London (our final stop 5 months ago)

I’m blogging from Oxford… strange… I know! Only about 5 months late on this entry, but our European sister trip blog was not complete!!!  It still lacks one entry! Our amazing day in London with the best tour guide ever!!!!   I can’t believe I have waited this long to post it, but thanks to school, work, and excuses I have continued to put it off.  Now, since I am officially off for Thanksgiving, before I start focusing on my thesis and only my thesis, I wanted to post the concluding entry.  

Maia and I had an incredible trip through Europe! Germany, Italy, Scotland, and then England!  It was a dream come true! Then my parents came and we traveled through Germany, Austria, and France.  A perfect summer to top off a pretty incredible semester abroad.  I truly am sooo lucky and SOOO thankful!  And that is why I am writing this post! 

Time flies by, and it is so easy to forget to stop and thank people! So this is my small way of thanking everyone who helped along the way on our amazing Europe trip.  Thank you to all of the hosts that shared their lives with us, thank you to all of you that read my blog and kept up, thank you to all of that sent in recommendations, thanks to my friends who made every effort to stay in touch, thank you to my parents who made it all possible, thank you my aunt for surprising us later in Paris, and thank you to Adam, who took a whole day to show us around London.   We were sooo lucky and we owe you a tour group flag and a LOT more!!!  THANK YOU TO ALL!  Now starts the entry I wrote on our last day in London! (I have decided not to edit, since I never have done it.... the mistakes are part of my charm...  right?!?! or a sign of laziness... either way, they're there)

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Our Sunday in London began around 9. We got dressed and headed to the subway station. The night before Maia had messaged Adam, who dates Sarah Gaines, one of the sweetest, nicest, most generous friend we have. He is from close to London and studied abroad in Mississippi for a year. They met there and Sarah Gaines then spent this past year studying in England. They are both the sweetest. We messaged him to let him know we were in the city and were hoping he would come so we could meet him for lunch or something.  Instead... We got the best day we could have asked for to end our sister trip.

After waking up sort of early, we headed out to Embankment, where sweet Adam met us at our Starbucks. From there... He had the whole tour planned. First off, the Borough market, famous for its crowds and noisy vendors that yell at you to purchase their products! The booths were set up and lined the whole square! The plan includes a coffee at London's famous coffee shop, the Monmouth Coffee Company... Sadly it was closed, so we continued to the London bridge. The incredible fun fact and history started immediately! Did y'all know that what we think is London bridge is actually not! A town from the states tried to buy the rights to the "London bridge" and people couldn't believe it, because it is just like any old bridge... Nothing special... Not the picturesque bridge everyone thought... Too funny!

On the other side of the bridge we walked London city, where the business section is... And as Adam said... The money is at!  It is only a 1 mile radius but a lot of money!

From there we walked down Cannon Street, the Strand, and saw the St. Paul's cathedral, the royal courts, and Trafalgar Square. Along our walk we learned about the tough process of becoming a lawyer in London and the college life as well!! Final exams, class attendance, etc. We could have never learned so much without our amazing guide!!!! At Trafalgar Square we learned about the blue chicken statue and the New Years celebration that takes place!

From there, we walked down the mall past St. James's Park to Buckingham Palace. Adam told us about seeing one of the princes speeding by in his range rover... unreal! We then stopped by the guards... they don't play around... Their guns have knives at the end of them! Adam told us about his friend who is in the army and was assigned to guard one of the buildings by the palace. Adam and his friends went there to see him and try to make him laugh.  

This whole part of London is a bit surreal. It is like a surreal world... the royal world. Then we walked down the mall past St. James's Park to Buckingham Palace Gardens. We saw some of the guards and Adam told us about his friend who is in the army and was one o them for three weeks. He came to see him and made him laugh.

After that we continued through constitution hill to Hyde park! Sarah Gaines had talked about the park so I was sooo excited to see it! It was gorgeous! We walked all along the lake, by some swans, some Canadian geese (that bite), and Diana's memorial. It was full of people and beautiful! For the most part it didn't rain!


From there we headed back towards Covent Gardens and to a little place he recommended away from the tourist. It was called the meat market! It's an American style burger joint, but way tastier!

The tour continued Covent Garden and then just a walk away we got to the Parliament and Government offices.  After staring at Westminster abbey, we crossed the bridge over to Big Ben.  While on the bridge, Adam enlightened us on the unreal currents of the River Thames! Terrifying for one that is not fond of standing on bridges… heights!

 

From there, we headed to Jubilee park where we got to lay on the grass and enjoy it all! There was a mom taking pictures of her little daughter and lots of kids running around.  And absolutely perfect place to people watch and an incredible place over all! 

After a walk along the south bank, Adam took us back to the train station and we headed back to our awesome room!!!  It was the most perfect day in London, and all thanks to Adam.  An incredible day to say the least!!!!

The amazing people of Dublin, Ireland

After falling asleep with my Benadryl, I woke up 2 hours later when we were pulling into Dublin!! Our airbnb house hosts were going to pick us up from the airport stop, so we were happy not to have to find the place! At the airport we called Sinead and Des and Sinead said she would be on the second floor. Due to some misunderstanding we waited for 20 minutes in the parking lot. At that point we called and found out we were supposed to cross the street before going to the second floor. After that... we figured it out and found her!!!

She was super sweet and welcoming. Turns out she studied in Mississippi and played soccer at William Carey in Biloxi and Hattiesburg! How small is this world!!!! We were so thrilled by her hospitality! When we arrived at their house we met Des and their dogs Timmy and Cony. Des is from Glasgow, Scotland and has a super thik beautiful Scottish accent! We were offered food and drinks and were shown around. Again... We were offered two rooms... a double and a single, but... we decided not to mess up 2 rooms! After they showed us the bus station (20 minute ride into Dublin) they told us they would happily drive us to the two towns around them-- Malahide and Swords. We were too tired and decided to stay in... Again I felt quite sick! After laying down for a bit we went downstairs and met the other guests in the kitchen. Matilda (18) and her mom Celin, who were from France, and Julianna and Jen from California. We stayed downstairs playing cards and talking with Jen, Des, Julianna, and Siniad. We had a blast and discussed all things from gun control to taxi drivers and weather. Again... a blast, but we fell asleep exhausted at around 12:30.

