Wow, we are a bit behind! Well I can tell you that the 5th of September was a travel day. We took a very long train from Cork to Dublin, checked into our place in Dublin, grabbed some food and basically stayed in our room working and planning the rest of the day.

Yesterday was a touring day. We got up and had breakfast at a coffee shop across the street, then took a cab to Trinity College. The campus was absolutely stunning with large courtyard expanses and beautiful, old architecture. Our focus for the visit was to see the famous Book of Kells. Produced in the 9th century, the Book of Kells is a copy, in Latin, of the four gospels. The tiny, neat script is adorned with beautifully intricate works of art, created by the monks of Iona. We bought tickets for the exhibit at €9.00 each, and spent some time reading about the process used to create this book and two others which were also on display. At the end of the exhibit, two of the volumes for the Book of Kells were on display, allowing us to admire the tiny, intricate scroll work of the illustrations on four of the pages. We left the exhibit, exiting through the Long Room in the Old Library. This one room houses around 200,000 of the library’s oldest books arrayed in rows of shelving along each side of the main corridor. At the ends of each shelf stand busts of famous philosophers and literaries. We took our time walking down the long corridor, looking at the old books on display and soaking in the “old book” smell. After, we headed to the library shop, then out of the college and on to the Guinness Factory.

The Guinness Factory is HUGE! We came upon the entrance from the road and had to walk all the way around one of the vast warehouses used to brew the famous stout. We were given a quick orientation, then ushered into the self-guided section of the touring facilities which included 7 stories of information about the Guinness brews. Unfortunately, no actual brewing is done in the touring facility, but we were shown examples of all of the equipment and graphic animations depicted the various stages of the brew as it flowed through the process. On the fourth floor, we were taught and then able to pour our own pint of Guinness! We had quite a fun time and were given a certificate at the end. We took the elevator up to the seventh floor and entered the sky bar which provided a 360º view of Dublin skyline. The ambiance was lively and the place packed, but we took some pictures and admired the view before heading back down and out of the facilities.

We caught a cab back to the hotel, grabbed some dinner nearby, and stayed in our room for the night. After booking our flight to Germany, we were dismayed to discover the airline had gone on strike! Luckily our flight hadn’t been canceled yet. Ryder worked while I read and sketched for the remainder of the evening.

This morning we were up bright and early to pack and grab lunch before heading to the airport. We hired a cab at €25.00 total and arrived with plenty of time. The line was long to check baggage, but we made it through and no canceled flight, yay! Next came security, then waiting at the departure gate. Our flight was a little late, but we arrived safe and sound in Frankfurt, Germany after about 2 hours in the air.

Upon exiting the airport, we decided to attempt to take public transportation to our hotel near the city center. After trying the bus system twice, we opted for the rail and a kind gentleman pointed us in the right direction. We emerged from the train station close to our hotel and started walking the two blocks to it. Along the way, I was looking around, reading the business signs on the windows when I realized every single business we passed was either a sex shop, strip club, brothel, or casino. Oh my god, we had stumbled head long into Frankfurt’s red light district! And, just a block over sits our hotel, directly across the street from one of the most famous brothels in Europe. Lucky us. Let’s just say, we ventured out for some dinner then went straight back to our rooms. We don’t plan to linger…

Yesterday was pretty uneventful, maybe. Because the day before had been a Sunday, our hopes of doing some laundry had been dashed as all the laundry matts were closed. We woke up early yesterday with enough time to run to a laundry matt about half a mile away to do a few loads before catching a train to Cork! We were a little desperate (I was on my last pair of underwear), so when we saw the pricing signage, £18 for a small wash and dry and £24 for a large wash and dry, we choked a little on the price but managed to squeeze all of our dirty cloths into one small wash. We left the laundry to be picked up an hour and a half later. Back at the hotel, we packed, grabbed some breakfast, then trekked back to the laundry matt with our luggage. The little Irish lady running the matt was kind enough to let us un-pack and re-pack our luggage, taking up a corner of the laundry matt in the process. I was so very excited to have clean clothes!!!

