"Wild Irish Rose" (Dublin)

For today's Travel Tuesday, we find ourselves back in Ireland at the National Botanic Gardens. Chilly though it was, this March morning was magical for Josh and I, as it provided some of the first flowers we had seen all year. Josh and the camera had a hayday.

Title is from the song of the same name by U2. Gosh, I love that band.

More pictures from the gardens after the jump!

The Jacket That Saw the World

All right, I swear on all that is holy that I did not plan this in the least, but it is just about the cutest coincidence in the world!

While looking through all of the 4,000-some photos from our life-changing trip to Europe this spring, I noticed an interesting trend. I may have only sported my turquoise blazer in a handful of outfit photos, but I can be seen sporting my (apparently) favorite jacket in at least one set of photos from each and every "touristy" trip we took to a country outside of Spain!

This coincidence ended up being a fun way to track of all of the traveling we have done in the past five months. There is a constant in all of the photos regardless of which country they were taken in. Who new that an article of clothing could come to contain so many memories? As I type this, my good old blazer is tucked in the drawer next to me in case I get chilly in the library's AC.

As of May 2012, the turquoise jacket has seen the following countries (including the US of course):

• Spain
• France
• Italy
• England
• Ireland
• Sweden

And now for some visual representations of the adventures of this intrepid piece of outerwear!

I challenge you to look through some old photos to find evidence of that one fallback piece that has always been there for you--and that has seen a lot of interesting places as a result!

"Whatcha Doin' Down in Shantytown" (Howth, Ireland)

This seaside town fifty percent of which is located on the village's not-to-terribly-touristy pier is the part of Ireland that I too easily forget for some reason. My mind immediately flies to green fields and rolling hills, forgetting that, as an island, Ireland has no shortage of quaint coastal communities. This small town is called Howth (pronounced "hooth," or something like that), the community where Kristen and I enjoyed a nice fancy pot of tea after a day of hiking.

Well, here is where we were hiking.

Title from the Johnny Cash song "Shantytown"

 

Rob, an Australian mate, and I climbed down to the water's edge (which I'm pretty sure was illegal)

This picture speaks volumes

Flowerpot tower

Elisa, a feisty Canadian working in Scotland for the year

More beautiful pics after the jump!

"Moher" Than Words (Ireland)

The Cliffs of Moher . . . an awe-inspiring natural monument to God's flawless sculpting of the Irish islands. These impressive cliffs lace the shoreline of a rocky wasteland in Ireland known as the Burren. They are a photographer's paradise, and indeed, paradise for anyone who just wants to bask in the glory that is God's creation.

Well, most of the time you can't actually do much basking. Our guide told us that he had already driven out to the cliffs five times the week of our tour, and he had only actually seen them once. The typical Irish fog usually renders them all but invisible.

Of course, God is good and the weather was perfect the day of our tour.

Our trip through Galway and County Clare was a perfect break from the bustle of Dublin on St. Patrick's Day weekend. This is the Ireland Josh and I wanted to see. At the end of the day, cities are all the same, but nothing can compare with the splendor of the Irish countryside. Also, Galway was just a more charming  city that Dublin in general. I would strongly recommend a visit to the West coast of Ireland should you ever find yourself on the Emerald Isle. Fun fact, it took as a total of two and a half hours to drive from the east coast to the west.

Our bus tour guide on this trip was stereotypically Irish in the sense that he was witty, charming, and irreverent--a real-rough-around-the-edges type guy. His tour was ceaselessly entertaining. He told us a story from Celtic mythology of a goddess who wanted to come to earth to be with her mortal lover. According to legend, she jumped down from heaven in an attempt to reunite with her lover but was dashed to her death against the Cliffs of Moher.

Our guide informed us before we left the bus to enjoy the cliffs that impression of her face can still be seen imprinted on the cliff face. We completely forgot to look for this while we were on the cliffs, so imagine our surprise when we were flipping through our photos on the way home and realized "Whoa! There's a huge face in this one!"

Oh, by the way, don't fall.

On another morbid note, the cliffs are a very popular suicide location (among the top 20 in the world) for locals and tourists alike. In fact, to counteract this grisly trend, a group of religious do-gooders aptly named The Good Samaritans have made a habit of walking around the cliffs and attempting to talk sense into anyone who seems to be particularly depressed or irrational.

According to our guide, "If ye weren't depressed when ye got here, you will be by the time one of those buggers is through wit ye."

Don't do it, Josh!

I think the above picture perfectly captures this (heavily censored) description of the Cliffs of Moher as stated by our friend Andy who comes from Galway:

"It's the mother-frickin' edge o' the world where they make weather and crap!"

I can safely say that I've never felt more like I was standing at the edge of the world. Josh was freaking out every time I got anywhere near the edge. He's going to be a great dad :-)

Title from "More Than Words" by Extreme.

More pictures from our Galway daytrip after the jump!

"Tea For Two and Two for Tea" (London/Dublin Trip)

Dear friend Kristen met up with us in Dublin after Josh and I had spent five days in London on our own. Having visited London in the past with her family, Kristen was somewhat mortified that I had not regularly indulged in the British joy that is tea and scones.

Much to both of our delights, upon visiting the beautiful seaside town of Howth (pronounced "Hooth") on the eastern shore of Dublin, we discovered a deliciously homey tearoom at the start of the pier. I didn't need any encouragement, but Kristen definitely wanted me to go.

