Too many hoops

I was obviously meant to never make it to Spain...

I had to get up at 6 in the morning in order to take a shower and pack everything up so I could be leaving by 7 for the bus stop to get to the airport by 8. 

When I get there, the line where I had to print out my boarding pass wasn't open yet, and right before it did, a huge group of people got in front of me. Huge group of probably 30 people. Maybe more. 

So I go to security. And who should set off the metal detector? Josh.

So who steps aside and has to go through the more advanced one? Josh. And who does the more advanced one say has a bit of metal on his shoulder and shoe? Josh. So who ends up being frisk searched, only for them to find nothing? Yup. Josh.

So everything's going well. Nothing else can go wrong. I was at the airport really early. I'm not going to get lost. It will all work out...

Or will it... My flight to Madrid was delayed. By an hour. So I ended up getting to the Madrid airport as my flight to Bilbao was leaving... Ugh... So now I had to wait in a long line of people with the same problem...

So I finally make it to Spain. My luggage always is one of the last ones to come out. Every time...

I met up with Andrés and Pilar and Manuel-- finally!! Someone I know! A familiar face!

We drive back to Logroño and stop by his house for a bit. It's so beautiful here, but wow, it's so warm!mi finally understand what you guys were all talking about...

So we went to a restaurant with some... Interesting... Food. I tried this new one, which I don't remember the name, but it's mushrooms, Spanish ham, flour, and milk all inside a little deepfried ball. Or something like that. It was interesting.

But then... Then comes, by far, the most peculiar thing I have ever eaten... I look at the new plate on the table, and my first thought was "oh... Those are suction cups..." They ordered octopus. Which it's all good... I don't have to have any...

But then Manuel decided to divvy up all of it among all the plates. And he gives me the biggest one... I couldn't just say no... So I eventually did have to eat octopus tentacle. It was... Um... Hmm... It was flavorful? I guess if I could get past the face that it was octopus, it was tolerable... It tasted like fish, but it was much much firmer...

And if I was eating octopus on the first day? My oh my I have a lot in store for this next month...

I woke up this morning at 9:30. Or 12:30am back home. Had some breakfast. Toast and olive oil. (Jess I'm sorry for criticizing you all the time on that. It's pretty good.) Andrés and I walked around Logroño for a couple hours. He showed me the bridges, where Pilar works, the statues, and a large gothic cathedral. But wow it's warm. 

At about 2:00, we had lunch, which was a soup. I believe Andrés said something about chorizo, but I'm not 100% sure. Also salad. It's only 3:10 right now. Still have a lot to do with my day. But it is nice to be in a place with wifi that works. And I guess seeing Andrés again is okay... I guess... (Of course it is, I love him)

Turten nd furten

Wow... What an uneventful set of two days...

So these past two days haven't been the most memorable, because there wasn't much I did. You can only get so far in the city by walking, and you have to take a bus anywhere else. But me, being the poor guy I am, am limited to basically a 2-mile radius so I don't get too lost. And you kinda start run out of things to do in the city center after a few days...

So yesterday, Saturday, I started off by checking out of the Belford hostel that I was in, and moved on over to the Royal Mile Backpackers. At least this hostel isn't a mile from the main part of Edinburgh...

However, even though this weekend was pretty uneventful, I had some spectacular food! Yesterday for lunch, I took a 3 mile round trip to find what is, according to Google, the best Fish and Chips in town. Naturally, I wanted to find out if that was true. So I walked over there and found something interesting...

Who would've thought! So that was pretty fun!! (There's nothing dedicated to him here. Across the street there was, but I didn't go. I was a man on a mission for Fish.) So I got my lunch, and walked back to the a Prince Street Gardens, where I've been eating a lot of my breakfasts and lunches. 

And you know, it was pretty good fish and chips. But wow there was a lot. Really good crust, pretty good chips. The only thing that ruined it was the squirrel that kept trying to take my chips...

