Ireland at last!

New York

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Had a swell time in New York despite being dead tired. (this is the view from inside a mall near the Plaza Hotel) These stars were hanging from the ceiling, they changed colors! Cool :) Once it started raining we too refuge in an Argo Tea Shop and stayed there for a couple hours before heading back to the airport :)

✳After two red eye flights and a day of wandering around New York aka 36 hours of no sleep

Bonjour from Ireland!

We got in at the Dublin airport at about 8 or 9 am yesterday morning (Irish time). When I got off the plane and looked outside I was like <Oh! we're back in Oregon!> the landscape and weather is very similar. But when people say Ireland is green they're not joking! It is! 

That is how my day began...

 

After picking up our rental car at the airport, my dad took it for a spin in the parking lot to get used to the whole driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car and shifting gears with the left hand kind of thing... no biggy.

I will not lie, the first time we pulled out on to the highway scared the crap out of us! Once we got used to it though it was fine :) my sisters and I crashed in the back seat of our tiny European car as my parents found our way on the highways of Ireland. We stopped for lunch at a little village called Cahir (I think...) It was beautiful. first we stopped by an old Church and Graveyard, Beautiful!!!

                                                                   

After that we hopped over to the Shamrock Lounge for some Irish fish 'n chips. :)

Right down the road from that was this...

Ta da!
















Nothing to great it's just a CASTLE!!!!!
So that was pretty neat :)

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Now we're off to Clonakilty where we will be staying for four days with our friends Justin and Alison. At this point all we can think about is getting there, but God said <Lets make things a bit more interesting and have their car break down at the toll booth about 50 km (about 30 miles) from their destination, ya thats a good one lets do it!> so thats what happened! It took about an hour for the rental company to bring over a new car, so we waited.
I think lots of people might say we had good cause to be quite disheartened, but honestly if your gonna have your car brake down why not in Ireland! It was a bit uncalled for but hey what can you do! We were beat but alive thank the Lord :)

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We arrived, a little later than we thought but nonetheless.
So! although we desperately needed sleep our friends asked if we wanted to go to the traditional Monday night at one of there favorite pubs in town. Well of course we said yes! Can't pass up traditional Irish music in a real Irish pub. And FYI it was totally legit! just a couple of guys sitting in a circle in the center of the pub, fiddles and banjos in one hand and a beer in the other. It was AMAZING! we had a fantastic time! Plus I bought my first beer! All by myself :) and the best thing is that I wasn't even carded! (just in case your worried the drinking age is 18 here so I'm totally fine) It was a great beer too :)
Anyways we ran home in the pouring rain to finally get our much needed sleep. I woke up the next day right before lunch, never felt better! :) I finally got to see our new home in the light of day.

This is the view from the front window of the house.














Dang it! I should have done a Panorama shot it would have been so much cooler!








That,
was our first day in Ireland.

I should go to bed it's one o'clock in the morning January 1st 2014.
Happy New year everyone!