On Friday morning, we woke up promptly at 7:58 and lazily got dressed and went downstairs. We found Des, Matilda and Celin eating. Des welcomed us warmly, made me a coffee and he insisted on toasting our bread for us. He didn't let us put our dishes up or wash, and then insisted on driving the four of us to the bus station. Once in the car, we realized that we didn't have the 2.80 in coins, sooo he was like... "Why don't each of you pay me 2.50 and i'll take you into the city?" My initial reaction was um... No way!!! You don't need to waste your awesome sunny morning driving us 20-30 minutes into the city!!!! But he insisted and drove us! So, we saved time and money because of his generosity. I don't think I've ever met such sweet, generous, giving, and interesting people. Anyway... He drove us in and we walked the day away.

It was sunny and the forecast predicted no rain... So we left our rain jackets at home and awaited a sunny day. We walked through Temple bar first, but since it was 9:30, it was dead. We decided to stop for a coffee at Starbucks and use the wifi to plan out our day and route. With Ricks help and our map, we were ready to go! First stop... Trinity College! No library tour but a great walk around!
Then... The national gallery! On our way... It started pouring down rain.. So, we ran the 2 blocks and arrived soaked to the museum. The exhibits included European painters and a special Irish exhibit. It was a wonderful piece of culture! After that... the national museum of archeology. I was kind of excited about this one... but it turned out to be a bit of a bore... We left and headed to Grafton Street, a pedestrian shopping street. But... it started pouring down rain!!! soooo we snuck soaked into a tiny corner cafe and had a delicious chicken, goat cheese, and pesto sandwich between the two of us. As it stopped raining we headed to Grafton.

Dublin is so picturesque. Precious houses, flowers, and full of people. I absolutely loved it. I would put pictures up but I forgot my phone that day!! We walked down the street and then to Dublin castle! By then I was really starting to not feel well... The rain, the air, and my cough was not helping... Sooo we decided to go back to Tempel bar and find a place to eat. Everywhere was packed, but the music flooded out into the streets. We found a cute little Mongolian place that was unique and provided Maia with the white rice she had been asking for. Yes... I know... strange choice in Ireland, but it gave us a chance to dry up and catch our breathes.
Then... back to Grafton for gelato and H&M... Can't take stuff back but we can eat it! Hahaha

The street was still lined with musicians and I was mesmerized by a trio (Violin, trumpet,and saxophone) that was playing Con te Partiro, which I know because of Andrea Bocceli. Oh it was soooo gorgeous that we didn't realize it was starting to rain. In two seconds it was buckets, cats, and dogs. We were soaked and ran to another Starbucks to kill time until it cleared up. After waiting 30 minutes and being soaked and cold we gave in and decided to find the bus home ....We headed out in the sun that lasted two seconds because it started to rain like never before. I couldn't see through my glasses and people were yelling at us that if we ran fast enough we wouldnt get wet. It was a joke. We legitimately were dripping when we arrived at the station and when the bus arrived... we didn't find the air conditioning amusing... It quit raining during our 35 minute bus rise... And we somehow got the bus driver to tell us where to get off. Of course when we got off... it started pouring. We ran for 3 blocks and realized that we were sooo drenched that it was pointless. We couldn't stop laughing. When we finally go to the apartment poor Sinead didn't know how to react! We were soooo wet!!! We hurried upstairs took the drenched clothes off and squeezed all the water off of it ... Then we tried to warm up... Which was easier said than done...

After a bit we went downstairs and hung out with Jen and Julianna, because they were killing time before leaving for the airport. We hung out until Matilda and Celin came down and asked us to join them for dinner. We hadn't planned on leaving again, because I wasn't feeling great and we didn't want to ask Des and Sinead to take us to town (either Swords or Malahide). However, Matilda and Celin had rented a car and were heading to dinner, so we joined!!

Malahide is on the coast and tiny, but has 24 restaurants. The ride there was hilarious. Celin had never driven on the wrong side.... And after 5 minutes.. We realized she was driving on the wrong side when a car was heading straight towards us!!!! Aaaahhhh!!! It was too funny!!! Movie worthy.

Our dinner was delicious!! I had risotto with shrimp and mussels, which I had been looking for this whole time! The conversation was hilarious.. From music to tv shows to favorite movies. Guess what... They like Nicholas sparks movies!!! And I didn't bring them up. Unreal!!! They also watch glee and how I met your mother! Matilda freaked when I told her I knew who the mother was! Haha

After dinner we met the new guests: another mom and daughter from Destin, Florida! Crazy how small the world is! They were super sweet, but we were sooo tired that we went straight to bed!

Saturday morning we woke up again at 7:58 (not sure why the same time again) packed slowly and went downstairs with all our stuff. Sinead needed to get our room ready for the next guests (an American couple from Michigan). While we ate breakfast she washed and dried all sheets and comforters and cleaned the room for like an hour and a half!!! Crazy! Luckily we had the Destin girls to chat with! They filled us in on how obnoxious tourists are! I can't imagine living there during spring break!!!

Sinead took us to the airport at 10:30 and we hugged Des goodbye at their house. Saying goodbye to the precious and sweet couple was sooo sad. We told them to stop by when they come back to Mississippi and we really hope they do!!! They are incredibly nice people!!

Sinead dropped us off and as we got out, the next couple got in. We let them know that they were in for a treat and hurried through security and to our gate. Our plane left on time and we ordered fries just to see what they tasted like when cooked on a plane... GROSS is the answer!!!

When we arrived in London we just walked in. We haven't gotten 1 stamp on our passport and they have just glanced at it once... And nothing in London. We got some pounds and headed to the bus station. We voted agains paying 30 dollars for the quick train and took the bus (extra 80 minutes) but only 12 dollars. Arriving at Victoria station an hour and a half later, we bought a day pass and headed to the tube. 25 minutes later on the central line, we reached ealing common and walked the 15 minutes to our place. Nowhere near the center of London but a super cute 3 story tall house. The lady met us at the door and led us to our perfect room (two twin bed and in suite bathroom). After that she left us and we understood we probably wouldn't see her again. She lives here with her husband and kids, but we are only allowed in our room upstairs, no kitchen, etc. The arrangement is fine and gives us privacy, but a little strange after the hospitality that was des and Siniad.