So I went back to the hostel and Skyped with mom and dad! Wished dad a very happy birthday. I miss home a lot...

And I guess the Queen is in town and staying at a castle right down the road? That would explain the parade I saw beforehand...

I guess. Maybe. Or maybe that's just a Saturday thing in Edinburgh.

So at about 8:30, I decided I was hungry enough to go get some dinner. I looked around for a few places before I decided on Frankie and Benny's. They're an Italian restaurant, so I figured that would be a good place to try something new. (That is one of the purposes of this trip. To expand my taste buds.)

So I got this really good thing called Arrabbiata. It's super good. It's penne pasta with red tomato sauce, I think, but then with red, yellow, and orange peppers, and onions and tomatoes, and chili peppers. I don't know if I've ever had chili peppers before but wow.

Those are good. Pretty spicy though. I had to have quite a bit of water.

See how good that looks? Oh man I love it. I have to learn how to make it. 

So there was Saturday. My roommates are... Quirky... Two from Australia, one from Germany, another from California (but Los Angeles so the ugh part of Cali), one from Chile, and then one more where I don't know from. But they're all super nice. 

Alright so now comes Sunday. Today was one of the least eventful days I've had, even though I've still done quite a lot. But wow I spend money here a lot more...

So I started off getting breakfast at the Patisserie Valerie, a pastry and breakfast bakery. I got some hot chocolate. It was okay. Should've been warmer. But I also got Scrambled Eggs and toast, and a blueberry muffin and my oh my, it was so good. I underestimated how much I enjoy a warm cooked meal and not... Strawberries, apples, and milk for dinner...

So that was really good. I did some people watching, but nothing. Rey interesting happened. I mean, people ate breakfast and chatted.

Alright, now you might have to do some scrolling through a buttload of pictures, because next, I went to the Edinburgh Castle, like you do while in Edinburgh.

Was it worth it? Maybe. It did cost £17 to get in, so basically $25 for a 2 hour walk-around. I guess it was interesting enough to say it was worth it, but my wallet might disagree. 

But I did take a lot of pictures. 

So, yeah, I guess it was pretty cool. There were some really good views of the city, too. It is one of the highest places in the city, so you can get a pretty good view. 

(I'm sure this all looks really terrible on the website. The blogger app doesn't let me adjust the photos at all...)

So I got back to the hostel after wandering around for a bit. Walked over to the grocery store and picked up some food for breakfast tomorrow and dinner tonight. More scrambled eggs, I guess... Oh well. It's easy and healthy, so... Anyway...

That's where I'll leave you.  Tomorrow morning I'm waking up at 6 so I can leave the hostel by 7 so I can make the bus by 7:20 and then be at the airport by 7:50... To catch an 11:10 flight...

I like being very very sure that I know that I have enough time beforehand. I don't really mind being there for an extra 1.5 hours if it means that I have the security that nothing will go wrong. 

Days 11 and 12

Okay so it's Saturday morning when I'm writing this, and my journal is in my room where I can't go get it without waking everyone up. So I don't really remember Thursday all that well. 

I do remember this, however,

I stopped by a bakery and got a croissant, which I then ate in those gardens that i really like. Was it Thursday or Wednesday that I stopped by another hostel to book for this weekend? I can't even remember. 

I stood on one of the overpasses above the gardens for a good 20 minutes, just admiring everything, but when it started to drizzle, I decided to move on. So I went to the nearby National Gallery. It was okay. I mean, I'm not really one to be a critic of art from past centuries, so it's not something that particularly interested me. It was more of a way to just pass the time. So I spent about an hour in the 17 rooms there, just walking around looking at all this amazing art. Lots of depictions of Jesus and Mary, as well as many statues. No pictures allowed. So I have none. Oh well.

