Monday, December 13, 2010

Post About My Trip #5 (last one, I swear)

This is the "few photos, all facts" post.  If you ever plan to travel to Ireland, you must know:

-Their journalists don't mince words like ours do.  Ha!

-Red heads are non-existent.  We didn't see a single redhead!  Kate was the only one and she's not even Irish.  I thought it a bit tragic

-Americans definition of sweets and the Irish definition are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Our first night we got hot cocoa and poured it out because it was not sweet all, we thought the machine was broken!  No, they just don't use much sweetener.  That's probably better, but for ladies with our strong sweet tooth's (sweet teeth?), we had a hard week of withdrawal.
(deceptive)

-I will only rent a car in Europe again if I never have to drive.  Also, when I'm the passenger I would prefer a strong punch on the face or a 1600mg Ambien.  Seriously, either way, driving or passenger, is terrifying.  Especially on the TINY back roads.  Meaning, all of Ireland except Dublin.
(picture from the death chair, i.e. passenger seat)

-We didn't see any overweight people!  Yes!  Of course there were your typical plump older folks but no one with that obese look to them.  Congrats Ireland!

-Everyone was super friendly, especially when we laughed at ourselves, they seemed to get a kick out of that.  Even when we didn't understand their accents and we just nodded our heads and slowly backed away, they were absolutely delightful.

-There are sheep EVERYWHERE!!!  Just roaming and eating.  Each one has a spray painted dot on them to help the farmers keep track of whose is whose.  They were so cute, but scared us when they decided to grab a snack by the side of the road.  No, we did not contribute to Irish roadkill.
(check out that cute pink bum)

-Foreign money always feels like play money to me so I spend it without thought for consequence....sad face....
(Top Shop - yes, I miss you but I have my new wallet and purse to console me)

-At a restaurant/pub in Killkenny we met an old (super cool) guy who struck up a conversation with us.  Somehow we started talking about beef.....yeah.  Anyway, I mentioned that we both are pescatarians  but that I would eat my parent's beef at Christmas because they raised it yada, yada.  He then said, "oh you're a country girl!  You should move here and put these boys in their place, they need a good country girl to know how to handle them".  I love him.  Seriously. I couldn't bring myself to break his heart and tell him that I am far from a country girl so I just went with it.
(that very restaurant)
(so cute)
 

-Everything except for restaurants and pubs closes at 5pm.  Everything.  It's eerie.  

-Their radio stations provided these songs and these songs only during the entire week: "Only Girl in the World" Rihanna, "Just The Way You Are" Bruno Mars, "Firework" Katy Perry, "Forget You" CeeLo Green, and some weird techno song that would say "Barbara Streisand" every few seconds.  We did a lot of channel surfing.

-The Irish are very proud of their heritage and I LOVED IT! 

-On Thanksgiving we heard over and over on the radio, "Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!  Call or text us with what you're thankful for!"  I loved it!  I didn't hear or see and anti-American sentiment over there (it's always a concern).  They are just fabulous.  Love

There really are old forts, cathedrals, castles, etc all over the place.  You can see them from the freeway even. Ugh, why is America so young?!?!  Kidding, I love home :)

(both pictures taken while driving)

-Most of the menus I looked at had their food providers listed.  Um, hello "Food, Inc" dream world!!!!  So amazing!

-Most of the homes have been named and that name is displayed on a plaque on their fence.  What would my house name be?  Hmmmmm.....

-Every town was SO colorful!  They are teeny, cute, unaffected by expansion and are just darling.  I think we both kept waiting for the bubble to burst, but it didn't.  They actually live and work in the most quaint and beautiful towns.  I adore Ireland.

I'll be back.  Say it like the Terminator.

4 comments:

-Danica- said...

I'm sad this is your last "trip" post. I want to go there SO bad so each time I read one of these I pretend I was the one who went :) and yes I do want to get together!! You let me know the time and place and I am there.

Amber said...

I am so jealous of your entire life. I can't believe you went there..I dream of going there one day.

Fabulous post as always.

kate said...

I'm not sure if being a passenger or driver was worse....either way NEVER AGAIN!Lesson learned..but at least we can say we can do it...who needs men! (Unless you need your tire changed!)

rachel garber said...

2010 has been pretty sweet to you: St. Thomas (??), Ireland, a move to D.C., NYC, and a few more places I had thought about the other day but have since forgotten. You desreve it though! You rock!