In the absence of chai (sad day), we ordered a pot of simple green tea, but there was nothing simple about the scoop of dried grasses, lavender, and leaves that was scooped into our teabag. We each enjoyed two cups of the lively beverage--Kristen plain (such a purist) and me with cream and three lumps of sugar each :-). Teehee. I'm sure a scone would have been quite authentic, but who can say 'no' to a spiced muffin with chocolate chips?

They had rosebud tea! I'll have to try that some time.

What was most lovely about this experience was the atmosphere of the tea room. There were comfy antique chairs and sofas and a cozy reading corner. All of the colors were warm and inviting and just asking to be photographed.

Kristen and I sat here while at least an hour passed by without us noticing. We chatted, sipped, munched, and missed our train home while Josh and some other friends hiked the cliffs surrounding Howth's peninsula.

Scones or not, I will never forget my first real teatime just outside of Dublin, Ireland.

Title from Doris Day's "Tea for Two."

More tasty pictures after the jump!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday: It's Spring Somewhere

Even the ciguenas look cold!

Awkward:

• It is unusually sunny and warm in both London and Dublin today, but I wouldn't know because I'm back in Avila where it is inexplicably snowing and raining at the same time.
• The Hunger Games comes out tomorrow, and I missed being able to go see it in an English-language theater by two days! 
• Pret a Manger. It's a really popular cafe chain in the UK. How does one pret and why do it to a manger? And in a cafe, no less!
• There is no such thing as a double-decker bus in England. All the "buses" are double-decker. If they're not, they're called "coaches." Mind blown.
• Coriander and cilantro are the same thing. Mind also blown.
• Tummy ache from too much candy.
• I'm really not much of a romantic comedy girl, but being in Ireland has me really itching to watch P.S. I Love You again.
• The horrendous and poorly made boots that (barely) got me through England and Ireland and were sliced into a pair of summer sandals the minute I got home. My blistered and bruised feet will never be the same . . .
• So, we meet again, London Gatwick, for another rough all-nighter on the airport floor. After all we've been through together, you still send your snooty security guards to kick me off of the comfy sofa in the cafe and force our crew to seek refuge (and a precious few hours of sleep in the multi-religion prayer chapel).

Awesome:

• Hitting up an old time sweets shop in Dublin. Root beer barrels, black cherry sours, and licorice allsorts until I die <3
• The Cliffs of Moher. Here is a heavily-censored description of these breathtaking beauties from an Irish friend: "It's the mother-friggin' edge o' the world where they make weather an' crap!" We'll just go with breathtaking.
• Our tour guide on the trip out to Galway. Hi-LAR-ious. And Irish people in general. Hi-LAR-ious.
• Not getting drunk on St. Paddy's Day in Ireland :-D. No hangovers. No regrets. Tons of memories.
• Hubby letting me use his laptop since my keyboard is broken. I'm sure it was a real sacrifice swapping from a clunky Dell to a superfast gaming computer ;-). The mouse works just fine, after all.
• Free Irish music and dancing. Free! And Irish!
• British fashion and lifestyle magazines. It's a whole new world of print media love.
• This six-level bar in Dublin called The Porterhouse. It has so many staircases, and the live music practically hangs from the ceiling. Plus they have the most legit and delicious-looking cocktail menu I have ever seen. Kristen and I got food instead because we are hungry and poor.
• The bucketloads of new friends from Madrid, Barcelona, Argentina, Uruguay, France, Canada, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Australia, and China whom Josh and I met at the hostel and whom I hope with all of my heart that we will be able to keep in touch with forever.

"Don't Rain on My Parade" (St. Patrick's Day, Dublin)

To quote a newly-made Dublin friend, "We ain't got nothin' on the Macy's Day. By the way, what the heck is a Macy's Day?"

It's true the the Dublin St. Patrick's Day parade is nothing to compare with the New York Parade that delights us each Thanksgiving, but this lively and creative procession still succeeded to impress (especially considering the fact that no one is exactly throwing money at St. Paddy's Day festivities. They're too busy funding Guinness production and churning out "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" t-shirts for eager tourists.)

My initial impression of the parade was one of pleasant surprise. All of the floats and costumes were handmade, and not only did they look professional, they were positively unique and enchanting. In all honesty, many of the elements of the procession were so "artsy" and high fashion (loooove it), that I bet a less-culturally-inclined crowd would have been bored to tears.

I have to admit, I was expecting a whole lot more drunken revelry and a whole lot less culture.

The parade was exciting and intellectually intriguing. There were graceful acrobats, flying machines, sea creature, flying machines, and even an attempt to visually represent the five senses in the form of costumed dancers. There were beautiful witches shouting snippets of scary stories from the pinnacles of towers on wheels and there were futuristic pirate-rockstars wreaking havoc on everyone's ears. So much variety--it was hard to get bored even though we couldn't here a word of what was going on from our perch in the second-story window of a bar overlooking the street.

And for the record, it did not rain in historically dreary Dublin:-). What can I say? God is good.

Title from "Don't Rain on My Parade" by Barbara Streisand.

And so it begins

This is Trinity Bar, the sweet second-story view from which we watched the parade

Ooh, so festive

He's not feeling very festive . . .

A National news crew road past on the roof of a bus

If it isn't Paddy himself!

 

Plenty more Paddy's Day paradin' after the jump!