The building adjacent to the National Gallery is another Gallery, but more for modern art pieces. (It's not to be confused with the Modern Art Gallery, though. Two completely different things.) And to be honest, I wasn't impressed at all. Much of the building was shut off because they were setti something up, so there was 1 room open. 1 room with squeaky floors and 4 pieces of art. Very dissatisfying. I was in and out within 2 minutes. 

And other than that pitiful gallery, my day wasn't very super. It started raining pretty hard after that, and the only think I wanted to do was to get warm and out of the rain, so I figured "well hey, there's a mall very closeby. It's indoors. I could go there."  And you know what's in the mall? Lots and lots of clothes. So many clothes. An Anime shop. A Scottish Gift Shop. And a lot of American fast food places. But passing by them, all of them looked very modern. They don't look at all like they do in America. These actually look fancy.

Also I bought a lot of grapes and ate a lot of grapes. 

Fast forward the next few hours to Friday morning. After a conversation with Grandpa, I felt like I couldn't leave Edinburgh without going to the zoo. 

And let me tell ya,

It was a lot of fun. I was there at about 9:00 and was there until past 3:00. There was so much to see, and I had to stay at least until 2:15 to see the Penguin March. 

I started off with the Meerkats, of course. Walked through the Pelican exhibit. And then I walked over to see the Giant Panda, but was distracted by the Capuchin Monkeys. Those things are just the most adorable things. They're just... Ugh I love them.

Finally I made it to the Panda exhibit, which wasn't very exciting when I remembered that mostly, they just sleep.

But I mean, it was still pretty adorable. It probably wants to be out in the wild, but it would get hunted so quickly. At least, that's what they said on the information board...

And you know what comes after the panda??

The most adorable little creatures in the world, aka penguins. They're such cutie pies, my goodness. 

This one is Snowflake and his two babies. He had to fight off other penguins who kept trying to steal pebbles from his nest. 

And I spent a good 30 minutes just watching the Penguins. Because they're that cute. 

I made my way up to the grassland area, where I saw the norm: emus, llamas, and then this cool guy:

I wish I had a better picture of him, or at least knew what he was...

Walked by and saw the lions. Typical lions. I walked through their dinosaur exhibit, where I'm pretty sure that if there were video cameras watching the place and little microphones, whoever was watching and listening inhad a great time listening to me talk to those guys. 

Saw the tiger. Kind of. I watched the Gibbons for a while, and they're also lovely. Just how human-like they can act sometimes. (Or is it humans that act like gibbons????) 

Oh! And I had some really really good pizza for lunch! It wasn't that expensive either! And it tasted super good! And the garlic bread was quite wonderful. Oh man. I wish I had more...

Went to the penguin march when the time came. It wasn't as exciting as I hoped. They walked a total of like 30 feet? But it was still pretty cool I guess. 

I'd edit these photos to make them look better but I can't do that on here easily. 

So there ya go. There's my Friday. I came back to see some awesome news on Facebook. And overall, it was a pretty good day. My new roommates are from Finland, so we talked a lot a out a variety of things. 

I wanted to do this blog yesterday, but I forgot... Oopsie...

Alrighty. Love yall. 

The hills are alive with the sound of...

...bagpipes...

So Scotland is pretty much 35x better than Ireland, it seems. Everyone here is so much nicer to tourists, but it's also easier to blend in. As long as you feign your confidence in where you're going, people will assume you're a local and might treat you a bit better on the sidewalk...

It's also pretty much better because I can breathe on the streets. People here don't smoke/vape as much as like 60% of Dublin...

It has been a while since I updated. I'm having trouble remembering to write down these things, whether it's on this blog or in my journal. But I'm trying. 

So the first day I got here, I, as usual, took a free walking tour of the city, and it was really cool!!!

I learned about the history of Scotland, the rulers, the conflicts and wars, the results, and the humorous stories, all within just 3 hours!

We walked down below the Edinburgh Castle, which is phenomenal!!! Apparently, there's a huge festival here every August, and so they have a stadium just for that, right next to the castle.

