L'ete a Paris: The Land of Eirinn and the Cliffs of Mohers!

I don't even know how to start writing this entry. The three days I spent in Ireland far out way the rest of the trip combined thus far. I'm in love with this place.

The people are so nice! We got off of the plane at about 11:15 so we missed the last public bus passing through. There was an older gentleman who told us just where we needed to go and gave us all maps marked with out hostel on it and everything. So cute. After the bus though we still had a ways to walk to get to our hostel door. Now at night these little streets were quite dark and abandoned looking so the girls that were with us, the same ones who experienced the pick pocketing, were terrified. Then a couple walked up and offered to help us find our way because the street names on the map and on the streets themselves were not the same (a great help to us tourists!) Finally we arrived only to discover that the 6 of us had been split up into 3 different rooms and three different floors. The manager however was so nice and helped rearrange it so we were all in a private suite together- no additional charge! We got right to bed that night because we had to get up to make our 7 am bus for our tour out to the Cliffs of Mohers!

The trip lasted from 7 am until 7 pm. It was a long day! But oh so much fun and the sights in the country and on the coast were just breath taking! Everything is so green! We stopped at an abandoned Abbey and at a Castle for pictures and exploration but of course the main events of the day were at the cliffs themselves. We couldn't walk to far out because apparently the winds get so strong there that people have been blown right off the side. So now they have stone fences up to keep you a good distance from the edge. There were performers everywhere playing the harp, banjo, guitar, and singing it was just beautiful. The weather was amazing as well! Ireland is always been noted for their rainy climate but it did not rain a single drop while we were there! In fact I got sunburned! haha. While we stopped at the castle to walk around there were a group of Irishmen sitting outside a cafe who called us over- "hey you with the fiery hair, bring your friends and come sit with us!" I heard these remarks all weekend! haha Its like they've never seen a redhead before which of course is false. We talked with them for a while and they gave us some tips about where to go in Dublin and the parts of town to avoid. It was a really nice little conversation and they even stood up from one side of the picnic table so that we could all sit down with them. Chivalry is most certainly not dead in Ireland!

That night we came back and rested up before we cleaned up to go out to dinner and to some pubs! We wanted to go to the Temple Bar, of course!, but decided to stop at a place across the street for dinner first. We piled into a booth at Fitzsimmons and I had my first Guinness and some genuine fish and chips! Yummy! While we were chowing down the live entertainment started on the first floor which played of the speakers on all 5 floors. He was phenomenal with great song selections. After eating we decided to go an see the performance up close and we stayed down there and danced for a while. Then we went up to explore the other floors. We ended up on the terrace on the roof where we made some friends. Three Irishmen, Peter, Karl, and Dean, over heard us talking about the conversion of a pint into cups and started making fun of us haha. Not that I blame them at all! Then after a short time another guy came over and joined the group. He was a Norwegian named Atle. We all sat down (they got all of us girls chairs even haha love those Irish boys) and spent the next few hours talking about the differences in our cultures and the various expressions and customs (this was how we heard about the attacks in Norway, sadness!) . It was really a lot of fun! We're all Facebook friends now! haha So we didn't make it to the Temple bar that night but it was well worth it. It was such a great night!