Beware the Killer Sheep.

I forgot to mention a couple things in my previous posts. One: The gates of… I mean cliffs of Moher had so many flies all around the edge of the cliff, so many that it was very annoying as they landed on you AND STAYED on you. But the other thing I wanted to mention was the “bird level.” It was really cool looking down from the cliffs and seeing the birds flying at what would be so high from the sea, but seemed so low from the top of the cliffs.


Anyways, Day 9! Today I jumped on a bus to the beautiful and peaceful Connemara. It was great again to see the countryside and natural beauty in Ireland, which again was sunny, lucky me! The 4 of us on the bus staying in Connemara arrived at our new hostel, unloaded our stuff and relaxed for a bit. The hostel has sheep grazing all over and if you tried to catch one they would first look at you like they were about to take your head off, and then sprint away. Oh, and I also got to see a Faerie tree and a Faerie fort, both super cool! It was very nice to take a breather from the crazy, go, go, go that travelling tends to induce. After catching up on my blog and getting some lunch, me and my new friends Kiearn from Canada and Julie from France, decided to climb a mountain (Of course, right? That’s everyone’s typical response after relaxing. “Well that was nice, but it’s time to climb a mountain! "). After a failed attempt at hitch hiking to a mountain further away, and one with a trail, we picked another mountain closer to us. Getting to the top was like climbing a never ending staircase in a bog. Yup, that’s right, the mountains get so much rain all year round that this one at least was very bog like in a lot of areas. Imagine trudging through heavy snow or mud. Props to the mountain sheep. But once we were at the top, oh my goodness, the view was amazing! We could see for miles and miles into the valleys, the national park, the fjord, it was breath taking. Kiearn brought celebratory beers and I brought celebratory chocolate (Aero bars are the best candy bar ever) and we cheers’d to conquering the mountain. The climb down was slightly more treacherous as it was very slippery, but we managed to climb up and down the mountain in about 2 hours. After a wonderful shower, some skyping and a delicious free dinner, I went upstairs to read my book and didn’t even manage to open it before I was fast asleep in my bed. All in all it was a very relaxing day, and good thing too because tomorrow I am heading to Dublin!

Yippee! Day 10. Today was my last day in Connemara and Galway and filled with a lot of travelling. I have really enjoyed my time here, but am excited to see a new city. I relaxed a bit more in the morning as I waited for my bus to come and finally got to read my book. I have been so busy seeing amazing things in the day and so incredibly tired at night I just haven’t had time to read, so it was nice to sit in the sun and read for a couple hours. After saying goodbye to my new friends and after a quick stop at Kylemore Abby, I was on my way back to Galway, and then onto Dublin. I arrived in Dublin around 9pm and enjoyed reading my book again on the bus. I also had very limited instruction on how to find my hostel in Dublin, so I was super lucky in trusting my instincts and managed to find the hostel no problem from my bus stop. Go me! I dropped off my stuff, posted some picture, and then went out to meet Tom for a drink right up the street. It was great seeing Tom again and we made plans to explore Dublin together tomorrow morning. So far it seems like Dublin has got quite the crazy nightlife, gotta love the Irish.

From City to Countryside - Ireland Pictures!

Ireland!!

There was live music all along Shop street.

Galway Cathedral

The University had tress growing up the front, wicked!

The Spanish Arch

For the Irish, it's a real problem.

Dungaire Castle

An Irish Coffee!

In Ireland, a hooker is a boat.

This was a burial chamber for over 30 people.

Me, Tabitha, and Rebecca sitting in the priests seat

I couldn't  resist.

The cliffs were so awesome!!!

You think?

Apparently, there is also great surfing in Ireland.

You know me and birds...

Tell me that's not a face.

P.s. its a 200m cliff face about 2 feet over. shrug.

Me, Tab, and Rebecca at the Cliffs

I'm a spaz, this is true.

The cliffs were so cool!!!

Such a nice day outside, its usually crazy windy and raining.

We went onto Connemara together. 

Baby Sheep!

Supposedly giants threw these huge rocks that were all over the coastline

No big deal.

Tom, Tab, Rebecca and I went out for a pint!