After changing we headed out and took the tube to the West End. Our goal was to check and see if Once the musical had tickets left for cheap... and they did!!! Their most expensive tickets in the orchestra were reduced to 19 pounds!!! We jumped on it! Then headed to grab a sandwich and walk the west end! 1.5 hours later we were sitting in our seats to watch Once! The Irish pub musical!

The references to Dublin streets and Cork made sooo much more sense!
I've seen the show twice but this time it was so much more meaningful. Again the magic of musical theater overwhelmed me and I cried. Music is just such an incredible thing!! I was thrilled that Maia got to see this piece of magic and we both left incredibly grateful!!!

Today was even more amazing and again showed us the kindness and generosity in people... But because of how amazing it was.. I want to dedicate a special post to it. So, tomorrow, as we head back to Berlin and wrap up our sister trip, I will share the incredible last day that we had!


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Showered by nature

Oh it's been too long and there is now way too much to write. Soooo here goes a long post full of ridiculousness that will take you until Thursday when we arrived in Dublin! When we arrived in Galway... An hour early... We walked through the adorable town. Town seems too small because on comparison to Vernazza it was like New York city... But still small and full of flowers and on the water. We walked straight to the house... But the map didn't have the right streets so we just walked until we somehow found the house. Since it was still 2:00, we had 1.5 hours to kill. We headed to the rocks by the water and sat to read Ricks book. After about 30 minutes we noticed there was a storm brewing. I told Maia it only drizzles here... So no worries. But then.... It started lightening. And then thunder. We had 20 minutes until Sarah, our host, would be home.... And then buckets... Buckets of water started pouring on our heads. Soooo much water. Our raincoats were quickly soaked through. Our backpacks (with ALL of our clothes) were soaked trough!!! We squatted by walls and hid under trees (yes it was still lightening...). About 5 minutes after 3:45 Sarah pulled in her driveway and we invaded her perfect, clean, and adorable house with our smelly, wet selves.
She was sooo sweet. Led us to a room to hang our stuff to dry and gave us the tour. She offered us two separate rooms (one with a twin and one with a double) but we told her it wouldn't be necessary to dirty up two rooms! We stuck with the double and it was perfect! We hung our clothes around the room to dry and headed straight to shower. We didn't want any of our hostel on us in this perfect new house. After showering we got ready, grabbed a key and headed out for lunch/dinner. Sarah had recommended a pizza place and Rick had mentioned it as well... Soooo we walked over there and got a delicious pizza and some wine. Man was that wine a bad idea... Hahah ten minutes later I was ready for bed. We crossed the bridge over the perfect river and headed to the pedestrian city center in Galway.
Musicians lined the streets with everything from accordions to recorders. There were some with marionettes, others with a pile of sand that they used to carve out a dog. The streets were full of life and music! What more could you want! After a bit of walking, we stopped in for some Italian Gelato... What can we say, we LOVE Ireland but needed a piece of Italy! Hahah. Flavors: Kinder Bueno and Ferrero Rocher! Delicious!!! We then headed to a bus tour office that Sarah recommended to ask about the tour to the cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were one of the big things we wanted to see and with the rain... we figured another day on a bus tour would make it better. It turned out that the price for the 2-hour public bus ride to and from the cliff was 15 euros... and a tour from 10 am to 6 pm of the cliffs and the Burren region was just 16!! Um... Yes please! We got a wonderful deal and after that... we walked straight back to Sarah's perfect house and tried to dry up. On most of our walk it had stayed sunny but the last 5 minutes were VERY wet! We used the rainy evening to relax and recharge!
We woke up at 9 with our alarm clocks. First time since before our hostel.... Every time before that we woke up naturally because we were well rested.... But the 3 sleepless nights at the hostel wore us out!!!
Breakfast was prepared for us downstairs, so incredibly precious!!!! There were little jars prepared with Greek yogurt, berries, and granola, then pastries, coffee, and scones. Sooo sweet. Sarah had told us not to clean our things and only move them to the counter if we felt like it... but clearly we washed them. After that... We walked to the bus and got on it!
The ride wasn't all that impressive in comparison to all the amazing that we have seen, but it was really interesting historically. Over 11 castles in 1 day. Our first stop was a cave... Maia and I didn't feel like paying the tour price to see a cave, soooo we hiked a bit, climbed a bit of the mountain and sat and played the ABC game naming animals. By the time we made it to the end... It was 50 minutes later and we had to load the bus ---by the way... Does anyone know an animal with an X??

The next stop was a rock formation and a very old tomb! Very cool, but not as cool as our next stop. It had been pouring down rain until this point and it was already 1:30... so we were scared our 90 minutes at the cliff would be cut short for lunch and very wet... But nooo rain once we got there!! The cliffs. Wow doesn't even cover it. It is 5 miles of cliffs into the ocean. We had 90 minutes and walked a LOT of it. If any of you have seen the sixth Harry Potter movie... Those are the cliffs we saw! And the ones in PS I love you.. We think!
The cliffs were gorgeous, but as y'all know... I'm afraid of heights. Add in a LOT of wind... And you get a slumped over Martina thinking she's gonna fall down the cliffs! Maia--- cannot understand why I act like an idiot every time we are next to heights !!! Too funny!
Once on the bus, it started raining again... We headed to a tiny town named Doolin and had lunch there before heading back to Galway through the coast. It was nearly impossible not to fall asleep, but we did it! Probably the only two that didn't drift off with the soft Irish music in the background.
Once in Galway we walked town and through musicians galore! Two precious guys were singing some ONCE songs and I about died!!! another group of guys were playing some great Irish jigs... and then we crossed the river to our side of town and walked for an hour on the "prom" by the water. Again... It was not raining... And then it started pouring.... Sooo we arrived at Sarah's soaked.
She was pulling in at the same time (8:30pm) and was coming by just to check on us and make sure we were ok! How sweet is that! After drying up and settling in, we walked to the supermarket and got sandwich stuff and things for dinner. We came back to an empty house, set up dinner in the kitchen, and ate in the piece of her house. It was unreal how wonderful being in her house was, compared to our hostel !!!
We fell asleep early and woke up later to an amazing breakfast. Since we expected rain, we slept in and had plans to shower and eat and relax until 4:16 when our bus left for Dublin. We needed a bit of recharging. At around 11, we headed out to the town to buy our bus tickets and then came back with some famous Galway fries to go with our lunch at Sarah's! The afternoon was perfect! We were sooo happy to leave her house clean and with blow dried hair!!! Sooo thankful!
We arrived at the station early an sat on our bus with wifi and waited. I was feeling pretty crummy with a soar throat, headache, cough, etc...
But I thought it was allergies from Sarah's cat... Sooo I took a Benadryl... 30 minutes later... I was OUT!!!!!!
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Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry

