Nolan visits! (Prague & Vienna)

Nolan was here this past week, on his spring break, so we spent some time in Vienna and also travelled to Prague, Czech Republic!

He got here last Sunday, after a long day of travel - via the inaugural flight from Chicago to Berlin! I picked him up at the airport and we headed back towards my area of Vienna - grabbing a sandwich and heading back to my dorm so he could shower and take a quick nap. We went out to dinner at a local brewery for my birthday, and walked around the city center a bit - it was freezing though, so we didn't last long!

We left bright and early Monday morning for Prague, only a 4 hour bus ride from Vienna. We were on a double-decker bus and somehow snagged the front row on top, so we had great views of the countryside along the way - although we both slept for a little while! (When in Vienna, we have to share my twin sized bed... neither of us ever got a very good night's sleep.)

We arrived in Prague around noon, and navigated our way towards the Old Town. We found where our hostel was, although we couldn't check in for a while and walked around for a while looking for somewhere to warm up and eat some lunch. We ended up at a tiny, authentic looking restaurant (named "Restaurant"...) and each had some goulash in a bread bowl and a beer!

After checking into our hostel we headed back out to explore some more for the rest of the afternoon. It was very cold out, but we saw a lot of the city and got a feel for where we wanted to spend more time in the coming days. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant/wine bar, and then spent the rest of the night at the "Prague Beer Museum". It is not much of a museum, but more of a pub where you can try different kinds of beers. You can get a sampler and choose 5 or 10 beers from their 25+ choices. I know very little about beer, so it was cool to get to sample different kinds - Nolan enjoyed it too, this is definitely our kind of museum!

The Beer Museum

Prague is actually a very small city - easily walkable and compact. On Tuesday morning we did a "free" walking tour (you tip what you feel the guide deserves at the end), that lasted almost three and a half hours! Mike, our tour guide, was a funny, British guy that kept us learning and laughing even when we were freezing! We got to see almost all of the city, and actually understood now what we were looking at. There is a lot of history in Prague, especially since the city has been a part of many different empires, countries and republics in the past. Also, because of how far east Prague is in Europe, it was almost untouched during WWII, so many of the iconic buildings and churches are incredibly old!

Old Town Square, Easter Market

We went to another authentic (yet, touristy) restaurant for dinner and then headed to a nearby pub - mainly because we read online that it had a fireplace and we were still chilled from being out in the cold all day! The pub was playing a soccer match, we were seated directly next to the fireplace, and the beer was cheap - this officially made Nolan fall in love with Prague, where he now plans to move to eventually or at least visit for two weeks next year!

We didn't leave Prague until early Wednesday evening, and the weather was much nicer Wednesday. We headed across the river to hike up to the Prague Castle. We didn't pay to go in, but we were able to walk around, enjoy the views, and even see the changing of the guards! The castle is a huge complex, as one brochure we saw said, "Probably the Biggest Castle in the World" - and it probably is!

Overall, Prague was awesome! I can't wait to go back with my parents in a month. We loved how small it was, yet were never bored or ran out of stuff to see. One of our favorite parts (where we ate lunch and snacks multiple times) was the Easter market set up in the Old Town square. It reminded us of the Christkindlmarket in Chicago. There were stands selling trinkets and food.

Trdla Stand at the Easter Market

We spent Thursday being touristy in Vienna - we went to the market in the morning and walked around, and then headed to the Kunthistoriches Museum. We spent a majority of the afternoon there - it is an art museum that has tons of exhibits, our favorite of which was the Habsburg's personal art collection which is now there permanently.

Kunthistoriches Museum

On Friday, we spent his last day visiting one of the Habsburg palaces in Vienna and walking around the first district some more. This was by far the warmest day we had while he was here, which was perfect for walking around. It even got somewhat sunny in the afternoon - a rare treat here! We went to Schonbrunn, the summer palace of the Habsburgs - famous for its gardens which were just beginning to  be groomed for spring. The tour itself was somewhat disappointing, but we were able to walk around outside in the weather and hike up to the point where you can see most of the city.

