The Parents Have Landed

After my morning class on Wednesday, I took the bus into town and spotted two familiar faces waving to me from a hotel window.  After having been in Amsterdam for a few days, my parents had arrived in Dublin!  It was oddly not too weird to see them here in Ireland which is strange because when family members come to Colorado, it feels out of place.

Once the hugs and catch ups were done, we headed into the heart of the city where I took them on a brisk walking tour of Dublin.  I had another class that night so we parted ways and made plans to meet up the next day.

Quick stroll in St. Stephen's Green

The three of us met up in the morning and had a traditional Irish breakfast at Gerry's Coffee Shop (no relation to my dad).  I neglected to tell the parents what black pudding, part of the traditional Irish breakfast, was until after we ate (it's normally made from pig's blood).  We then headed over to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

After my class later in the day, my parents met me at the UCD campus.  We didn't get to walk around much because we had bought tickets to the Guinness Storehouse and had to get there before they closed.

In the Gravity Bar!

We made it in time to the Storehouse and went on the self guided tour.  Of any brewery tour I've been on, this one was the best.  Very informative and entertaining at the same time.  I also really enjoyed the Gravity Bar at the top of the Storehouse where you get a free pint of the black stuff and a 360 degree view of Dublin.

For dinner, we went to Gallagher's Boxty House, the place I had been earlier in the semester for the cooking demonstration.  Absolutely delicious!

The next day was the beginning of our 3 day tour in Northern Ireland.  After meeting up in the morning, the three of us hopped on the most stereotypical tour bus imaginable (think leprechauns and lots of green), the Paddy Wagon, where we made our way up to Belfast.  Our tour guide, Lee, told us some of the history of Ireland and about the division between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  A lot of what was said was stuff that had been covered in my Irish history class so it was a good review.

Going into Northern Ireland was very strange.  Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom whereas the rest of Ireland, aka the Republic of Ireland, is part of the European Union.  The most noticeable differences are the use of the pound sterling instead of the euro and the flying of the Union Jack as opposed to the Irish flag.  Being in Belfast felt a lot like being in Liverpool.

When we got to Belfast, we took a black taxi tour with a local guide who explained the division not only with the rest of Ireland but also within the city.  There is even a wall in the city that separates the Catholics from the Protestants.  The conflict between the two is still very much a thing.

The wall separating Belfast

We then went to the Titanic Museum.  The Titanic was built in Belfast.  The museum is housed in a very impressive building!

Titanic Museum

After settling into our hostel (a new experience for the parents) we walked around Belfast a little followed by dinner with the rest of the tour group (which included some crazy/funny/nice Kiwi's, an Italian, two Germans, an Australian, and two other Americans).

Belfast City Hall

On Saturday morning, we got back into the Paddy Wagon bus and drove up to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.  The scenery was stunning!  The rope bridge was fun to cross but the real pleasure was in the amazing views of the cliffs and looking out over the water.  We could even see Scotland!

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

The next stop of the day was The Giant's Causeway, "an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns" caused by an ancient volcanic eruption.  Once again, incredible!

Our last stop of the day was in the town of Derry (or Londonderry depending on if you're a Unionist or Irish Nationalist).  Our tour guide Rory spoke more about the conflicting sides and led us around the town.  After the tour came dinner followed by the pub crawl.  Both the parents wanted to go on the pub crawl and I'm sure it was an experience for them.  They did a good job of keeping up with the rest of the group!

This morning, minus a few stops here and there, the Paddy Wagon headed back to Dublin.  My parents have a flight back to the USA tomorrow morning and so we parted ways near their hotel.  It was great to see them for a few days!  Going to Northern Ireland was something on my to do list and I'm glad we got to experience it together.

Giant's Causeway

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Next weekend is the Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher with API!  

I can't believe tomorrow is April!  My time here is going way too fast! 

Can't Buy me Love, but a Ticket to Spain Might Help

St. Patrick's Day was last week on Sunday.  I got back from my big spring break trip the night before and was exhausted but had to suck it up for the big celebration.

Festivities started at 8 AM with a group of my friends.  After we made an Irish breakfast, the 4 of us headed into town to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade.  We got into the city a little before the parade started but managed to get a front row space (until later when there was some chaos and we lost our spots).  The parade was fun.  It started off with random people walking but then the real parade started.  Near the front was the CSU marching band!  It was weird to see the familiar ram symbol and I got to see my friend Kat in the color guard!  From a combination of way too many tourists and the weather taking a turn for the worse, we didn't stay in town for that long.  The day was not as I had expected but I can now say I've been in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day!

