Dublin, Ireland

MacCoole Farm

Jameson Factory

Cliffs of Moher

I don't know how many of you have heard of or flown Ryan Air, but it is essentially a massive bus in the sky that calls itself an airline and offers extremely inexpensive tickets. The way Ryan Air makes its money is if you do not strictly follow their regulations. If you don't book to check your luggage in advanced- 100 euros. If you don't print out your boarding pass prior- 70 euros. If you don't arrive an hour in advance- tough luck. So naturally I was a bit stressed that everything would go smoothly... It did not go smoothly.

Upon arriving at the train station in Paris that we thought was connected to the airport, we discovered the airport was about a 45 minute walk, and the bus wasn't due to arrive for another hour. There were two Brazilian backpackers also trying to get to the airport so when they snagged a taxi and asked if we wanted to join them, we couldn't resist. As Danny loaded our bags into the trunk and I was one leg in the taxi one leg out, the taxi jolted forward in an attempt to speed away. Four men jumped in front of the car and proceeded to flash their guns.

At this point I think we are getting robbed. The taxi driver and the men are yelling in French, which neither us nor the Brazilians understand. Eventually the men with guns pull out their badges and identify themselves as cops. Apparently our taxi driver was illegal. The cops had to report the incident and took our passports and told us we would have to go with them to the station to make a report. At this point in time, all I'm thinking about is my precious passport because when you're traveling it is your everything.

 In the end, the taxi driver admitted to whatever crime he had committed and we didn't have to go to the station. The cops actually took us to the airport so that we would make our flight on time and everything worked out fine. Needless to say, it was a huge relief to arrive in Dublin safe and sound.

We were in Dublin for four nights. We wanted to book an extra night, but due to a huge football (soccer) game that was taking place, everything was completely booked. I loved Dublin. The first night we went out in Temple Bar (the bar area) with some of our roommates. We went to a couple places and they were all everything I imagined an Irish pub to be like. There was live music, both modern and traditional Irish, pints of Guinness, people chanting drinking songs- it was a blast. At home I hate Guinness, but it was so much better out of a tap in Ireland!

Our first full day was spent doing another free walking tour, checking out Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and just exploring the city. We also went to the old Jameson factory where we had a tour about how the whiskey is made and then had a tasting at the end. Dublin is an amazing city, but the following day was by far my favorite day.

We booked a tour that went to the Cliffs of Moher and to Galway. The tour was coordinated by the MacCoole family, so the first stop was to their family farm in the Burren. There we got to see all of their animals, went on a hike through their property and learned some Irish history. After the tour we went into their grandmother's old home and enjoyed homemade pastries and tea. It was so picturesque and adorable.

The next stop was the Cliffs of Moher which was my favorite part of Ireland and maybe even the entire trip. The cliffs are over 200 meters high and were created 320 million years ago. There is a wall you can walk behind, but we chose to walk on the small path closer to the edge. We had to be very careful to not get to close to the edge because the winds there are insane and there are on average 12 accidental deaths there every year due to people getting tripped up by the wind and falling. Just looking over the edge gave me goosebumps. Even though they were a little nerve racking, they were so gorgeous it was impossible not to enjoy them. We walked along the path for almost two hours before continuing on with the tour. The tour took us to a few more viewpoints and small towns, ending in Galway.

The rest of the trip was spent sight seeing and enjoying the crowds. There was a really big qualifying football game (Dublin v Sweden), so on Friday there were Swedish people everywhere getting drunk and partying in Temple Bar from noon until the game started (which I think wasn't until 7). We also went to the archeology museum which has these mummified bodies that were found in the bogs. The cool thing is that the bodies weren't preserved on purpose. Something about the minerals in the bog preserves the body and these mummies still had hair, leathered skin, and perfectly defined fingers and toes. It was creepy but very interesting.

Our final night we met up with our travel buddy, Natalie, that we met in Florence and also met up with in Paris. We went out for dinner and drinks with her and her friends and it was a great last night. It was hard to say goodbye, but hopefully we can meet up again soon! Now I am on my way to Edinburgh, my favorite place I visited when I studied abroad. Kristen also arrives in two days so I have a lot to look forward to!

Amsterdam and Paris... Again!

The Heineken Experience, Amsterdam 

Canals, Amsterdam

Arc de Triumph, Paris

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Two years ago today, I left for my semester abroad in England. On that trip I went to Amsterdam and Paris (among other places) and loved them both. Danny on the other hand had never been, so of course we had to make stops in both cities. First stop- Amsterdam.

Last time I went to Amsterdam, one of my favorite places was Vondel Park, so we booked a hostel right by the park. We spent our first evening there, relaxing out by the pond and enjoying some entertaining people watching. The first full day we packed with sight seeing. We started the day off with one of the "free" walking tours, which was very informational. For someone who thinks that all there is in Amsterdam is weed, here are some facts I picked up on the tour. Marijuana is not 100% legal in Amsterdam. However, individuals can have up to 5 grams on them. Also, the percentage of locals that smoke weed regularly is one of the lowest in the entire world (with New Zeland as the highest). The tour took us all through Dam Square, down the river Amstel, through what used to be the Jewish Ghetto, part of the Red Light District, and much more. It was one of the best tours I've been on.