Schonbrunn

Afterwards, we headed towards the center of the city and walked around some more there. I took him past the city hall, parliament, and the other Habsburg palace before stopping in a few souvenir shops and heading home.

For his last dinner, we went to a very authentic Austrian restaurant, two stories below ground in an old cellar from the 1100's! He finally got his Wiener Schnitzel, and we had a few drinks before heading back.

Last Dinner at The Twelve Apostles

We left for the airport at 3:45 this morning, and he should be landing back in Chicago very soon. We had a great week, with the highlight definitely being Prague - it could be in the running for my favorite place in Europe!

Croatia & Montenegro - Spring Break 2013

The short summary: BEAUTIFUL, tropical, two cold/rainy days without heat, lots of bus rides, passport stamps!, seafood, walled cities, paradise!

The long: We left Vienna on an overnight bus on Friday (3/15). Upon boarding, we quickly realize that absolutely nobody spoke English on the bus- drivers included, and there was no bathroom for our 12.5 hour journey?? We left right on time, and Kelly, Caroline and myself decided we were going to try an stay up until around 11 and then hopefully sleep until we got to Split at 6:30am. Part way through, we began to realize that we were stopping every 1-2 hours for a bathroom (or more importantly for the Europeans- smoke) break. We also stopped in various cities to drop people off. To get to Croatia from Vienna, you have to pass through Slovenia. We got there around 11pm and had to get off the bus, walk across the border, and get our passport stamped! 

We tried then to sleep, but none of us slept very well due to the stop/go every hour or so throughout the night. Plus the bus was about 95 degrees and we had planned for the opposite! We had a minor panic attack when we thought we missed our stop around 5:30am- we were sort of awake and heard the driver announce a town also starting with "Sp..", we figured it wasn't ours but after leaving the stop we saw many signs and boats labeled with the word "Split"?? We tried asking, but as mentioned there was a very severe language barrier. We hoped for the best, and did eventually end up in Split a few stops later!

We got off in Split at 6am, with our backpacks packed for 8 days, and into 7° Celsius weather. We were too optimistic in heading straight to our hostel to try and drop off our bags. After many wrong turns, we found our hostel but the reception was not there yet and we couldn't get in. Caroline and I had packed surprisingly light (I know that's hard to believe, Mom and Dad..), but Kelly had not and was struggling with her bag. We ended up heading back towards the bus stop/harbor to try and find a cafe to camp out in for a while and get some caffeine to assist with our 2-3 hours of sleep. 

Around 9 we headed back up to our hostel and were able to completely check in. They had upgraded the three of us to a private five person room, which was actually quite beautiful! We were able to change and wash up before heading out to explore Split. 

It ended up being a beautiful day, a little chilly (mid 50s) but brilliantly sunny! We walked around the market and then went to the "balcony on the hill" as our hostel receptionist called it. She said it was a balcony up a few flights of stairs where you could get great views of the harbor and the town. It ended up being much closer to a mountain than a flight of stairs, but she was right about the view! 

Split, Croatia

Later in the afternoon, we stumbled upon an apparent Croatian tradition while we were searching for more caffeine! Along the promenade (much like a fancier Venice boardwalk), cafes had outdoor seating where every family and person in Split were out enjoying the sunny Saturday afternoon. It was difficult to find a table, but when we did we sat and had coffee in the sun for nearly 2 hours- people watching and soaking in the warmth of the sun! 

Sunset in Split

We headed to a late dinner, by then the promenade was completely empty- and went to bed early, the caffeine had worn off and we were exhausted!

The next morning, we were off to Dubrovnik- another 4.5 hour bus ride- but this one at least had spectacular views of the coast! Looking back at a map, you will notice that Croatia is actually split into two different sections. You may have to zoom in quite a bit to notice that Bosnia & Herzegovina extends to the coast for a few miles, meaning you have to pass through there to get from Split to Dubrovnik! We had a rest stop there and were able to get out, take pictures and say that we have officially been to Bosnia now!