Disclaimer: these posts are all written from my phone so there are probably a million typos and autocorrects!!!!
We survived the horrible hostile... Yeah, not hostel, it was hostile.
On Sunday we were woken up at 7, instead of 9:30, by some loud people.... Sooo we got dressed and headed down for breakfast. Since the hostile's breakfast was horrible looking, we stole some slices of bread and headed to a little cafe next to our hostile hostel. Ok... Ill start writing hostel... But you get the picture.
We had delicious scones at our lovely cafe. The owner was a lady in her mid fifties or so. Super sweet! After enjoying my coffee we headed to the Deros tour to find out the details for our Dingle Peninsula tour. That office... Not so nice. The main lady was rude but indicated we still had 30 minutes to wait. So.... We waited with the little dog and two American ladies that were also doing the tour.
At ten thirty we got on a 23 passenger bus and headed out. There was one couple of retired teachers from Omaha Nebraska, a family from Connecticut, a French lady, a couple from Northern Ireland, some more Americans, a lady from Belgium (I think), another American around our age, and Tony, the tour guide. Tony had a very clear Irish accent, works at Aldi supermarkets on the off season, has a daughter who goes to a small national school in his little town, has sheep, and gets turf from his land for his fireplace.... Or maybe it was bog. He was a very interesting and funny guy, took questions, and gave a fabulous tour with numerous stops for pictures!




Our first stop around the dingle peninsula was called inch beach. Then we headed through the coast. The views were breathtaking. Cliffs, water, wild flowers, SHEEP, cows, mountains, grass, tree farms, etc. Sooo unbelievable... One feels like you're in a movie.




At around lunch time we arrived at a government owned visitor center with an incredible view to the water and cliffs. Here we had the most affordable meal of our trip and enjoyed the view. Then... We walked a bit outside. ... I'm just waiting to meet my Gerard Butler (P.S. I love you reference).
Once on the bus we headed back to the town of Dingle. It is sooo cute and little!! It has 4 main streets and we had about 50 minutes to walk it. It was more than enough time to walk trough the town and enjoy some time sitting by the boats on the coast and eat some Nutella crackers!!




After Dingle we returned through some towns and arrived back at Killarney at 5:00. It was an incredible tour!!
When we arrived in town we took a walk through the outlet mall and town and then headed to change in our hostel.
Then... We headed to the Killarney National Park for a long walk. And we walked through a cow pasture with cows. Ok... Now a Leap Year reference... Road blocked by cows. Maia and I... Have never dealt with cows. And they were all moving towards us... Do we run? Will they run!? Should we turn around??! Well, there was a man just past the cows... So we moved through the cows and walked on.




Next... The biggest deer I've ever seen... They are protected and the size of donkeys!!! Sooo cute! We continued our walk up to a looking point where you could see all the lakes and all of Killarney. There.. We plopped down for a picnic dinner! After our long day and very short night... We headed back to our hostel to try to sleep.
We closed all windows and curtains... Put our heads down and then... Someone started playing warm ups on the violin. Up and down the scales. A squeaking the whole time! Then double string songs... Ugh all on the highest strings. That bow needed some resin!! After an hour or so at midnight I finally fell asleep to some slamming doors and loud conversations.
We were once again woken up by some very loud conversations at around 7:30. So... We got dressed and headed to our little cafe. Oh.... But first we headed to the ATM. And my lovely German card was rejected by 3 of them... Seriously. My American card has been blocked twice, it took me 3 months to get my German one, I can only take out cash with my German one, and now it doesn't work? It's not like I can call the bank. The wifi is so bad I can't communicate in German through Skype... My German phone doesn't work.. And even if it did... It's dead and I don't have an adaptor for the charger. Soooo... Email. After our scone I sat with Maia on a bench on the street where I could get wifi... And I sent the email! And she answered and I tried again and it didn't work... So she said to try back later or wait because it could be the actual card.... Great .... What can I do?
So, we got on a big coach bus and headed to the Ring of Kerry! This ride was a bit different. The tour guide was nothing to rave about and for the most time... The view was covered by shrubbery. It was mostly inland so we saw a lot of sheep and mountains, which was good too, but not much information was given. Another thing that bothered us was that the stops from 10:30 to 2 were all at places for you to spend Monday. No impressive view. Just a gravel road with a little shack selling wool and Irish coffee at ridiculous prices while a bag pipe blares throughout. No thank you! Stop two was a sheep herding show with three precious border collies. Also at a random spot on the road. If you paid 5 euros you could watch the show, but if not... You were stuck on the side of the road for 30-35 minutes. We paid.. Since I love sheep!




And we love border collies.... And Rick Steves had done it in Scotland sooooo... Hahaha. We headed up a path and found the shepherd with his sheep. First he had a "sheep pageant" (as one lady called it) where he showed and described the different types of sheep. Let me just say they paraded on command and were terrified of his stick he carried... The border collies watched from the other side of the fence. The younger one ( 3 yrs old) ran from one side to the other with excitement.
After that we moved to the next field. Side note: the plots here in Ireland are divided into small plots for historical reasons. A long time ago the plots were divided amongst farmers. They divided their plots with the well known stone walls (low and without cement) in order to be able to switch out the livestock from one to another for grazing reasons. The land up on the mountains is common land and since they have no predators (snakes, wolfs, coyotes, or bears) the farmers can let their sheep roam up there. They spray paint them different colors to differentiate them from someone else's sheep. Then they use their border collies to bring them down or move them to different pastures when needed.
Back to our show. The man raises his dogs for competitions and has a little plot where he does his show. Here he keeps about 6 sheep and uses his border collies to show us how herding works. He has different whistles for each dog and also different commands. The dogs only react to their whistle and know which one means right, left, up, down, and stop. It was incredible. Such smart dogs!!! And I got to pet one too!! Sweet things.
After the dogs, we stopped at a town... Not too cute.... to spend more tourist scam money at a fancy restaurant. The majority of the people, us included, either ate a packed lunch or got food at the gas station across the way. We had our bread and Nutella and headed down to a camping ground a ways off ... There... we sat by the water and enjoyed the incredible view! The restaurant didn't even have a view!!! Bad call, Deros tours!
This route is way more crowded than Dingle and every picture spot was full of huge buses. But after lunch it got a little prettier! We stopped at Waterville on the coast and enjoyed some time on the rocks! Then... back to the bus! More coastal views and some stops amidst the mountains. Then... another town! Super super cute! Bridges, waters, mountains... Amazing.




