Ireland,
Where do I even begin to describe your breathtaking views, history, crisp fresh air, luscious greenery, beautiful stone walls, great eats and meeting your kind population of people?
This spontaneous trip was one for the books, my passport book that is. Being my first time out the country, I could not tell you how darn excited I was to get that first passport stamp in my passport. It was not just a stamp in a little dark blue booklet, for me it was a symbol of the amazing adventures that were straight ahead that lead to stories for years to come. This trip was spontaneous to say the least, Jacob and I thought about it and thought to ourselves, when are we ever going to get another opportunity to go again like this, the plans are already there and all we need to do is just say yes, close our eyes, and jump. And by jump I mean swipe that shiny credit card, yikes. But I can tell you it was all so worth it.
After many hours on the plane we first landed in Dublin, which was a lot like New York, and stayed at the cutest bed and breakfast. While in Dublin we visited Trinity College, Book of Kells and as many pubs as we could get ourselves in. We also had an awesome time touring around the 9 story Guinness building, my favorite part was the awesome glass incased sky bar overlooking all of Dublin. I have to stop right here and bring up the driving situation, the rental car company tells you a few tips and rules then your on your way. First of all thank goodness for a car or else we would of had one heck of a time trying to get around. Not only are you driving on the opposite side of the road, the steering wheel/driver is on the other side of the car, so in our eyes it was all backwards and could be quite confusing at times but we survived! Poor little car, we managed to get it stuck in mud in the dark, popped off a wheel and drive it over a large cement curb (don't worry we had the insurance). Oh and having no cell reception to communicate between the two cars we had was an adventure in itself, pretty hilarious on the creative ways we came up with to try and communicate. Fun fact, did you know a way to say thank you for someone letting you pass by them on the road you flash your hazards once in front of them.
After a couple of days we headed toward our stay at the villas at Adare Manor. The villas were wonderful, I was shocked with how nicely done they were. We even had our own room with our own bathrooms for each couple, that is rare especially traveling and staying in one place with 8 people. We explored Adare and Limerick he first two days then headed out to the Ring of Kerry. This drive was my little slice of heaven, you could stop whenever, get out of the car and go exploring. We stopped at an abandoned castle and church, a cool spot down by the lake and all the way up to Ladies view. Sadly it was getting too dark so we had to head back before we could go the entire loop. More reason to go back right?
Tastes of Ireland: I thoroughly enjoyed each meal I had, my favorite being a hot cup of vegetable soup, which I had a lot. Yes there were moments of weakness when the only place open late at night was the little Chinese restaurant in the little town that was pretty darn delicious. Sadly I do not care all that much for beer so I found a drink that I took a quite liking to, Baileys and coffee.
I felt like the time was just flying by, especially since it was getting dark around 4:30PM. Before I knew it was were over standing the cliffs of Moher, which was by far my favorite spot during our stay. There is just no way to describe the views and feeling you have when you are overlooking nature's masterpiece. I could have easily spent the entire trip just being there and exploring, taking in the fresh ocean air over looking the Atlantic and listening to the wind blow. It was a truly magical experience. Something that made it even more special, our dear friend, Connor proposed to his girlfriend in the castle tower over looking the cliffs. Could you get anymore romantic of a spot, shesshh! It was just all in all a perfect day and was the perfect last day we had in Ireland.
There is so much more to be said about this trip but I know you all don't have time to sit here and just read this all day so to help tell more, here are some of my favorite shots while there. The pictures might not do it justice but you can get an idea.
Until next time Ireland.
Iphone captures: places from my pocket