Drive along the Adriatic Coast

We got to Dubrovnik at 2:30, checked in to our hostel and spent the rest of the afternoon sight seeing and getting our bearings. Dubrovnik is an incredibly unique town- the old part of town is walled in from the medieval times and there are only two entrances to the city. All of the buildings are white with red/orange roofs. The old town reminded us a lot of Venice- cars are not allowed inside the walls so the "streets" are narrow alleyways. Croatia overall was a mix of what I imagine Greece and Italy to be, however this could be very, very wrong!

We went to the "hole in the wall" bar for a drink before dinner and to watch the sunset. The bar was literally that- a hole in the wall to enter onto a cliff on the outside of the city walls, above the Adriatic Sea! Unfortunately it was freezing and windy, and the clouds prevented there from being much of a sunset.

Entering the "Hole in the Wall"

"Hole in the Wall" Bar

Dinner was at a local seafood restaurant- the other girls got cuttlefish risotto, and were not expecting it to be black due to the cuttlefish ink! They were a little grossed out and didn't eat too much of it. I had seafood risotto (it was red..), and it was delicious!

Monday was rainy, windy and cold, but we ventured out for a good portion of the day. Our fourth traveler had arrived the night before, so we showed her around Old Town and ventured out of the walls for the afternoon. We went to a cute little cafe partway through the day to warm up and get some coffee. We also spent some time watching the waves, which were spectacular! We were joking earlier about how that had been a recommended activity for a rainy day in the city, but it was great! The beaches in Croatia are mostly rock beaches, and the huge waves were breaking against them and spraying everywhere! 

The buildings in Croatia are not heated, so on days like this rainy one it is almost impossible to get warm after being chilled! Our space heater in our room had been taken away the night before since it had blown a fuse, so we were reluctant to go back to our hostel the next day for too long, so we spent lots of time wandering through various stores to try and stay warm. It ends up that our heater wasn't the problem, and we got it back that night! There was also a hot water problem at the hostel- so needless to say we were very cold most of the time we were in the country, unless we were in the sun or cocooned in our beds! 

Tuesday was sunny and warmer, so we were up early to make the best of it! The #1 recommended tourist activity is to walk the city walls, so we did that first. It was exactly what it sounds like- you can take your time to walk along the top of the 3 mile long wall surrounding Old Town. It had amazing views of the coast and of the town, and since it is still off-season it was not crowded at all! 

Old Town Dubrovnik

After walking the walls, we got a quick coffee/snack in the sun and headed out to find a beach. It was far too cold to swim, but we wanted to walk along one and at least say we had been to one! We asked our hostel manager for directions and headed out of the walls! It took us a while to find it since we were looking for a sand/pebble beach, instead it was basically a cliff. I'm not even sure how you would swim there! The tide was coming in and the waves were breaking and spraying on the rocks, so we found a dry place to sit and watched for a while. 

That night we decided to find somewhere to watch the sunset, and hiked out the south end of the walls for about 40 minutes. We found a park towards the top of the hill and posted up on a ledge. We could see all of old town and watched the sunset over the water. It was beautiful! 

Looking back at Old Town

Sunset!

On Wednesday we took a day trip to Montenegro, a tiny country south of Croatia. This was the best part of the whole trip, and I'm so glad we went! The weather was great and the country was beautiful- plus we got two passport stamps! We stopped in multiple cities and locations throughout the day. Our group consisted of us four, two British women, an older Canadian man, and our tour guide Ivona. 

The two main cities we stopped in were Kotor and Budva. Both were similar to Dubrovnik in that they were walled in, but they were much less touristy and much smaller. We had 90 minutes in each and used up all of our time walking around taking pictures and exploring. Budva had sandy beaches, so we finally got our beach picture! 

Montenegro was not at all what I was expecting, but I loved it! It was a perfect mix of everything- beaches, palm trees, mountains, harbors, forest...! I also enjoyed that compared to Dubrovnik it was not as tourist driven so we got a better taste of the local culture. 

