Ireland and England

What a change of events! We did not expect to be traveling abroad during this trip, but when life gives you lemons blah blah blah. I had always wanted to go to Ireland and luckily the tickets were very cheap so that is where we started, in Dublin. I have to say, the first day, we were pretty delirious. We had some layovers and unfortunately, neither one of us could sleep. We decided to skip our booked hostel and got a hotel for the night so we could start fresh the next day, which we did. We hit the ground to see all the sights including Molly Malone, Trinity College, the National Museum of Ireland, and of course, the Guinness Factory.

While dark beer is not typically something I like, Guinness grew on me. There is a time and place for most things. At night, we ventured out and enjoyed the bars and live music. While Temple Bar is famous (and fun!) we really enjoyed the International Bar Pub, which had some great Irish stew and a more local vibe.

While not initially planned, we decided to head to the west coast via bus so we could see Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. We really liked Galway for it's cozy pubs and atmosphere. To us, it seemed to be a more cultural experience than Dublin being a more city feel. We ate some great fish and chips at Hooked and enjoyed brews at The Crane, a small pub.

The next day, we took a tour to the Cliffs and I still can't get over the views. The hike along the cliffs felt like we were plopped into a fantasy novel. Mystical.

Included in the tour was also a visit to Dunguaire Castle and the Gleninsheen Wedge. The drive itself was pretty with continuous views of the ocean and country homes.

We were sad to see our time in Ireland come to a close as we felt it barely scratched the surface. It is definitely a place we plan to visit again in the future. But, all good things must come to an end. The following day, we caught a bus to Dublin to fly over to Manchester. While we didn't get to do everything we wanted to as Cam caught a stomach bug, we were able to walk around and see some sights. We stayed in the Northern Quarter which is a hip trendy area known for its street art. In the area we came upon a craft fair, which had some cool items. Cam bought some hot sauce to be used for the remainder of our time in Europe, a necessity. We also wandered into the Science and Industry Museum, which was having some kind of school day. So many children. We didn't stay very long, but we did see and a giant industrial cloth maker from the 1800s, which was pretty cool.

We didn't have very long in Manchester and before we knew it, we were on our plane to London. The city of London is a good blend of local neighborhoods and touristic experiences.  While sadly, I caught whatever Cam had, we still had a good time. We bought a hop on hop off bus ticket and spent the day seeing the major sights such as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. Personally, the highlight was the tour of Westminster Palace where we learned about England's evolving government and changing monarchy and traditions. 

London has a vibrant food scene, which we sadly didn't get to experience to the fullest due to the nature of our illness, but we did go to Bourough market. Huge open market with everything from live fish to jams to wine you can walk around with. Still a highlight of our oversea adventures as a whole. This concludes our United Kingdom adventures, time for me to brush up on my Spanish again. 

Until next time!