But they decide that it works best if they rebuild it every year... So every May, they start building a stadium, that will be used for one month, and then taken down over the course of 3 months... Don't ask me why...

We stopped for a 15 minute break, where I visited a shop called Milk, and got some Hot White Chocolate, and I'll be doing that again for sure. It was super. 

We walked over to a cemetery, where J.K. Rowling spent a lot of time. Our guide pointed out specific graves, like James MacGonagall, Alice Moodey, Tom Riddell, and mentioned that on the records was someone named Peter Pettigrew...

Then, we traversed over to a different part of the cemetery and learned the story of Greyfriar's Bobby. Greyfriar was the main grave keeper of the yard, and got lonely, so he got a little Scotty Dog named Bobby.

But that didn't last long, because Greyfriar passed away just two years later.

But Bobby stuck around. During the funeral, Bobby laid down by the grave, next to his best friend. And when the coffin was lowered, Bobby stayed laying. And through the night, Bobby was there with his friend Greyfriar. Every day, for 14 more years, Bobby stayed right by his masters grave.

Wow... Did it just start raining all over everyone's faces or what??

So they constructed this statue in Bobbys honor, and rubbing his nose is considered good luck. 

After that, I stopped by the Natural History Museum, which was pretty cool. Unfortunately it didn't last very long because I walk really quickly...

But there was cool stuff in there. There were rooms for all sea life, space, earth, and almost every culture from every continent. It was truly an experience. But no photos allowed...

My back really hurt ever since I picked up my backpack wrong. It didn't settle down until Thursday. 

So that was Tuesday. Wednesday was more on my schedule, and I liked it a lot. One of my favorite days so far on this trip. 

It started off when I walked over to another hostel, closer into town, to book this weekend. Hopefully their breakfast will be better than this one...

I took a shirt tour of one of the churches here, the one with the funny story behind it. Back after the reformation, the churches had to change their services very quickly. So one Sunday, after all the members started getting confused with the new liturgy, one woman was so outraged that she threw her bar chair at the presiding minister, and hit him. Everyone else was confused, so they all joined in the throwing of chairs. The priest did get away, but was found in a nearby village, where he was... Well, killed...

So, because of that, in the middle of this church, there's an exact replica of the bar chair that was originally thrown on display. The church, however, did not allow pictures to be taken, unless you wanted to pay for a £2 photo pass. Which is basically $3.50. I didn't pay. So I didn't take pictures. Sorry. 

I also went to these amazing, beautiful gardens, known as the West Princes Street Garden!! And I loved it so so so much. It was so peaceful. Everyone was so respectful of each other, and always picked up all their messes and made sure to keep this wonderful garden clean. 

See how beautiful it is?? It was amazing and peaceful, and I just sat there

For like 2 hours. 

And it was the most amazing set of 2 hours I've had. In a long long time. 

There was also a little cafe there, so I got some ice cream, and that was really awesome. I missed ice cream.

I'm also really really really liking my roommates?!!? I have two of them right now, and they're both really good conversationalists, and I love talking with them. One of them is from Australia, and he's here looking for a job, so he's staying in this hostel until August?? That's a ways away... We normally just talk about slang and stereotypes from our countries...

My other roommate is this really awesome Spanish girl. (for a while, I couldn't tell if she was a girl or a boy, but she was still cool either way. She has short hair. Except for one really long dreadlock.) We talked for about an hour and a half on just about every topic out there: stereotypes, education systems, life in America, life in Spain, gun laws in America... Spanish history, money, jobs, etc. She's just a very wonderful person to talk to. 

Then I fell asleep while listening to music. I've been having a problem where I wake up around 3am every morning, and it takes longer to fall asleep?? Not sure why...

Although I'm writing this post on Thursday evening, I'll write about today when I write my next one. I like sticking with the Two Day posts. I can remember the events easier, and it keeps them from being too much to write/read. 

