Dingle, Cork, Dublin

Friday, September 6, 2013

We spent the entire weekend doing absolutely nothing and it was absolutely perfect. We needed to be planted on our feet, to be safe, and reintroduced once again to the comforts of home. So we setup camp in Neptunes Hostel and made dinner, read books, and streamed the Cougs and Hawks at awkward hours in the early morning. It was a perfect couple of days.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Due to a marathon, The Ring of Kerry and Dingle roads were closed. So instead we ended up walking to the impressively preserved 15th century Ross Castle. 

We then went to a chic cafe to get some coffee to fuel up for the long night ahead.

We then walked over to St. Mary’s Cathedral and had a look around inside.

We retreated to our spot on the couch at Neptunes and proceeded to have a mellow evening, until about 3 a.m. when we were up watching James’ cougs kick butt.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Despite that the weather was crap, we weren’t sure when our last day in Killarney would be before moving on, so we went ahead and jumped on a bus tour to Dingle.

We stopped first at Inch Beach. Once again we were impressed at how the rolling green hills spill right into the turquoise waters.

The early afternoon was spent stopping along some pretty cool viewpoints during the ride around the peninsula.

One of our favorites was Dunmore Head.

We also stopped at a visitor center and museum before arriving into the town of Dingle.

Although incredibly touristy, we liked the small fishing town (less than 2,000 people actually live there). We spent a good hour wandering through the streets and docks.

Unfortunately, Fungie the dolphin wasn’t out in the harbor during our brief visit.

We were back to the hostel around 5 p.m. and lounged around until it was time to watch the hawks beat the Panthers at 6 p.m.

Yep. Things were really starting to feel like home again and we were really starting to annoy the security guard on nightshift.

Monday, September 9, 2013

We spent the entire day hanging out by the fireplace and walking around Killarney.

It was a perfect, nonproductive day. According to this blog, I seem to be excelling at those lately.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

We took the bus from Killarney to Cork. After a good five hour journey we checked into Bru Bar and Hostel. We walked around and explored Cork. Cork is fine, it’s just a university city with nothing sparkling to gaze at, but it served as the perfect transition from Killarney to Dublin. We did manage to stumble upon a market, which of course I was pretty thrilled about.

We returned to the hostel and quickly decided we were bored. I announced that I was headed to an evening yoga class, and somehow James agreed to join me.

We went to Himalaya Yoga in downtown Cork and nervous James chose a Level 1 class, claiming that he was new to yoga and didn’t know anything. Hey, whatever. I was just happy I had a yoga bud.

We enjoyed the class, James clearly knew exactly what he was doing, and afterwards we ended up chatting it up with the owner.

We walked back to our hostel and enjoyed a chill night talking about our plans through the live music in the bar before calling it a night and retreating to the closet-sized dorm.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

We took the bus to Dublin. The ride took nearly three hours and was more than enough time for me to get extremely frustrated that I was actually reading Fifty Shades of Grey, inarguably the WORST way to spend a second of your life. I think E.L. James should be sentenced to a life of planting trees just for wasting paper, polluting book stores, making Seattle look like a disturbed city, and calling herself an author.

Hey if anyone has some GOOD book recommendations please send them my way (think Paulo Coelho, Osho, happy and inspiring or teach-me-something worth knowing stuff!)

We spent the day in the all-too-familiar Dublin cruising around. James got some amazing Mexican food and with a happy belly, we ended up going out to the bars and making one last go out of Dublin.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

We hopped on the bus to Belfast. After a two and a half hour drive we arrived in Belfast.

James picked out the coolest hostel ever, Vagabonds. 

We walked around Belfast and checked out Victoria Square Shopping Centre, got some Starbucks, and then saw City Hall all nice and lit up.

We spent the night at Vagabonds and finalized our plans for the next few days exploring Northern Ireland!

Peace out Ireland!!! Thank you for letting me reset my Visa!!! 

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