For the next few days, I pretty much stayed in bed trying to recover from spring break part 1 and getting a little cold sickness.  I was going to work on an essay due when school got back in session but did not quite get around to it. 

Thursday morning after dealing with a shuttle bus that kept breaking down on the way to the airport, I caught my very quick flight over to Liverpool, England.  I met up with my high school friend Summer who I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was great to catch up!  She showed me around the city and we hit some of the big highlights.  Stores in Liverpool love The Beatles!

A little bit of Liverpool from the docks

That night it snowed...a lot.  Between the bitter cold wind and the side blowing snow, I was ready for Spain!

My flight to Barcelona was delayed about 1.5 hours due to the snow but I eventually got there on Friday night.  I had drawn out a map of how to get to my hostel but a combination of it being dark and street signs not being very noticeable had me wandering around Barcelona for a bit.  After asking for help, I found the hostel and met up with 3 friends who had gotten to Barcelona earlier in the day.

On Saturday, we made our way to Sagrada Família, a large Roman Catholic church designed by Antoni Gaudí (who seems to have pretty much designed Barcelona in general).  The church was very impressive!  We were going to go inside but the line was ridiculously long.

Sagrada Família

Our next stop was Casa Milà followed by Casa Batlló, both designed by Gaudi.  We then walked back to the famous La Rambla to get some lunch and walk around the many shops in the numerous alleyways.

That night, we went to the magic fountain show.  It was a fountain that had music and choreographed lighting.  Very impressive!  We also made our way to the top of an old bull fighting stadium (now converted into a shopping mall) and got a great 360 degree view.

Later on, we went out with some people we met at the hostel to a bar followed by a nightclub.  The Spaniards timetable is shifted about 4 hours later than what I'm used to so it was a late, but fun, night.

It was amusing to try and have a conversation with a guy that spoke hardly any English in the bar in my very broken 3 years of high school Spanish.  I actually understood a lot more than I was expecting to during the whole trip.  The hardest part was figuring out if people were speaking to me in Spanish or Catalan.  Being in Spain made me want to learn more Spanish.

The next day, we headed to Park Güell, also designed by Gaudi.  The park had spectacular views of Barcelona as well as some amazing architectural and mosaic features throughout the park.  

Barcelona!

That afternoon, I split off from the others and walked to the Picasso Museum.  However, the line was incredibly long and didn't move for the 10 minutes I stood in it so I decided to go to Parc de la Ciutadella and the Arc de Triomf.  The most impressive feature in the park was the Font de la Cascada.

Font de la Cascada

Arc de Triomf

Any trip I take would not be complete unless I survive a torrential rain and/or snow storm.  Barcelona decided on rain.  It started pouring at the park and as I made my way to  Barceloneta Beach.  After walking up and down the beach, the rain stopped for a little bit.  I actually really like beaches when it's overcast because there's hardly anyone there and it's more relaxing.  I wasn't able to lay out at all due to the insanely wet sand but walked back and forth a few times.

Barceloneta Beach: Don't be fooled by the picture...it was pouring when I took this!

A little later I met back up with my friends and we went to get Tapas followed by a free dinner, compliments of a coupon we got at our hostel.  It was a nice and wet way to end our time in Barcelona before heading back to Dublin for classes to start back up.

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So Spring Break 2013 is officially over.  It was probably the best 2 weeks of my life.  I got to go to something like 7 countries with a variety of good friends and got to see so many new things.  Reality of school is kicking back in (as much as it can when you're living in Europe) as I still need to do that essay I planned on doing after St. Patrick's day.  On Wednesday this week, my parents will be getting to Dublin!  It should be fun to show them some places in town and then we head up to Belfast in Northern Ireland to do some exploring.

***Happy birthday to my dad!!***

10 Days, 7 Cities, 4 Planes, 2 Trains, 1 Unforgettable Spring Break

I've been thinking the last few days about the daunting task of writing up what I am calling Spring Break Part 1.  I'm thinking I'll do a "quick" overview using my own personal journal that I'm keeping as a guide.  This is probably going to be a very long one.  Here we go:

[Oh and as a side note, it's been mentioned to me that I write a lot about food.  Going back over previous posts, I find this to be very true and yet unintentional.  I love food so this entry will be no different.]