Bay of Kotor

Budva, Montenegro

That evening we went to a wine bar, which is a popular nightlife activity in Croatia. They had an option to taste either 3 white or red wines. I chose the red, and the owner walked us through each one explaining how they were made and what we should be tasting. He also gave us a card we could keep that visually showed us how the wines differed. The reds were interesting because they all came from the same region of Croatia and were made from the same grape. They tasted very different though, and he explained why that is the case- mostly it had to do with the slope on which they were grown and the sunlight that hit them. One of the wines was very fruity, the other two were more dry and heavy. Afterward, he asked about our prior wine tastes and guessed our favorite of the three- he got mine right! 

Thursday was rainy again, but just a light drizzle and far less windy than Monday. We went to a cafe, walked around more of Dubrovnik and did some souvenir shopping! We also walked around at night, once the rain had stopped to get some night time pictures of the city!

Friday we were headed back to Split for the night. Our 5 hour bus left at 11, but we got up early to enjoy our last morning in the sun. We went to the market and got fruit, and then sat and had coffee in the sun. We had to head to the bus station around 10:15, and got into Split at 3:30. 

In Split we went to the palace ruins that we had missed on our way through a week before. Inside it had been transformed into shops, hotels, and cafes, which sort of took away from the beauty of the ruins- but the business major in me gets it! 

We had a late dinner after watching the sunset, and headed back to the hostel to shower and catch a little but of the Illini game! 

Saturday morning, we left Split at 7am and got to Zagreb, the capital, at 12. After three hours there- lunch and spending our last currency, we boarded our final bus back to Vienna!

We were all happy to get home- it's funny how fast Vienna has become our comforting home. I hope to get back to Croatia someday (hopefully when it's a bit warmer!) - it was so unique and insanely beautiful! Looking back on our postcards we bought, it actually looks like a postcard in real life!

Croatia!

I'm headed out the door in 20 minutes, to catch a bus to Croatia for the first week of Spring Break! A group of four of us will be there for 8 days - 2 nights in Split and 5 nights in Dubrovnik.

We are very excited, despite the 12 1/2 hour bus ride we are about to endure - it's all part of the experience, they say!

We'll be back on Saturday March, 23. Then Sunday is my birthday and also the day Nolan arrives for a weeklong visit, and short trip to Prague!

Life is good! XOXO

Budapest, Hungary

This past weekend, I was in Budapest - one of the most underrated cities in Europe according to my guidebook, and I certainly agree! The city was much bigger than I was expecting, but after a few trips we could easily get anywhere using the public transportation, with no mistakes! This trip was organized through the "buddy network" at our University, so there were lots of planned activities which allowed us to see the whole city in an efficient manner!

We left Vienna early Friday morning, and were in Budapest by noon. When we got to the city, an english speaking tour guide got on our bus and we continued driving around for nearly 4 hours! We got out at certain places of interest, and she would walk around with us and explain more about the history of Budapest, and what we were seeing. It helped us get immediately acquainted with the city and learn more about it's history. Who knew "Buda" was on one side of the Danube, and "Pest" was on the other?? Buda is the more residential side, but has many sights that we would later go back and see including the royal palace, Matthias church, and more! Pest is the economic and business heart of the city, with more restaurants and shopping, and plenty of other sights to see as well. Buda and Pest are connected by 12 bridges, all of which are beautiful and architecturally different. When the German troops left Budapest after WWII, they destroyed all of the bridges, so they have only recently been rebuilt and restored.

After our bus tour concluded, we checked into our hotel and went off to an all-you-can-eat dinner at an authentic Hungarian restaurant. It was delicious - lots of meat, rice, cabbage, and peppers!

We got up bright and early Saturday morning, and left in a small group to do our own thing for the day. The big group was not meeting until 1, and we didn't want to waste our morning lounging around the hotel. We took the subway to the Great Market Hall - an indoor marketplace. The first floor was all produce and meat - lots and lots of meat. The stands had sausages and salami hanging everywhere, and the locals were all out buying their ingredients for the day/weekend! We wandered around looking at the stands and bought some coffee and pastries. We then went up to the second floor, which was all "trinkets". We bought postcards, and made our way around the loop. It strangely reminded me very much of Mexico - there were lots of painted ceramic pieces, beaded jewelry, and colorful textiles!

