Ireland Week. . . Part 1

I just arrived back from Ireland and am feeling extremely tired, and a little under the weather. I'm sure being confined to an airplane the germs were running wild. Anyway, I can't wait to catch up with all of you and read all of your blogs. :-D

Ireland was AMAZING. Taher and I got to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on Friday, October 2nd to catch our flight to Chicago. From Chicago, the plan was to catch our flight to Dublin. We got to the airport to find out our flight to Chicago was cancelled. Major bummer! Luckily we were able to catch a later flight, and made it to Chicago in just enough time. We then sprinted through O'Hare to catch our flight to Dublin. O'Hare is not a small airport and we arrived to the gate just in time to catch the flight over the Atlantic.

We arrived into Dublin early Saturday morning, and had one of the scarier landings I've ever experienced. . . Thanks to the Gaelic winds in Ireland.

After arriving at our relative's house, we enjoyed a 3-hour nap and then headed out to see some sites in Dublin.

This was the lovely flat we stayed at while in Ireland. We were completely spoiled. We had a lovely, large bedroom, with our own bathroom.

First we headed to Phoenix Park in Dublin. This is the largest city park in all of Europe and it was massive. This was the site the Pope spoke at many many years ago. The cross was massive and quite beautiful.

In the park was the where the US Ambassador lives. I believe I'm getting that right. It was a really spectacular building. It even had a moat around it. Quite fancy. :-D

We then headed to Dublin Bay, and tide was very low while we were there. You could see sand for what seemed like miles.

Somehow I managed to go out on the town that night. It felt like a meeting of the United Nations. ;-) The US was representing, Canada, Australia, Poland. . . It was a really fun evening. We went to a couple of clubs, did some dancing, had late night pizza, and met new people. Taher was exhausted and went to sleep so it ended up being a girl's night out.

The next morning we visited a quaint city near Dublin called Howth. It was a great little town with spectacular views.

After a day of sightseeing, eating some fish and chips was the order of the day. And in case you didn't know, chips is what they call french fries. :-D

The next day, my lovely aunt took Taher and I on a day trip all across the countryside of Ireland, and through Wicklow County. Truly spectacular views. We took SO many pictures, and it was hard to narrow it down and only post a few, but these are probably some of my favorites.

I'm going to dedicate this entire week of posts to Ireland, because there is so much more of our trip I want to share, and because these pictures only get us through day 2. All I have to say is that if you are in need for a vacation, I would highly suggest this country. . . Ireland is GORGEOUS!

I can't wait to tell you all about the rest of my trip.