Dublin, Ireland

I have a good friend, Debora, who is from Irsina that studied in Dublin, Ireland.  She attends the Polytechnical University in Turin and studies engineering.  With her program, she studied 2 years in Turin and 2 years in Ireland. Her brother, Domenico, is best friends with Francesco and also a very good friend of mine. Shelly became friends with Debora after meeting her in January and again in April when we went to Irsina. Debora invited us to come to Ireland at the end of May to celebrate her birthday, Shelly's birthday and also the end of her school year. I could not get a ton of time off work, so I went from Thursday-Monday morning, whereas Shelly went from Monday-Monday.

Debora, Shelly and I in Galway

After I got into Dublin, I took a 3-hour bus trip to Galway.  I met Debora, Shelly and Domenico there because they had gone to the Cliffs of Moher for the day.  I was really bummed that I missed out on doing that, but because Domenico was leaving Saturday morning, that was the only day they could go. I waited in Galway for a few hours until they returned.  I enjoyed my first beer(s) in Ireland at a great little pub in the park.  They had rented a car to go to the cliffs for the day, so after having dinner and a beer in Galway that evening, we drove to Athlone, where Debora lived.

River in Dublin

Friday morning, we drove back to Galway to return the rental car, then took the bus to Dublin.  I had booked a night at a hostel in Dublin for the four of us.  It was in a great location, just a short walk from the popular area of Temple Bar.  We went out for sushi that evening, then went out on the town to a few different pubs. It doesn't get dark until about 10:30-11pm in Dublin, so it always feels much earlier than it really is.

Shelly and I at Temple Bar, Dublin

Domenico had to leave for the airport at 10am the next morning.  I don't think we went to bed until about 5am and we had to check-out at the same time that he left, so we were all pretty tired that day! Shelly and I loved Dublin so much that we decided to book a night at a hotel for Saturday and stay an extra night.  We hadn't packed much at all since we thought we were only staying in Dublin one night, so the rest of our things were back in Athlone.  Obviously, that called for a chance to go shopping and buy some new clothes :)

Me, Domenico, Debora, and Shelly at Trinity College

We visited the Guinness factory that afternoon and it's true what they say in Dublin, that Guinness really DOES taste better there! I've never liked stout beer before, but I really enjoyed the taste.  It was very interesting to learn about the history of Guinness beer and to take a tour of the factory and see how it's made...and the free pint at the end was great as well.

Shelly and I at the Guinness Factory

We continued to have such a great time that we decided to stay ANOTHER night.  We had to get our things from Debora's house in Athlone so we decided to rent a car, drive to Athlone, drive back to Dublin, leave our suitcases in the car, go out, and go to the airport around 4am since our flight was at 6:30.

Me and Domenico 

All of that worked out almost perfect, other than the fact that Shelly's passport fell out in the rental car and we didn't realize it until we were at the check-in desk at the airport.  I had to fly back to Rome since I was scheduled to work that day, but Shelly loved Dublin SO much that she stayed ONE MORE night and made it back to Rome on Tuesday.

Dublin is definitely my favorite city i've visited so far.  We had such a fun time.  The weather that weekend was warm and sunny, very unusual for them.  All of the people were in a great mood and we found the people to be the nicest of any city we've visited thus far. One night, some new friends texted us the name of the bar they were at, but we didn't know where it was, so we asked a taxi driver and he said he was sorry, but he had never heard of it.  He offered for us to use his cellphone to call our friends.  They didn't answer, so we thanked the taxi driver and kept walking and asked about 20 other people before we found some locals who knew where it was.  The taxi driver drove up to us and asked us if we had found out where it was.  He then offered to take us there for free!! He told us that he was on his way home and that he'd be happy to drop us off on his way. I must say that that would never happen in Rome! This was just one example of many that we encountered that weekend of just how nice the people were. I will definitely be going back to Ireland someday and hopefully exploring some other parts of the country as well.

This was the last trip for Shelly and I as she moved back to Ohio about a week after Dublin.  She decided that she was ready to start a career in dietetics and was ready to be back in America.  I'm now back to living on my own in Rome, but will continue to be very busy for the next few months with my family coming to visit, Anna and Giuseppe's wedding and another August spent in Irsina. I am 95% sure that i'll be moving back to the states at the end of September.  My lease will be up at my apartment and i'll be done teaching English at my school right before the wedding.

London and Cambridge, England

One blog post in May wasn't enough, I know.  I now have to re-count my trip to London and Cambridge from the end of April-early May and it's already June...where does time go?!

London Eye at night

I flew into London on Saturday, April 28th.  My flight was delayed 3 hours due to "technical problems" on the airplane.  I flew British Airways for two reasons 1. it was cheaper and 2. I thought it would be a nice change from the low-cost airlines I've been flying. There was some problem with the PA system, but no one ever told us how long it was going to be, whether we would still be able to take off, etc.  The plane was full of Italians and none of the flight attendants spoke English! I was lucky because my co-worker, Catarina, was on the same flight as me.  She was visiting London with a friend the same weekend I was there, which also happened to be a holiday weekend in Europe. What's important is that I made it there safely though.

Piccadilly Circus

I took the subway to the other side of town, Canary Wharf, where we stayed.  Abby's friend, Andrea, was visiting from the states this week too.  It was a popular time to visit London! We went to dinner in Piccadilly Circus that night, then saw the play, Dreamboats and Petticoats.  It was a musical and the music was fantastic!! After the play, we went to a pub nearby to enjoy an English brew.

Andrea, Abby and me before the play

Sunday, we left our bags at the front desk and set out for the day.  We had a "true English breakfast" with baked beans, sausage, blood pudding, bacon, eggs and toast. I could do without the baked beans and blood pudding, but the rest was delicious.

Abby and Andrea outside the theater

We went into the center of town and saw Big Ben, the Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye.  It had to have been the rainiest day of the year and was incredibly windy.  I had a very difficult time taking a good picture because the rain kept blowing onto the lens of the camera. We hopped on a boat tour that took us to the Tower of London, however, they gave us no information about London or its history...strange. We couldn't even see outside of the windows because it was so foggy due to the rain. We were happy just to be dry for a few minutes! We didn't go inside the Tower of London because I had already been 7 years ago, when I last visited London.

Big Ben

We saw Tower Bridge and walked across it, searching for the subway to take us to Greenwich park.  After getting a bit lost and asking a few people for directions, we found our way. We visited the Greenwich market where people sold various things from food to art to clothes, etc. It turned out to be a nice day once the rain stopped.

Tower Bridge

Late Sunday night, we took the train to Cambridge.  What a wonderful city! I'm absolutely in love with Cambridge.  It is quaint and full of young adults who study at the University.

Punting Boats in Cambridge

We went for tea:

Visited some of the colleges of Cambridge (there are 32 different colleges; people say that they attend King's College at Cambridge, for example):

St. John's College

Visited the American Cemetery:

Drank at a few pubs:

The Eagle-oldest pub/restaurant in Cambridge

Shopped and went to the markets:

And did a hop-on-hop-off tour:

Abby and Andrea on the top of the bus

It was a full 2 days in Cambridge and I wished that I had more time to spend there. I told my mom that I would love to apply to a master's program there and live. Cambridge is definitely in my top 5 favorite cities. It was so nice to see Abby and to celebrate her 21st birthday (even if I wasn't there for the actual day because I had to get back for work). I'm so happy that I got to see her in Brussels, Prague and London this year!

Everyone has to get a picture with the famous British telephone booths!