Sausage!

Next, we headed across the Danube to Buda, and up Castle Hill to see the palace and church. We had been here yesterday at a bus stopping point, but didn't have enough time to walk around and enjoy it. Hungary no longer has a royal family, so there is nobody living in the palace. Instead, it has become a compilation of art museums. We decided not to pay to enter, because we had a lot more we wanted to see before dinner. We headed to the other side of the hill to see Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion. The church was incredible and very different from any that I have seen in Europe. It was under restoration on the inside, which was disappointing since we paid 700 Forints to get in (don't worry too much, that is only $3.00). From what we could see though, the church was hand painted in various designs on the interior. It was very modern looking, and SO colorful! You could even get a preview of the color inside, by looking at the roof of the building which was a beautiful mosaic of colorful tiles. We then walked along Fisherman's Bastion which is a lookout over the river, providing great views of Parliament and the Pest side.

Matthias Church - hard to see the mosaic roof due to the weather!

Fisherman's Bastion

We headed back over a different bridge towards Pest, and stopped at the island halfway across. It is called Margaret's Island, and is a large park. There were lots of families, joggers, and bikers out, and we strolled from one end to the other, and headed towards Pest. We stopped and got a late lunch at a sandwich cafe, and continued walking towards our hotel area. We passed another magnificent church and a synagogue, but we unfortunately did not have time to go in.

That night, our dinner was at an all-you-can-eat Mongolian Barbecue! It was obviously not traditional Hungarian food, but it was very good and we all left quite full!

On Sunday we checked out and went with the group to the House of Terror - a museum about WWII. Budapest was where the Nazis and Soviets came head to head during the war, and this was the headquarters of each party at some point during that time. It walks visitors through both of their occupations of the city, and commemorates the victims that were tortured and killed in the basement of that very building, and in Hungary in general. The museum was interesting, but we all left with lots of questions, as most of the information presented was in Hungarian. We were able to follow some of what we were looking at, but left a tad confused!

Our final stop on this trip was at a Turkish bathhouse. We went to Szechenyi Spa, which is one of the largest in Europe. It is basically a public pool (both inside and outside) that is the temperature of a hottub, and is naturally heated by hot springs below. There were 11 pools total, and we stayed in the outdoor ones. It was only around 45 degrees outside, but we were plenty warm in the water! Many of the girls in our group did not get in - they were freaked out about the germs and just sat on the side, but they sure missed out!

After the spa we headed back towards our meeting point, stopping in a grocery store to spend our last currency and get dinner for our ride home. We left Budapest at 6:00 and were back to our dorms by 10:00.

Overall, I completely agree with my guidebook that Budapest is one of the most underrated cities in Europe! It was beautiful, the food was great, and the people were very nice (not quite as nice as those in Dublin though!). Because of the size of the city, there is so much to see - I'm sure we didn't see it all - but it is still easy to navigate and use the public transportation.

This week is fairly routine - classes and errands. Spring break starts next week (for two weeks!), despite only having been in class for two weeks...? My friends and I are off to Croatia for the first 8 days, and then I'll be back in Vienna to pick Nolan up at the airport for the second week! It's hard to believe my time abroad is almost half over, and I'll be back in the State so soon!

One Class & More Travel!

Not much is new here - the weather has been beautiful, and it was a fairly routine week! The weather was beautiful here, giving us hope that spring is coming, and Vienna isn't always snowy, cold, and dreary!

Classes officially started on Monday, however my only class this week was this afternoon. I am taking four classes here, two finance and two management course. I had one of my finance classes today, from 2-6:30! It was a longggg time to be sitting in class, especially since I haven't been in study mode for almost three months now! The professor was very nice though, and all the material was review from my previous finance classes. I was worried that this class would be too advanced, but my U of I education has prepared me well - it seems as if almost all of it will be topics I've already learned, with a heavier focus on how they are used internationally in finance. The building was very difficult to find, but luckily there were two other people in my group in the class, so we were all lost together for a bit before finding it!