After the tour, Danny and I had lunch at a Dutch restaurant and had split pea soup and La Chouffe beer, a traditional dish. The rest of the day was spent wandering the city and relaxing in the park. That night we met up with our friend who I stayed with last time, Harold. He lives right off of Dam Square (the city center), so we hung out with him in his awesome apartment and swapped travel stories. Danny and I ended the night sitting off of one of Amesterdam's 1,200 canals.

Since we stayed in Amsterdam for five days, I'll cut the rest down to highlights. We did a tour of the original Heineken factory, which was a ton of fun. We learned a lot and got to enjoy two beers at the end. The Heineken was way better than the Heineken at home, but it still wasn't as good as a lot of the other Dutch and Belgium beers. Another major highlight was riding bikes with Harold, his friend Sarah from Columbia, and Danny all over the city. We rode to the iconic I AMsterdam sign and back to Vondel park for a picnic. We ended the night with a typical touristy pub crawl, which was a wild night out as usual. We spent an amazing five days in Amsterdam, but Paris was waiting!

We arrived in Paris at night time, and the first thing we had to do was go to the Eiffel Tower. It is amazing during the day time, but turning a dark corner and seeing the Eiffel Tower glowing over the city can literally take your breath away. We sat under it and waited for it to sparkle, which happens every hour. It was a perfect way to start our time there.

Our first full day was the 1st, which was also the first Sunday of the month, AKA- free Louvre day! We spent about three hours in there, hitting all of the highlights such as the Mona Lisa, Napoleon's Apartment (which was more like a mansion), and so so so much more. We wandered all the way down Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and had some delicious crepes. That night our hostel had an open mic night where we enjoyed some good music and got to know some of our fellow backpackers.

We were supposed to visit the Palace of Versailles, but it was closed! I was so disappointed. We ended up still having a great day exploring the Latin Quarter, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the "lovers" or "love lock" bridge, and Luxembourg garden with some of the people we met at the hostel. We ended the night going to the top of the Eiffel Tower with our friend Natalie we met in Florence. It was an amazing view of the city and a great way to end our time in Paris! Now I am back in the UK and loving it. I will try to blog again soon, but it is going to be hard considering my BFFFFF Kri$ten is going to be here in a few days! Signing off for now :)

Berlin-poor is sexy

Holocaust Memorial

East Side Gallery-Berlin Wall

Parliment

Here's the sitch- I'm currently in Paris trying to figure out how on earth to get to Dublin, and I haven't even blogged about Berlin or Amsterdam...eek! Basically, I'm going to make this one short and sweet.

When I picture Germany images of beer gardens and bratwurst come to mind. Due to my own lack of research, I was extremely caught of guard when I got to Berlin. In my opinion, Berlin is the hipster capital. It's like if San Fran and Brooklyn had a baby. If you are dressed nice you will NOT get in a club- the grungier the better. Their motto is "poor is sexy." Graffiti is not looked down on- it's practically encouraged. The food to try isn't a bratwusrt- it's curry (however they do serve it over bratwurst too). It was nothing like I expected, but that doesn't mean I didn't manage to have an awesome time.

We stayed at the Wombats hostel, which was awesome (rooftop bar, laundry services, etc.). The first night we started to prepare to go out around 10/11 until we looked up some of the popular places online and the EARLIEST they recommend getting to a club is around 2 or 3! My friend from high school, Christine, was also in town, so we made plans to meet up. Christine was staying with some locals, so we went to about four different lounges that we never would have found (or gotten into for that matter) if we hadn't been with Christine's friends. I won't get into detail about the night, but I will say that we finally collapsed into our hostel bed at 7:30AM. The rest of the nights in Berlin were much more mellow so that we could get some full days of sight seeing in.

The first sight we saw was (big shocker) the Berlin Wall. There is part of the wall that they left standing called the East Side Gallery. The whole stretch of the wall here is painted with various works, many involving themes of freedom, peace, etc. It was really cool how something so oppressive was turned into a way to express creativity. The other side of the East Side Gallery is covered in graffiti, which was also fun to check out.

Our entire second day was spent on bikes. Biking is definitely the best way to get around Berlin because it is so big! We biked down to the WWII holocaust memorial, which is all of these big granite blocks of various heights. It created a really unique look. We biked all around the parliment buildings, which according to our front desk guy is "the place that is pretty much running Europe" right now. We also biked for a good portion of the day through Tiergarten, their version of Central Park. It was nice to get away from the big buildings for a bit and just journal in the park. Side note: Berlin does not look like the rest of Europe (at least to me). The buildings are all very modern, and I'm assuming that because of damage from wars.

I could definitely go on about Berlin and I'm leaving out a lot, but I need to figure out how to get to Dublin in a few days! Blog on Amsterdam is coming soon- stay tuned!