Ireland!!!

On Thursday March 14 Jess, Alex, Brittany and I left for Dublin.  We were all so excited to be going to Ireland for four days!  First we took a train from Innsbruck to Munich, then had to switch trains there to get to Frankfurt.  Once we arrived in Frankfurt we had to figure out how to get to the airport, so we went to the information center there and we got on a subway for about 2 euro.  This 2 euro ticket ended up being the incorrect ticket, we needed to get the ticket for the airport (it has an airplane next to it), they do control the trains in Germany!  Once we got to Frankfurt we had to wait about an hour to check-in for our flight, and then had to wait about 2.5 hours.  Frankfurt airport is ridiculous, if you don't have to fly out of there DO NOT!  It is very unorganized and very winding.

We finally arrived in Dublin around 11pm and got to the apartment we rented around 12.  Saint Patrick's weekend is probably the worst weekend to go to Dublin; it is fun, but very crazy.  The lady we rented the apartment from was also staying in the apartment and she was wonderful!  She offered us a glass of wine or tea when we arrived, set us up in our rooms and made us feel very welcome.  The next morning she also made us a wonderful Irish breakfast that filled me up for most of the day.  Renting this apartment was the best decision we made (www.airbnb.com).




On March 15 we ate breakfast with Adrienne and she showed us a map of Dublin and explained what places we should go to and how to get there.  We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ's Church, walked in the temple bar area for most of the morning, early afternoon.  Then we went to a restaurant called Avoca.  The food was pricy, but it was excellent.  We thought we were going there for shepherd's pie, but we all ended up getting something completely different.  I got some french fries (of course) and a butternut squash soup, which was the best soup I have had in awhile!  We walked around a bit more and saw the Dublin Castle, went into some tourist shops for St. Paddy's day where I got my friend Carla something good.  I also got myself an Ireland sweatshirt for 17.99 euro,which was pretty good!  We walked back to the apartment around 6pm and did not end up going out that night because we were all exhausted and we planned a trip we are going to do in mid-June.

The next day, 3/16, we got up early and Adrienne made us a wonderful breakfast again to start our day off right.  We walked straight into the temple bar area and walked through some street shops.  It was like going to a festival, every booth had something home-made, it was refreshing.  We then walked along the river, down O'Connell Street to The Garden of Remembrance, which is not necessarily somewhere everyone goes, but it was beautiful.  We then walked back into town and got an Irish Coffee at a place called Davy Byrne's Pub.  This Irish coffee was 7 euro, WOW!  After the coffee we walked over to Trinity College and spent some time in there.  The school is beautiful, but if I were a student there I would be annoyed with all the tourists always being on campus.  We then went and got a beer at Kehoe's, it is a bar established in 1803 with most of the original decor.  It was amazing that the furniture and smell in the bar was not musty and old, it was well kept over the past decades. :)

Kehoe's

After the beer we walked back to the apartment because we were meeting a family for dinner.  Jess's sister actually had a friend living in Dublin, so she invited us to dinner.  The food was amazing and we had a good amount of wine.  We arrived at her house around 6pm, I looked at my clock at 8:30 and then all of a sudden it was 11:40 pm and we kept this lady up so late (and she has children) and we hadn't even gone out yet.  So while walking back to the apartment we stopped at a bar called Slattery's. I had one drink there and we met two very nice Irish gentlemen that took us under their wing and brought us to another bar.  The name of the second bar we went to is slipping my mind (especially after wine and whiskey), but I know I had a lot of fun and everyone was out celebrating the "holiday".  It was a different atmosphere than I am used to, but I loved it and I loved making new friends in Ireland.  We got to bed around 5am on Saturday night.

Our new friend, Patrick

Sunday, Saint Patricks Day, was very dreary.  We relaxed most of the day and we wanted to be rested for our trip back to Innsbruck on Monday.  We were missing our first class on Monday, but it ended up being fine with the teacher.  Traveling on Monday was very long.  We started at 7am in Ireland, waking up at 4:30 to get to the airport by 6.  We ended up getting on the wrong train in Munich, so we had to either pay 45 euro or get off the train at the next stop.  Our choice, get off the train!  We waited for about an hour and a half for the next train and I made it back to my dorm around 8pm; a 12 hour travel day!!!  I ended up going to be so early that night, around 9:30.

School on Tuesday was very long, 9-4:30 and we also had class today, March 20, from 9-4:30.  We got a 1 hour lunch break, but it is still hard sitting in a classroom for that period of time.  After school today we went to the train station to buy our tickets back from Milan on April 1.  There was a pizza party for the WIST dormitories at one of the dorms.  The pizza party is hosted every second Wednesday at a different dorm each time.  This time it was at a dorm close to where I live, which was very convenient.  The pizza is between 2.50-3.50 euro depending on the type, and it is a whole pizza, not a slice!  They also have discounted beer and sodas!  It was packed, so finding a table was fun, but once we got the pizza we were all satisfied.  I got a pizza with ham and cheese on it and it was 3.50 and it was delicious, especially for the price.

We go on an excursion to St. Anton, a skiing resort, on Friday and then on Saturday we leave for Geneva.  Will keep you posted.

Gute nacht!