First Night in Paris

Sorry for the long delay! I fell off the blog-wagon there for a bit...

So our first night in Paris was magical, as first nights in Paris should be. Our absolutely incredible couch surfing host served us all the staples of a stereotypical (but not typical) French meal... Red wine, 3 types of cheese, baguette, some sort of sausage called "saucisson" (fun to say with a French accent), and...escargot! (AHH I ATE SNAILS! SNAILS ARE ONE OF MY FAVORITE ANIMALS! WHAT SORT OF MONSTER HAVE I BECOME !?) Truly a trip of culinary adventures...

After wining and dining us, our host brought us to explore beautiful Montmartre, stopping by the Moulin Rouge on the way. Right around the Moulin Rouge the streets are lined with sex stores, sex hotels, sex shows- the neon and seediness is fascinating to behold. Montmartre is the complete opposite. We walked up the narrow cobblestone streets and stopped by the bar that's featured in the film Amelie. Then we spent some time in a tiny local bar where two men were playing acoustic guitar. I watched while a man sitting at the bar made an ink rendering of one of the guitarists. After he finished the drawing, he put it in the top hat that had been placed on the bar for tips. Without understanding French at all I picked up that the other guitar player was playing at being upset that he hadn't had his picture drawn. It was an interaction infused with so much joy I was so happy to have witnessed it. We left the bar, walked up to the top of the hill and took in the lights of the city below. All around us people were playing music and drinking and enjoying the night. It was a perfect introduction to Paris.

A guest appearance

My family said they felt like I was there with them. Not sure why...

Grabbing some R&R in Wicklow

After experiencing so much in such a short period time, we (me especially) were in need of a little break. Instead of galavanting all over Ireland, as was our original plan, we decided to spend the next few days resting and enjoying beautiful scenery in a small seaside Irish town nestled among the mountains. This was a really great decision. Our first day was full of adventures and after that we had a couple of days to just do nothing. We didn't even feel like we were missing out on anything as the weather was cold, rainy, and all around miserable. Our hosts were an absolutely lovely Irish couple who were very kind and accommodating.

Below are a few pictures from our day of adventures which consisted of hitch hiking to a national park, taking a 9km (5.6 mile) hike up a 380m (1247 ft) mountain, and then listening to traditional Irish music in a local pub.

The hike was so breathtaking (and not just because we were so high up!). We walked alongside waterfalls, passed through ruins of ancient towns, felt dwarfed by towering cliffs, and appreciated the incredible views of the hills and lakes below us. Everything was so green! We had a few run-ins with some feral mountain goats and spray-painted sheep, but they mostly just ate grass and stared at us (exciting nonetheless!).

At the pub we befriended a couple, the man originally from Chicago, the woman originally from New York, both living in LA. After an evening of conversing we realized they were staying in the only other room on our floor at the hostel. What'd ya know!

The musicians were a group of 12 people of all different ages (from young adults to gray-haired folk) sitting on small stools around a long table. The music was so good I don't really even know how to describe it. It felt like a combination of bluegrass and jazz with all sorts of interesting accordion-like, whistle-like, and bagpipe-like sounds mixed in. Highly, highly enjoyable!

Ireland is a magical place and I wish I could spend much more time here. I'm sure I'll be back someday!

Highlights from Dublin

We arrived, unbeknownst to us, on the eve of a bank holiday, and people were out partying full force. Our first interaction was with a man holding a sign advertising lap dances who nodded to us and said "Welcome to Dublin." If this wasn't welcome enough, we were offered shots of Smirnoff Gold by the guy who checked us into our hostel. When he couldn't find cups he just handed us two giant cans, one ale, the other cider. After we set our bags down, and went back down to the reception area, he had the shots ready for us. Welcome to Dublin indeed!

We spent the next few days roaming around and checking out some of the sights of the city. Here are just a couple of highlights:

Visited the Old Jameson Distillery. The most exciting part of it (other than the drink at the end) was that one of my creative writing professors just happened to be on the same tour as us!

Checking out literary sights - James Joyce statue, James Joyce Centre, W.B. Yeats Exhibition, National Library of Ireland. I was in super-dorky literary heaven! I wanted to stay in the Yeats exhibition forever, wrapped up in the sounds and images of his poetry. But I had to travel onward to more adventures!

We didn't meet any Glaswegians

We spent all of a day in Glasgow and there isn't too much to say about it.

One strange thing was waking up to the sound of an ice cream truck. This was confusing for 3 reasons:
1. I woke up to the sound of an ice cream truck. The latest it could have been was 10am.
2. Not only was it morning, it was cold out. Like you need to wear a jacket cold.
3. It was playing The Entertainer. Never would have expected this in Scotland.

The day only got more confusing. Our hosts were two women from America, and they served us American pancakes for breakfast with Canadian Maple syrup. We kept forgetting we were so far from home.

A few more strange things:
1. Everywhere we go Beatles music is playing
2. We are like a magnet for Americans. If we're in a room full of 50 people, we'll realize the one sitting next to us just happens to be from the US. This happens a lot! (More stories about this to come!)
3. The drinking age out here is 18 yet Lizzie and I have been carded nearly everywhere. I know we look young, but younger than 18!?
4. We've felt like we were being followed by the Olympic Torch. Everywhere we went they were setting up for it to come through. Also, the UK was all in a tizzy about the Queen's Jubilee. Lots of excitement all around us!

Highlands and Hairy Coos

We took a 10 hour bus tour of the Scottish Highlands. These pictures speak louder than words so I'm not going to use many. A few notes: the castle is the one from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (thus the coconuts), we did a lot of beautiful hiking in the gorgeous hills and lakes (err lochs), and personally, I think I can pull off the hairy coo look.

Haggis: a story in pictures

(NOTE: I had a wonderful sequence of photos for this post but my stupid blog app doesn't know how to put pictures in order. When I have a computer I'll do it right. Here are a few photos just to give you an idea)