Erin Go Bragh!

Dingle Bay, Ireland

We arrived early (around 1am) to Trinity College (where we stayed in a dorm), so a good morning greeting from Ireland for a blog title seemed appropriate! Trinity College is a very old university, wth loads of character and charm. We both are thinking of going back to school there (we knew you'd love to hear that, Mom!).

We woke up Monday morning to traditional Irish weather- grey skies with a slight drizzle. After only a few minutes of exploring Dublin, we knew we would enjoy our time there. People in Dublin are extremely friendly and helpful. Even though it is a large city, it has a very small-town feel. This was later confirmed for us in the Irish Indepedent, as we came across an article titled, 'Ireland is Among Top Happiest Countries in the World.'--We believe it! (Note: The U.S. ranked 16th and Zimbabwe was last, surprise, surprise).

Later in the afternoon, we decided to catch a bus down to Cork, where we had reserved a B & B for two nights. For this portion of our trip, we decided to 'fly by the seats of our pants' and see where the wind took us. Upon arrival in Cork, or Butte II as we dubbed it, we decided time was too short to experience all of our time in Cork. We decided over dinner to travel to the Dingle Peninsula and stay the following night. After a four hour bus trip to Dingle, we wandered around the town for a brief stint trying to find a place to stay for the night. We were lucky to find a place in the heart of town for a very reasonable price. (And to boot, it had an iron, which we were thrilled about!).

WE LOVED DINGLE!!! It was very laid back, and we enjoyed a day of walking around the water, going into a few shops (Nan bought a cute wool hat). Thanks to our Fodor's guide, we found a cute little restaurant called the Chart House, where we were treated to a world-class meal. Nan had Kerry Beef and Laura had rack of lamb. (This made Nan quite upset, considering that we had ooed and awed over the cute little sheep only days earlier! But, when in Dingle....)

We were sad to leave, but wanted to spend one more full day in Dublin before heading to Liverpool.

Things to note:

The music/bar scene in Dingle was small enough for us to hit up all the spots, but with a slightly different flavor of music in every pub. We could have sat there all night listening to the musicians.

Also, we ran into a girl whose mom lives in Great Falls, Montana! Small world.