Guiness!

Davey at the top of the Guiness Storehouse, at the Sky Bar, drinking his first glass of REAL, Guiness from the source.

Beer: the most important thing to the Irish.

This is a shot of the Guiness Storehouse. The brewery takes up a huge part of Dublin, and produces over a million pints a day. We toured the storehouse which was very interesting and it was amazing to see how identified Ireland is with their Guiness. It was impressive how large the brewery was and how much of the city was taken up by the buildings. We walked to the storehouse and saw the city on the way. Dublin wasn't impressive, the city was fine, but the people were very unfriendly. It was our least favorite place on our whole trip. I wish we could have seen the countryside of Ireland but we spent the only time we had in Ireland in Dublin. The best part about the city was the very friendly bus drivers, the bed and breakfast we stayed at which was old and massive and the best Italian restaurant we have ever eaten at. It was so fantastic. We ate there both nights we were in Dublin, because we just couldn't face one more meal of mushy peas and fish and chips. Ireland felt depressing and sad. The architecture was dark and ominous and the people seem unhappy. It was a beautiful place but hopefully one day we'll see other parts of Ireland that will bring a different energy.

Happiness!

We had so much fun!

The master driver...

We actually drove a car on the wrong side of the road for a complete week, actually Dave did all the driving. Between the two of us, we actually made it around four countries and arrived home in one piece. This was the first time that we had traveled internationally together and we had a blast! When this picture was taken we were on the tail end of our driving excursion. We rested up in Keswick and then were on our way to Liverpool to get on a flight to Dublin. We dropped off the car in Liverpool and were carless for the rest of the trip. Renting a car was the best thing we did for this trip. We were able to pull off whenever we wanted, spend as much time as we wanted doing whatever we want and we spent so much time together just laughing about the directions we really screwed up and the wrong exit we took out of the roundabout. Anyway...onto Ireland.

The Seatoller Inn

Here is the actual place we stayed. The window in the middle of the frame was our window. It was so lovely.

What I think of when I think of England.

This is what I pictured England like. Of course, there are so many different parts of England, but this was really it. All of the fences that keep the sheep in are made of stone, and the sheep are everywhere. This is a shot from above the farm where we stayed. There were hiking trails all through the property and we hung out together, in the mist and smell of sheep. Again, it felt open and fresh and endlessly stress free. The food was typical pub food, everywhere. We went to dinner in town, having shepherds pies and fish and chips. I can't even believe how much fish and chips Davey ate. Although it was the only really good option, I just couldn't stomach fish and chips again, but Davey really enjoyed the slabs of fish that covered the plates. The food was interesting...very few fresh vegetables and lots of meat and potatoes kind of stuff. Heavy and greasy, but quite an experience.

Leaving Scotland.

After three lovely days on Skye, we began driving down the west coast of Scotland, through Glasgow, through Fort William, a lovely little town, and back into England, ending our journey in Keswick, in the Lake District of England. We stayed at this little inn, about ten miles from Keswick on a one lane road, through sheep pastures and past lakes. This district is incredibly beautiful. We stayed here, on a working sheep farm, with amazing hosts that were truly English. Just so welcoming, jovial and extremely helpful. We stayed in this lovely place for two days, exploring the town of Keswick and hiking through the hills of the farm, with basically nobody as company except sheep. This place was especially special because it had a bathroom that finally didn't have any mold. I don't think the UK has got the memo about mildew being harmful. It is everywhere. But not this place, it was warm and clean and there were flowers on all the window sills. It was quaint and relaxing.