They have ridiculous amounts of signs like these all over, sometimes it was 2 or 3  poles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIl-v18mgo 

That's pretty neat.

These stone walls/fences were everywhere as well, even up huge hillsides

A faerie tree!

Up the mountain we go!

Such a spectacular view!

Win.

Me, Julie, and Kiearn at the top!

The Gates of Mordor!!! I mean the cliffs of Moher, my bad.

Day 8 I woke up and got some breakfast, then jumped on a tour bus to wind my way all around the Burren and see the Cliffs of Moher. The tour guide we had was fantastic, he was very funny and kept us super entertained throughout the entire tour (Paul from Galway Tour Company for anyone who is interested). I got to see the countryside of Ireland again which was breathtaking and so green! (As the Irish say, Ireland is so green because god waters it everyday, boy have I been lucky). I met some new friends on the bus, Tabitha and Rebecca from Canada, and it was great seeing everything on the tour with them. The cliffs were unbelievably epic!! Over 200 meters high and going on for miles, we walked for as far as we could before we had to turn back. We passed the sign where it says do no enter (of course) and continued on our merry way; only later did we learn that area sometimes unexplainedly falls into the ocean… YIKES! I had my first Irish coffee, saw Dunguaire castle, several old Abby's, watchtowers, Poulnabrone Dolmen, and the Ballyreen. Wow! After getting back to the hostel I made a delicious dinner, sautéed spinach, goat cheese, and tortellini pasta and then with my newest friend Tom from Germany, Tabitha, and Rebecca, we all headed out to some local pubs. After a couple pints, some great laughs, live music and some rowdy Irish men, we decided to head back to the hostel to catch some Z's. But not before some late night tea! We had such a fun time together, I am excited to see the Connemara tomorrow with Tab and Rebecca, and then its on to Dublin.

Ireland!!

Day 7. Hen and I stayed the night at the airport to catch our very different, but super early flights. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone, they have been such amazing friends!! After one last hug goodbye to Hen at the airport, I was off! I literally watched the sun rise as we were taking off the ground at the Stansted airport, which was awesome. What was not so awesome is sleeping at the airport, or I should say not sleeping at the airport as I got zero sleep. It was a quick flight to Knock West Ireland, and then about an hour and a half’s bus ride to Galway. My first thoughts upon landing in Ireland was… well… Ireland is so green! (And windy!) Knock West is up almost in northern Ireland, so the bus ride south was through the countryside which is quite a bit different than the busy London streets I had just come from. I got to Galway at about 11 am desperate for a quick nap before exploring, but couldn’t check into my hostel room until 3pm… oh boy. So I put on my big boy pants, dropped off my luggage in the luggage room and headed out to explore the city! I don’t know what I did to get so lucky with the weather, but it was another beautiful day! Compared to London, Galway is very small, so I managed to explore the entire city in about 5 hours. I ate a quick bite to eat in Eyre square, saw the cathedral, National University of Ireland, the Spanish arch, salt hill (ish), walked all along Claddagh quay, down the pier, through the docks, shops, and all along the river Corrib. Special shout out to Natalie Block for being so wonderful and sending me an email with all of Irelands highlights (I love you Nat!)! Ireland is very beautiful in a completely different way than London, and Irish accents are funny to listen to but rather hard to understand. Its very quick almost mumbling and slurred together. I am very excited to go and see the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow and for what the future has in store! P.s. This was the hottest day ever recorded for Ireland in March, win. Normally the weather is similar to Seattle, rainy and rather chilly. They even have the same saying we do about the weather, if you don’t like it… wait 5 minutes. But I haven’t seen any of that weather thus far and I have loved it!