Oh... Here I tried the ATM and I got money!!! Whooo! Love Bianca and my German bank and the fact that I fixed my problem in German!!! Hahah.
Once back on the bus we headed to an amazing stop over the mountains. There an Asian woman asked the bus driver to skip all the other stops because she would miss bet 5 o'clock train. The answer: "you want me to make all these people skip the stop so you can get a train you were told was not compatible with this tour. I don't think so. We sent an email to let you know 3 weeks ago. That should have made it to you by now even if it was sent by carrier pigeons." That wasn't the exact quote but the context is the same. Amazing. The woman returned to her seat and we stopped once more at an incredible picturesque point overlooking all the lakes of Killarney National Park. We took a picture there and the background looks like we are photoshopped in.... That's how pretty it is!




After that stop we headed back to town and arrived at around 5:30. After a walk around town we headed to our hostel and rested a bit before going out for dinner at our cafe. I had the most delicious chicken and mushroom pie and Maia had some beef lasagne! Both typical here apparently... I knew about the pies, but beef lasagne is a staple at every restaurant here... And that was news to me. The lady was precious and chatted with us. She studied abroad in New York back in the day and traveled through 20 states and loved it. She was super sweet and told us how lucky we were with the weather! After some chatting we headed in.
Since it was early, we attempted to watch PS I love you on Maia's phone... But then the screaming began ... A group of 10 year old French kids having camp or something at our hostel had cooked a huge meal downstairs and proceeded to run, yell, and slam doors down our hall until way past midnight. It was horrible. Maia went to the restroom at one point because we wanted to make sure they knew they weren't alone on or floor, but it didn't make a difference... It was horrible. Ugh. At some point we fell asleep...
This morning... We were woken up by a drill breaking up the cement in from of the hostel. I don't think those things are called drills, but you get the picture. Loud French yelling and drills made for a not so very happy me...I also saw my pillow inside its case and it was sick, stained, moldyish, and had hairs.




Sick. We packed, turned in our keys and were thrilled to walk out of there. Our next stop was our cafe for our last scones and conversation with the owner. She welcomed us sweetly, gave Maia a free glass of water, and then saw us off as we rushed out of the door after stuffing our faces. Why? Well, we thought our bus was at 11 but while eating breakfast we realized it was actually at 10:00! Haha after that, we hurried off and got our tickets figured out. We made it right on time and got on this bus to Limerick, where we will switch to one that will take us to Galway. There, we will walk to our host Sarah's airbnb home! Can't wait!!!
The bus has been one interesting ride thus far. We switched buses because the other one was not working properly, but aside from that... the conversations. One man's wife is in Germany with the kids for 5 weeks and he is going somewhere. Sooo... his neighbor is taking care of all his stray cats and dogs. Getting all the berries on his farm and watching over his chickens. If he doesn't feed the cats at the right times... they'll eat the chickens. The lady in front of us is reading the royal baby special newspaper (we will be buying that at our next stop). We are kind of sad not to have been in London yesterday when the baby boy was born, but we will be there soon enough and the craziness will last. Especially when the name is announced. They should name him Spencer! That was lady D's maiden name! Haha. Next to us is a couple from Argentina... Talking to an American that studies Spanish and is trying out his skills. He's doing pretty well!! Hahha he is a musician playing guitar and is on his way to Galway to play an has a lot of family here. The couple is here for a wedding and the man speaks zero English. The American is rocking the Spanish! He's from New York and lives in New Jersey.
Anyway.. Killarney turned out to be an absolute success! I loved the vibe of the town, and the park and trails made it amazing with the weather.
Another thing we noticed was the attitude towards the disabled and handicapped. On our way into town, a teenage girl with Down syndrome was hitch hiking on the road and our bus stopped and gave her a lift. On our walk into town, a man with a metal disability on a wheel chair was out on the street collecting money for a charity and petition and people stopped, chatted, and donated. Many walked the street receiving helpful hands from everyone they crossed. A woman working at our bus tour office was also disabled and working. On this bus ride, we have picked up (for free) 3 or 4 either mentally handicapped, blind, or physically handicapped people. It is a truly wonderful thing. I don't know why it stood out to me, and I guess that's not a good sign... since this is how it should be all over the world... but it was nice to see people being respected and helped. I was thrilled to see it.
People overall are just very friendly to all. Every person we crossed in town or on the park greeted us with a "hello," " good day girls" or something of the sort. I really do love Ireland! Beautiful place and nice people, what else could you ask for? Aside from another place to sleep at.... Hahhaha
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sleepless in Killarney

It all started around 9:00pm when our tired bodies asked for our beds. Clearly.... No one else at Neptune Hostel felt the same way. Our window faces the front and the outside hangout spot. By 9:30 the door slamming inside was on the rise.  Outside, I listened to a 46 year old magician from South Africa that speaks 21 languages and was picking up the young ladies over conversation about Facebook. The ladies shyly turned him down saying they did not have Irish cellphones.  On the other side were two Irish girls asking two random guys if they would "do" the other girl. Um... Excuse me?? The conversations quickly turned Chinese with attempts by Irish girls to speak to them, while laughing because they did not speak English. By 12:30 .... The conversation was sort of dying out and turned to French while a couple struggled to communicate in English and then realized they were both French. .... Between 12:30 and 4:30 was the parade of door slamming, knocking, talking, and all sorts of ridiculousness.  And then....  The girls 

Sooo Neptune hostel has a 3:30am curfew. They shut the doors and don't open until 7:00am. Well... These two girls were returning at 4:30am. Irish. Not all there. Angry that yet didn't know the doors would be looked. Now picture this:

Window facing front.

