More Ireland and a little Scotland

I believe I last left you at our arrival in Galway. It seems to be our trend to like every city better than the previous and declare that we will all buy houses and live there forever. Such was the case with Galway, then Belfast and now Edinburgh.

Galway was very nice. I can't remember if I mentioned that we got there via tour from Dublin and just never got back on the bus to return. We all patted our tired and strained backs for that little trick as we only ended up paying 25 Euro for a 45 Euro tour if you exclude the money that we would have spent just getting a bus straight over. Later that may have caught up with us when we ended up spending 35 pounds more than we had to getting to Edinburgh. Not cool UK transportation system, not cool.

Our first night in Galway was very relaxed. We napped. That's about it. Second day we walked around the streets, took in the sights, averted our eyes from shop windows. Everything is pretty expensive here, except super market food, it's brilliant. We can make a huge dinner for the three of us off 7 or 8 Euros and since Lyndsey is a cook we just let her get creative. That evening we met an American University rugby team at our hostel who were there for a tournament. After chating for a bit we three went to a pub, and when that closed went to a club where we ran into said rugby team and danced the night away. Fact about Ireland and Scotland: the girls wear the smallest outfits and highest heels when out at night. We knew that we were going to look like backpackers during this trip but these girls make us feel like hobos. The next morning we left for Belfast.

Belfast I actually liked better than Galway. First day we got to look around a bit as it was still early. That day we saw Queens University and this beautiful park they have behind it. The next day we took the Black Cab Tour that I really enjoyed. I found it super interesting to learn about their political troubles, the IRA etc. We drove around the Protestant and Catholic areas and saw the huge walls and barbed wire gates that seperated them. In the Protestant area they paint murals on the sides of houses that have to do with their past and hopes for their future. Their is one of a man in a ski-mask with a gun that follows you as you walk by. A friendly reminder to strangers that there were more than just eyes on you(not anymore!). After that we got to write on The Peace Wall(the biggest wall that seperates the two rivals) where I reminded them that All You Need Is Love :) We think this is all in the past but two recent car bombings(2 weeks ago) and some murders by the Real IRA just outside of Belfast let us know just how real this all still is for the Irish living there. We then visited the museum that gave us even greater insite on The Troubles and Belfast's history, Ireland's history and other fun things. If you ever visit Belfast, check it out.

That evening we decided that we had so much fun dancing in Galway that we would go for it again in Belfast. We stayed in our regular clothes but traided our sneakers for some flats. We lined up at the club and 30 seconds later when we got to the front the bouncer mumbled something to me that I couldn't understand( that is common for me with their accents, slang and speed of speech) so I assumed he asked for my ID. I showed it to him and he then opened the rope and let me by. After the three of us had walked past the velvet rope I looked around and noticed that we were on the wrong side. Rejected! Apparently our casual outfits offended them. We had a hearty laugh and walked over to the pub and ordered a Guiness. The whole walk of shame might have hurt more if we hadn't had 2 cheap bottles of wine before leaving the hostel. In the pub, two young Irish lads helped themselves to the empty bench seats at our table. They were with about half the people there and when it was closing they invited us over to a house party. We obliged. We then spent the rest of the night at this party where they were ordering delivery beer. One more time: delivery beer service at 3:30 am. Brilliant. After a short walk home, 4 hours of bad sleep, another afternoon in the museum we were off to Scotland where I am now.

Scotland is beautiful. I had already decided that I had liked it better than Ireland almost as soon as we got on the train and started passing through the country. Big rolling green hills spotted with white sheep and cute little towns tucked away between them. I think I could live here forever. Today we spent the day in beautiful Edinburgh where we took a very excellent, educational, free walking tour for about 3 hours and are off to explore again tomorrow. But more on Scotland another day :)

We have one more full day left before we move onto England but I wish we had more. There is so much to be seen and not nearly enough time. All of a sudden three months is nothing. It's only been days and already I'm trying to figure out when I'll be able to come back and see more. I think it's safe to say that it doesn't take long for a bug to bite.