12 hundred pictures deep

wow! like everyone seems to say after an amazing vacation, where did the time go? Its a beautiful irish morning just before 7:30 am and im sitting in our "school house hotel" (thank you barb and doug!!) waiting to leave for my flight. Kim left about an hour and a half ago screaming and carrying on about how amazing the trip was and that she was unsure the US would be ready for her return, oh Kim! We arrived in Ireland only two days ago, on Monday evening and quickly found out we should have arrived much earlier. We wasted no time though, after arriving at the airport, hopping on the bus and checking into, finally, a hotel we were in town finding food, music and crazy old 'Irish' men (unvoluntarily). We made it to a place where we could enjoy a traditional irish meal and headed down the street to check out a Dublin evening out (although a monday night, i dont think the drinking ends with a weekend!). We stopped at a few pubs to enjoy live music and then of course to the famous "temple bar" to have a drink. Much to our surprise crazy old pennsylvanian guys, out for a trip golfing together around Ireland, thought it would be flattering to buy us a beer. Free beer, why not? These guys were crazy, probably old enough to be our fathers, talking about their trip and extremely interested in ours. Kim was very amused that in all our 5 weeks, the only time we get drinks bought for us (besides Agneses amazing friends of course!!) is in Ireland at a famous bar by a bunch of old Americans. Needless to say, last night she was convinced to find a few "hotties" to top of her vacation hoping to avoid mentioning our first irish pub experience. Yesterday was a full day, of course, making sure we fit in what we wanted with the little time we had left. We saw a few castles, cathedrals, a jail and of course, the Guiness "storehouse". From what we had heard the Guiness tour wasnt all that great but we took a chance and thought it was great. We would do it again in a heart beat and would recommend it to anyone who goes, not that the free beer had anything to do with it ;-) Later that evening we were on a hunt to find a cheap place to eat with the small amount of money we had left. We planned it perfectly with about $12 each remaining, just enough for a small meal and an ice cold pint, sacraficing the meal of course for that last irish brew. Need I mention...as we came back to our hotel, I asked a nice little Irish woman to take our picture and as she quickly noticed we were not from the area she asked where we live and without hesitation turned to me and said (insert Irish accent here) "ooooh myyy, I thought far suare you belonged here with us with thaa red haaiir and all", oh the irish roots!!

This trip has been the best thing I have ever done and just as I thought, it flew by faster than I could have imagined. We have so many stories to tell and as you can see, many pictures to share that will last forever! Thank you all who made this trip possible and thank you Kim for traveling with my pain in the ass and making it worth every penny we spent!!! Ill start saving, and paying off this trip, for our next excursion to Greek Islands, Africa, South America...whatever you've got up your sleeve!!

I better be off now since I CANT miss my irish breakfast in the "canteen room" (HAA) then im off...back to the U.S. to begin life in Chicago :-) WOOHOO!! (check back for a final post on the trip!!)

Danielle, how do you feel about a rat nibbling at your toes?

I think it's safe to say this trip has been absolutely amazing but we're both definitely exhausted! We arrived in Madrid on Friday evening around 11 after our last train ride to check into our last hostel :-) we chose to head straight to bed after touring the uniquely designed building we would be staying in the next 3 nights. We were up bright and early to begin touring the city but took our time knowing we had 2 1/2 good days ahead. It was one of those 14 hour days of walking, observing, "ooing" and "awwing". Madrid is really beautiful with many busy shopping streets, old buildings, and a huge park which we enjoyed a nap in. Much like a lot of the cities we've seen but with its own character of course. After many hours spent in town we headed back for a quick change and left to find some late night food. Like we've experienced, it wasn't so easy and ended up on a wild goose chase for much of the night...you'd think we learned our lesson?the street performers around here have been crazy and last night they were especially enjoyed by the ever so tipsy vawter. The night ended after entertainment by the real street performers and of course the one who wishes to be one in the next life time, are we surprised? Getting back to our hostel later that night only came with great surprises. As I sat in the lobby for a few moments using the Internet, Kim went up to the room ready to hit the bed. Moments later I was graced with her presents as she came flying down the stairs to tell she was convinced we had a furry visitor? My immediate response being, what I thought to be obvious, "are you drunk?!?!". After much argument and a big sigh of doubt, I picked myself up off my comfy seat and followed the small child to our room. Within moments I started question myself, although quite certain, as I stood watching the ceiling move as the paint chipped away, was I drunk too?! After convincing Kimberly it was a good idea to let the desk man know about this strange visitor, I sat on the floor pointing a flash light on the small hole refusing to move until this mystery was solved. Come to find out it was simply pipes in the wall being tossed around by the wind outside, which honestly I think was a load of bs, but we were off to sleep in no time.
This morning came quickly and we were off to roam some more. Today it was hotter, walking much slower was key and we spent most of our day aimlesly walking with no set plan. As you can tell we are at the end of our ropes but are excited to see what Ireland has to offer. We leave tomorrow afternoon with a death sentence flying ryanair over the ocean in a cardboard box but have no worries ;-) Barb and Doug (kims parents) have so kindly booked us two nights in a really nice hotel for the remaining of our trip before jetting back to the U.S. We couldn't be more excited to take real showers and sleep in real beds without having to worry about room mates, loud noises and cheap breakfast! Don't let two days fool you, you never know what kind of trouble we can stir up with moments left across the pond ;-)