Till next time! Love y'all!

7 was heaven and 8 was great

Wow. What an… Interesting… Past 2 days…

It started yesterday morning when I walked over to the bus station where I would be taking a bus over the Dublin Port, to catch the ferry to Scotland. Pretty uneventful.

I got some hot chocolate at a chocolate shoppe in town. The chocolate was better than the drink. I'm regretting not getting a White Chocolate one.

So from there, I decided that I wanted to walk over to the Chester Beatty Library, as I had wanted to for the past few days. And it was truly a spectacular memory. 

This guy collected so so so many pieces of art and books over 60 years, and it was all spectacular. Though he collected thousands of items, not all of his treasure was in this library. But what remained was wonderful:

In one room, the Art of Books room, there were three sections: Asian, Arabic, and European. In the Asian section, the library proudly displayed historic Japanese scrolls and armor, dating back to the 1300s. The art was intricate and deliberate, yet simple. Turn to the Arabic section, and everything changes. I saw the exquisite design of books covered in leather, hand painted, calligraphic. The process of writing, binding, and covering a copy of a book played on a screen in the back. The European section was, however, not that interesting. 

Now, the second floor is what took my breath away, much like the song choices in Top Gun.

(I'll wait for your uproarious laughter to quiet.)

On the second floor was Beatty’s exhibit on world religions, and it was astounding. He had an extensive collection of Bibles, Qu'rans, and Buddhist texts, among a few smaller religions in SE Asia. I started in the Christianity room but mainly because it was the closest to me.

And let me tell you… It was truly an awe-inspiring place. The extent that this man must have gone through to get part of his collection just seems so unreachable, just like the American Dream in The Great Gatsb- oh… that's irrelevant here.

In here were amazing paintings of the disciples, Jesus, and other notable apostles. In the four corners of the center room sat pages with drawings of each of the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And in the center is one of the earliest found writings of Mark, dating all the way back to AD250. But if you think that's amazing… In the next room were many writings from John, and numerous other old scripts. But the oldest in the room is from the book of Numbers, and dates back to AD140. So I stood within 2 feet of a papyrus page from almost 2000 years ago, and that was too astounding…

I'd go into more detail about the other ones, but you get the gist. Except that in the Islam room, there was an amazingly large Quran- the largest I've ever seen- on display, practically made of gold. That's how much gold leaf there was on it. 

Later on, after leaving, I walked back down by the spire to visit a 50s Diner that I had seen earlier. I stopped by, and, as usual, had some garlic fries. Super good. 

Went back to the hostel. Some people from Europe (one of them had an accent that sounded Spanish) turned on Edge of Tomorrow on the TV, which I found to be an interesting movie. That is, until I slept through the last 15 minutes… I woke up to find a few new hostelers playing BS, so I watched them for a bit. They talked about Pixar’s Inside Out, which I really want to see, but it wasn't playing at all in Dublin. So when I asked where they saw it, that's when I learned that they are animation students from Orange County! So that was pretty cool. I watched them play Go Fish. We discussed cool socks.

So that was my yesterday. It was very eventful. But I think today trumps it, drama-wise…

So I woke up this morning at 6am to pack all my stuff together. I ended up taking a taxi over to Dublin Port, because from what I had read online, the taxi drivers are mostly pretty interesting and tell good stories. So that's when I learned that next year, Dublin will be holding a 100 year anniversary from when they were all imprisoned by the British! Fun!

But actually, it sounds pretty cool. Apparently, theyre going to deck out the main city street so it looks like it did back in 1916, people will walk around with the appropriate clothing for the time, etc.  Sounds pretty fun.

So I got to the port, had some breakfast, and boarded the ferry, which was pretty cool. While I'll admit that it took me some getting used to, my sea legs weren't terrible. (Maybe next time, I should choose a stormier day?)

