I see London, I see France....

We landed in Paris! Well kinda... We were on a bus for an hour and then we were in Paris. We found our hotel but couldn't check in yet so we headed to the sacre coeur church. It was really pretty but there were a million street vendors bugging us. Then we went to the Eiffle Tour!AWESOME! We loved it! We went all the way to the top and could see everything since it was so nice out. After that we headed back to the hostel for a nap. And well we never woke up haha. We spent the prervious night in the airport since our flight was at 6am and we didn't want to have to pay for a hostel or worry about catching a bus at 4am. We are off to explore Paris! So far it has been beautiful!

The gift of eloquence

We had to check out of our hostel in Cork at 10:30 so we had to take our bags with us to Blarney. It was a tight squeeze climbing to the top of the castle but it was definitely worth it since we have kissed the stone and should now have the gift of eloquence! The castle was a really cool place to see! After seeing the castle we wondered around the gardens, saw some Druid ruins, and walked around the Blarney manor which was gorgeous! After all of that we had to catch a bus back to Cork in time to get on the train to Dublin. Our flight to Paris leaves at 6:30am.... Ew

Cork!

We arrived around 8 and immediately went exploring. The town seems really nice, a good change from Waterford. We got our first burger since leaving home, matt loved it, but it had onions in it so you know I didn't. After dinner we decided that we wanted to go on a tour early in the morning so we headed to bed early. We tried to get some sleep but one of our roommates was cutting some logs and the other had the black lung so it wasn't easy.

After getting litle sleep we headed for the cliffs of Moher with a Paddywagon tour. The tour made a lot of stops on the way including the treaty stone, bunratty's castle, burren limestone, a 3,000 BC rock formation where people lived and a few other cool sites. The cliffs were pretty awesome but would have been even better had the sun come out.

Tomorrow we are taking the bus to blarney castle to kiss the stone and see the sites before heading back to catch the train to Dublin. From Dublin we are flying to Paris!

Tonight we are heading to a pub to watch a 'football' game:)CORRECTION - we are saving money. We went to the store and are making pasta in the hostel kitchen:)

Ps I Love you Tutu!:)

Waterford...

Oh Waterford...
The whole reason I (Shannon) wanted to come here is because of the family history I have here. Even though... When it comes down to it I really only know that somewhere down the line a few relatives lived here. Anywho... I thought it could be cool... Not so much. We got a little lost leaving the train station when looking for reginald's tower and stopped to ask a guy in a church courtyard how to get there. If we had only known what we were getting ourselves into... The guy told us a ton of stories which did not make any sense whatsoever and made us question his stability and sanity. He talked nonstop about the most random things, Egypt, the walk of fame, menopause, turkey, and bombs... AND he spit me (by mistake! But still... EwWWWWW!) we eventually got away and found the tower which happened to be closed for construction. Thanks Waterford! We carried our bags around for 2 hours only to be dissapointed:( after that we got back on the train and headed to Cork!

More Dublin!

The walking tour was so so. It was nice to see more of Dublin but it wasn't too in depth. Because it was free we missed out on some of the nicer museums. But at least it was free:) after the three hour tour we were a little tired so we headed to dinner at gallaghers. It was sooo yummy. For the most part we are loving Irish food. We had a train to catch the next morning so we went to sleep early.

First Night Out!

Well we went out for the first time last night and what do ya know... We ran into Matt's neighbor at JMU, a girl from Robinson, a girl from the JMU rugby team I know and a guy in PSE... Crazy! The place we went to had a €5 cover but we figured it was cheaper than the others and it was recommended by the hostel host. We got there at about 12:30 and there were around 10 people awkwardly dancing - including a 45 year old woman with no sense of rhythm and way too many drinks in her. We didn't want to pay to go anywhere else so we stuck it out... Ended up getting pretty fun when all of the JMU people got there. We are going to a free waking tour of the city today and then a pub crawl with the other JMU people tonight.

