I'M TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH IRELAND.
Every time I leave this country and come back, I appreciate the culture, people, and landscape more and more...the weather could be better though :) I have been up to nothing but shananagans since I last wrote after my Florence trip!!! Melissa and I do anything whenever wherever when we feel like it and have met some great Irish and French friends and have been having a blast.
Midterms were a jooookkeee, 5 questions, choose 3 to answer.. HA. So less stressful than the states. Lets see here, in February Melissa and I had a little kitchen mishap, guess you could realllllly call me a bad cook now. Started a small kitchen fire, quite the scare! whoopsys.. learned my lesson.
We stayed in Dublin for 3 weekends, going to some local pubs, hiking, and just sight seeing. Melissa, Becca, and I took the train to Rathdrum to try to get to Glendalough to hike, got there and the sign said 17 kilometers to Glendalough.. so we decided to walk! Thought maybe we could get a ride with someone, nope nope its illegal to hitchhike in Ireland apparently! Naturally it decided to rain and after walked two and a half hours we reached a sign that said Glendalough, 8 kilometers! Our train was leaving in 3 hours so we had to turn back to catch it! So we walked roughly 12 miles down a country road with tons of sheep, mountains in the distance, and huge trees.. not too bad of a saturday afternoon!
So midterms were a joke, as I said, but we were thrilled to start our vacation!! My plane left early Saturday morning on March 5th and I was off to Sevilla! Kaitlan and Tori (friends from high school that are studying in Sevilla) met me at the bus stop and we browsed around the streets (ORANGE TREES LINE THE STREETS! Soo cool) and went to these gardens. They were soooo beautiful! Huge bushes, water fountains, orange and lemon trees. The temperature was great too, probably around 63 and sunny. We caught lunch at a little cafe and then parted our ways. Met up in the park later that day where Trevor (friend from college studying in Spain) met us and we walked around the park then got dinner in a little lit up alley with music and heat lamps outside. We ate tapas.. YUM. That night we went out with Kaitlan and her friends from Spain and that was a good time too.
Sunday morning Trevor and I met up and we walked around the city taking pictures, being tourists. Met up with Tori and went to some small shops and saw the inside of the huge gothic cathedral in the heart of the city. We grabbed lunch and drank yummy spanish drinks! That night I was on the roof of the terrace at my hostel writing, when I noticed a man cooking in this huge saucer pan. He was making paella and had a huge dish of sangria and it was actually for all of the hostel residents! On the terrace I met some Australians (two of whom are actually studying in Dublin as well!) and Californians and we all went to see a flaminco show! It was really intense! It was two men, one playing the guitar and the other clapping and singing, with one woman clapping and dancing. The rhythm was great and they were all extremely talented, I had no idea flaminco dancing was so passionate!
The next day I was off to catch a plane and join my roommate Melissa in Barcelona. Our hostel was right on Las Ramblas which was very convenient and right away we wanted to explore the city. Its a HUGE city. Sooo many palm trees (which are my absolute favorite) and a beach of course that was gorgeous as well. We found a bike rental place, super super cheap and we rode along the coast line through the zoo park, and all along the beach. Finally we ate a great american meal and the hard rock cafe and headed back to the hostel! The hostel was great and the room view overlooked Plaza Reil which was full of palm trees. There we met a group of Argentinians and went out for a bit with them, came back to the hostel and went to a night club. Can't believe it but in Barcelona people don't go out until 2:30am! Crazy.
Tuesday I was determined to see the olympic stadium in Barcelona so Melissa and I took the train to the Plaza de Espanya and saw the Montjuic which is a huge museum, we walked around it and got lost in some amazing gardens overlooking the entire city! We found olympic stadium at the top of the hill near the ocean and took tons of pictures. Naturally Melissa and I walked EVERYWHERE and by this time we had huge blisters on our feet, worst pain ever. After frolicking around all day we made it back to the hostel for some free dinner and met some great IRISH people! What a small world, it was a group of about 11 of them just sitting in the reception hall eating and singing their lungs off! Sooo funny. We decided to go out to the Opium club with them. Its this real classy lounge literally on the beach. Melissa and I sat on the terrace there watching the huge waves and just couldn't believe we were there! Met some great people from Holland and chatted outside all night. Finally made it back to the hostel ridiculously late at night. Total success!
Wednesday we woke up and invited a girl from Brazil in our room to rent bikes and tour the city a bit more. We made it to Sagrada Familia, that huge gothic cathedral that has been under construction for years and years! It was really a site to see. Then we rode our bikes up to the top of the city to Park Guell. We were literally the only ones with bikes up there, because it was the most excruciating cycle up the huge hills! The park was so breathtaking though! It overlooked the entire city and the ocean. Anna, Melissa and I of course had a photo shoot and took tons and tons of pictures. We walked around the entire park that was full of great views, ceramic artwork and Gaudi homes. After that we headed back to the hostel and on the way we saw Casa Mila, Casa Batllo and other famous buildings designed by Gaudi! It was really a perfect day. It was sunny and the bikes were so much fun! That night we went to Razmatazz (the biggest nightclub in europe?) with the Irish lads and had such a blast! We were singing in the hostel, then in the taxi, it was like one huge kareokee night! So fun. The club is 5 or so levels of different types of music on each level. Very interesting, the people on stage were in egyptian outfits? It was a hoot.
