ennis yes, dublin no

My trip to Ireland has been my only disspointment thus far. I say that because I spent most of it on a bus. IES, the program I'm on, wanted us to see as much of Ireland as possible (which is great!), but that means a lot of traveling. We flew into the Dublin airport and then had about a 3-4 bus drive across the country (literally) and made a pit stop at the 1st monastery and where Christianity began in Ireland. It was absolutely gorgeous!!!! Then we got back on the bus and headed to the very Irish town of Ennis. It was as local and Irish as it comes with the longest river in Ireland, the River Shannon, flowing through it, cobble stone walk ways, drunks, very nice people, and pubs at every other door you pass. We only had the night there, but it was a BLAST! We went to a recommended local place and there were 3 teenagers just playing Irish music because they wanted to, and it definitely made you want to do an Irish jig! Within the hour everyone directed their attention to a man at the microphone who ended up making a speech and turned out to be an Independent politician by the name of David Norris who everyone said was the next president of Ireland. The reason he spoke being that the next day Ireland had a huge election over a new form of government, so not only did we get a taste of the local music and culture, but also of politics. So cool! I absolutely loved the town! The next day we got back on the bus (shocker) and spent all day on the bus minus pit stops.

Much of the bus ride was along the coast which was gorgeous and one of the pit stops was at a limestone landscape where glaciers once were. All you could see for miles was flat limestone rock and it was beautiful!!! We also took an hour lunch break in the town of Galway, Ireland, it's second largest city. Then after a lovely day on the bus we got to Dublin in the late afternoon.
Having never been to Ireland all I have ever known is Dublin...well that's unfortunate because I highly despise Dublin. It was such an ugly city (London has spoiled me with it's beauty) with flat buildings with no architecture. Also, I may have just run into the wrong people but the women seemed nice whereas every Irish man I met seemed drunk, horny, rude, and with bad teeth to top it off. In Ennis they couldn't have been more wonderful, but in Dublin they were terrible. Example: in line at a restaurant 6, not 5 but 6, different men pushed, cut, and shoved in front of me. By the 6th one I finally said, "Excuse you," and the man slurred and replied, "hello sexy." I couldn't have been more appalled. Anyways, that night I was in bed nice and early and happy to be. The next morning our tour guide for the weekend took us on a tour of his home town of Dublin. Every landmark we stopped at was a disappointment after another minus Trinity College. It was the only sign of beauty I could find in all of Dublin and is where Oscar Wilde attended among others - gorgeous! After the tour we had the afternoon free and a group of us headed to the Guinness factory...when in Ireland it's a must!

We learned how they made the barrels, every aspect of the beer making, history, advertising, and entire story of guinness within the 7-story storehouse. It was such an interesting and very Irish experience.
Needless to say, I would absolutely love to explore Ireland more - what I got to see on the West side of the country was absolutely breathtaking and a culture of its own....everything but Dublin.

Meet Sean our guide for the weekend....I swear has some resemblance to leprechauns??? yes?