Adventures of a Girl

Today we boarded a little white coach and headed to County Wicklow - a 1 and a half hour drive from Dublin. The tour is called "Valley, Lakes and Mountains" tour, and believe it or not, there were a lot of valleys, lakes and mountains to be seen. The first lakes we reached are in a gorgeous little village called Blessington - not much more than a handful of shops, a church and a pub. Luckily the weather held out and we had a gorgeous view of the lakes, and the tour guide (another Irish man dying to tell a tale) had a lot to say about reservoirs, dams and the like - unfortunately, most of which I was not listening to. We stopped at Wicklow Gap, though I'm not sure why. This is a spot in the middle of nowhere, with views to a glum landscape, while the wind whips at your face, and generally freezes your fingers off. Nevertheless, I took a million photos as is expected. The next stop was Glendalough, a 6th century monastic settlement, where we took a walk to the lakes, and another million photos of the ruins and graveyard. This area is where most of the movie Braveheart was filmed - ironic given it is about Scottish history. Final stop for the day was Avoca, a pretty Wicklow village where the TV show Ballykissangel was filmed. We had a late lunch (I'm eating way too much), a snoop round the Handweavers shop (considered the oldest weaving mill in Ireland), and more tea (never drunk so much tea before), then back onto the little white coach for a long, rainy trip back to Dublin. All in all a fabulous day out, and a great chance to see the beautiful Irish countryside.

I was full of anticipation for Dublin. I had a 4 hour delay at Manchester Airport (so unfair when the actual flight time is a mere 45 minutes), so by the time I arrived in Dublin, I was about busting at the seams. So far, Dublin has lived up to expectation. Kerrie and I have visited traditional Irish pubs, Grafton Street, St Stephens Green, Trinity College, I've eaten black (and white) pudding for breakfast, learnt about the Dublin tourist hotspots on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour, and today we wiled away the afternoon at the Guiness Storehouse - learning about brewing, how to pour the perfect pint, and - of course - sampling the wares. The Irish love to tell a tale, and the tour guide providing commentary on the bus tour was no exception - the best of which involved the Phoenix Park gates and their mysterious disappearance in 1932. Apparently, the men that took them down couldn't remember where they'd put them... hilarious! Gotta love those Irish!