Toussaint: Ireland

I ended my Toussaint trip by meeting some of my best girl friends from Santa Barbara on the Emerald Isle. It was great to be reunited since we hadn't seen each other since July (well except for Amanda who I had just visited in London) but even greater to explore a new place together. All four of us (Halley, Amanda, Katy, and I) stayed in Galway for most of our time in Ireland because Halley's mom's boyfriend happens to be Irish and live there. So after a brief flight from Glasgow to Dublin, I made my way to Galway via a three hour bus ride. The scenery along the way consisted of rolling hills and farmland and reminded me of the film, "P.S. I Love You" starring Hilary Swank.

I was the second one out of our group to arrive in Galway, where I was startled by a hug from behind by Miss Halley Rainer. We spent the early evening catching up, sitting outside at a café sipping tea while it rained (so Irish). We had curry fries (yum!) before meeting Katy at the bus station. Then we headed back to Halley's mom's boyfriend (Ger's) house in the Irish countryside where we again, sipped tea and spent some time catching up.

The following day was beautiful and we successfully avoided rain, an impressive feat for November in Ireland. Katy began her day with a ride on Ger's motorcycle with him through the Irish countryside. I avoided it because I'm quite the scaredy cat. I need to work on being more brave. After that we headed to Galway Bay for a stroll near the Irish seaside. I got caught in a bush when my wool sweater got stuck on some thorns and I successfully collected some seashells to take back with me as a memory of Ireland.

Halley and Katy walking by the seaside

A glimpse of Galway Bay

Later in the day we met Amanda at the bus station and finally (!) we were all reunited. We marched around Galway for a while, ate a delicious lunch, and then took a sunset stroll to see the colorful Galway Bay houses and the surrounding area. 'Twas lovely. We spent the evening at Monroe's pub, drinking Guinness (my first!) while listening to live music. It felt very Irish.

Downtown Galway

Origin of the claddach ring!

Halley, Katy, and Amanda

An Irish sunset

My first Guinness beer.

Live music at Monroe's

The following day we took a bus tour to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. Unfortunately, it poured with gusts of wind throughout the day. The weather, however, made for an entertaining tour of the Burren, as everyone in the tour suited up in bright red rainproof gear. During the walking tour we learned a little bit about the history of the Burren and the gravity of the potato famine. One of the stops on this part of the tour was "fairy tree", one of many signs of Irish folklore. People believed that this tree was a point where fairies could move between this world and the fairy world. Different items were tied to the tree and we were instructed to do the same and make a wish, if we liked. I didn't have anything to tie on the tree except the hair from my own head so I rescinded the offer but others tied pieces of garbage or hair ties to the tree. It reminded me of a British movie called "Fairy" I used to watch as a child.

Halley lookin' pretty hot in those pants

Rainbow = )

Fairy tree

The Burren

Irish coffee

After exploring the Burren, we headed to a traditional Irish inn for lunch. There we ate some rich but delicious chowder, exactly what one wants to taste after a brisk day out on the Burren. Next we headed to the famed Cliffs of Moher. We were warned both by our guide and by the gusts of wind rocking our bus that it would be windy there, but boy were we in for a surprise. Once we stepped out off of the bus we were almost knocked to the ground by the powerful gales coming from the sea. It was so incredibly windy it became amusing as we struggled to stay upright. We slowly made our way up to the "lookout" point, taking pictures along the way with our hair flapping all around. At one point we asked a woman to take a picture of us but she was pushed over by the wind and almost injured herself trying to snap a photo.

The most dramatic part of the Cliffs of Moher experience by far was when Katy ran out against the wind, was knocked over, and then proceeded to bounce along the ground, losing her phone along the way. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the scene on tape (although I had been video taping before). We were, of course, all concerned for her well-being but instead she erupted with laughter and then so did we. Halley too rolled around on the wind-swept grass as Amanda and I clung to the wall for our dear lives. It was an entertaining scene to say the least.

We were all exhausted after the Cliffs of Moher adventure and dozed in and out of sleep on the ride back to Galway. Along the way we stopped at a castle. It was a foreboding scene with darkening skies behind the centuries old stone fortress. The evening ended with us going back to Ger's house and relaxing and falling asleep.

The next day we headed to Dublin. We didn't leave ourselves much time there, less than half a day and an evening, so our primary focus was to go to the Guinness factory. Well, rather the Guinness storehouse. This past summer I went to the Coors factory in Golden, Colorado and that was truly a "factory experience"; I got to see exactly how Coors beer is produced (for the most part I think) and then of course indulge in some free beer afterwards (I chose Blue Moon-- a more craft-like beer that to my surprise, is produced by Coors). My experience at Guinness was much different. We didn't get to see how the beer was produced but instead learned about the history behind Guinness beer. At the end of our self-guided tour we went to the bar at the top of the storehouse, otherwise known as the Gravity Bar. Included in the entry fee for the storehouse is a free Guinness beer but Katy and I managed to charm our way into getting two. I conveniently discovered, however, that I don't really like Guinness, so I passed mine off to Halley.

Afterwards we hung out in The Temple Bar district near our hostel. We met up with Milena, a girl I became friends with after she food-boarded at Manley during winter and spring quarter last year. Milena is going to Graduate school in Dublin. She took us to a neat bar where there was live music and of course more Irish beer. It was nice to catch up with her, if only for a short while. Our night ended pretty mellowly as we made our way back to our hostel and all attempted to rest in the 16 person bunk hostel room we were staying in for the night...

Overall my trip to Ireland was lovely but the best part was getting to be reunited with my girlfriends! I'll be seeing Miss Katy Cutaran at another point this year but the rest I won't get to see until this summer at least. I'm glad that we all got to make some memories together while abroad : )