No Irish Luck

So Meghan, Rachel A., and I traveled to Dublin, Ireland this weekend. We left early Friday morning and caught a train to Holyhead, Wales where we jumped onto a ferry and made our way to there. The train ride was quite nice seeing as how we got to watch the countryside of rolling hills with sheep and cows grazing. The ferry was also exciting because it was so fancy (everything but the food, that is). We even made it to the top deck to welcome Ireland with open arms. We arrived at the ferryport and spent the next two hours waiting on a bus to pick us up. Funny how all the bus drivers took breaks at the exact same time for such a lengthy period. We met some other Americans on the bus into Dublin (girls from University of Florida) that were spending the weekend in Dublin and actually studying in London for this summer. They even live in a dormitory very close to our hotel! We may try to meet up with them to see some sites while in London.

Once we arrived in Dublin we found the hostel that we booked online early last week. They lost our reservation. Their reply? "The system isn't perfect." Remember that this is Bank Holiday weekend so most places are fully booked for travelers!!!! They found us three beds and said we could have them for free tonight since they lost them (how generous!) We went back to the room and our jaws dropped. A mixed dormitory style room with 16 beds! Mixed = men & women!! OH NO! We practically RAN out of the hostel in search of a new place to stay! We found a hotel with one "very basic" room left and booked it immediately. We slept all together in one queen sized bed with no TV, no curtains on the window, and a dead spider on the ceiling. At least we were safer there than with 13 people we don't know!! We went to dinner with 4 other girls from the UNC program that were also spending time in Dublin at O'Sheas pub. The food was delicious and it was so nice to relax after a long day of travel and hotel searching.

Saturday was our one full day in Dublin to see the sites. We ventured off for the Guinness Storehouse first. It was our main goal of the day because it is one of the biggest attractions in Dublin. It is 7 floors tall full of information and shops about Guinness beer and the world records book. It was really cool. We even got to taste a bit of Guinness. The very top level was a Gravity Bar where we could get a free pint of beer and a great view of Dublin. We walked (in the rain) to the Dublin Castle which was really very interesting. We made it just in time to get into the second to last tour group. After that we walked to Trinity College but got there after all the tours had finished so we just took a few rainy photographs and went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate at O'Sheas again because it was so Irish and delicious. We listened to a live band play Irish music (and they also played Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd...interesting). The three of us enjoyed our dinner and took our time because we had finished everything we wanted to see in Dublin in less than one day. We did not want to spend time in our hotel so we went to see a movie at the cinema (Blades of Glory). We went back to the hotel and laughed about our time in Dublin until we fell asleep. Our ferry left at 8:05am so we called a cab to pick us up at 6am so we would get there on time. The ferry seemed a lot slower and we had to switch trains 3 times on the way back to get to London. We spent 14 hours on Sunday getting from Dublin to London. It was a very long day!

I am so excited to be back in London where I know the city and feel comfortable. Today is Bank Holiday so nothing is open but I am going to visit a friend (Elizabeth Dellert) who lives here for lunch. We are also going to visit one of Rachel's friends that lives here for dinner.

I cannot believe that this trip is halfway over and that I will be home in less than two weeks. Time seems to just fly by! I feel quite at home here in London and feel that I know the city very well. This week will be full of activities and plays but I hope to be able to write again soon. I love every post from ya'll and read every email sent to me. I hope things are going well for everyone in the US and I will be home soon!