But I mean, there isn't much to talk about. This was my first time over the ocean, rather any body of water not called a lake or a pond. Or a reservoir. You get the point. 

Glad I took some Dramamine…

And I finally made it to Scotland! The moment I've been waiting years for!

So now the fun part… I got on my train that I was going to take to Edinburgh. Pretty normal. Until I pass a station that kind of sounds familiar? Maybe one of the workers told me to get off there? Hmm… Then again, maybe not…

I better just stay on the train.

Oh, what was that, man with the trolley? I was supposed to get off at that station?

Oops. 

So after stressing and crying and thinking how I probably should have just flew, I was helped in Chester by a woman at the ticket counter  who ended up giving me a free ticket to Edinburgh after I explained my situation. So that was pretty nifty. It lifted my spirits, and so I was finally able to start my journey. 

There's a woman on the train who is also going to Edinburgh, and she has an adorable little dog. He's a cutie pie. 

And that's where I leave you, because nothing else has happened yet. I'm still on the train, about 40 minutes left until my destination…

By the way… If any of you know a quick, cheap, fast, easy way to get to Spain from Scotland that doesn't involve flying! Let me know…

Oh? What was that?

Teleportation has t been perfected yet?

Shucks…

In the meantime, howbout that Charleston… Or that Afghan Parliament Bombing…

Isn't the world just marvelous???

ZippedeedooDays Five and Six

Wow.

I'm really tired. 

So I checked into my new hostel yesterday! I could tell from the start that this one would be much much better. The common room has large windows in it to let in a lot of light, colorful couches, a fireplace, and its overall quite nice. The beds? Finally something on which I can sleep comfortably!

So another thing that happened yesterday... Per mom's request, I went to find the statue of a Thin Lizzy guitarist Phil Lynott. That was pretty cool. A lot of people put guitar picks on the guitar.

On the way back, I passed by the wax museum and thought, "well, I've never done this before. Why not have a new experience?"  So that's what I did. And let me tell you this: wax museums are very very scary. The eyes on those things? Pretty sure they're real... But while I was there, I did get to hang out with some of my favorite creatures, like Yoda and Gollum. That was certainly something...

I also finally got my fish and chips! I've been waiting all week, and on Friday, I stopped by the oldest place for fish and chips in Temple Bar. (Temple Bar is the huge touristy part of Dublin with buttloads of bars and restaurants and shops. It's also where my hostel is located.) And the fish? It was pretty okay. Kinda dry, but very flavorful. This place has seen a lot of celebrities over the years, like U2, the entire cast of P.S. I Love You, Ben Kingsley, and many many others. 

So that was my Friday. (Or should I say Fryday because of the chips...). So I went to bed, and though I woke up many times through the night, I was able to sleep in until 7! That certainly beats the past few nights when I've woken up at 2:45 and stayed awake...

So here I am. Saturday afternoon, trying to recount what I did today... After breakfast and my shower, etc, I walked over to where I will be heading on Monday morning to catch a bus to the port, where I will ride a ferry to Scotland. I then proceeded to walk around and get lost. Intentionally. I figure the best way to learn where everything is in this very confusing city is to find your way around somewhere you don't know. It turns out, I was very close to my previous hostel, so I walked right by it without noticing until I saw the sign. So I guess I wasn't as lost as I thought...

From there, I decided I wanted to give Trinity College another whirl. Kim said I should check out the science gallery, which I tried to find a few days ago, but couldn't. It turns out, it was a 15 minute walk from the main part of the college. So I eventually found it, and I'm glad I returned. While it wasn't as extensive as I imagined, it was a very creative place. One exhibit was a blender.

Yes.

A blender. 

But it was a special blender. But Josh, aren't all blenders special?

Well yes, but not all blenders are activated by your voice. And by voice, I mean humming. 

This blender, which I don't have a picture of, turned on when you made the sound of a blender. Depending on how fast you wanted the blender to blend, all you had to do was imitate the sound of a blender blending as fast as you want it! How cool!

