Ireland is Beautiful

I suppose I've been back for a little over 2 weeks now and I should finally get around to blogging about my trip. HERE GOES!

A few months back, U2 announced their European tour dates, and of course my second family would be up at midnight buying tickets for the Ireland concerts. Yes, plural. We departed on July 22, and it was insanely smooth sailing the whole way there. I've never been happier on an airplane. And when we landed, I fell in love with Ireland all over again. I forgot how green and lush and European it is.

We stayed in a downtown Marriott, very five-star. Everything is within walking distance and there's always people people people.

For our first concert the next day, we waited in line from 9:00 in the morning to 4:30, when they let us into the stadium. We were right next to the stage! I could have grabbed their shoes had I a mind to do it. Walking back after the show though was painful. I've been having foot issues lately so all the walking on this trip about killed me.

The second concert was better, for me at least. Emily and I were treated like grown ups this trip so we hung around Dublin by ourselves for a while and took a taxi to the stadium at around 4:00 so we were on our own for the concert. We landed right in front of the catwalk so, not as close to the stage but still in the crowd.

The next day we spent walking about Dublin. I don't remember much of it, my feet clouded my mind.

One day before we left, we took a hop-on, hop-off tour, and Linnea had to pay Emily to go with me to the Irish Writer's Museum. Whatever. I loved it. On this trip, I replaced buying sweatshirts with books. And I bought a lot of books.

Oh I forgot, we took a bus tour to Glendalough and drove through the beautiful countryside, where Braveheart and P.S. I Love You was filmed (which I watched when I got back...sobbed).

The next two days were my favorite. We rented a van and Wayne drove us out to Limerick. Driving was a nightmare. The streets are narrow, you drive on the opposite side of the road, but the scenery was worth it.

By far my favorite leg of the trip was this road trip. We went to the Cliffs of Moher (which is astounding) and Blarney Castle, where I kissed the Blarney Stone. We stayed in Limerick, which is a cute little modern town.

Finally, on our way back (which always takes forever), our plane had to divert to Denver because a passenger had a heart attack on flight.

PICTURES! (upon request, and maybe posted later. I'm a bit lazy right now.)