Ireland

The plane ride there was miserable. Someone seriously should have warned me that the “food” they serve on airplanes is actually converted toxic waste. I seriously had not been so sick in years. It is quite a depressing thought to realize that you may very well die on your way to the UK.
But I did survive… and arrived in one piece to Ireland.
Ireland!!!!!!!!
Ireland was lovely. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. While I was there I could not stop smiling… (Which is deal for me… I’m not an unhappy person, but I’d never describe myself as perky. )
But Ireland, there was an energy there… I can see why everyone still connects fairies to Ireland. It was very magic feeling.
Ok, one thing about Ireland is that everything is green. Everything.

Yes, even the trucks at the airport.
Everything is mostly green because of the mold that is growing. Everything is slightly damp and slightly moldy.
While we were in Ireland everyone had ringlets in their hair. Curls were just a product of the wet air. We all looked like we had just gotten a perm… which in fact, only I had. So a combination of a perm and the humidity of Ireland I had curly hair for the first time in my life.


Our first day in Ireland we were shuffled off the airplane and into a tour bus. We were so tired. I didn’t want to sleep because I couldn’t stand the idea of missing any of the amazing, wonderful, majestic and GREEEN country side. Still, he had just been flying the entire day and night before. So none of us were rested. We were exhausted.

Our driver was named Bart. He had a masters in Psychology and a great deal of knowledge on archeology. He was so smart; he taught us all about Ireland, both historical and present. I was in awe at how knowledgeable he was about pretty much everything. Jenni was the only one of us brave enough to ask for a pic.

Our first day was our trip to the Cliffs of Moher. They were like the Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride.

They were so beautiful… and SO windy… well that’s another thing about Ireland, lots of wind. But the wind was so strong here that it was so strong that it was hard to hear one another speak. It was also chilly, but worth it. Look at it. We had lots of fun just goofing off and enjoying the view.
After the cliffs of Moher we got back onto the bus and enjoyed a nice long ride to the hostel. Bart, our driver, made it almost impossible not to fall asleep by playing Enya for us.

One of the things I just loved about Ireland was the colors. I love color. You know how some families are very musically gifted and everyone can sing and play something? Well, my family isn’t like that. But we are a color and visual family. My dad works in color and my mom is also an artist. We might not be able to harmonize, but we can work with color. The Irish had such interesting color sense. I don’t mean that in an Ironic sense. I loved the colors they matched and what they did. Pink and yellow houses, pink, red and fuchsia doors. It was fascinating to see these new colors that we Americans don’t ever see together.

That night we stayed at a hostel. I had actually never heard of a hostel before. So for those of you who don’t know they are like hotels in the sense that they are a place you can pay to stay for the night. However the rooms aren’t private, I think we had about eight girls to a room. They also have a kitchen. The only food in the kitchen is what you provide for yourself, you are able to prepare whatever you buy in the kitchen, just don’t touch the other’s guest’s food. Part of the chores on the brit. lit. Tour was food shopping and preparing food. Because it is a serve yourself deal hostels are a much more economically feasible choice. This means that a lot of college students stay at them, so we met a lot of other traveling kids from all over.

Another place we went in Ireland was island inshore, home of Dun Angus. Inishmore was one of my favorite places on earth. It was beautiful. A wonderful day. We took a ferry boat out of the island.

Then we rented bikes and cycled to Dun Angus. The island was freezing but so beautiful. I hadn’t ridden a bike in forever, but once I got used to it again it was so much fun cycling against the wind in the Irish country side.

After much meandering through the country side we arrived at the cliffs and Dun Angus. The wind was so strong we had to crawl to the edge or it could blow us over the cliffs and to a very certain and very painful death in the rocks and sea at the below. I couldn’t help but wonder how many tourists died a year falling over—there were no guard rails.

The structure you see in the back ground is Dun Angus, it is one of the oldest structures in Ireland… but we don’t know what it was used for.

By the end of the day I was positive that Inishmore was one of my favorite days on the tour… then I remembered that we had only been on the tour only two days. But looking back it is still one of my favorite places on earth. Well, enough memories for one day.