By Lara
[Here is the continuing story of Lara's account of YOB: #8. Go to Ireland. Be sure to go check out Part 1, and Beth's version, as well.]
IRELAND DAY 3 - We went on our day trip on the third day. The brochure was vague regarding where we were to be picked up, but we eventually got on the correct bus.
Apparently, Dubliners do not like to leave their homes before daylight. We were walking towards the Dublin Tourism office around 7:30 and the streets were practically empty... on a week day.
So. The day trip. The first stop was Glendalough. I LOVED Glendalough. It was beautiful and haunting. We saw some wild goats. The upper lake, the waterfall, my prayer rock, and the green road were all things that imagination are made of. I enjoyed the lower lake and the ruined monastery as well. Most of our tour group hurried off past the truly beautiful things in order to get a cup of tea before re-boarding the bus. Beth and I lingered. It was wonderful.
We got out for a couple of minutes at Wicklow Gap. It was stunning. Our pictures do not do it justice. It looked like the Gap of Rohan. We also saw a helicopter land there. I am a fan of helicopters.
The next stop on the tour was the Browns Hill Dolman. The guide told us, "Some people come back and say it's just another bunch of rocks, yeah? Other people come back thinking it was amazing. It depends on your perspective." It was a really long way to walk to see a bunch of rocks. However, I now plan to label it "The Stone Table" in my scrapbook. That already kicks it up a couple of notches on the coolness scale.
The last stop was Kilkenny. It's a medieval town turned modern. Beth and I mostly wanted to go to eat at Kyterly's Pub. There is a wonderful story attached to the pub about a witch and people being burned at the stake. Seriously, though? It was the best food I ate in Ireland. I had the vegetable soup (served with brown bread) and stuffed mushrooms. So. Good. We also walked around the castle a bit.
We were pretty tired when we got off the bus back in Dublin. I suggested we eat at this little restaurant on our way back to Avalon House. It was called "Food." Our waitress was a really sweet Canadian girl. I had wanted to try "The Hairy Lemon," but it was kind of expensive for a pub.
IRELAND DAY 4 - We decided to walk to Kilmainham Jail. According to our map, Kilmainham was a pleasant half hour stroll. We started walking. We continued walking. We walked past a bit of wall. I wondered if it was part of the original city wall, but it wasn't labeled or anything. We made fun of the tourists taking pictures with it. More walking. Walking through slightly rough looking neighborhoods. The streets weren't well labeled. Four miles and some change later, we found Kilmainham Jail. We learned later that our map was not drawn to scale. Hmm.
The tour of the jail was interesting. I learned a lot about Irish history. It was cold, though. I can't imagine being an inmate there. Beth and I took several pictures in jail. Then we found a bus stop to get back to town center.
Back at town center, we found a place to shop for souvenirs. I found some really cute things including adorable little sheep and lots of postcards. We stopped to eat lunch at a little bagel place. I got a peach smoothie. It was pretty good. It wasn't quite a jamba juice, but I enjoyed it.
We continued along our way to Merrion Square so I could have my picture taken with Oscar Wilde. I wanted to climb up in his lap, but he is fairly high up on a rock. I didn't want to tempt fate and fall to my death. We walked from Merrion Square to St. Stephen's Greene. It was pretty, but I'm sure it's nicer in the summer.
We spent some quality time back at our room. We were both fairly tired. Beth took a nap while I organized my postcards. I also lined the sheep I purchased along the side of her bunk. When she woke up, she asked me why there were sheep staring at her. They kind of look like the Serta sheep. So cute.
We did a little more shopping, ate dinner at TGIFridays, and wound our way down Grafton street towards "The Duke." That is where our pub crawl was to start. Um. Right. This is where I should mention that it was the rugby world championship in Dublin. The pub was PACKED! As it was a literary pub crawl, it was lead by actors who gave us some literary history and performed readings. I found it very entertaining, but we did not manage to get into any more pubs. As I don't really drink, this did not bother me very much at all. On the plus side, I think rugby is my new favorite sport.
IRELAND DAY 5 - Most of Ireland Day 5 was spent leaving. We got up early, ate breakfast. The free breakfast provided by Avalon House was instant porridge and bread with jam. It wasn't bad.
Apparently the bus pass that we had gotten on day 1 did not include the shuttle to the airport. That was fun. Beth ended up helping me pay for my ticket, but we got to the airport in plenty of time. On the way to the airport, I finally got a good look at the River Liffe. It was nice to see with the sunrise.
The flight to Atlanta was LONG. They played four movies. The Time Traveler's Wife, Marley and Me, My Sister's Keeper, and Land of the Lost. That should be illegal. I tried to read to keep my eyes off the screen, but, well, Eric Bana is always going to distract me from a book even if I'm not listening...
We spent about six hours in Atlanta. We got to Philadelphia International around 11:45pm. I got to my house around 1:30am. It was a good trip.