Ireland

Kaitlyn W. is the photographer and buys books everywhere she goes (below) and above is Kaitlyn and Kyle with their Guiness boxers they got at the brewery

Kyle has A LOT of Argyle socks and collects change anywhere he can find it!

Silly pictures in the hostel...megan and I with our water bottles and scarves sleeping with them
And Kaitlyn W. is the cook!
Kyle and Kaitlyn are supporting Ireland's Temple Bar and Rugby team

Megan and I love our matching water bottles and new scarves we bought in Ireland





our hostel :) and us cooking our Easter feast/ chili

A very large suitcase...imagine traveling around with that!

Trinity college



Above is a park right by St. Patrick's church and some pictures of the church

Kyle, Megan and I attended Christ's church and the two Kaitlyn's attended a catholic church in the city...this was our Easter family picture :)
Down in the vault


Arch bishop himself
Christ's Church on Easter Sunday

Dublin Castle above

Oldest pub in Dublin
Post Office
A really tall pole in city centre...


Dublin above on Good Friday
The above is what water does leaking from the top to bottom and forms these things

where bears used to hibernate in the cave...but they are extinct in Ireland now
There are fences like this everywhere and are not held together by anything...it's a really good puzzle
The Burial Tomb











Lookout tower on the cliffs of moher

So, the Irish aren't very efficient with signs...



Mini cliffs near the Cliffs of Moher


Galway shopping area
The Burren which is what you drive through to get to the cliffs...I'm not sure exactly what they are composed of so look it up if you are interested, but the entire place is made of this rock

Below is the Atlantic coast near Galway and above are homes with completely thatched roofs

In Galway here is the really good fish and chips place





Senior pics anyone haha :)





A lot of postcards with sheep coming up this winding narrow trail is taken here

Look like a dead man sleeping? So that doesn't really make sense but that's what it's called and is one of the islands part of the Blaskan Islands




No shoes on standing in the Atlantic...yes it was cold






More sheep


Made of all stone and one of the oldest full homes left like this in Ireland...now used as a restaurant
Below is scenery on the way to Dingle and most of the above is scenery in Dingle and around the peninsula

Church in Tralee
Temple Bar and the area around it

Well, as most of you know I just returned from what was supposed to be a three week break but turned out to be a four week break! I'll try to give you a good description of all the places I went in order that I visited. So...let's start with Ireland!

Ashley and I left for Dublin on Sunday, March 28 and spent the night in Dublin before heading south. We were only in Dublin for the evening so we went to Temple Bar which is a really popular and well known bar in the city and had a drink then went to dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby. On Monday we took the train south to Tralee where we stayed for a couple of nights. It was cold and rainy when we arrived in Tralee so we didn't get a chance to do much there. We attempted to look around at the shops and city center but didn't last too long before heading back to the bed and breakfast we were staying in. The city seemed as though it had been hit hard by the recession because by nightfall everything was closed and pretty deserted. On Tuesday we took the bus to Dingle for the day from Tralee. The Dingle Peninsula is known for the landscape and coastlines. We took a private tour around the peninsula and saw some beautiful beaches and scenery. It was really pretty stunning! We also reached the most western point in Ireland where the next land mass is the United States which was very cool. We also saw beehive huts built into the hills along the coast where people actually used to live a long time ago and made out of stone. People still use them as storage places. We passed by an old famine village too which is where people lived during the Irish potato famine but no one lives there any longer. Many of the small villages that we passed along the way are very old, traditional villages in which the residents only speak Irish (Gaelic). We had lunch at a cafe and got ice cream before taking the bus back to Tralee for the night. Wednesday we took the bus to Galway. Galway is known for it's "traditional Irish character." For lunch we ate at probably the best fish and chips restaurant in Ireland. The name of it was McDonaugh's and it was sooo good! Galway has a lot of good shopping with a mix of boutiques, souvenir shops, and department stores. We spent the rest of the day shopping and went to another pub for drinks that evening. On Thursday we took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. Also included in the tour was the Aillwee cave and Poulnabrone Dolmen. The Cliffs of Moher were awesome! The Aillwee cave was pretty cool too and was a cave that cut in to the side of a mountain near the cliffs. The Poulnabrone Dolmen is a stone that has been around for thousands of years and was used as a burial place. All of the sights were good...Ashley was especially impressed by the really old stone :) haha! To be honest this didn't really impress her too much and compared to the other sights we saw she's probably right! By the end of the day we were in a hurry to get back to Galway to catch our train to Dublin that night. We barely made it back in time to get on the train, but luckily we did and that's all that really matters. We were a bit nervous though! Once again we traveled to Dublin for the night where we spent the night again so that Ashley could catch her flight on Friday morning. Ashley's flight got out fine on Friday and I stayed in Dublin for the day by myself exploring the city and shopping. On Saturday the other kids from OU met up with me in Dublin where we checked in to our hostel and watched the football (soccer) game at a local pub. We did a little sight-seeing on Saturday including Dublin's oldest pub the Brazen Head and then some more of the shopping areas. On Easter Sunday we attended Christ Church in Dublin where the arch-bishop gave the sermon. It was an Episcopal church which I had not been to, and it was really nice actually. The church was really beautiful and we were invited after the service to go down stairs into their vault which is the oldest building in Ireland. After church we went to see St. Patrick's church and Trinity College. For our Easter dinner we went back to the hostel and made Chili and went to bed early because the next morning we had to leave early for our flight to Paris!

Overall Ireland was absolutely amazing! We didn't have the most ideal weather while we were there considering it was a bit rainy and cold and even snowed in northern Ireland at one point! However, it was still really nice and we were very lucky that on the days we did sight-seeing outside at Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher it was sunny and no rain at all. Having Ashley there was so nice. We had a really good time together, and I'm glad I got to experience Ireland just the two of us. It was about halfway through my stay in the UK, and I really enjoyed a little family time and needed it too. Out of all the places I went during Easter break I would say that Ireland by far had the best scenery primarily Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher. Dublin was a really nice city and actually a lot better than how people described it to me. I thought it had a lot of character and really good music! Probably my only complaint was that is was really really expensive! It was by far the most expensive part of my entire trip. I'm not sure why prices were so high but everywhere we went people mentioned the recession so maybe that's it...not really sure though. People might have mentioned the recession in other countries, and I just didn't understand because I couldn't speak their language :)

Here are my pictures from Ireland...enjoy!