Girls pounding on door

Girls screaming "hello can someone let us in!?!?"(in Irish accents) 

Us--- not able or willing to go downstairs to try to figure out a way to get them in.

Girls drunkenly trying to figure out which was their window. 

Girl apologizes and says she's stayed here a million times and has never been locked out. 

Girls scare because someone is walking up. 

Girls get quiet. 

Girls try the phone again and it rings for 30 minutes.  NOONE IS HERE!!!! 

Maia and I are soooo mad we can't stop laughing at the situation.

Girl repeatedly says "hello? Hello?" (I picture that Ellen Degeneres(spelling) skit where she sends her producer Amy to stores to talk to strangers through song.  Hello hello is it me you're looking for ? I can see it in your eyes ... Blah blah blah) 

At some point they find someone on the street to let them in. Two Irish security guards I imagine ... Who continued to talk and yell outside out window ... With their voices and choir of slamming doors... We gave in and went to sleep sometime close or after 5 o'clock. 

Waking up at 7 and 8 to more talking, screaming, and rolling backpacks outside our window was just a perfect way to start the morning. We are oh so glad to be taking a bus tour today. 

-the two very happy travelers 

Ireland we have arrived: Cork and Killarney

Our last night in paradise involved pizza, early night, and loud music and neighbors... But at about 12:35 I finally fell asleep. At 6:00 we left our perfect air conditioned room, left the keys on the table, and headed to the train station. Minus some issues opening the train doors... (Yes some Italian men got to laugh at me) we made it to La Spezia and then Pisa Central and then Pisa Airport without issues.  At the airport we tested our bags, mine slipped right in thanks to the shedding of a few pieces of clothing. After about 46 minutes of lines, we made it through security and began our hour wait to board. It was soooo unorganized!!!! No seats, lots of screaming, and a lot of gross smells!!! After 30 minutes of waiting people started lining up. We had no idea why... Since we still had an hour left to board, we got nervous and followed... I guess it's because we don't have seat numbers for Ryanair flights... Well.... It was our first flight with them.  Once the line started moving it was great! Lots of stress over the bags but we made it!!! Avoided the smelly crowd and sat on the very back row!  

And then the screaming Irish babies. The flight itself was great, but the 2 year old and the 4 year old in front of us where unbearable. Parents didn't even look up during the entire 2.5 hour plane ride to Cork unbelievable. Felt sooo bad for them. 

A side note is needed here: why Ireland? O really don't know... Maia and I have had a crazy desire to go to Ireland for a long time. I don't know if because of movies or because we loved Scotland so much... But we just wanted to.

Once landing in cork, a city we knew very little about, we saw fields, fields, cows, and more fields! It was like that romantic comedy movie where the girl arrives in the middle of nowhere with her suitcase... Well picture that but the two of us arriving in a hot and sunny Ireland that hasn't been seen since 2006.  It is hot and we did not prepare for this. 

Two girls, two huge backpacks, one city, one room in a tiny house that can not be used (check in) until 6:30. At the airport we waited for the city bus which was 5 euros each. Since it was late, another American lady approached us and asked if we wanted to share a cab to the city center and we agreed. We paid the same amount and got to have an awesome Irish cab driver. The American woman had been in Italy and was wrapping up a year of teaching English in Spain. It was great to talk to some strangers! 

After dropping her off at the hostel, we said our goodbyes and headed out.  Sooo we headed out walking around the city with jeans and jackets while the rest of cork enjoyed shorts and tshirts. First stop: McDonald. Why? Cheap and supposedly with wifi. Fail on wifi. After lunch we continues walking the streets. The houses and cafes lining the streets are adorable. Just what we pictures. Scattered around, there are old churches and evidence of the city's history. It was beautiful!  But it was sooo hot. We followed 2 maps to fin where the room we rented was located. And after crossing two streets after the wine colored house with shutters we followed the strew and found our cream home with blue door. Still had 4 hours till our host would be home.... Soooo we stopped at a cafe and used the Internet to find out of our airbnb host had emailed us any information.  After some refreshing water, we headed out to the other McDonalds (yes you read that right) so that we could use the restroom. A short walk from there, we found the famous English market with all sorts of delicious goodies and a trillion olives, YUM!  By then we only had 2 hours. So we continued walking through the charming town and sat by the river on a shady bench. 

There we witnessed some security guys chase someone down (not sure why), a table with a group of deaf ladies having a ball over numerous beers, and am Asian couple driving their car on the sidewalk.  

At 6:00 we headed to the supermarket. Ten minutes later we were on our way to our house with Nutella, bread, and chips to last a while!  Cleona, our host, welcomed us and showed us around her cute house. She was soooo sweet! Downstairs she has a Living room, bathroom, and kitchen. Upstairs we had the room and she had hers.  There was a cat... So I quickly popped a Benadryl and hopes for the best. Cleona went out and told us to enjoy the house, Tv, etc. Soooo after she left, we showered, used the wifi, had some Nutella sandwiches for dinner, and watched friends on tv. I hadn't watched tv in almost 5 months!!! Soon after we were ready to go to bed!! 

This morning we got up at 8, got dressed, packed up and headed to the bus station.  After getting waters, we boarded our bus to Killarney. Cleona told us the town kind of sucks but we are ok with it because of the tours we are Doing!  The ride is amazing. We are still on it. Two seats from us is a guy from Georgia who has been talking the entire time about all of his travels. Poor Canadian girl next to him has nooo chance of shutting him up. He has been everywhere, is just sooo wordly, can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, likes to talk about logging and building capital, just graduated nursing school, and could pick up the phone and get any job he wanted with a 20,000 signing bonus. Gag. 

On the other hand, the view is unbelievable. Everything we thought of and more. Rolling green hills, trees, perfect lakes, perfect houses, cute bridges, stones, and everything beautiful we imagined we would find in Ireland. And a clear blue sky!!!!!!  It really is perfect and beautiful! 

After arriving in Killarney at 11:30, we headed to the hostel. After a 20 minute walk, we reached our destination, paid, stored our heavy backpacks and headed to the Killarney national park and did the river walk.  It was beautiful! Water, mountains, rolling hills, and cows. Pretty perfect. 

