Some Mountains, a Broken Bus, and the Perfect Pint

This weekend I went with my fellow au pairs on a tour of Wicklow and Kilkenny. I got up super early on Saturday (at 5:30!) to get the bus into Dublin and then get on the bus that would take us on the tour.  Our first stop was the national park in Wicklow, which is in a beautiful county south of Dublin where parts of PS I Love You and Braveheart was filmed!  It was pretty interesting to see areas that I recognized from these films.  

Wicklow National Park

In front of the PS I Love You lake!

Even the park's visitor center was gorgeous

Wicklow Mountains

The park is also home to this monastic city

Part of the monastery

In front of the bell tower

The mountains were beautiful!

The old abbey

At 11:00 we piled back on the bus to reach our next stop... or so we thought.  About a half hour after leaving the Wicklow National Park the bus came to stop in the road.  I thought we were stopping for a photo op until I realized there was smoke pouring out the back of the bus!  We waited about an hour on the side of the road for a new bus.  Luckily we had a beautiful view while we waited!

Even a broken down bus didn't ruin the view!

The broken bus.

Wicklow Gap

Our new bus arrived after an hour and it was on to Kilkenny!  Kilkenny is small city that is in the southeast of Ireland. It isn't very large for a city, but it has a beautiful castle and cathedral.

St. Mary's Cathedral

Kilkenny Castle

It only took us about half an hour to see the castle and cathedral which are the highlights of the city.  We still had two hours to kill in Kilkenny so we ate some lunch and then went on the search for a pub!  Kilkenny has a brewery which brews Kilkenny Ale.  We decided there would be no better place to try a Kilkenny than in the city itself!

On our hunt for a pub I found my two favorite flags hanging in the window!

The search was over!

I loved this retro sign in Syd's!

Enjoying a Kilkenny in Kilkenny!

It was the perfect end to a great day!  We got back on the bus at 5:30 and arrived back in Dublin around 7:00.  After a quick trip to Carroll's (the Irish tourist shop) to buy sweatshirts we headed home.  I was exhausted after such a long day but it was definitely worth it!

An Irish Weekend

This past weekend was very busy for me!  I met a lot of new girls who will be staying in Ireland for at least the next few months and even visited some new places!  The one downside to being an au pair is how quickly the other girls you meet can come and go.  For awhile, it seemed like everyone I met was leaving in the next week or two!  Natàlia is the new au pair in Stamullen who is working with the same family that Mercè was working for.  I was able to get together with her on Thursday night for the first time at the local pub, Whyte's.  She is currently studying at university in Spain and is here in Ireland during her summer break.  

Friday night, Natàlia and I went to Ioana's host family's house for a movie night.  Ioana is working with Dave's sister's family so we see each other a lot!  She is from Romania and will be staying in Stamullen for the next year just like me.  Ioana's host parents renovated their attic into a great movie theater room.  We watched the Corpse Bride, made popcorn, and had a great time. It was nice to be able to get out of the house and still stay close to home.  Sometimes, the journey into Dublin on the bus can feel like more trouble than its worth.  And its expensive!

I offered to take Natàlia into town on Saturday to show her around Dublin (at least show her what I know of Dublin!) and meet some other girls for coffee.  Another au pair, Maria, lives one town over from us in Julianstown.  Maria is able to use her host family's car so she met us at our bus stop and we all went into Dublin together.  Maria is from Germany and is also staying in Ireland for the year.

This was also Maria's first trip to Dublin so I felt like an unofficial tour guide!  I pointed out some of major landmarks and meet up spots that au pairs use and showed them Dublin Castle which has beautiful gardens.  

We also visited the Chester Beatty Library which made its way onto my to-do list after my tour guide from last weekend raved about what a great museum it was.  Chester Beatty was a private collector who gathered such a huge collection of books and artifacts from all over the world that he had to hire his own librarian to look after everything! Talk about a man after my own heart!  When he passed away everything was donated to the public.  The museum was free and quite interesting!  Most of the exhibits contained books, scrolls, and artifacts from Asia and the Middle East.  I even saw a scroll that was dated from the 9th or 10th century!  Unfortunately, since most of the material was so old and delicate, pictures were not allowed to be taken.

After touring the library, the three of us met up with Agnieszka and went for coffee.  It was a great day in Dublin and we got back to Stamullen by dinner time.  We decided we should all meet up at Whyte's that night.  It turned out that there was a Rod Stewart tribute act and Whyte's was a popular place to be!  We had a great time even though we were the only people there under the age of 35!

At Whytes!

On Sunday, Agnieszka sent me a message in the morning telling me she was thinking about going to Bray since the weather was so nice.  When the weather is nice in Ireland you have to jump at the chance to take advantage of it!  Bray is little seaside town about 30 minutes south of Dublin.  Maria and an au pair she had recently met, Minna, decided to join us as well.  We met up in Dublin and got on the train to travel to Bray.  This was the first time I had been on the train in Ireland!  It wasn't an extremely exciting experience, but I was happy to discover that the train is very cheap!  Our round trip to Bray cost 5.20 euros.  The bus I take into Dublin costs 11 euros for a round trip.

We arrived in Bray around 2 pm and went to a coffee shop for some lunch.  We were happy to see we had chosen to come to Bray on a great weekend... there was a summer festival going on with rides and music!  