As I mentioned, the weather has been fantastic here this week! It has been in the mid to upper 50's and sunny everyday! I've had to run a lot of errands this week, which meant I was out enjoying the weather a lot. I've also gone on a run outside everyday this week. One of my runner friends and I have found our new favorite route - the palace gardens! At Schonbrunn, the Habsburg's summer palace here in Vienna, the gardens are free to enter and have many trails and various jogging paths. It is 4 U-Bahn stops away, but worth the short trip! We ran for almost an hour there the other afternoon, and plan to go back very often. It will be even more beautiful once the plants are green and blooming!

Photo stop on our run through Schonbrunn 

We are off tomorrow morning, bright and early to Budapest, Hungary. We will be there for three days and two nights, and are very excited. We already have lots planned there, including an afternoon at one of the ancient bathhouses! The forecast is calling for clouds and rain, but we are hoping that is wrong! Either way it should be a fun trip.

Ireland: Dublin, Howth & Galloway

(Warning: This is a very long post, so feel free to skim or just look at the pictures!)

After Slovakia, we were all overjoyed to land in Dublin on Wednesday evening! After 5 weeks of german, it was SO refreshing to step off the plane and read the english signs, and hear english being spoken everywhere around us - the Irish accents didn't hurt either!

Our hostel was a 25 minute bus ride from the airport, but we found it easily since we could communicate with the bus drivers and airport staff. It was my first hostel experience, so I had no idea what to expect. We checked in without a problem, and went to drop our bags off in our rooms. I was in an 8 bed mixed gender room, and it was very basic but seemed clean and nice. There were 3 other people I knew in my room, and then 4 strangers. The 4 of us happened to be on one side of the room sharing 2 bunks, so we at least had our own area. You had to pay for lockers, so we ended up just carrying our valuable and leaving our clothes and toiletries under our beds.

Chester Beatty Library

We were very hungry so we split into smaller groups, and headed out to a few pubs recommended by the front desk at the hostel. We ended up at O'Sheas, which quickly became our go-to place. We split some authentic Irish food and each ordered a Guinness. Around 9:30 live music started, and we ended up staying and watching until almost midnight. After our rather uneventful and tiring day in Slovakia, this was exactly what we needed - we were already in love with Dublin. The music was fantastic, the people were nice, and everyone just seemed so happy and content. The owner even came up and introduced himself and welcomed us to Dublin. He recommended his favorite sights and places in the city.

We got up early the next morning, ready to hit the streets. We had complimentary breakfast at the hostel which was nothing fancy (toast, juice, cornflakes, coffee) but free, so we ate quickly and set out on foot with our maps! We spent much of that day and the next wandering around Dublin, which is easily walkable as it is very compact. We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grafton Street, the Temple Bar district, the Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library, Trinity College, and many of the other big sights. Everything was so green, and the weather was in the upper 40's so walking around was very enjoyable!

The people in Dublin are the most helpful and jolly people I have ever met. There were many times throughout the day that we were standing and talking about where to head next, when multiple people would stop and ask if we needed help finding something. Many times we didn't even have a map out or even look confused, but they were always willing to help. In most other cities, you can get help if you ask for it, but I have never been approached so much without even looking confused or asking! When we were looking for the Dublin Castle (which doesn't look like a castle at all, hence why we could not find it) a man stopped and asked if we were lost, and walked us all the way to the castle before heading back in the direction we had come from back to his destination!

My perfect pint!

Pouring

On Thursday afternoon, we went on a tour of the Guinness Storehouse for a few hours. We had bought our tickets online and they were valid for 12 months, so we did not have to be there at a certain time. We met up with some of our friends studying in Paris and started the tour. It was a self guided tour, that took you up 7 stories and explained the history of Guinness and how it is made. It also taught us the many ways in which it is transported all over the world, and visualized the advertising strategies of the brand throughout its history. The tour also provided us with many samples of different kinds of Guinness and various chocolates made with the beer. Included in the tour was one pint of Guinness and it could be redeemed in two ways; you could either have it served to you on the top floor at the gravity bar that offered spectacular views of Dublin or you could learn how to pour the perfect pint. We went up to the bar just to see the views, but decided we wanted to use our tickets to learn how to pour it.

