Not Home Yet

I just didn't have it in me to write about what was happening last night. We landed in JFK and made it through immigration fairly quickly. Then we found out that our flight to Rochester was canceled. Canceled?! The weather is fine in both of the cities. Apparently it was the domino effect from severe thunderstorms in other cities. So our options were a flight to Syracuse landing at midnight or a flight to Rochester on Friday. We chose Syracuse and started looking for hotels.
So all is well and good. We just woke up starving in a Microtel and are about to head down in search of coffee. This itouch is still on Ireland time and it days 1:22pm. Jesse's brother Matt will be coming to pick us up later this morning...and I can finally wear those shorts that I packed for our trip!!

I miss my Netti pot!

You know you need to go home when all you can think about is rinsing your nose with salt water and sleeping with a humidifier. I've now successfully passed my head cold on to Jesse. Not to worry, I've stuffed a whole box of Kleenex in my purse(new purse from Primark) and stuffed Jesse with water and Mucinex.
We're sitting in the terminal waiting to see what gate we need to be at and I'm fighting the urge to go have my make-up done at the MAC counter. I should at least spend the rest of my Euros on some eyeshadow(right girls?!) it's not like I can stroll into a MAC store anytime...
Today the sun is shining and it was pretty mild. I wish the last two days had been like today, we really didn't want to leave. We slept in and then just started packing.
Anxiety level: moderate
Showered, and ready to go just about five minutes late(some things don't change with time zones) Ann drove us quickly to a different bus stop and we caught the bus. Phew! Anxiety level:still moderate but lowering
15 min into A very hot bus ride a woman falls over walking to her seat. She fell flat on her back and the sound of her head hitting the ground was like a gunshot(as if I've ever heard one) i was paralyzed behind my suitcase but Jesse jumped into action and got to her quickly. In the end she seemed fine and happened to be on her way to the doctors anyway. Anxiety level: Through the Roof!!
We are now about to board and I'm not too anxious...I'm just very tired.

PS-I stopped at MAC to get some new eyeshadow!

The Oldest Place We'll Ever Be

Today we saw Newgrange. It was amazing! I'm sure I've overused the word in the last two weeks but this time it was most fitting. We were amazed by this Noelithic mound created before Stonehenge(sorry we never made it there!) and before the great Pyramid. It is classified as a passage tomb and apparently they are all over the east coast of Europe but none as large or as impressive as those as Newgrange and Knowth. Just google it-I know you want to!
Here is a photo looking down a passage in Knowth. I guess Jesse didn't get a full photo of the outside, but don't worry I'm sure I've got that covered.

Out of Socks & Underwear...

...Guess it's time to come home! Getting dressed this morning I realized I was out of clean socks(I didn't expect to be wearing them if we went to Rome) and Jesse is out of clean underwear. Oh well, we made it most of the trip, although we did do laundry when we stayed with Laura. I would attempt to use the washer here but the 'dryer' is the clothesline out back and it's been raining all day. Today is actually the first day we woke up to steady rain and I didn't mind one bit. I started to come down with a head cold on Saturday and it's now moved to my chest. I feel ok but i needed the extra sleep this morning and a low key day.

Last night we went to Graceland

So the whole story is much too long, I'll just say that getting tickets was not an easy feat and we may have bought the very last one. But it was all worth it to see Paul Simon live! Jesse has the pictures. We had perfect seats and it was a lovely evening. To see Paul Simon alone would be amazing but to see him play Graceland with the original line-up was crazy.

Today we went to the Guinness Brewery. I was shocked by how much it had changed in 11 years. I remember making it through the whole place and having a pint in about an hour. Now there was so much to see we spent the afternoon there and didn't see it all.

We returned to Anne's and had a wonderful dinner with the whole house. Irish, Spanish, French and Americans all eating at the same table. It was grand!!

More!

-us with Laura in a local, St Helen's pub

Pictures from Jesse's phone

-Our Paddy wagon bus stopped at the mini cliffs of moher
-a police badge in a bar from Rochester
-my terrified face high above some cliffs in Dingle

Wales is wonderful

So we decided to take a breather on Wednesday in Wales. When we arrived in the train station in Holyhead we hopped out in search of a B&B instead of hopping on the ferry.
It's a lovely seaside town(or once was). I was very skeptical of this place Jesse found because we had to walk a ways into a neighborhood but he scored! It was a lovely cozy room with a new bathroom and a flatscreen tv. We immediately feel asleep. We woke up around 5:00 and went to eat at a place called the boathouse. The food was 'grand' as the Irish say.(and so was the wine!)
It was just what we needed to recharge. Now we're on the ferry back to Ireland. I won't give away any surprises but I think we've got some exciting events ahead so keep reading!