Our luggage now at its usual heftiness, we traipsed back up the street and to the station, catching the next train to Kildare. We picked up a connecting train from Kildare to Cork, arriving just after 6pm in Cork. The hotel I had booked the night before happened to be really close to the station and the city center so we walked to it. When we arrived, I smiled at the lady behind the reception saying the reservation was under Ross. She scanned the computer screen, pursed her lips, typed a few keys and scanned some more. Hmm, I was thinking, do we have the confirmation email? Dang, I should have checked with Ryder the night before to make sure he got it… The clerk looked up at us with a puzzled expression on her face and said, “I’m sorry ma’m but it looks as though your reservation is for the night of the 3rd and 4th of October.” Ok, imagine bright red Amanda at this moment. Shit. Well, Ryder was able to cancel the inaccurate reservation on Hotels.com and we were still able to get a room for the next two nights. Lesson for the day: ALWAYS double check the dates of the reservations before finalizing the booking!!!! Gah! Later, we had some dinner at a pub across the street and then went back to our room for the night.

Today we took a bus to Blarney and arrived at Blarney Castle at around 1pm. The Castle was a beautiful ruin with gorgeous grounds surrounding it! We started our castle exploration in a hole in the castle wall that allowed access to a well. The quarters were very cramped and damp but we slid and crawled our way to the end for a quick photo then back out again. We headed to the main part of the castle next, in search of the famous Blarney Stone! I (Amanda) was under the impression that this stone would be sitting nicely on the ground as part of a wall somewhere on the grounds and visitors would be tipped upside down on their hands to kiss it. Boy was I wrong. We stood in line inside the castle’s Great Hall, winding our way slowly past the main rooms and up a very narrow, winding staircase to the top of the tower. There we were confronted with the Blarney Stone, sitting ever so innocently at the base of a section of the tower wall with a nice hole leading to a 5 story drop directly below it! I tried not to think about death by Blarney as I was tipped back, and leaned far out into the open air to kiss this famous stone. Glad that’s over.

After the kissing we headed back down to the grounds to explore the Poison Garden.  At the entrance and all around the garden we were confronted with signs featuring a skull and crossbones that said, “Do not smell, touch, or eat!” Smell? Yes, there was a plant in that garden that had such a potently bad odor it would destroy your sense of smell and cause other really nasty ailments if inhaled. We lingered in the garden for a bit then went on a little walk around the grounds, taking in all of the beautiful and odd features of the Rock Close. We left the castle after, heading back to the bus station at Blarney and on to Cork.

Back in Cork we spent some time at the hotel, working out at the gym and making plans for the next few days. We went in search of dinner next, walking through the downtown area, hoping for a good bite to eat; a fresh salad for instance. A bartender at a pub we tried suggested a restaurant called Liberty Grill a few blocks down. We both agree, our meal at this restaurant was the best food we’ve had in about a month! The salads were absolutely yummy and the dessert was divine! We left the restaurant feeling very full and satisfied. Back at the hotel we booked a plane flight, a hotel, and skyped. Tomorrow we’re heading back to Dublin!

Yesterday we got up and set off for the Temple Bar to meet Tony and Theresa, Ryder’s friend Thomas’s parents, who were in Dublin to see the Notre Dame vs. Navy game! They told us to meet them at Temple Bar which turned out to be a HUGE avenue packed with people in green and blue drinking and shouting, general pre-game shenanigans. We weaved through the crowds, asking a police officer for directions, hoping there was an actual bar called Temple Bar. We were pointed in the right direction and ventured into the bar only to discover, to our dismay that it was a) packed to the brim with people, enough so it was hard to even move, and b) divided into about 5 main rooms and two outside areas! Right, it was like looking for a needle in a hay stack. We slowly scooted through the mass of bodies and had no luck. We exited the other side and talked about plunging back in when Ryder spotted Tony! Yay! They had moved to a little cafe just across the street to get out of the crowds!

We joined them, had some breakfast, and talked for about 2 hours having a fantastic time! Tony and Theresa where accompanied by Theresa’s brother and his wife. They were a very sweet couple and we had so much fun with all of them. Too soon it was time for them to leave and head over to the stadium. We said our goodbyes, wishing the visit could have lasted longer. As we made our way back down Temple Bar to hail a taxi, Ryder and I talked about finding tickets to go to the game. We had talked with two ladies the night that were staying across the hall from us at our hotel and who had two tickets they were willing to sell. Unfortunately the tickets weren’t seated together so we had declined the offer. I admitted regret to Ryder for not taking those tickets when we had the chance and then we both decided if we could find tickets we’d take them, after all when would we next be in Dublin and be able to see American football?