Double daylight savings time, what does it mean??? #doublerainbowalltheway (yup, I went there)

Day 4 was great, I met some new friends, Hen and Kathrin, and they are fantastic!  Hen and I went to the Tate Britain and saw a Picasso exhibition (as well as some mind boggling optical illusion pieces)! It was amazing, Blue Rooftops in Paris is one of my favorites of his and to see it in person was quite the treat. Then we went to the British Museum, it was HUGE! There were so many different exhibits throughout the ages to go through and marvel at. You could have gotten lost in the different cultures and probably even the museum itself. Later, we met up with Hen’s friend Kathrin and had lunch at Russel Square in the sun, walked the shopping districts Oxford street, and then we met back up with Noah and walked all throughout Hyde Park and Kennsington Garden. It was so beautiful to have these massive gardens and parks in the middle ofLondon, and my feet were killing me with all the walking!!! (I couldn’t wear my tennis shoes for the arch support because they were not “Proper” British apparel.  After a quick meal at the hostel, Hen, Kathrin, and a new friend, Sophie, decided to go out on the town!  We went to The Green Man for pre-drinks and then to The Village for dancing.  They had never been to a gay bar before, and they both had a great first time dancing the night away.  I am surprised I was able to go out with how tired my feet were from all the walking!!

Day 5 we saw the Tower of London, it was SO cool!! I really liked seeing the tower, the crown jewels, and hearing about its history, especially all about the animals that lived at the tower that were gifts to the king. Although I have to say, the “London bridge” is quite disappointing compared to the Tower Bridge, I mean, I guess it IS falling down…so what can you expect. =P  We got some Fish and Chips and ate lunch along the river Thames and once again enjoyed the sunshine. Afterwards, we went to Camden street and checked out the Camden market. HOLY packed and crowded!!! Never ending stalls and shops set up outside in a seemingly endless maze. And there were a ridiculously overwhelming number of people. I took care to mind my pockets and I am sure I only made it through alive with the help of Kathrin and Hen. Halfway through exploring the shops we stopped at a café to take a breather from all the people.  Back at the Hostel Hen made us delicious meal!! Noodles and salmon in a crème fraiche sauce with sautéed mushrooms, yummy! There was a mix up at the hostel I was staying at with rooms and booking information which was very stressful, and after I got it all sorted I decided to stay in as I was incredibly exhausted and lost an hour of sleep due to London’s daylight savings time that morning. Double daylight savings time for me, 2 hours of my life vanished and I am only going to get one back…hmmm. I booked my flight, hostel, and bus to Galway, Ireland, did some skyping and called it a night!

Day 6, my last day in London  =( (due to the mix-up at the hostel, and me deciding to fly out with Hen). Hen and Noah were both feeling sick today. I felt so bad for them, but they were troopers about joining us and walking around all day. We tried to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, but there was a marathon going on in London, so it was unfortunately cancelled for the day. So in place of that we went to an area called Little Venice along the Thames. It was a very nice area, but it was quite residential and there really wasn’t too much to see, so we all went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. Afterwords we went back to Oxford Street and did some shopping! I bought a T-shirt (and if you know how I shop you know how long THAT took), and we got to go into some really classy stores. I really liked River Island, Next, and TK Maxx. After shopping we got a coffee at an Italian place and chatted for a while since we had been walking for roughly 6 hours! My week was filled with so much walking, but I got to see so much! I even got a sun burn on my face because we were constantly in the sun walking around, but I am not complaining about the weather. Keep it up Mother Nature, much love. We went back to the hostel for some leftovers, which were just as good the second time (Thanks again Hen!) and planned to meet each other again in Amsterdam, and hopefully Berlin as well. After some sad goodbyes, Hen and I were on our way to stay the night at the airport to catch our ridiculously early flights, oh boy. Cheers, London. You have been absolutely life changing and I will never forget you.

More Pictures From London!

My Favorite Picasso Piece! (Don't tell I snuck a photo)

Me and Hen outside the Tate Britain

Another one just for you, you would have loved it!

The British Museum was MASSIVE

Lunch in Russel Square

Beautiful Kennsington Garden

My London Friends! 

Peter Pan!!

Me and Sophie about to go out.

Hen and Kathrin at pre-heat

I got a "Proper British Snogging"

I LOVED the Tower of London!

Seriously, it was so cool.

Largest suit of Armour in the World

The Tower Bridge

Yes, that's the London Bridge... I was disappointed until I remembered it was falling down anyway.

I have a super classy store!

This one's for you Mom  =D

This is the Hostel I was staying in

Very small beds (3 stories!) and hardly any space for bags, but I managed alright

This was my bed