Laura and Liverpool

Sorry it's been so long! We haven't had steady wifi and we've been busy. Laura was a wonderful host! We saw her beautiful(very ikea) home and she showed us around her neighborhood. I finally met Nathan, Kathryn's son, who shares my birthday.
On tuesday we slept in-first time in a week! Then we went to Liverpool for the day. Liverpool is a lively city on the water. Many of the museums were free which was nice. There was an exhibit on the Titanic which was actually registered in Liverpool. We had by far our best meal at an Italian tapas restaurant called Pesto. Well done Laura!
Another highlight was my trip to Primark. Primark is a clothing store with a bit of everything. According to Laura's friend Steve 'You could buy the whole store for twenty quid, couldn't you?!'
Jesse missed the store but I plan to show him Penny's back in Ireland which is the same store.

We returned to Laura's late Tuesday and worked tirelessly into the night trying to find a way to Italy. We went to bed about 1am defeated by the budget airlines. So for future travelers there is no benefit to waiting for that flight! Prices don't go down, the flights just sell out!

Fairies and Ferries

The last three days on the Paddywagon tour were fun and very informative. We saw a 'real' Fairy ring! I still don't understand it exactly, might need Dylan to explain when we get home. The tour was both fast and slow. Yesterday was a very long day. We started at 9am in Dingle and didn't return to Dublin until 10:18-we missed a train back to Annes by 5min and had wait an hour for another one. So we crawled into bed at about midnight....and got up at 5:30!

After a ridiculous train/taxi trip to get to the correct ferry port(there are two in Dublin) we are now relaxing, me with wifi and a latte, Jesse with a neck pillow and his jacket over his eyes. We are on the largest ferry in Europe according to the taxi driver who brought us here. We feel like we are on a cruise ship! There is shopping, restaurants and a cinema. Way to go Irish Ferries! We're now wondering if we could take a ferry to Italy.

We are very excited to see the Hills! After our two days with Laura I have no idea where we will go!! Maybe London, or a tour of England, we've looked into Scotland as well. Italy is still our first choice but we haven't found an affordable way to do it yet. All of the photos are on Jesse's phone so I'll post some soon.

A Day in Dingle

Today we drove around Dingle stopping to take pictures often. It's just gorgeous here. We've had the last two hours to eat and wander around the town of Dingle. Next stop is a National park...horse back riding perhaps!

We stumbled upon...

...the coolest event ever in Galway yesterday but I just didn't have time to post about it. A boat race around the world that started in France last November ended in Galway this weekend. I've never seen Galway like this before! It was the amazing! Live bands all over town, people from all over the world, and the city was alive all night!

Times have changed

I'm sitting in the parking lot at the cliffs of Moher and I barely recognize the place. There is a full blown tourist center with a cafe. I remember when there was just a guy selling tapestries on a blanket. Doolin has changed a lot too. More places to eat and sleep. We leave now to head to a place in Dingle for the night. our tour has been changed a bit but I think for the better! I'll try to post pictures from Jesse's phone later.

Ah, those were the days!

Paddywagon

Off to a late start but we're used to that...lost the internet and never got it back! We had a fabulous tour of Connemara today! We're in our hostel in Galway. I'm so happy to be here! About to show Jesse around my old stomping grounds.

This says it all...

No Rain!

I just need to announce that Ireland has been grey and rainy for over a month-but the sun was shining when we landed and it looks like today will be another beautiful day! We are very thankful for this gorgeous weather.

Evening stroll

This afternoon we took the train up to Howth, a beautiful seaside town. It reminded me of the cape with its smell of salty sea air, oysters and fish fry.

We came back to a wonderful dinner thanks to Anne and then went for a walk. We're exhausted now and excited for tomorrow!

Tomorrow we tour Glendalough and Powerscourt.

We are Here!

We've arrived. Found the right bus and Anne picked us up at the station. She's making us breakfast now and then who knows?!

On our way!

We made it to JFK and are eating our last bites of American food...well sort of!

Less than 24 hours

We've been running around nonstop today-well actually we did stop for a delicious meal at Josh & sherry's. Thanks for dinner guys! Then we were back to shopping for our trip. Jesse's got shoes now and I've got a long sleeved shirt and whatever we don't have we'll do fine without. Tomorrow at this time we'll be one hour into our transatlantic flight!

2 Days to Go

We woke not feeling our best this morning. A fun night was had but being out late, drinking more than usual and dancing in heels is a recipe for a slow Sunday. The first floor has been somewhat de-cluttered and we're going to start packing next...after a bit of a rest!