We were approached by two scalpers with tickets and bought tickets from the second guy. They just happened to be in the exact same section as Tony and Theresa!! We headed back to the hotel to drop off a few things, then on to the stadium!! We walked to the stadium from the hotel, weaving around the swelling crowds of green and blue. As fate would have it, we crossed a street and there they all were!! They were so excited to see us again and were as surprised as we were to discover the tickets coincided with their section of the stadium! All of us headed into the game then, passing a large procession of Navy students all dressed to the nines and waiting to enter the stadium.

We got a few drinks then took our seats, watching the proud display of the Navy as they processed out, sang the American and Ireland national anthems, and then came the coin toss. Everyone stood for the kickoff and with a deafening roar from the crowd the game was off! We had a grand time watching the first two quarters, but unfortunately, as the second quarter came to a close, it was apparent the Navy team didn’t show up for the game and were properly trounced by the Fighting Irish.

We left at halftime, saying good bye to our friends, picked up our luggage at the hotel and took a taxi to the train station. We caught the next train to Kilkenny, getting in at 5:30pm. We walked to our hotel from the station and deposited our luggage. We ventured out and grabbed some pizza for dinner, then went back to the room to skype with family before going to bed.

Today we woke up in time to eat the complimentary breakfast at our hotel. As it was Sunday today, almost every thing in town was closed. We walked down a few streets enjoying the quite hush of the downtown as it seemed most of the population was at church. We walked over to the Kilkenny Castle, walked around the grounds, then headed into a large craft center that sold local crafts. Nothing caught our fancy, but we did spend some time in a gold and silversmith’s shop talking to a very nice gal that designed some of the jewelry in the store. Afterward, we headed back to the main street and spent some time in a local bookstore. By the time we got out of the book store it was after one and the town seemed to wake up a bit with more people bustling around.

We saw a sign on the street for a pub called Hole in the Wall with a plethora of historic information about it on the sign. Our curiosity piqued, we walked down a narrow alley and into a very small and old looking bar. The owner just happened to be at the entrance and greeted us with the famous warm Irish hospitality. He took us on a tour of the pub which was built in the early 1500s as a house for a wealthy merchant in Kilkenny with ties to the Irish royalty. The owner had found the place derelict without a roof and filled with pigeons. He restored the roof and chipped the walls down to the original stone used to build the house. The upstairs afforded a wide room where he said they’ve had famous Irish singers and bands come play. After the tour, we bid our goodbyes and headed down the street to a little cafe for lunch.

After lunch, we walked around the town a bit more, looking for a hair salon that might be open as we are both in need of a hair cut! No such luck, it being a Sunday. We went back to the hotel and read a bit then went out to a pub for dinner and drinks. We skyped with family and are settling in for the night.

Our alarm blared us awake at 9am this morning. We jumped up, packed up, and took our bags down to the front desk for the hotel to hold for us while we took the train to the Giants Causway! We bought a quick breakfast/lunch at the station and boarded a train for the nearest town to the Giants Causway, 1 hr and 15 minutes away from Belfast. Once we reached our destination, we purchased two round trip bus tickets to the Causway at £11.80 total. We passed through a few small towns before being dropped off at the entrance. We skirted the vistors center to avoid paying £8.50 per person entrance fee, and hiked down the road and a few stairs into the Giants Causway.

The area was absolutely breathtaking. We were reminded briefly of the cliffs along the California coast back home. The strange rock formations that make up the Giants Causway jut out from the land straight into the sea. This natural wonder is made up of interlocking basalt columns, which look like long hexagonal shaped stepping stones, formed from ancient volcanic activity in the area. We climbed around the rocks taking lots of photos and enjoying the scenery. It rained a bit while we were there, making the rocks very slippery and the climbing slow going. We walked through the Giant’s Gate, and took a long trail up to the Organ. Both rock formations were spectacular. We ended the tour, taking the upper half of the trail around the rim face to get a birds-eye view of the formations.

One bus ride and one train ride later and we were back in Belfast. We hustled back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, stopped at a Subway (We know, we know, terrible) for dinner, and hurried back to the train station to catch the train to Dublin. We made it in time and settled into first class! Yay! The ride was only  2 hours and gave us time to catch up on journaling and reading. We made it to Dublin and checked into our hotel for the night. We are meeting Ryder’s friend’s parents here who are seeing the Navy vs. Notre Dame game tomorrow!