The beginning of my journey started on the 7th of March at 2:30 AM.  I caught the shuttle bus from UCD to the airport and got on my first flight of the day from Dublin to Paris, Beauvais (a very small airport far away from the city mostly operated by the oh so famous Ryan Air).  After waiting a few hours, I made my way via plane to Bologna, Italy.  From the airport, I hopped on a shuttle bus that took me to Bologna Centrale where I just barely caught my train to Florence.

Florence, Italy:

Upon arriving in Florence, I met up with my high school friend Samantha who is studying there and we walked around a little bit.  The weather wasn't the best (a reoccurring theme on the whole trip) but it was neat to be in a different part of Europe and to see a familiar face.  We went to Sam's apartment where I met her roommates and travel companions for part of my trip, Tiffany and Breanna.   For dinner, Sam and I went to Gusta pizza.  It had been recommended to me by multiple people who had been to Florence and it definitely lived up to the hype.  Best pizza I've ever had!  We also got some gelato after stuffing ourselves with pizza.  When in Italy...

Gusta Pizza. Yum!

The next day Tiffany, Breanna, Sam, and me went to the Accademia di Belle Arti to see the famous statue of David and other art.  The statue was amazing in real life!  I didn't really know what the big deal about it was at first but seeing it made me realize how spectacular it is.  It is absolutely massive and the details are incredible.  I could have easily stared at it for a few hours.

The Duomo

A little bit later, Sam and I walked around Florence so I could do the touristy thing and take pictures of all the notable landmarks.  We also took the walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo to see Florence from above.

Ponte Vecchio

Florence, Italy

Prague, Czech Republic:

Early the next morning, the four of us took a bus to Pisa, Italy where we then flew to Prague.  After settling into our hostel, we walked around and got some lunch at a Chinese place.  Ordering was kind of fun seeing as the menu was all in Czech.  Once again, the weather was pretty bad so we headed back to the hostel and played some card games.  We were able to meet some really cool people back at the hostel as well (Oscar from Colombia, Hannah from Australia, Rich from New Jersey, and Ben from Scotland).  For dinner, we found a cheap place that offered a three course "tourist special" (that's us!) with traditional Czech food.

I believe the next day was Sunday which meant it was time for a walking tour.  Our guide was American but had been living in Prague for something around 14 years and he knew his stuff.  The tour did not take us on the other side of the river so some of us later ventured out, more specifically to find the John Lennon wall.  The wall might be the hardest thing to find in Prague but it was worth the struggle.

Charles Bridge

John Lennon Wall

On Monday, we crossed the river again and went up to Prague Castle which, according to Wikipedia, is that biggest castle in the world.  The castle was up a hill which let us look over the city as well.

A little bit of Prague Castle

Prague

Munich, Germany:

Sam and I parted ways with Breanna and Tiffany early Tuesday morning to get a train to Munich.  After a 6 hour ride, we checked into our hostel and wandered around.  We were going to try and make a walking tour but missed it/went to the wrong meeting place.  We instead got lost wandering around the suburbs of Munich...an interesting experience.  For dinner, Sam and I went to The Hofbräuhaus beer hall.  Yum!

The next day we took a short train and bus trip to Dachau concentration camp.  It was a pretty heavy experience but I wish it had been more organic.  It was definitely set up to be a place for visitors whereas places like Auschwitz, from what I've heard, have pretty much remained the same.   However, I had always wanted to go to a concentration camp and it was an eyeopening experience.

Dachau

After getting back to Munich, we found the walking tour and learned some more about the city.  For dinner, we did some research on where to get the best schnitzel.  The place we found lived up to its reputation.  The schnitzel was bigger than my head.  The German's sure do like their food and beer.

Opera House in Munich

For our last day in Germany, Sam and I took a 2 hour train to Füssen so that we could see Neuschwanstein Castle, also known  as the inspiration for the Disney castle.  It was snowing on our walk up and it literally felt like we were in a fairy tale.  The scenery alone was enough to make the trip worthwhile and the castle just added to it.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Paris, France:

For our final leg of the journey, Sam and I took an overnight train from Munich to Paris.  The trip was about 10.5 hours in the most cramped/uncomfortable seat ever.  It was an experience to say the least.  When we finally arrived, we took the tram to our hotel and then made our way back into the city where we caught a walking tour that was just leaving. 

