The Emerald Isle

Well, it took us about a day but we're finally back! Ireland was awesome, and Scotland, well, I didn't want to leave. But it is good to have access to a washing machine again.

So, Ireland. We got up early and got the train to Madrid, the Metro to the airport, and the plane to Dublin, arriving at about 1pm Saturday. It was an uneventful journey, and the Irish customs officer was great. In fact, pretty much all the Irish seemed very friendly! I'd like to think that's what NZ is like to foreigners. Flying in, too, it was immediately obvious why it's called the Emerald Isle. It was so green! And so pretty!
We took the bus to our hostel, which was basic but clean and tidy, and walked about 15 mins through the pouring rain (yes, it was raining...) so it was nice to put on some dry socks. After trekking to a supermarket and back, we took a bit of time out before finding a bar. Lisa (the American girl I was travelling with) wasn't 100% healthy so we took our time, and while I'm sure we could have squeezed more in it was nice to not be rushing round. The bar was great, they had some musicians, a guitar, banjo, and of course, a fiddler. The music was exactly what I was hoping to see too! They played some traditional stuff, a few Irish songs, then broke out some Johnny Cash - with Irish Fiddle Solos. I'll put a video on Facebook. It was Awesome!!!!!!

Oh yeah, I had a guinness. Mmmm.

Sunday we spent a bit of time Sightseeing. We went to Trinity College, which was gorgeous, Christ Church Cathedral, which was closed for a service when we turned up (although the outside looked pretty good), and on our way back we found a cute little cafe. Back at the hostel we had a chat to some Czech guys who were actually living nearby and just looking after the hostel while the boss was out. Lisa had something that looked like bug bites round her knees so we ended up moving rooms, although it was worse the next day so that didn't help much. I was fine so it may have been an allergic reaction, although I felt sorry for the owner. I think we were jinxed there, there were several other things that went wrong too, like door handles falling off etc!

Anyway, Monday we wandered along the river 'Liffey' before visiting a few green spaces. I thought St Stephens Green was my favourite, although it's true we didn't get to the much bigger park (with a zoo!) called Phoenix Park. But that's ok. By that evening Lisa was worn out so I went out to a pub with Irish music and dancing, as I didn't want to spend out last night in Dublin sitting around in the hostel! I didn't mind being out alone actually, I didn't stay out late and I got to chat to some locals. And the dancing was inspiring. They did some a cappella dancing too, 5 of them, all in perfect time, which must have been doubly hard with half the audience clapping out of time! I'd love to learn..

We had a flight to Edinburgh Tuesday night so we had some time during the day to look around. We spent this at the Guinness Storehouse, which is on the brewery site and is essentially a museum. It was interesting, actually, although my favourite part was the free pint of Guinness at the end! And the guinness-flavoured dark chocolate I bought at the gift store. From there we walked past the old jail on our way back, and jumped on a bus to the Airport.

Tune in tomorrow to hear about Edinburgh!!