The hostel is pretty decent. There's no lockout or curfew and everyone is pretty friendly.the shower did alternate between freezing me to death and burning my skin off with no warning but that is my only complaint. It seems like everyone here is British, it's really strange. I'm trying to figure out how to upload pictures... As soon as I do I will add some!:)

IRELAND!!!

We have arrived in Dublin! Jim drove us the scenic route from Liverpool to Holyhead in time for us to get the ferry. After a short bus ride we have arrived at our first hostel. It's a six bed mixed dorm and so far we are only sharing with another couple from long beach, ca. We have already seen some places that we want to one day make it back to, especially betws y coed in wales... Gorgeous. No idea how to pronounce it though. Gotta go get some euros... I'll update soon:)

Beatlemania!

We are Liverpool and we are staying with two of the nicest people, Jan and Jim. We got a tour of the city and were able to see each of the Beatles' houses before being dropped off in the city to wonder around. We have already hit up the Beatles Museum and are about to head off into the city :)

We are taking the ferry to Dublin tomorrow morning!!

And we are off!

We made it through security and are about to leave! Matt would like me to clarify that my bag weighs more than his at 13.8 kg, his was 13.2 kg.

Next stop - LONDON!

Ps love you mom... I'll be fine! I'll text when we land! Love you:)

18 Hours and Counting

I'M GETTING EXCITED!!!

Bags are packed! Mine is weighing in at about 30 pounds and Matt's is around 35lbs. I am the all-time worst at packing way more than I need so 30 pounds is pretty good. I look at it this way - I would much rather pack a 49.9 pound bag and be prepared for any situation then pack only the things that I would most likely need. I like having options and knowing I am as prepared as possible :)

Here is our itinerary. We know we probably wont end up following this exactly but it's a start.

May
23 - Land in London, take a bus to see stonehenge, bus to Liverpool
24 - Liverpool, bus to holyhead (Ferry), Dublin
25 - Dublin
26 - Kilkenny, Waterford
27 - Cork
28 - Killarney
29 - Galway, Dublin
30 - Dublin - Paris (flying)
31 - Paris
June
1- Paris
2- Paris - Madrid (night train)
3- Madrid
4- Madrid - Valencia
5 - Valencia - Barcelona
6 - Barcelona
7 - Barcelona - Nice
8 - Nice - Cinque Terre
9 - (I'm officially an old fart at 22 today) Cinque Terre
10 - Cinque Terre - Florence
11 - Florence
12 - Florence - Rome
13 - Rome
14 - Rome
15 - Rome - Venice
16 - Venice - Geneva
17 - Interlaken, Grindelwald
18 - Lucerne
19 - Prague
20 - Prague - Amsterdam
21 - Amsterdam
22 - Amsterdam - Belgium
23 - Brussels - London - Wimbledon
24 - Wimbledon
25 - Wimbledon - Edinburgh
26 - Edinburgh
27 - Edinburgh - London
28 - London
29 - London
30 - London - USA!!!

It is going a crazy 39 days!

AHHHH

Matt and I are trying to plan our trip out so that we can see everything we want to see and not spend a gazillion dollars. It's not easy... just when we think we have it figured out we discover stupid fees. GrrRRRRrrrrr.

We have almost everything that we need... just no plan.

Here is what we have so far - we are leaving dulles on the 22nd, landing the 23rd and coming home on June 30. The rest is TBD.

5 Days and Counting!

I packed almost everything in my bag last night and there is NO way I am going to be able to fit everything and be able to carry it. Matt and I went to GWU to get our Eurorail pass, ISIC cards, and travelers insurance... SO expensive. I wasn't sure about the traveler's insurance until the girl at the counter told us about how she got some weird bacterial infection in her eye and is now partially blind and trying to pay off a $10,000 bill. Annnnd knowing me I'm going to lose or drop something valuable. This way I'll be covered.