Yesterday was a day full of many adventures. Picture the following scene: me lugging my mega suitcase and laptop bag stuffed with books through the streets of London, the Tube, the Gatwick Express, and eventually the airport - only to discover my bag weighed too much for our flight. Yes, I became THAT person, trying to pull out the heavy stuff and carry it by hand. Lesson learned: suitcase packed with 5 weeks worth of stuff minus black licorice bag, sneakers, toiletries, and blazer equals acceptable for Ryan Air :) I'm now trying to figure out what I can get rid of before our flight to Edinburgh on Tuesday.
Now picture 3 very tired, very American girls arriving in Dublin at about 10:30 p.m., trying to figure out what bus to take, being told by two people that our hostel was in "not the best area." It was a bit nervewracking, but we made it. And it's really not bad at all. We have a room for just the 3 of us, and it's clean and comfortable. And we all feel very safe. For me, it's really fun to actually have the hostel experience - more communal in feel than a hotel setting. In general, the city here feels very young. Apparently, over 50% of Dublin's residents are under 30.
Anyways, today we took a hop-on, hop-off tour of Dublin and we visited the Killmainham Gaol, learning lots about Irish history and also saw the Book of Kells at Trinity College. As you can see, below we also enjoyed a traditional Irish dinner of cider and Dublin Coddle (potatoes, sausage and bacon in a tasty sauce). Yum!
