June 17-21: Dublin and Waterford, Ireland (By Jeff)

Our trip to Ireland was a nice, and much needed, change of pace from our extensive sight-seeing adventures in France. It was very fortunate for us that several friends of mine that I met in Australia were Irish and most happened to be back in Ireland during the time we were visiting. Within a couple hours of reaching Dublin, we met up with my friends Fergal and Ellen who were going to be staying the night in Dublin as well. Ellen had grown up in Dublin and gave us a great tour of the city and showed us the sites that she considered the best Dublin had to offer. Later that day we decided it was time to sample our first authentic and “proper” (as the Irish would say) Guinness. It only took us about 5 seconds to find an Irish pub in the area and I think Liz and I both agree that it definitely has a much better taste than any place you would find in the U.S.. Later that evening after our “traditional” Irish dinner (no one who worked at the restaurant was Irish), we joined Fergal, Ellen and their friends at a bar outside of town. Our friend from LMU, Neil, who I traveled with for 3 months in Australia and New Zealand, was visiting Ireland during this time as well, so we tried to plan our own visit to overlap with his. It was a fun reunion and great to hear about his most recent travels as well as meet some funny Irish people.


Our first Guinnesses in Ireland!

The following day we loaded up all our stuff and got a ride to Waterford, Fergal’s hometown, with Fergal and Ellen. Waterford is only a 2 hour drive from Dublin and gave us a chance to see some of the beautiful countryside. We were on a race against the clock as this was the same day the USA played Slovenia in the World Cup and I had to make sure to watch it. That evening we went to Eoin’s house, another friend from Australia, for a barbecue which he was nice enough to put on for us Americans coming to visit. He even made sure to pick up plastic cups and ping pong balls to play Beer Pong; Neil and I taught them some American culture when in Australia. We had a great evening meeting everyone and teaching the Irish how to play Beer Pong and everyone seemed to have a blast as well. The next day we had a chance to go explore some of the great scenery of Waterford. We went out to what the locals call, “The Magic Road,” which earned its title for the strange act of nature that occurs with a manual transmission car. There are sections of this road where if you come to a complete stop on what appears to be a flat or possibly downward sloping road and switch it into neutral, the car appears to defy laws of physics. The car starts to roll and then continues to gain speed in the opposite direction you would think…kind of eerie when you first see it. This road eventually leads you to a beautiful wide open mountainous area covered in grass with a waterfall flowing between peaks. The amazing natural scenery was a very pleasant change from the urban city life we had been traveling in most of our time so far. We enjoyed our final night with my friends with a nice barbecue at Fergal’s house, where we were staying, and went out to downtown Waterford later that evening.


From left to right: Neil, Fergal, Ellen, Eoin, Liz, Jeff


The beach near Waterford




Beautiful Irish scenery

We headed back to Dublin for our final night in Ireland which happened to be Father’s Day as well…sorry we couldn’t be home to celebrate it but we did call! We made sure to go on the Guinness Brewery Tour and sample a Guinness in its freshest state. The factory was very uniquely designed and the entire glass center core of the building up to the top floor bar is supposed to be shaped like a giant pint glass. The Gravity Bar at the top floor gives you 360 degree views of the whole city which was gorgeous on the clear sunny day that we had (apparently that doesn’t happen often in Ireland). It was a great way to cap off our visit in before heading off to London.


The freshest Guinness on Earth: at the brewery