Ireland

Hello! It's been awhile. Let's catch up.

Steve and I are both finished with school. Steve has endured through 3 years of law school and I finally finished my undergrad in history ("ohh... what are you gonna do with that?" "Uhhh... be someone who knows things about history? IDK? Was I supposed to have thought about that before I chose my major and graduated?").

ANYWAYS, big point here is that we are DONE. FINISHED. FINITO.

OKAY, this (blogging) is going to be rough. I can already tell. Maybe we should bite the bullet and dive into this together? I promise I won't go on too many tangents... LETS DO THIS!

*~*IRELAND*~*

We landed in Shannon, on the west coast of Ireland. When we got to the Emerald Isle we were obs and completely floored by its beautiful and dramatic landscape.

The first day of our 3 week journey was the only day we decided to rent a car. Steve and I hopped into our rental car, exchanged anxious glances and zoomed off into the Irish countryside.

Narrow road in Ireland

Steve did a great job driving on the left side of the road. Was it terrifying for both of us at points? Yes. It was. We were both very concerned about our respective sides. "Right, honey. Please go a bit more to the right," I would gently remind him.  He'd calmly respond, "Thank you, but darling if I follow your advice I fear we will crash into the cars that are on our right. I feel we are correctly positioned." Except our conversation was nothing like that.

All joking aside, Steve was a rockstar driver and it was a thrilling adventure.

First stop in Ireland: THE CLIFFS OF MOHER

This is one of my favorite photos of Steve EVER

Just spectacular. This place gives you chills! We walked all around the cliffs, jumped the protective barrier and walked right along the jagged edge. Steve and I were so giddy to be in Ireland, to finally be on this trip that we (I) planned. Steve kept repeating, "I can't believe we're really here." It was really like a dream.

From the Cliffs, we drove three hours in the rain to Killarney. 

KILLARNEY:

Killarney was sa-weeet. We stayed here for 3 days. It's just what you think a Irish town should be like. Tons of pubs with live bands, colorful buildings and a big castle. 

We went to Ross Castle and took a boat ride to Innis Fallen, an island in the loch that had 6,000 year old ruins. 

Ross Castle

Boat ride to Innis Fallon

Then we went to the Gap of Dunloe, Torc Waterfall and Killarney National Park.

Killarney National Park

Gap of Dunloe

Poor Steve was allergic to the horse :( 

Torc Waterfall

Every night we'd go into town and pick a pub at random and get some dinner or sodas (we thought about getting a pint of Guinness, but thought better of it). EVERY pub had live music playing either traditional Irish folk or pop songs. Hearing "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys being sung by some drunk Irish men in their Irish accents was definitely a highlight of the trip. We did hear and learn a lot of Irish folk songs and boy are they catchy! Steve and I are still singing them. 

DUBLIN:

Took the train from Killarney and went to the big city! We had 3 days in Dublin.

We saw:

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Temple Bar

We also did a Celtic Nights Dinner and Dance show that was AMAZING. We saw a full band play all traditional irish music and had an delicious dinner and saw some pretty cool irish dancin'.

Lastly, we took a day trip to a town about an hour away from Dublin called Howth. It's right on the Irish sea and we saw some Irish seals!

GIANT Irish Sausage I got at the farmer's market

Ireland was captivating and so full of life. We loved you, Emerald Isle. 

Off to SCOTLAND we go!!