After we left Ireland Daniel and I decided that we wanted some really good pasta. So we left Cologne Germany back to Florence Italy.
Along our way we encountered rain and snow.
Below are pictures from our small but long journey.

The day we left Ireland was very odd. It started with us sitting in the lounge of our hostel, waiting on 2 PM to catch our bus. There was a woman sitting there from California. She had long dark hair, tanned skin and bags under her eyes. She was wearing strappy sandals that exposed dry feet. She introduced herself, and I honestly didn’t catch her name nor did I care to have her repeat it ( I was very tired) she shook our hands in a very friendly fashion. She was a free spirit of sorts with a political interest. She preceded to tell us that she just arrived from an almost two month escapade with a secret group in Romania called Rainbow gathering (I’m not sure how secret it is if she tells people she meets within the first two minutes). She described it to us as a group of people living in a commune off the land, each other and maybe a few groceries they’ve previously purchased. It’s you and nature and other free spirited people. You use tents if you have them to sleep in and if not, you buddy up and find someone to share with. It’s a “true hippie time”. She then told us the next one is going to be in the Canary Islands and that we should go but we first need to be accepted into the group. I think somewhere between the middle of the conversation and the end, Daniel and I silently decided that we will not be doing it. Perhaps it had something to do with how a strange red spot on her face grew, and then melted down her face. Or maybe we just thought two months would be too long, I think a week would be too long. Let me explain. As she was talking I noticed a red dot at the corner where her lips meet on the left side. At first I thought it was a mole, or maybe something she drew on. Daniel thought it was a food crumb, since he leaves these often at the corner of his mouth :). As she continued her red spot became bigger. It then started to run, and by then we knew it was blood. She didn’t notice it until halfway between her mouth and chin. She took her fingers wiped it up and then rubbed it between them until it was dry and disappeared. She didn’t wash her hands she just continued to talk. I was internally freaking out. My mind started running, She shook our hands! I don’t know if she has anything, but she stayed in a hippie commune for almost two months! I don’t know if she got tested, or if she’s been sick. I had to worry about our health. I had gotten sick on this trip and was prescribed some antibiotics in Germany, and didn’t want to get sick again. I politely excused myself to wash my hands thoroughly with soap and hot water. Daniel excused himself to go take a shower. I joined him quickly upstairs to sanitize our electronics with hand sanitizer. We then agreed to keep our hands away from our face for a period of time hoping that if any bacteria was still on our hands it would die without a host.

2 PM was quickly approaching and by then they were clearing out the lounge to do a fire drill so we got ready and left. We walked about 5 minutes and waited on the bus to the airport. Once we got on we went to the second level towards the back where there were a number of seats available. Two stops in a man gets on the bus and sits all the way in the back. Daniel and I are sitting so that we’re facing each other. All of sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this man lean over and spit on the bus ground. I look at Daniel, and we continue to talk. While we’re talking we hear this loud sniffing, like a blood hound hunting. Daniel looks back and sees this very same guy leaning over in the back of the bus snorting two lines of what we can only assume is cocaine. Once he finished his lines he preceded to take a bottle of whiskey out of his bag and started taking swigs. He was bold, to say the least. Halfway on our way to the airport he introduces himself, as Mick. He’s going bold on the top of his head, he has a slight beard that exposes red hair, and his shoes were white, but scuffed a dirty black. He was wearing grey sweats and his hands appeared to be worn, perhaps by manual labor. Mick, obviously fancied an alternative lifestyle with drugs and alcohol but he was still one of the brighter people we’ve met on our trip thus far. We started talking about politics and his take on Ireland and our take on how America really is. He said there are a couple of news channels in Ireland that only show magazine America and not the ghettos that are common in every city. He was well informed on American politics and told us that there’s a show by Russians that talk about all of Americas problems and how supposedly we “hide” our ghettos and our problems from the rest of the world. And that we aren’t as pristine as the world sees us. To be honest, our trip has taught us that a lot of people aren’t fond of America which has sparked our curiosity about our foreign affairs/ relations. Daniel’s dad jokingly said before our trip started that we should claim we were Canadian. But there view tends to change when they meet two friendly Americans :). Mick was also on his way to the airport to meet his girlfriend who’s sister had died in India on her travels because of the way they drive there. She was in a fatal car accident. It was somber news to hear but the subject was quickly changed to how he missed his girlfriend. We arrived at the airport, we said our goodbyes as he wished us luck on our journey. We were on our way back to Cologne Germany.

