Ireland, Part 1! (pre-event.)

Hello!

I finally have some photos from my Ireland excursion for you, since I got back a week ago and haven't really talked about it much.

I am breaking this trip into two parts; pre-event, and post-event.

(More on the "event" later. To give you a hint, Tom and I embarked on our own journey halfway through.)

Some things I learned in Ireland:

-Doors there are weird. Really weird. All kinds of locks and random knobs in weird places and a million keys.

-It is perfectly acceptable to wear tights (TIGHTS!!) as pants. In thirty degree weather.

-The sheriff drives around in a stretch limo.

-Irish coffee, complete with whiskey, is an acceptable breakfast drink.

-"Bacon" is actually ham. And it's delicious.

-Tea, everywhere, all the time.

-You could spot an American from a mile away.

-Tax is outrageous, but it's built into the prices, so you know ahead of time what you're paying. I appreciated that, thank you Ireland.

-Tuesday night is an appropriate holiday to head to the pubs.

-Lots of chocolate! Candy shoppes, sweet stores, chocolate bars...heaven.

-TV allows a whoooole lot more swearing and nudity than American television. 

-There is a UK version of Jersey Shore called Geordie Shores. Just...watch. Trust me.

Aaaanddd onto the part you actually wanted to see, the pictures!

***Be prepared for a lot of pictures of me resembling a soaked dog.***

In the limo to the airport

Just before takeoff (Happy first plane ride, Tom!)

Tom, me, brother and cousin.

Dublin

It's hard to tell, but that is one SERIOUSLY flat tire. Ours, specifically. Shout out to the Irish mechanic who stopped to help.

And then we arrived in Cork...

And visited the Blarney Castle.

It was raining that day, hence all the orb-like floating lights in my photos. Not ghosts.

The pouring rain made it all the more ominous and castle-like!

The kitchen, where they used to throw boiling oil on unwelcome visitors. Crafty, my medieval friends.

Then we kissed the Blarney stone! Let me tell you, that took some serious acrobatics...

So later that night, something happened that completely derailed our plans and sent Tom and me packing in the middle of the night and heading out on our own in a foreign country, while the rest of my family went on with the trip as planned.

We hopped a three hour bus ride, got to Dublin, and SLEPT. But then we had a few more days to sightsee, and I will post those in part 2!