Our guide, Onno, was probably the best walking tour guide I've had since being in Europe.  He was fantastic and not only knew a lot about the city but told us little tips and tricks to visiting Paris (watch out for those kids with the clipboards!).  

Notre Dame

At the conclusion of the tour, Sam and I headed over to the Eiffel Tower to snap some pictures during the day.  We then headed back to the famous Louvre museum where we saw some notable art like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.  The museum was massive!  There is no way you could cover the whole thing in a day.  After we were tired out from the art, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up at night.  We were going to climb the stairs but realized that the only thing opened was the elevator and the top portion was closed.  Kind of a let down but oh well. 

Louvre

On the last day of the trip, Samantha and I said our goodbyes and went to our respective airports.  I flew back to Dublin and slept quite well after going almost nonstop for such a long time.  Today (the day after I got back) is St. Patrick's day but I'll save that for my next entry...

Eiffel Tower at night

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I'm pretty sure I covered all the major events.  It was probably the best ten days of my life.  I met so many cool people and got to see some amazing things!  I've got a couple of days to recover in Dublin and then on Thursday am headed to Liverpool to see my friend Summer.  From there I head down to Barcelona on Friday!  I am ready for some hot weather and a beach! 

Buses and Birthdays

Zoo

Friday was a bit of an unexpected day.  I wanted to go to Phoenix Park which is supposed to be the Central Park of Europe so my friend Julie and me got on a bus and headed over.  After walking around for a bit, we happened to pass by the Dublin Zoo inside the park and decided to have a look around.  The zoo is rather large and they had a lot of animals that I had never seen before in person.  The highlight was seeing a tiger climb up a tree to get her food.  The food was hanging from a chain attached to a branch and the tiger grabbed onto the food and was dangling by gripping the food in her mouth without paws.  It was amazing!

On Saturday, I had an API trip to Galway and Connemara in Western Ireland.  After an early morning bus ride, we got to Galway and met up with the API Galway group to do a bus tour of Connemara.  We got to see some classic Irish scenery which consisted of rolling green hills, paper smooth lakes, and sheep...lots of sheep.  The bus stopped at this place that makes marble for jewelry and home use (green marble is apparently big in Connemara).  It was a little weird and I was happy we were there for only half an hour.

Connemara

After some more scenic bus ride, we did a quick stop at a farmers market.  I resisted the urge to buy a hen.  Listening to people talk, it was interesting to hear the distinction between the Dublin accent and the Western Irish one.  The two places are only about a three hour drive away but there is definitely a difference in the accent.

Some more driving and we stopped at the beautiful Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled Gardens.  Not only were the Abbey and gardens amazing but the view was breathtaking as well.  It made me appreciate how lucky some of us are to live in the NW in the states who get to see similar scenery everyday.

Kylemore Abbey

Victorian Walled Gardens

Our last trip on the bus tour was to Brigit's Garden.  I don't really know how to explain this place.  My friend, Christina, may have hit the nail on the head:  "This must be where Tinker Bell lives."

Brigit's Garden

Of course, I can't forget that Saturday was also my 21st birthday!  After a very filling meal, celebrations were in full effect...let's just leave it at that.

Sunday morning we went on a walking tour of Galway with our fantastic tour guide, Liam, followed by a little time to walk around.  After that, we got back on a bus and headed to Dublin.

On the walking tour

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Spring break starts this week on Thursday so I doubt I'll be able to write again for a few weeks.  My original Spring Break plans have changed quite a bit.  On Thursday last week (one week before the Bus2Alps trip was supposed to start) without any warning, I got an email saying the trip was canceled.  That leaves me stuck with 2 flights and a train to get to Florence (where the bus was supposed to start) and a flight from Paris back to Dublin (ending place).  My friend Samantha and me have been piecing together what we're doing instead and are slowly making progress.  It's hard/expensive to book things a week before spring break and I am not happy with Bus2Alps.  I highly advise anyone who may be thinking about using them to NEVER do so.  They have been incredibly unprofessional and unhelpful about the whole situation.  Anyways, right now we know we are going to Prague and want to go to Munich.  Other than that, we just need to figure out how to get to Paris.  It'll work out...hopefully.