The place where all the goblins and ghouls started, the tradition to celebrate the day where the veil is thin and you can see those that have passed on. Of course now it’s about the best costumes and candy for the young, and the old. Boo! We arrived in Ireland wearing shorts, and two pears of jeans, with at least three shirts, a sweater and our winter coats. We were really hot, but being frugal, we only wanted to check in one bag, it costs 30 euros ($37) for one bag weighing 20kg (~44lbs, and yes our backpacks are heavy). We flew Ryanair, and the total cost for the both of us to fly from Cologne Germany to Dublin Ireland cost us only 42 euros. It’s cheap, and basic. The moment we arrived we’re greeted by a ton of Halloween decorations in the airport, from black and orange balloons and blow up witches to skeletons in graveyards displayed by baggage claims. We left the airport to catch a bus to our hostel. Ireland so far is the only place we’ve been to that doesn’t have a train connection to the airport. On our bus ride we saw gremlins and ghouls, and some very realistic makeup on a guy that I though was in a terrible accident. Traditionally the Irish celebrate halloween two weeks in advance. They get so hyped, it’s like last minute Christmas shopping in the states haha.

Our hostel the Kinlay house wasn’t the best we’ve stayed in but it wasn’t the worst. It was styled like a large frat house internally with multiple winding floors. You could see down the center. And a disorganized kitchen but it was large.
Our first stop, get some halloween paint. Not wanting to spend much money, we just purchased liquid latex, fake blood and some really cheap kiddie face paint. With that Daniel became a zombie ( I used my personal makeup to contour his face and make his skin pale) and I attempted to be the queen of hearts. After getting ready we headed to the temple bar area, where we met some Germans on holiday, and some Irish guys. I honestly just remember this one guy saying he met his wife tonight, that he was in love with her because she was into marvel and DC comics. I was amused. The night was a lot of fun, and everyone was there, it was like franklin street times ten. Just a big party. I’ll admit that some of the costumes along with the makeup had me do a double take, I had to think twice about why a doctor was roaming the streets in their uniform or why their was an officer wearing sunglasses at night. But they really do like halloween. And I like them for it! I really enjoy halloween, I think purely because I get to test my more creative makeup skills, and people welcome the thought of my testing whether I can achieve what they envision.

The next day we got up for a free tour of Ireland. I did not know that trinity college is where they filmed the Harry Potter dining scene! And that the cliffs of Moher was another spot, really cool for a Harry Potter fan. But the Irish started as a predominantly Pagan culture that then became Protestant and had riff raft and at some point converted to Christianity. Trinity college was formed by Queen Elizabeth in 1592.
A really interesting fact is that trinity college had a headmaster, named George Salmon that was asked if he would allow women into the university after all it was started by a woman. His response “over my dead body”, three days later he died. He is now buried under the main archway of the school where women are indeed walking over his dead body. The school also has a scholars test that they call skulls (I’m sure I’m misspelling that but the pronunciation is the same). The top students that pass the exam have everything taken care of for them at the university. They even have their own dining hall that they can only order in. It is also said that during exam time they’re allowed to order a pint of Guinness during their tests, a pretty crazy perk, but okay.
Dublin was named after a black pool, literally. It is now covered with grass and the Celtic symbol.

Also while in dublin we visited the Guinness warehouse to learn a little about their history. We were excited to taste the beer because we met a fellow from Ireland in France who ventured to America. He said the taste of Guinness in America was terrible compared to the taste in his hometown. When we arrived at the warehouse we purchased our tickets for 13 euro which included a free beer at the end of the tour. This may have been the most expensive beer we’ve ever paid for. We strolled around the factory learning how Guinness was made. I think the thing we both found most intriguing was how they built a barrel back in the day. The process was rigorous and to make one barrel it could take up to 4 hours depending on how skilled you were. After we wandered around we were able to redeem our free tickets in which we could either pour our own beer and drink it or go up to the sky deck and drink overlooking dublin. We chose to pour our own beers for the experience. Daniel used to be a bartender but never poured Guinness which may be the toughest beer of all to pour. To pour it correctly all in all the process takes 119.5 seconds. While waiting in line the lady was punching tickets for those who wanted to redeem their free beer by way of pouring it themselves. I got my ticket punched while Daniel claimed he was merely a photographer snapping pictures to remember the moment but we all know Daniel too well and this was not the case. He noticed that once inside no one rechecks tickets so he was able to pour his own beer and redeem a second beer on the sky deck. While on the sky deck we met two amazing women from NC, Amber and Yvonne. It’s crazy, we sat next to fellow nc-ers. We sat there and had such a wonderful time talking to the both of them who were visiting England and decided to take a little trip to Ireland. They were incredibly nice! The both of them also explained their awful experience at an Irish hospital, where they witnessed two nurses fighting over an IV pole because they had so few. There were patients in the hallways who had been there for hours, old, young, sick, bloody. Doctors on call never showed, and some patients had to call home to have their children deliver cholesterol medication because the hospital didn’t have any, how insane! Such a poorly equipped hospital. After we said our goodbyes to Amber and Yvonne we headed to a Mongolian barbecue buffet for the early bird special. Delicious!

Ireland is a pretty cool place to visit. They have restaurants everywhere and a ton of buffets! There’s a little something for everyone here. It is small and I think one trip may be enough, but you never know.

<img src="https://