IRELAND!!!

Brian and I had the great opportunity to go to Ireland the first part of August.  I was super busy leading up to it and also knew it would be crazy when I got back with school starting for 5 kids one week after I returned.  That means I didn’t put any preparation or thoughts about what we would do when we got there. When we arrived,we were tired. Tired. There is a seven hour difference between here and there. Plus we had a long journey there.  We did our best to stay awake when we arrived. It was around noon there. We walked around near our hotel. We attended a tour of the Guinness storehouse and then it was pretty easy to fall asleep at a decent hour, like 9pm which was around 2pm mountain time at home.

The following day,Wednesday , we walked around more and saw things around Dublin. We scheduled two day tours. By lunch time I was really dragging.  We went back to the hotel and slept. We had a gala event that night and I didn’t want to be super tired for that. After we woke up we showered and got ready in our fancy clothes.  The gala was at the 3 arena. They had dinner and entertainment. Lots of river dancing, Irish music and drumming, and then Christina Aguilera. I had a really difficult time falling asleep that night.  Which stunk because we had to rise early in the morning to catch our tour.

We met at the Molly Malone statue, which we struggled to find.  We ran a lot that morning. We saw a sheep herder with his sheep dogs. We took a tour to the cliffs of Moher. AMAZING!  First we rode in. A boat in the Atlantic Ocean to see the cliffs from below. They we breathtaking at 700 feet high. Brian pointed out that we could see people standing on the tops of the cliffs.  They reminded me of the banditos from the new twenty one pilots video “jumpsuit”. After getting drenched on the boat we rode to the top of the cliffs and walked around. Their were yellow flowers all over, so I had to be a bandito and throw some flowers off the cliff. On the drive home I tried my best to stay awake so I could sleep at night. This was also my birthday.  Brian wrote the funniest note to me. It was written how they talk there and with little funny mentions from the day. There are many inside jokes from things that happened through the day. I’ll include it here.

Happy birday!!!

Top of the evening to my birday sweeart.  Hope u haven't had a rubish day. I've torouly enjoy the trek.   I know it's been anodur deadly year. I luv spending time wit u. So glad we got wet and were able to use the batroom toogeter. Better tat den squatting on the dock.   Hope I'm not terty minutes late for your party tonite. This note is good for one ham and cheezy(not now though), yummy not rotten carrots, umbrella, killer 🍩, rock wall around the yard tanks to trump, one or mor free cell phones at de obama convenient store, 20 more Marco polos and an ox card for a deer friend… Oh, don't forget a sheep 🐕 u can train and use to keep the kids in line.  I'm ordering up anodur deadly sunshiny day for tomorrow.

Luv ya🎂🚌🏚️🍀☘️🐑

The next morning we left even earlier for another day tour. We saw the dark hedges from the game of thrones.  It was not impressive. Then we went to a rope bridge and it was so beautiful! The pictures don’t capture the stunning scenery.  We went to Giants causeway. Another amazing place. There we hiked up the side of the cliff. Around 170 steps plus the trail up. I loved it.  I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful sights! After that we went to some castle ruins. Again, amazing! The tour guide that day talked to us about Irish history.  It was very interesting to me and very sad too. We drove up north and through Belfast. Everything was in British pounds there and British flags were waving.

We didn’t have time for another tour on Saturday before a party that Allstate had planned.  I really wanted to visit the sight where Vikings is filmed, but couldn’t figure out a way. We were only 18 miles away.  Our first tour guide is in Vikings. She said she is in season 5 and is always by floki. The party was interesting. It was on castle grounds right by the ocean.  Lots and lots of entertainment and food.

Here are some interesting words and things I noticed about Ireland:

Starter not appetizer

Lift not elevator

Queue not line

Ham and cheesy means relax or sleep

Mad, they say that a lot instead of crazy.  “Isn’t that mad!?”

Brilliant, they like that word a lot too. Everything good is brilliant.

Grand, heard that almost as much as brilliant.

“I’m going to have a pint tonight!” Instead of saying they were going to have a drink.

“Tea or coffee?” I lost count how many times I was asked that.

Rubbish, not garbage or trash.

Nappy, not a diaper

Nan is your grandma

Toilets,not bathroom or restroom

Motorway instead of freeway.

Cinema not theater

Way out, not exit

Holiday,not vacation

give way was on signs instead of yield

Crisps are potato chips because chips go with your fish

They play hurling there and only there.

The police are unarmed. I rarely heard a siren. And the streets were full of tables with food and items for the homeless.

Our last driver told us, “girls wreck your head and boys wreck your house.”

They don’t say the “th” sound at all.  They pronounce it like a solid “t” sound.  A man told us he was thirty two, but it sounded like tirty two.

I LOVED it there and would go back if I had the opportunity again.  It was beautiful, the people were great, the culture was rich and fun, the food was yummy (except some carrots I got that tasted rotten), and the weather was pleasant.  I didn’t get to see all I wanted to see. I miss it too. I wished I was back there after I came home.