Our adventure in Ireland was much busier than anywhere else we have visited (besides London). On our first true day we decided to go all out and my feet paid the ultimate price. In Liverpool we discovered the beauty of free tours and ever since that has been the best way we have been able to see the highlights of the city and avoid looking like idiots doing so. The great thing about free tours is that we tip what we want and what we valued the tour. Us being the good Canadians we noticed we were tipping quite a bit better than the other people but when someone talks basically non stop they deserve good money for it.
After our three hour walking tour of Dublin we went to explore Trinity College where we went and saw the Book of Kells which is the oldest book that the Old Library houses and is an illustrated version of the New Testament in Latin. It is a beautiful book even if you are only exposed to a couple pages. The Old. Library itself is every book lovers dreams, it is stacks upon stacks of old books. There is a smell of old books the minute you enter the long library and it is a collection that puts Belle's (Beauty and the Beast) to shame. I've decided if my travel partner does go ahead with his plans on building me a shack it will need to contain a library just as grand. (Kidding, sort of) After pulling me away from the library we went off to the Guiness Storehouse. If you want to go into a building that stinks and houses nasty beer that is the place for you! That is all I have to say about the Guiness Storehouse, my travel partner enjoyed it.
We booked two outings back to back which was definitely a mistake because we were exhausted by the end of the second day. The first outing we went out to the city of Galway and to the Cliffs of Moher. In a three hour drive we drove the entire width of the country, back at home you are lucky if three hours gets you within a paved road. Although it was a lot of driving it was well worth getting up at 6:00am to go. We did a quick tour of Galway which was a small city and apparently is the home of the claggaugh ring. My travel partner said he would buy me one (in return for subway obviously) but the idea of wearing one because we went there seemed too much like a cliche to me. I will save my jewellery present for Prague. The Cliffs Of Moher at its highest point is 214m. Before embarking on our adventure my dad had told my travel partner that I better come back in one piece or he would kill him and I think the threat was taken too seriously. Every time I ventured close to the edge well out of any kind of danger zone my travel partner was behind me holding on to my waist band pulling me closer. The picture below is after I tried to get close but was told no and he was helping me up despite my annoyance with him.
The Cliffs stretched out for 8km and fun little HP fact they filmed part of the sixth movie there! It was in one of the cliff's faces where Voldemort's family ring which was actually a hoxcrux. Oh that Voldemort. The only downside of the trip was the people who shared the bus with us which was a strong majority of students who were partaking in an American program: A Semester At Sea. These students talked non stop impressively for three hours, said the word like about a thousand times (per person) amd had great tidbits of facts. For example a shark can swallow a human whole and lions are totally chill (her word) and you can total walk up to one. The great American education system folks.
The second day was a day spent in Wicklow National Park, there is so much beauty in Ireland that it really too bad we didn't stay there longer. It has been agreed that we will go back to Ireland one day. Wicklow National Park is 127kms long and movies that have been filmed there include: Braveheart, Reign of Fire and my favourite P.S. I Love You. We drove along the winding roads of the park, saw massive lakes, extravagant houses and waterfalls. All around us we saw green and it was one of those places you didn't want to leave.
We left the land of the leprechauns and ventured into the land of the red light district and things that start with C: cannibus and canals. The last time I was in Amsterdam the smell of weed gave me a headache that lasted my entire stay, the place made me feel dirty. It was here after a long couple weeks in dorm hostels we finally had a private suit. It may be a sign you have stayed in dorms too long when the sight of a private bathroom and shower and personal TV makes you gitty. My travel partner who grew up in a smaller family and never went on school/sport trips has never known what it meant to share personal space so entering that room for him was like entering the holy land.
Amsterdam had not changed much since the last time I was there, there was still the smell of weed all over the place, the canals still smelt bad and women still stood behind doors under red lights. Our first night I introduced my travel partner to pieces of the red light district and much like my own initial reaction two years ago it was a mix of pity and disgust. There is no point in talking too much like the red light district if there is any interest a simple google search can answer all questions. The canals with the houses dating way back to the early 1200's still managed to awe me. Every time I come across places with such historical pride it always impresses me. We have historical sites back at home but the Europeans have plastered their proud of their history and culture in everything. The Europeans and the way they display their pride is something we as Canadians should be envious of. To have such pride and desire to learn to much about something is the kind of passion I want to have in life about something. I see people doing walking tours of cities and you can see the love that they have for their job and the things they talk about and I can only hope to eventually do something that drives me with that kind of energy.
We have made it to Berlin and after a very long train ride we finally made it to Germany. We have now gone back to dorms much to my travel partners dismay but it is nice to come back to cities I was in a couple years ago. It is a little bittersweet to be here without my sister and walking around the places I have visited with her last time without her reminds me of how much I miss her and her impressive ability to pressure me out of my comfort zone. My travel partner and I have dated long enough that the temptation to sit around after a long day is the first thing that comes to mind. I am aiming for us to push each other out of our comfort zones but as of yet we have failed to do so and seeing as I am the more pushy one I don't anticipate a change. Oktoberfest is currently happening in the centre of Berlin and we will see where the weekend takes us, I would like to push past the point of being tourists and become true travellers.
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