Ireland and Scotland! :)

So I’m back in Italy and it has taken me some time to get back on the wagon and put something on my blog, but I finally did it and here it is. So this time around I’ll fill you in on my adventures to Scotland and Ireland. It was about a week long, so there is a lot to cover and some crazy stuff happened. We, my friend Martin and I, left a couple days after everyone else in the villa left for home. We were lucky and got to stay in the villa, which meant not having to pay for a hostel for two nights. Nice! Then we got up early to catch our flight, but when we got there we found out that it was delayed… 4 hours. Lame. So we got into Glasgow four hours late. Because of this we had to take a train directly to Edinburgh. We didn’t get to see Glasgow at all, except for a little bit from the bus that took us to the train station. That kind of bummed us out, but we were fine. So we got to Edinburgh late that night and we decided to go for a walk. We already had dinner, yummy Burger King, in Glasgow so we were fine food-wise. We walked around to get a feel for the city then went to bed. We slept in a little and then walked up to the Edinburgh Castle. It was really cool. It is located on the top of the hill that overlooks the entirety of the city and it was just really cool. Martin and I spent a couple hours exploring that and then we decided that it would good to get some lunch. We thought we knew where there was a grocery store, but when we found it, it was under construction. We found another, but it was 15 minutes walk away. We got some bread and some goodies, and then we went to this little writers museum. It was pretty pitiful and I think the employees were surprised that anyone was there. I don’t think they noticed us at first because one guy kept burping and whatnot. It was funny. Then we went to the Elephant House, a coffee shop, where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter. We got warm there and had cups of tea and some hot chocolate. That night we didn’t want to go to a pub, so we decided to go to the movies. We went and saw The Golden Compass and it was really good. The next day we got up and explored the city some more. We climbed another mountain and found a great place to watch the sunset and I was able to take some sweet infrared shots. That night we saw another movie, American Gangster, but this time we got a discount from the coupons we go the night before. Nice! Then the next day was our last day there, so we continued to look around, finding cool buildings and cemeteries, we got an all you can eat pizza deal from Pizza Hut for about 5£. It was awesome. Then we took a night plane, which wasn’t delayed, to Dublin. We got in late and crashed at the hostel. The next day we got up and explored the city, just like we always do. We found a cool park called Stephen’s Green and next to it was a supermarket. That was where we ate and we wound up going back the next few days. We went to the Guinness Factory that day and that was really cool. It was huge and it was self-guided so we could go at our own pace. It was quite an experience and I learned a lot about brewing. I’m not sure when I will ever need to know that again. J Once we reached the top there was a sort of bar and they gave us each a free pint of Guinness. I enjoyed mine, but Martin didn’t like his. So once I finished mine, we quickly put his glass down and snuck away, so no one would see that he didn’t like his. That night we saw another movie, Beowulf, and it was horrible. Oh well, 2/3 was good. J Then the next day we jumped on a bus to Cork. It is south of Dublin and we thought it was close, but it was four hours away. We missed out first bus, so when we got to Cork, we had an hour and 45 minutes to get to Blarney and catch the last bus back. It was crazy, but we actually were able to get there, see the grounds and the castle, and kiss the Blarney Stone. Then we rode more than four hours back. That night we called it in early and the next day we got up earlier so as not to miss our next bus. This bus took us to Galway which was, according to a bus driver, only about two hours away. It was not two hours, but four hours away. Lame. We wanted to go see the Cliffs of Moher, but once we got there the lady told us that we couldn’t. The last bus had left already. So our plans had been foiled. We were bummed, but I took some cool pics and we hung in Galway for a few hours. Then we took the bus back, in which Martin slept the whole way, and we treated ourselves to a few huge hamburgers at Burger King. I got a triple Whopper, fries, and a coke. Then we got some ice-cream afterwards. It was awesome. The next day Martin and I went to visit Trinity College and Dublin Castle. They were cool, but not too exciting. Then I left Martin in Dublin to head home. It was sad, but I was ready to be home. It was quite the ordeal getting home though. My flight was delayed four hours, so I got into Pisa at 1:00am, which meant that I couldn’t get a ride to Florence until 4:45am. Of course the bus was late and we didn’t leave until around 5:30am. I got into Florence, slept a couple hours, and then caught another plane to France. Then from France I took my last plane, but I wound up next to some crazy French kids whom, in their sleep, began to crawl all over me. It was quite the fiasco and I was really glad when I finally got home. Well, that was how my semester ended and I got lots more stories for this new one. J