After our walk we headed to the tourist office to find our tour company's office. We have a bus tour booked for tomorrow and Monday going to Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry. We are super excited to have someone show us around!!  With address in hand, we headed to the bus office. Since  katerin was not around, we were told to come back later. 

Lunch was our next stop. We settled for one restaurant on the Main Street and I had a delicious cottage pie (equivalent to shepherd's pie?? or pastel de carne). After that we headed back to the hostel and got our room.....

And.... Let me just say it is the first I have stayed in outside the US and Maia's first. Our room is private an fine. Problem 1: no towel Problem 2: hairs on our bed and not so clean sheets.... No thank you. Problem 3: screaming Chinese outside our window. Problem 4: bathrooms are not clean.  Soooo we have changed our Galway arrangements and will be staying at another airbnb place! Call us spoiled... Whatever... With long days of walking in the HOT sun for 17 days... You need a good place to rest so you won't kill each other the next day.  

After that... We left and headed back to the park for a 2 hour walk to the Ross Castle !! Beautiful!! We left gray from the dust and dying out laughing. Out of water, we headed to a store and stocked up on water! Then.... Back to the park to lay and picnic (Nutella bread chips and water) for dinner! 

On our walk home we stopped at a huge store to look at stuff and ended up looking at every aisle. We got picnic food for our bus tour tomorrow and enjoyed browsing through the aisles of clothes. 

Now it is 7:44pm and we are beat. We might be the most boring 22 and 19 year olds, but we are soooo tired and walk sooo much!! And Rick and Cleona were right... Not much to see in Killarney, but it is soooooooooooo cute! I love it and lots of trails to hike!! 

Last full day in Cinque Terre!

After my post last night we decided to enjoy our big meal then instead of tonight. We hadn't eaten much and the restaurants smelled too good!! We first made a stop at a restaurant by the water to get a glass of wine and tomato/caper bruschettas. Next to us... An American couple... We couldn't figure out if they had just gotten married in June or if they have been married... They were awkward but funny to listen to. After that, we switched over to a famous restaurant called the Gambero Rosso (also on the beach). There the goal was to get some seafood. (Me clearly since Maia wouldn't dream of it). 

I ordered a plate of mixed fish and Maia got spaghetti with ragu. We worked on our bread basket and "gift appetizers" (fried zucchini and cod) until our food came. Oh man.... There were soooo many faces on my plate. Big fish, little fish, medium fish, and more all whole and with eyes includes. Lobster, calamari, and mini octopus ... I didn't even know how to eat it. I'm certain I ate more that one bone piece... But I did my best!! Hahah.  Our dessert (which of course I ate by myself) was delicious and had strawberries over it.  Aside from that... Not sure how to describe it... It wasn't flan or pudding but something white and in between. I asked what the best thing was and I was told that .... So I agreed! Then... Stuffed.... We walked to a rock by the water and waited until it was dark. There were 3 little French kids who had discovered something under a rock and called over their parents to look. At some point a precious little blonde boy approached them and sat down without saying anything and sat on the rock next to them... Soooo precious. He didn't say anything... He clearly didn't speak French, but he watched them.  When they left he got up to find out what they had been looking at. Maia was at awe that his parents weren't around, and at that point I came to the conclusion that he had to be German. German parents ( at least those I have observed) let their kids run wild. Indeed a few minutes later his dad came and yelled "Sebastian, Komm!"yup German indeed. After he left... I quickly jumped from my rock and headed to see what the kids were looking at!! And it was an octopus!! It was huge! Well... Not really but bigger than my hand. Super cool!!! After that... We called it a night and headed home walking by a lady playing the guitar while some kids played. 

This morning started at 10:30.... And we haven't "done" much since. We walked Vernazza and found that Rick failed to mention a hidden beach and some great streets. We stopped at the church, which doesnt need fancy glasswork because it faces the sea an the most picturesque view. Rick failed us on this town... but his book is everywhere!!!!!

 We then continued  by getting some croissants, sitting on some steps, and checking some Facebook. Then... We headed to the harbor and sat. Ugh then... A group of Asia tourist found our octopus and pulled it out!!! And laid it on the hot concrete to take picture of the poor dying octopus!!! Soooo rude! It made me so mad I could have pushed all ten of them in the water. How dare you disturb the poor octopus. What did it do to you!!?!? Even the 5 and 6 year olds last night knew not to disturb it!! 

After an hour I headed to the train station to buy our train ticket for tomorrow. My American card failed on the machine... So I headed inside to ask and the guy said "you buy tomorrow with cash." I walked away thinking you don't open till 8 and we need to leave at 616... You do the math sir!!! I went back and got my German card and went back to the machine. Gladly that one worked in the machine and I got our ticket. After dropping that off, I headed to a precious little store that was closing for the day (1am). I bought some grapes and headed to a bakery to get a mini focaccia pizza. With food in hand I headed back to find Maia on the rocks.  Along the street the old Italian men are still sitting watching people going by and the women gossiping from their chairs. 

The we sat, ate, Maia read, Maia dropped her book in the water... Then we headed back, refilled our water bottles, bought some cookies and went I hide from the bright noon sun in our room. Here I wrote, Maia slept, and now we are listening to people walk the streets.  It has started to rain so the crowd are moving to the train station.  Amongst them a huge group of Italian school kids singing and along the streets tourists taking pictures of them ... Priceless.  Then... Someone started playing the pan flute. Like why?????

On another note... I took out Rick's Ireland book and have been soooo disappointed. It is not helpful at all. We will have to get online today to look up Cork because it is by mentioned. He just mentions outlet malls in Killarney, ugh seriously!? Rick, get it together!!

Another perfect day in Italy!

Last night I ended up paying for a bit of Internet so I could post the blog update. The girl working there was Brittany. No she didn't tell us any p this information herself but during our time in the Internet place we pieced it together. She is from Dallas but was living in lower California.  Up until 4 years ago... When she met her now husband and moved to Vernazza... Um.... So I know Rick wrote about cases like this but... Really? How does that happen???? Ugh.  

Anyway... After that, I bought a pizza and we sat by the rocks watching the sky turn dark. At around 9:30 we came back in and it was still no completely dark... But we were beat. 

