Ireland

May 30 - June 2, 2004

On our first day in Ireland, we mainly walked around Dublin. It was very cold and rainy. We saw Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch. The most fun thing we did all day was go to the Guinness Storehouse where we took a tour of the old plant where the first made it. The best part of the tour was the end, where you got to sit in a circular room with a 360 degree view of Dublin (where of course they gave you a free glass of beer). I think that is the tallest point in the city, it was a beautiful view from up there. It was raining, so we stayed up there a while and when the rain finished there were two huge rainbows over the city. Later that night we wandered around and found a pub where there was live music. Lots of people were dancing... it felt very Irish.

For the next two days, we left Dublin and rented a car and drove over to the west side of the island. Our first stop was Blarney where we climbed around in the castle and kissed the stone! =) I didn't know this before, but you have to climb all the way up to the top of the castle (which is on the side of a large hill), lay down on your back, and hold on to some bars to get to the Blarney Stone to kiss it. It was kind of scary, but now I shall have the eloquence and luck of the Irish.

After Blarney, we went to the Ring of Kerry. We went to the Gap of Dunloe which was absolutely amazing....tiny scary roads, big mountains, and beautiful water. We took lots of pictures, but not as many as we took at the Dingle Peninsula. That was the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. It's just like in the movies where the deep blue water has huge waves crashing up on the rocks. We stopped at a beach and there were even people swimming in the water (today was the first warm day). So we decided to go climb on the rocks and take some cool pictures. We got the pictures, but as we were climbing out there, the tide came in very quickly and we got a little wet coming back... but it was worth it. That area of Ireland is definitely Eddie's favorite part of the trip.