Cheers from Dublin , Ireland! Our flights over were fairly uneventful other than Danielle getting sat in front of an Irish giant who wouldn't allow her to recline her seat and preceeded to kick her the whole flight. We were excited that both are bags fit in the overhead compartments (barely) with only a little pushing and shoving. We arrived into city excited and sleep deprivied. It only took Danielle 20 minites on the bus to realize we were on the wrong side of road, probably because were trying to hold on to our seats and look at the sites as they flew by at speeds faster than any bus should go. Checked into our hostel, which was very nice. Getting to our room in the penthouse attic was an adventure in itself. After passing through nine doors, one elevator, three flights of stairs, and two locked doors you arrive in our sunny little room for eight. We had two other roommates at this time, who we later found out were from the Netherlands and Germany. We set out to see the sights after a jolt of caffeine. After walking about one block we had to return to the hostel because Danielle had already acquired battle wound #1, a blister to one heel. We probably set the record for the most Dublin sites seen in one afternoon. These included St. Patrick's catherdral, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, the National Museum, the Garden of Remembrance, Molly Malone statue and many other parks and monuments. For lunch we stopped at a cafe/coffee house and nearly fell asleep while relaxing in their comfy chairs. From there we set out for a walk through St. Stevens Green which is like the Central Park in Dublin. The flowers and plants were absolutely beautiful. We wondered around for a couple more hours looking in shops and picking up a few souvenirs. After cleaning up back at the hostel we set out in the rain for dinner. We ended up at O'Donohue's pub which is owned and run by a sheep farmer named Des who is not an O'Donohue. We had hardy dinner of Irish Stew, listened to some live Irish music, I drank my first Guiness and Danielle even got to pull her own beer from the tap. Overall it was a wonderful first day.

Day two started a little late with a train ride to the city of Bray south of Dublin. The train rode along the coast where the views were amazing. In Bray we walked along the shore and then headed up a path that led out of the city along the water. As we started our trek the sun was shining and warm but as we got further from town it started to change. About thirty minutes out the rain started and we were without our raincoats....as furtune would have it we came upon a covered bench area. We took cover just before it started to really come down and were soon joined by several other Irish hikers and a couple dogs too. We recieved advice from one that in Ireland you never leave home without a raincoat no matter how sunny it is. After waiting out the showers we headed back to town for a quick lunch from an Italian Deli, which we ate at the beachside. On the way back to Dublin we stopped in the town of Dun Laoghaire to wander the shops.

We've enjoyed our time in Ireland very much and are sad that we can't explore it more. The Irish people are very friendly and listening to them talk is music to the ears, even if we can only understand half of what they are saying. One more night in the city and then we're off to London tomorrow.

We miss you all! Take care.

Love,

Lauri and Danielle