Priceless

Ireland has got to be one of those countries everyone should experience at some point or another. The trip was amazing, we had a blast from start to finish. The five of us left at 5:00am Friday morning, and arrived in Dublin around 8. The plane nearly left without us....thanks Ryan Air, but nonetheless we made it there. We came in on a fairly rainy day and did a "touristy" double decker bus and saw ~25 locations that are big tourist hits. We jumped off the bus halfway to go to the Guinness beer factory. It was quite an experience to see every single step of how the beer is made, they even had samples of the different ingredients throughout. To top the tour off, once we got to the 7th floor it was a circular glass room and they gave us a complimentery beer. I must say I am not a dark beer person, but it was rather satisfying.
Saturday morning we got moving when the bus routes started to open up and made our way toward the coast of Ireland, going to the small town of Malahide. I could have spent the entire day just walking along the beach and sitting along the wall. We did walk about ~2 miles down the beach and along the rocks. Many people brought their dogs down to walk and play along the beach. The weather could not have been better (keeping in mind that it is Ireland) and we chose the perfect day for a beach walk. Before heading back to Dublin we wanted to see the Malahide Castle and we were quite pleased with that choice. It was like being in a book walking through the forest pathway to go to the castle. The smell of everything around us was remarkable, it felt completely free from all signs of civilization. The castle was beautiful as well, and i sat outside and watched some younger kids play Cricket...still not quite sure how it works. I do know those kids would be quite good at baseball though.
Around 2 we headed back into the Dublin city area and did some more touristy shops. We took some fun pictures and walked through the day. That night we ate at a very good local pub, and had some sort of sausage stew type meal that is unique to Dublin and i must saw it was amazing. From there we walked the streets and experienced all that the night life had to offer, enjoying street performers and going into a great pub.
The weekend was a blast and so far the Irish are at the top of my list for frinedliness. They were just a blast to be around and were always so helpful. The only problem, if you get a fast talking local go ahead and give up because you won't understand one word of what he says. We had that happen quite a few times.

Weekend Travels

I am heading out for Dublin,Ireland in less than 6 hours now...wow i should go to bed. I look forward to talking to everyone when i get back. All 5 of us are going for all of tomorrow(Friday),Saturday, and return early Sunday. Weather looks pretty cold and rainy so wish us luck.

Paris Weekend

We arrived in London on our train back from Paris around 9 pm last night. The trip was a completely success. We left Friday morning from the house at 5 am, and had a full day in Paris. Day 1 we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower after checking in at the hotel. The weather was absurdly cold, but we still managed to climb the stairs 2/3 the way to the top of the Tower. It started storming as we got close to the top, and a beautiful rainbow appeared just under the billowing clouds. We Then proceeded to stay near the Tower for sunset and the lighting. There also happened to be an in-line competition being set up near us with music playing and small festivities. That provided entertainment for us while standing in the frigid cold weather.

Saturday we walked from the Arch de Triumph to the Louvre, and stopped at stores and shops along the way. We found a great market along the way full of fresh meats,seafood, jewelery, and trinkets. I somehow managed to make my way into a Cartier store to admire the watches the had in cases. Beautiful store, I felt quite out of place in a hoodie and jeans. We then made our way to Mulan Rouge, Thr Royal Opera house, then i split off from the girls and made my way to Paris' exotic fish aquarium. One tank alone made it worth the trip, it was a rather small aquarium, but they ahd the most gorgeous reef tank I have ever laid eyes upon. They also happened to have the largest lionfish I have yet to see with my own eyes. On the way out i walked under the Tower towards the city and there were some street performing dancers there. I video taped some of their acts and they provedto be quite entertaining for everyone.

Sunday we went to the church of St. Denis, then made our way to the Louvre. On Sunday all museums in Paris were free entry, so as you can expect everyone in Paris was in the Louvre at the same time. We didn't stay long in the museum as it was too busy to see much of anything. We then just wandered Paris for the remainder of the day.

Monday I went off alone to conquer all that Paris still had to offer. I went to Notre Dam in the morning after finding out the one museum left i wanted to see was closed on Mondays. Notre Dam was beautiful, but we have already seen prettier churches I think. After that i made my way towards Sacre Coeur. The church overlooks all of London from atop a mountain. Upon reaching the top, a few street performers tarted doing their acts on the stairs, and turned out to be some of the best acts I've yet to see. A football(soccer) player got up on top of the base rail of the stairs and started to juggle a ball, he then carried on to balance a ball on his head while climbing a light post, with all of Paris in the background. After watching both performers for around 2 hours i went behind the church to the small town like area. I ended up buying a painting of Paris from an artist there, then mademy way back down to the subway to come back to the hotel.