February 25, 2012 - IRELAND Day 2!!

Oh, have I mentioned I LOVE Ireland??

Just couldn't get enough of the round tower

The next morning we started off the day on the right foot – with a traditional Irish breakfast.  Yep.  This means black and white pudding.  If you don’t know what black pudding is…go look it up.  Yes, I did try some.  Just a smidgen.  That was all I needed.  It actually wasn’t that bad.  I mean, the fact that it was full of fat and blood didn’t bother me, it was the consistency of the “meat” that was weird.  Maybe I’ll have to reconsider my plan about being an Irish wife, because I will not make my husband a traditional Irish breakfast every morning.  Sorry future Irish husband.

Our plate of communal leftover black and white pudding

After a …delicious… Irish breakfast we headed out to get back on the Glendalough bus to go back to Dublin.  The bus only comes into Glendalough two times a day – once at 9:30 AM and once at 4:30 PM.  I was really conflicted, because I wanted to go see Dublin and hang out there for a bit, but I also wanted to go on a longer walk around Glendalough.  Our B&B owner told us that we had to see the larger lake and go on a longer walk because they were “grand.”  I hadn’t gotten my fill of the countryside and didn’t want to spend all of my last day in Dublin.  A big thing we all wanted to do was kiss the Blarney Stone, but that was about all we really wanted to go back to Dublin for. 

Spoiler- get ready for more countryside...

Ireland time

While we were debating our plans for the day two bicyclists came over and started talking to us.  We chatted with them for a good half hour about Ireland, what to see in Dublin, the countryside, their biking, and how much we LOVE Ireland.  We told them that Irish accents are by far our favorite accents and that Irish people are the nicest people ever.  We said that British people hate us and it’s so nice to be around people who are so nice to us.  The men (they were two precious old Irish men decked out in legit biking garb) were shocked that British people hate us, because apparently Irish people love Americans.  They told us they’ve been to America loads of times, and one of them even owns a house in Boston.  One man said, “they should just make Ireland the 51^st state!  We love America!  It’s the best country!”  Oh my, if they made Ireland the 51^st state I might die of happiness.  But also not, because Ireland is so amazing that it needs to be separate and special.  They didn’t seem too happy about being in the UK, and I really wonder what will happen with their movement towards getting autonomy and their desire for devolution.  We had a great time chatting with these Irishmen and my desire for an Irish husband was reawakened.  I asked them where the Blarney Stone was in Dublin and they told us it’s actually in Cork and not in Dublin.  That made up my mind about my plans for the day.  I was definitely going to spend the rest of my day in Glendalough doing longer hikes.  Becca and Lyssa stayed with me and Annie and Kaylee took the early bus back to Dublin.

Oh, and it was tadpole season...billions of them

We took the scenic route back to Glendalough (our hotel was based in Laragh, a nearby little town that was within walking distance), and asked lots of friendly Irish people for directions along the way.  We stopped off in a little convenience store and got sandwiches where we saw a clan (we’re in Ireland, remember?  So everything here is a “clan”) of older men bikers.  I guess biking is a really big thing in Glendalough.  And these old men were in WAY better shape than I ever have been in.  I considered joining their biker clan, but thought better of it.   

Little rosebud pinecones I found

We decided to do two walks that day that would take us to the big lake between the Wicklow Mountains and around some historic sites.  The first hike took us uphill on dozens of switchbacks several miles up into the mountains.  It was a very difficult hike, but we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the valley and the lake at the top of it.  We passed plenty of nice Irish people out on their morning hikes with their dogs.  Basically everyone in Ireland has a dog, and these dogs are not the portly dogs Londoners have.  These are beautiful Irish dogs.  Basically everything is better in Ireland.

View of the valley

Stunning view of the valley

The hike took us down to the big lake that had a huge park in front of the lake.  People were playing rugby and football (American soccer) in the park, eating lunch, taking naps on the ancient monuments, etc.  No big deal.  We sat in a monastic circle of stones and ate our lunch and chatted.  Basically our conversation went like this:

“Oh my gosh you guys.  We’re eating lunch in Ireland.  In an ancient circle of Irish stones.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Best day of my life.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The area we had lunch in was filled with monastic ruins

The ancient circle we had lunch in

The valley was stunning too – the lake completely still and was surrounded by two huge mountains with the sun just peaking over one of the mountains.  That definitely made one of my top ten best moments in life.  Ireland is absolutely beautiful and so scenic. 

For real

In the valley

Irish hikers.  I have NO idea how they got up there...

                In the grassy clearing in front of the lake where we ate our lunch was this fantastic tree that had a low-hanging branch perfect for sitting on and taking lots of pictures.  The branch looked like it was pretty low to the ground and like it wouldn’t be hard to get up on, so I went first to tackle the branch.  Okay, apparently Irish branches are a lot harder to climb than normal American ones.  I tried tackling it from one angle and looked like an idiot just hanging on the branch, trying to get a leg up so I could sit on the branch.  Then I tried getting on from the opposite side, and after jumping on the branch and sliding down about twenty times I finally succeeded and took my stupid pictures that were not worth all the effort it took to get on that dumb branch.

First attempts...

Struggling...

Dumb picture that was totally not worth all the effort

The second hike led us to Saint Kevin’s cell (which was really lame and soo steep.  It was a pile of about 4 stones that are all that remain of the prison where St. Kevin was held.  Super lame, Kevin.) and another ruined church with some gravestones.  

St. Kevin's Cell

The rest of the hike took us around the other side of the lake and through a quieter area with less hikers (the hikes were mostly empty the whole time but there were areas that had more hikers, looking out at the amazing views).  One of the best areas was a narrow path through a path that had tall trees lining the path.  They were so tall and dense that basically all the light was blocked and the path was dark green for about a mile through the trees.   The trees made a kind of canopy through the trail and it was nice and cool under all the shade. 

The really cool tree canopy

In front of the dark tree canopy

Official backpack holder...

                Then the trail took us to a small river that we followed back to the visitor’s center.  The walk was perfect from beginning to end.  The weather was fantastic (sweater weather), the people were so nice, our Irish sandwiches were great, the apples we bought were perfect (crunchy, sweet, perfect), the dogs were…Irish, and the day was amazing. 

                We took the Glendalough bus back into Dublin and met back up with Annie and Kaylee and then made our way to where the next bus would pick us up to go to the airport.  The streets were CROWDED with rugby fans who had just watched the Ireland vs. Italy game.  And let me tell you, rugby fans are pretty attractive.  I wish I could’ve spent all night there, just looking at the pretty boys.  Too bad I had to get back to dumb London.  Such a shame.

Oh, just a demon playing the accordion after the rugby game in the street.
Same old.

                It was the best two days ever.  We didn’t have a single problem the whole trip and it was everything I could’ve asked for.  

Fun at the Dublin Airport