The next day our plane was supposed to leave but good ol' ryanair cancelled it! After arguing in the airport we were homeless and money-less. We went back to the city, got groceries and had a picnic on the beach. We killed time by reading and writing postcards, laying on the beach, and attempting to sleep! Finally we gave up and by 2am we decided to go to the airport. We slept there and caught the plane to Venice early in the morning!!
Venezia!!! Sooooo beautiful! We arrived in the early afternoon and got a bus to the island! It was just as I had imagined it! Canals and bridges, little buildings, festive worn colors, and a great atmosphere! We wandered the city until night and took the vaporetto (water bus) back to our hostel. It was a great hostel, room overlooked the canal and main city of Venice! Although it was a chill night, we were in awe of our recent travels and that we were in such a unique place.
The next day we saw Plaza S. Marco and found a park. Wandered around, ate fabbbulous gellato and finally found a cute place to eat. I got gnocci bolognese, FANTASTIC! yumm I cant complain about Italian food, they are masters at making pizza which just happens to be my favorite food!! We then found a new hostel that actually used to be a church which was on the main island of Venice and had BEAUTIFUL views of canals and great houses. That night we went out and bought a bottle of wine and sat on a peer overlooking a canal, decided to get pizza and met some great germans! We ended up exploring Venice with them that night and had a blast! We learned a little german too! Lass mal gehen (lets go), es it cult (it is cold), licheln (smile), and ich liebe dich (i love you)! It was a hoot.
The next day we were awoken by what seemed to be the partridge family! Bunch of kids playing the piano and singing at 7:30am! It was quite interesting. Melissa and I wanted to leave Venice and maybe see some mountains on the mainland but quickly realized we were short on money so decided to travel around Venice a bit more! We people watched a lot and got attacked by an absurd herd of pigeons! Finally decided we were desperately missing Ireland and grabbed a beer at an "authentic" irish pub. We felt a bit more at home but all the news on the tv was in Italian and we were missing on what was going on with Japan, although the pictures did help describe the scene a bit. Sooooo sad. That night we grabbed some pizza (naturally) haha and frolicked around the rainy streets of Venice one last time! It was finally Monday and our plain was leaving later in the afternoon so we decided to take a water bus to the island of Burano, full of vibrant colors and home to lace making! The buildings were hysterical!! Each home was a different florescent color, one after the other. Totally fascinating! By the end of the day we were completely ready to get home to Ireland, but whooops, we are bad planners and have a huuugee layover in London-Stansted airport. Sat, slept, and played cribbage in the airport for 14 HOURS until we finalllly made it back to Dublin.
Got to Dublin just in time for St. Patricks Day!!!! The streets were decorated with balloons and flags and Melissa Bohl mi hermana was coming just the next day. I have to tell you, it was more exciting getting to Ireland after that long long trip rather than my very first time in Ireland. I know my friends, know where I'm living, and had so much to look forward to that I am just totally in love with this country!
Met up with Melissa, Steph, Joe, and Rob at the Jameson Distillery on Wednesday and got a tour! The tour was pretty lame but the Jameson at the end was quite tasty. Melissa got to taste test 4 whiskeys, Jameson was by far the best. Then we went to a few pubs in the area and I took them to the oldest pub in Ireland called the Brazen Head. We got some authentic Irish grub and traveled onward to a pub for some live music in Temple Bar area.
The next day was St. Patricks Dayy!!!!!!!! Got up and got super festive in some Irish clothes, Melissa and them all came over to our apartment and we prepared ourselves for the parade! The streets were filled with Irish pride and flags. The parade ran from O'Connell Street to Christ's Church and was just lined with people. I thought the parade was a bit overrated but it was still interesting. Some cool floats and singers, face masks, a bit more carnival like than I had anticipated. After a few naps we were ready to see the damage in the streets. Everywhere was full of people and the pubs were overflowing! We couldn't even fit in anywhere. Soooo ridiculous. We finally found a pub near their hotel and some of my Irish friends joined us for a Guinness. It was overall a pretty fun St. Pattys day!! Very very americanized, and not what I had expected but never the less, I love Ireland :)
Friday we headed to Glendalough to do some hiking before Melissa and Rob split to travel the Island. We hiked up a hill which overlooked the valley, sooo pretty and another beautiful day! The winding roads in the mountains on the way there were a bit like a roller coaster! Along the mountain edge and all, I was kind of nervous with a new Ireland driver at the wheel! The views were amazing and we made it to the Wicklow National Park that had a great lake and small walking trail. It was so great to see Mel! Her and Rob will have a greeattt time seeing Ireland as Steph had and as I have.
The longest weekend everrrr!!!! (not that I'm complaining) Today we went with our Irish friends back to County Wicklow to see the Sally Gap (where the movie P.S. I love you was filmed). It was another beautiful area! Steep slopes but then country side with wild horses, sheep and little rivers running through the valley. It was such an Irish countryside I couldn't believe it was only a short drive from Dublin. I'm totally in love with the design of the tiny roads and the rock walls and shrubs around it! We had a great time just driving and singing in the car with our Irish lads that we had actually met in Barcelona! They say that when you are Irish you run into Irish people everywhere, they are unnescapable! I don't mind it at all!! :)
Well, I STILL don't have school until wednesday so there are more adventures to come for me this week! Miss you all, hope all is well!
love you tons,
Monica :)