Gravity Bar

We were in a group of 7 so we got our own "teacher", who walked us through the 7 steps of pouring the perfect pint. It was much more complicated than we expected! He taught us why the Guinness glass is shaped the way it is, and what each of the 7 steps does for the process of pouring the beer and the result it has on the taste and appearance. We were all successful in our training, and ended up with 7 perfect pints! We got a certificate to prove it, and then got to enjoy our product.

Howth Harbor

Within those two days, we really got to see all of Dublin and more. We had hit all of the major attractions on our maps and in our books, and had explored the city plenty. I had a small guide book that suggested visiting a town a short train ride away from Dublin, and one of the other girls in our group had been told to visit there too. The town was called Howth (rhymes with both, as we found out), and was a small harbor town on the coast of the Irish Sea.

Eating at sunset

We got on a train in the late afternoon, and within 25 minutes we were in Howth. It was right on the coast, and was so cute! Everything was even more green here, and there were boat pulling into the harbor with their catch for the day. We had heard of a famous fish & chips restaurant, so we stopped in a store to ask about it. We found it after walking for just a few minutes, and ordered our fish & chips. They only served take-out, so we headed towards the pier to eat them while enjoying the sunset. They were fresh and delicious, and the views made it ten times better! We watched the sunset and the last of the boats come in, and took many, many pictures. We headed back to Dublin around 6:45, happy and full. Howth was the perfect end to the best day we could have imagined!

Fish & Chips

We spent Saturday on an all day tour to the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are on the west coast of Ireland, and are only a 3 hour drive from Dublin, but the bus tour took us to many smaller towns in the countryside along the way and back. We left our hostel at 6:10 AM, and didn't arrive back until almost 7:30 PM - it was a long day, but it was absolutely worth every second of it!

On our way to the cliffs, we stopped in a few small towns for rest stops and coffee. We got to enjoy the green countryside, and the quaint villages along the way. At each stop we only had about 20 minutes, but that was enough to wander a bit and take some pictures of the scenery. Our bus driver had a microphone and would speak along the way giving us the history of Ireland, and facts about the various towns we were passing through. He pointed out many churches, cottages and other buildings that had been abandoned during the potato famine and had never been re-inhabited.

We got to the Cliffs around 11:30 and had until 1pm to explore. It was a hike up to the top, but the weather was beautiful and we were happy to get off the bus for a while. The views were breathtaking, and photos cannot even begin to capture the beauty of the cliffs, greenery, and water. Nevertheless, we all took a few hundred pictures. We were lucky to have the perfect weather for the day!

On the way back we drove north along the coast for much of the way, and stopped at a few more towns. One of my favorite parts of the day was when we stopped at a church that had been abandoned during the potato famine and had been since converted into a cemetery. The roof was gone, and only the stone walls of the church remained. It was on the hillside far outside of any town. I love visiting cemeteries, and everyone here thinks that is so strange, but I was loving this stop!

Panoramic View of the Cliffs

Cemetery!

We got back to Dublin at 7:30pm, and headed out to the pub for our last meal and Guinness. After dinner, we headed back to O'Sheas (the original pub we went to) to listen to the live music. It was a Saturday night, so everyone was out at the pubs. The band playing was very traditional and so fun to listen to!

On Sunday morning we packed up and had a few hours before heading to the airport, so we wandered a little more and got a traditional Irish breakfast. We headed to the airport around 11:30, and were on our way back to Slovakia in no time! Luckily this time in Slovakia our bus picked us right up from the airport and dropped us off in Vienna.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip! I am so happy that I got to see Ireland. It is by far the greenest and happiest place I've ever been to! We were all surprisingly happy to get back to Vienna though, as it actually feels like home to us now. We were all looking forward to our own beds and cooking our own meals!

We finally start class this week, my first one is on Thursday and then Friday morning we are off to Budapest. This week will likely be spent running errands, seeing more in Vienna, and regrouping before our next trip.