different place for us to go. He said go on the dart (local train service) to the opposite coast. 25 minute ride. We thought that was a good idea.
We got to the train station, bought our tickets, and loaded up, bound for Dun Laoghaire. We got on and are taken on a beautiful ride. There was water and beautiful coast. I couldn't contain my joy. It was suppose to rain today. It was 63 without a cloud in the sky. We couldn't have asked for better weather.
The biggest oh my goodness--holy cow!!! This place was magnificent! It was so beautiful. Pinterest perfect town. You could smell the sea when we hopped off the train-- I was in love. We immediately headed toward the harbor overlooking the Irish Sea. It was probably 1/2 mile out into the sea. We start walking, taking in this picturesque place. I was so happy we were by water! Our view on the left was blocked by this massive wall, but I noticed a tiny little opening. I rushed toward it. It was rocks leading to open water. I couldn't be happier. The others followed me. No one was down there with us. We were secluded and by the water. You could tell it was low tide because all of the rocks had algae and seaweed on them. I didn't care. I scaled the rocks and made my way to the waters edge. I almost slipped on the last rock and tumbled into the sea- but I saved myself right before my foot was submerged. I then bent down and out my arm in the Irish Sea. It was a magical moment. The water was a little chilly, but not cold enough to keep me out of it. I wanted so badly to jump in and swim. Instead I settled myself upon a rock that looked like the little mermaid rock and laid out in the sun. That was so relaxing sitting in the sun next to the sea. I really didn't want to leave.
The harbor
Irish Sea
Little Mermaid Rock
Eventually, we continued down the dock thing and came upon an old light house. It was cute. Not huge or really beautiful. We walked back toward land. I was sad, but we followed the shore line. There were paths right at the shores edge. The waves crashes upon our path but I was in love. We made it to the end of the line and there was a swimming hole. I was in awe. About 50 people were swimming in the 58-68 degree water (Thats what I guessed with my expert opinion). There were people lap swimming and children swimming. I stood there a while just watching in envy, wishing I had brought my suit.
Food. We walked back along the shore and all of the food places were closed, except for a nice cream shop. I got a vanilla cone with a chocolate stick in it. That was so yummy. I liked it a lot. It was time for actual food. The shops were either too expensive or already closed. We eventually descended upon a Starbucks for actual food and free wifi. We sat in there for almost an hour. Abuse and use that free wifi.
So close Starbucks, better luck next time
Back to Dublin. We made it into the train safely and back to Dublin. We decided to people watch for a while. Boy is that always fun. We found several interesting people. There were some hen parties, trollops, and creepers. We sat there for 45 minutes, then headed back to our hostel.
The start of our journey was a little rocky, but Dublin was great! I truly couldn't begin to capture the beauty of the mountains, country side, and sea in my pictures. The movie "P.S. I love you," which was shot in Ireland, was completely right when it talked about how green Ireland really was. Ta and Cheers!
C'mon Ilene usually pops up when we are taking vacations.
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