This morning started a bit later at 9:30. Goal: Manarola and Ripmaggiore. Ok... Side note. I'm pretty sure I butchered the names of the cities yesterday, but I don't have the Internet access to fix it.  Sooo here they are: Riomaggione, Manarola (my new favorite), Corniglia (on a hill or mountain depending how in shape you are), Vernazza (tiny and perfect), and Monterosso al Mare (closest thing to a beach resort). 

So at 9:30 we headed down, filled our water bottles at the little water thing on the street, and got breakfast. This time we picked a little juice bar where I got fresh squeezed apple, orange, and pineapple juice! Maia got a plane focaccia and we asked for the code for the free wifi. But... It wasn't working today! Hehe. We walked to the train station and got our tickets to Riomaggiore (there and back=4.40 euros each). Since the train wasn't coming for another 30 minutes, we headed back to visit brittney. Hahaha. While sitting outside on the steps, my juice man came up to us and said, "excuse me ladies, you didn't pay!" To which I said, um yes we did. So he was like sorry and walked off. This gives you an idea of the size of this town. Tiny. The train was late so we got to people watch. 

When you think one man can't make a difference. Think again. I'm pretty sure Rick Steves single handedly brought tourism to this corner of the world. People walk everywhere with his guidebooks... He is the topic of conversation at train stations...  One guy said "oh so Rick got you too!!?!? Hahhaha!" Too funny. 

Once on the train... It was packed!! The heat was obnoxious. So instead of riding the extra minute to Riomaggiore, we got of at Manarola.  So I might have come in super excited for this one, but it did not disappoint. Right off the train we climbed to this little area that was built in the early 2000s to create a playing space for kids. It was lined with white plastic chairs, where older locals sat and talked and people watched. It was precious. Past that we walked down hill though the main road to come to a drop off into the water. Lines with rocks and with huge rocks in the water separating swimming spaces, we found the best deep sea swimming spot. It was perfect and we hadn't brought or bathing suits which were still wet hanging out our window.  From this water, we headed up a very very steep hill and followed the precious main road. Half way up we found a water wheel and a LOT of Asian tourist.  I had never notice how many there are ... But after one rudely cut me in line this morning at the train station... Their umbrellas to cover themselves from the sun an the obsessive picture taking has become obvious.  Clearly not all... But I think they might outnumber the Americans sent here by Rick.  

Anyway... Continuing up the hill we came to another square with older locals talking, two churches, a bell tower, and an amazing view!  From there we headed back down a few feet and started the most incredible trail through one of the mountains surrounding the town. One of the main reasons I fell in love with this place. From the trail we could see the town, the colorful buildings, the sea, the few jelly fish (yes they were huge. Yes the water in so clear that you can see them from that high up), and the people diving into the deep water from the really high rocks. Most importantly, this hike was through vineyards, lemon trees, and countless flowers. The hike ended with an incredible playground and a cemetery overlooking the sea and the views Manarolo and Corniglia. Amazingly breathtaking.  After finishing the hike, we sat by the water with jealousy as others jumped in from the VERY tall rocks. Sooo peaceful. We relaxed there until we gave in and made the hike to the station. From there to Riomaggiore. But this train ride was sooo strange. As we get in a little Chinese teenage girl (yes I understood three words so I know she was Chinese) starts screaming and won't let go of this Italian girl's arm. The Italian look petrified as the other girl yelled in Chinese to the rest of the 10 family members in this tiny train cart. Clearly the girl was yelling that the other girl had stuck her hand in her purse and taken something. After they made the poor terrified Italian teenage girl open her purse, they finally let go of her arm. Sooo strange. 

Upon arrival at Riomaggiore we looked through the mural Rick writes about. Painted by Argentinian Mario Benedetto. Then we looked for an elevator he writes about that would take us to the top of the town. Nowhere in sight..... Sooooo we climb and climb and climb. These towns are awesome butt work outs! Rick only had 1 page for this town and it indicated to take the elevator and look at a church and the view. Sooo we walked, got a diet coke, and an olive focaccia. Oh my gosh. I love olives sooo much. Ok... Side tracked. Where were we... On yeah hiking. The views were amazing. I promise when I get home or somewhere with better Internet I will post the pictures. For now, if we are Facebook friends, go look there! After walking a little train circling the town we walked down to the marina.  Again... More people swimming.... And we still had no swim suits. Hahha. Oh we'll! We settled for a cono piccolo of gelato and people watched.  After that... We headed to the station.  

At the entrance to the station, there was a crowd of 20-30 Asia tourists. So Maia and I went further and sat at a bench enjoying the view. A few minutes later comes an Italian woman on the phone carrying a pack of rice cakes.  She was on a mission!!! It sounded like she was reporting an event on the phone saying where she was and times etc. a few seconds later I finally understood. She pulled another Italian aside and told her what I understood as: did you see them? They are there in the crowd of tourists, I called it in. Then as the train pulled in she began yelling at the tourist crowd: "attention to your wallets they get you when you are boarding." We entered the near empty wagon with her, since the crowd of tourist entered the first ones and left the middle and last ones empty. She continued to tell everyone to watch out and stuck her head out the window several times to see what was happening. Too funny. 

Then... One station down... One to go and the screaming in Italian begins.  All I saw was a shirtless guy with an accordion. The train worker kept saying in Italian either you pay 18 euros or you get off the train. (Italian sometimes is sooo close to Spanish that its super easy to understand). After two days here... I think I picked the wrong language to study!!  Back to the story! The yelling continued and the lady from the train station got up and went to help the train worker to tell the accordion guy to get off the train. It was surreal. Oh... And then she stuck her head out the window called some guys she knew at the station and they came and finally talked the screaming man out the train.  He kept saying "why are you treating me so bad. I felt bad... But like let's get this train moving. After getting to Vernazza (now 3:45) I was in need of some of this amazing air conditioned room! We arrived to find our room clean, bed made, fresh towels, and bathroom spotless. It's like a private hotel!! I love it here. I showered, washed clothes, and enjoyed the air while Maia went down to the water took a dip and laid on the rock. Now it's five o'clock and the plan is to stay around Vernazza for today. And perhaps tomorrow too... We are thinking of exploring to see if there is anything else aside from this main road! Then.... Lay on the rocks, soak up the sun, get in the water and enjoy.  One big seafood meal will culminate our time here and then we will purchase our train ticket to leave this paradise Friday Morning. But that is a long ways away!!!