Our first stop after lunch was the sea!  It was the first time I had been to a body of water that wasn't the Atlantic Ocean! (Although I think the Irish Sea is technically part of the Atlantic Ocean but who cares!)

With Minna and Maria at the Irish Sea!

With Minna and Agnieszka. We later walked up the cliffs in the background!

The Irish beach was very rocky.  It was a lot different than the beaches I'm used to!  While there were plenty of people on the beach, I didn't see anyone in the water.  I put my hand in while we were on the beach and it was freezing!  Now I know why the Irish always go on holiday to Spain and France.  We then did part of the cliff walk that goes from Bray to Greystones, another seaside town.  The views were beautiful!

The Irish Sea

A panoramic view with my new camera. Thanks Kelly!

On the cliff walk

View of Bray

After the cliff walk we decided to check out some of the rides we had seen at the festival earlier.  We took a ride on the ferris wheel and were able to get a great view of Bray and the sea!

Birds eye view of the sea

On the ferris wheel!

It was a lot higher than we expected

It was a great weekend and very exhausting!  Luckily, Ciara is taking this Wednesday off work so I'll have a very welcome day off in the middle of the week!

One Month and Counting!

Today I have officially been in Ireland for an entire month!  Honestly, the time has really flown by.  I don't think I've ever had this many new experiences occur all at once!

This past weekend I went on a walking tour of Dublin.  It was four hours long and I was exhausted when it was over but I definitely think it was worth it.  I saw a lot of great landmarks in the city and I know it will help me find my way around in the future.  I also saw a lot of places that I can't wait to go back to and explore further.  I have already added to my Irish to-do list!  Here are a few of the great places I saw:

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Entry to the State Apartments at Dublin Castle.  Bill Clinton stayed here!

Lady Justice looking over the upper yard at Dublin Castle

This turret at Dublin Castle was originally built in 1204

Dublin Castle Gardens

Carriage House at Dublin Castle

Former Irish Parliament building that is now owned by Bank of Ireland.

View of O'Connelly Street with the spire in the background

Bell tower at Trinity College. It's rumored that if you walk through the tower you will fail every course for that semester!

Graduate building at Trinity College

The old library building at Trinity College. I can't wait to go back and see the Book of Kells which is in this building!

Current Irish Government Building

Yesterday, I had to go into Dublin to register with the Garda office.  Basically, I had to pay more money to get an ID card which I will carry with me for the next year.  It looks like a license and has my nationality, entry date into Ireland, exit date, and some other information.  The good news is I am officially a legal alien for the next year!

Tonight I went to the pub in Stamullen with the other two au pairs in the neighborhood, Natàlia and Ioana.  They have also just arrived in the past month.  Natàlia is working with the family that Mercè was working for and I really enjoyed meeting her.  We may even go into Dublin this weekend so I can show her around.  It's so strange to think that I am now the "experienced" au pair in town.  What a difference a month can make!

Home Sweet Stamullen: A Photo Adventure

Last night I went into Dublin to meet up with Agnieszka, who Mercè introduced me to, and some of her friends.  We went to a Canada Day party at Woolshed Pub.  It was fun meeting some new girls and seeing everyone dressed up in Canada gear got me excited for July 4th!

Today I went on a walk to Gormanston College.  The "college" is actually a Catholic high school but it is situated in Gormanston Castle which was built in 1786.  The castle is about a 30 minute walk from my host family's house.  I've been wanting to post more pictures of Stamullen and I decided this walk would be a great opportunity.  The weather was overcast but it was a pleasant 60 degrees today so I threw on my Appalachian sweatshirt and headed out the door!

I walked to the school where I had gone every afternoon the past two weeks to get the girls.  They attend St. Patrick's School.  School ended last Thursday so I will now have all three girls for the day until school starts back in September! 

All of the road signs in Ireland are in Irish and English

Rainbow School!

St. Patrick's school in Irish!

The school is less than a 10 minute walk from my host family's house.  While the girls were in school this walk was a great way to break up the day and get out of the house with Pippa.  With all three girls I'm going to try to walk to Gormanston College a few days a week!  When I got to the college grounds today I was surprised to see this sign...:

...but the gate was unlocked so I went in anyway!  The grounds of the school are beautiful with green grass and trees.  I didn't get too close to the castle itself because I didn't want to push my unauthorized luck, but when I got home Ciara told me she would walk on the grounds all of the time when she was on maternity leave with Pippa so I intend to investigate more when I return!

Beautiful tree at the college entrance!

Side view of the castle

It still seems odd to me that I can say I am living within a 30 minute stroll of a castle built in the 18th century!  On the way back I went to the main part of Stamullen to get a soda and something to munch on.  I've already eaten the double stuf oreos I brought from home so I needed to restock my room!  All of the au pairs I've talked to keep favorite foods in their room to combat homesickness and keep the treats out of the hands of the kids!

Welcome to Stamullen!

The downtown strip

These church ruins (complete with graveyard) are just visible from the main road in my town. I haven't figured out how to get to them yet but I can't wait to explore these as well!

I just couldn't resist this sign!

Part of the neighborhood

Home sweet home

Overall I had a very relaxing weekend.  I was so happy to go into Dublin Saturday night but I also had a lot of fun getting to know Stamullen better today!