I've also been craving a hamburger for the past couple days. But not some poorly made one. No. I needed a real hamburger. But where do you get one in a place that isn't known for its hamburgers, like America is?

That's where Hard Rock Cafe Dublin comes in.

At least now, (for a buttload of money, may I add) I could rest in peace. I had my hamburger in another country, all while listening to some pretty a-okay music. 

And so that was my day today. Maybe more will happen, but probably nothing noteworthy. It's currently 6:17pm. I'm really tired but if I sleep now, I won't sleep well tonight so I have to find something to do for e next several hours...

Howdy Howdy Days 3&4

Heyo, Josh here. (Who else would it be?)

I've had an interesting set of days here. They've either involved lots of relaxation and sleep or lots of stress and lack of sleep. So yesterday (Wednesday) morning, I woke up at about 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. So it goes. Did the usual: got dressed, had some breakfast. The norm. I then proceeded to worry about how I have not planned quite a bit of this trip. There's a possibility that I won't stay in Ireland as long as I originally planned, and maybe I will head over to Edinburgh sooner. So after stressing about what I'm going to do, I figured the next best thing would be to take a walk to calm down. So what do I do? I fall asleep for two hours. I had to physically pull myself out of the bed so I could walk over to Trinity College. Needless to say, I got lost.

These are the two main parts of Trinity College that I was actually able to access. They apparently really don't like you being on the campus unless you are: 1. A student at the school, B. A tourist on an official tour that costs too much, or 3. Willing to wait 2 hours in line to see the Book of Kells. None of those were me. So I walked around the campus, only to smell a very delicious smell. Naturally, I followed it, for about 100 feet, when I realized I was just smelli fast food... Curse you America and your sensory nostalgia...

So that was my day yesterday. I didn't really do much else. I did go to he grocery store and bought some blackberries and some delicious yogurt, per Kimmy's suggestion. 

I couldn't sleep very well at all last night. I went to bed around 10 or so, then woke up at about 2:30 in the morning. The bed was uncomfortable, the pillow was too thin, and I missed home. A lot. I still do. So I proceeded to stay up, because I couldn't fall back asleep. 

But now, at 10:00 on Thursday morning, I can say I've had quite the adventure so far. I did my usual morning routine, breakfast, shower, etc.

I then decided I should walk over to the hostel I will be staying at, potentially, tomorrow to see their cancellation policies, if I decide to leave Ireland early. I retraced my steps from Tuesday on the self walking tour, because I wanted to see everything again, on my own time.

This first picture is a doorway out of the Garda Memorial Garden. I can't tell you more, mainly because I forget the story behind it. Oops. But it's a very beautiful place, as you can see in the second picture. We visited here on the tour a couple days ago, and I just really wanted to go back.

This here is the last remaining tower of Dublin City. Like, the original Dublin City. Back when it was spelled Dubhlinn. It's the Record Tower, which you can read about in he second picture. Pretty interesting. 

I visited the old Moore's (sp?) church this morning too. It's over a thousand years old, although the graffiti on it isn't...

Apparently the spire on top (which is not visible from this view) is the highest walkable point in Dublin. It's a pretty flat town. The church was built after the Vikings had either all left or died, which is why it has lasted this long. I guess the Vikings couldn't engineer buildings to save their lives...

So that's been my morning. Pretty eventful couple of hours. Maybe I'll post again later on today. I'm thinking I'll go to the Leprechaun museum, because I mean, I'm really curious how they make a museum out of that. Is everything enlarged so you feel smaller? Is everything leprechaun sized? Who knows.

Also planning on finally getting some real Fish and Chips. Hopefully that will be exciting. 

And a special shoutout to those back home who are helping me deal with all this stress by letting me vent the frustrations, and then keeping my mind off of it. You're all very dear to my heart!

Till next time.

Josh