Time to go to Ireland! I went to a local post office to change money (no fee!) before we left for the airport. I was happy to have Euros, but I spent quite a bit of time worrying about whether or not I seriously messed up. I had been so careful with my money and not spent too much, but I got a little confused about the exchange rates when I left the post office. I thought I had the swapping currencies thing under control--but I hadn't bothered to check the difference between exchange rates for pounds and Euros against the dollar. Basically, I changed my pounds to Euros directly (the post office didn't handle dollars anyway), without realizing that the dollar was pretty strong against the Euro and the pound was weak. The dollar was also weak against the pound, so by changing my money from dollar to pounds and then pounds to Euros, I felt like I had really cheated myself out of money for the trip. Mrs. Stanton helped me figure out later that it really didn't lose much, especially since I would have had to pay a money changing fee (twice!) if I had gone to the airport to change the money. Note to self: check this next time!
We left pretty early to go to the airport on Wednesday morning, only to find out that their airports are better organized than the ones in the US, so you don't have to show up 3 hours early. We spent a few hours in the airport because it was way to soon to check in. I hit the gift stores for some candy and stuffed animals and then played cards on the floor with Kelsey. It was good to have some down time, but I wished I could have visited the Edinburgh Zoo or slept late instead of going to the airport. In any case, we finally made it onto the plane for the short flight to Dublin.
Ireland looks beautiful from the air. There were wispy clouds over the almost impossibly green countryside, framed by beautiful coastlines. We were on a fairly small plane, so we could look out and take plenty of pictures. More clouds popped up as we landed, and I was reminded of why Ireland is so green. It was freezing cold and pouring rain. I already had money, so I waited on our new tour bus as the rest of our group went to the ATM before our first excursion. Gaelic is now an official EU language, so all the signs are in Gaelic as well as in English, even though there are only about 10,000 native speakers. The bus driver pointed out the windows in Georgian-era buildings, which got smaller with each floor. He told us that made the building look taller from the ground with the bigger windows near the street and smaller windows on higher floors, and also explained that many of the buildings had been built when there was a window tax in place.
There were signs everywhere about the "Lisbon Treaty", imploring people to "Vote Yes" and "Vote No!". Every light pole had at least 2, usually 3, signs about the issues tied to it, never all the same. It was like walking through a debate club 24/7. We asked the driver/tour guide about the signs and he told us there was an EU vote coming up. The Lisbon Treaty would revise the governing structure of the European Union to accommodate new member states, as well as move some powers from local governments and place them with the EU in Brussels. Our bus driver, with his usual dry humor, told us that he was planning to vote yes because "otherwise, they'll just make us vote again until they get it."
We had a long drive out to Glendalough, which was in the Wicklow Mountains, surrounded by some beautiful scenery. It was nearing twilight and still raining, lulling half the bus to sleep. It had been a long week and this bus trip wasn't nearly as high-energy as the Highlands trip. Maybe we were spoiled, but this driver just wasn't as good as Will. He did try to point out important stuff to us, but it just wasn't enough to keep us awake.
When we got to Glendalough, we went walking through a graveyard with the ruins of a monastery and a really tall tower. It was all misty and creepy looking, especially when it was so dark. It was really cold, and it had been warm and sunny in Scotland that morning, so we all headed inside to eat dinner and warm up. Heather had warned us that food would be really expensive anywhere we went, and she was right. The food was good though, just what I needed after a long day and that freezing walk through the graveyard. The bus then took us back to the city, careening around hairpin turns faster than I would go in my little car, so that we could check into out hotel.
The hotel was a small, homey place that seemed a little overwhelmed by so many of us checking in at once. We braved the elevator with all of our stuff, only to be greeted by a dark room with no way to turn on the lights. We had to call down to the front desk before we realized that you put your key card in the slot by the light switch to turn it on. That way, you can't leave the lights on in your room after you leave. Darkness situation solved, we turned on the TV to see a welcome message from the hotel. How cool is that?
We spent the rest of the evening figuring out the hotel (we could order pillows from housekeeping!) and planning the next day. So much to do, so little time.