Day 2 Paddywagon Tour

After waiting for the still drunk people, we took off for the Cliff of Mohr. Definitely a place to see before you die. First, we drove around a lot and took turns introducing ourselves to the bus, a lot of the people referred to the Republic as part of the UK, it was amusing to watch the bus drivers face, I got a laugh when I was very politically correct with where I was from "studying in Northern Ireland" and going to see the "Republic of Ireland." After everyone said their piece, Micheal informed everyone that they were in a different country from the UK, a lot said that that was what they meant.
We stopped at one of the tower houses, built during the King's rule, money was given to the loyal to build these castles that could double as fortresses.
Soon we stopped at a wishing well, you had to throw a coin with your left hand over your right shoulder and it had to only hit water in order for your wish to come true by way of the fairies. I got my wish :D
After we stopped again at these rather rocky landscapes, the Irish name escapes me. They were amazing, it reminded me a bit of the Causeway. There were some cows that looked as though they were posing for us, we found out later they were watching the other cows that we standing in the middle of the road, ahh I miss that from driving through the random dirt roads.
We soon arrived at the Cliffs and decided to climb the stairs before the hill. And of course because it is the EU there was scaffolding, so after getting gorgeous pictures of one side, we decided to go down and then up the other side. So I was hopping down the stairs, then after decided hopping wasn't safe, I walked. I got three stairs done before I fell, my ankle popped twice. I only cussed once, I was proud of myself, I found I could put my weight on it so I decided to continue up the hill. We walked/I gimped all the way up the hill; when passed the "Don't Pass" sign and got some amazing pictures. It is truly a breathtaking place, my pictures don't do it justice.
So after we came down the hill, I decided I should get my ankle wrapped. So I was the injured girl for the rest of the trip.
After the Cliffs, we arrived at our hostel, ate some fish and chips (I tried their baked beans, I like American better), and then went to a pub/nightclub where there was supposed to be Irish music, there was bad 80s cover music. I decided to go back and nurse my ankle, yes I'm a party pooper :D

Day 1 Paddywagon Tour

Once again 4 am is WAY too early to get out of bed. This time I caved and called a taxi rather than haul my butt and luggage down to the bus station. I got on the Belfast to Dublin bus, I remember the first stop and arriving in Dublin out of the almost 3 hour trip. I was tired
Our tour started almost an hour late due to traffic, but we got to see a bit of Dublin; the "Stiffy on the Liffey" aka the Dublin Spire as well as many bridges and random buildings.
First stop was the Dublin park where the Pope had preached and we saw the wild deer in the trees. I had a laugh when one of the Australians asked if they were reindeer.
Clonmacnoise was the second stop, where a saint began his ministery. It was a gorgeous and sacred place. I must admit I had a mantra of "I'm sorry" going through my head as I wandered through the cemetary to the different buildings, I hope I didn't step on anyone. There again we saw one of the places the Pope had preached. This monastry was were the original large celtic crosses where found, so it was humbling to see those. So after seeing some ruins, we had lunch with a begging dog. He was such a sweet mutt, his body was almost as long as his tail while his legs where about half that length. He definitely knew about tourists and got the food and petting he was looking for.
After Clonmacnoise, we were taught some Irish drinking/traditional songs, can't remember a word but do plan on downloading them later, while we travel until we reached Galway and Cladagh. Gorgeous town, a lot smaller than I'm used to living in Belfast. After a bit of wandering around with Storm, a girl from Brisbane (over half of the group was from Australia but there was never more than a group of 2 or 3 traveling together), we ate at a pub and had amazing Irish stew made with Guiness. I don't think I've been so full in my life. While we ate, a couple girls packed away 4 bottles of wine and we had a bit of a laugh at their drunkeness. After the pub we found a place that had Irish music, it was amazing, I'm downloading some later. Then it was bed time.

Please say a prayer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7739218.stm

I opened my St. Mary's email and recieved a message about Kirsten, one of the German ERASMUS students. Basically, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They think the football game got the guys rowdy or something. Either way she is on her way back to Germany for surgery for her broken jaw. I don't know how it will affect the dynamics of the group back in Ireland, but apparently this is the first time anything like this has happened in the 20 some odd years that they have been hosting students.

Dachau

Today was the perfect/horrible day to go to Dachau; rainy, cold, windy. I was on my own this time which made it all the more potent and unnerving. We walked the route of those before us, were told that the original intent was to break not kill people; only things got out of hand. It was sad and calming at the same time, to know that these people lost their lives but they are in no way forgotten. We walked through the maintence building where they registered countless prisoners, to the rebuilt bunk houses, each room showing each progression as overcrowding became normal at the camp. We then went to the crematorium and the gas chamber, the gas chamber was rarely used but was eery all the same, the crematorium was so sad, there was only a rose in one of the 6 ovens, I wanted to put roses in the rest. It gives you chills to stand in the place where the bodies of men where stacked with disregard to dignity or humanity. We watched the documentary on Dachau, it was so sad to see these shadows of men. Work will set you free, horrible, but the faster the men worked their bodies down the faster they were free from the devil himself.

Afterwards, I met up with one of my roommates from Paris and we went to dinner together, it was a very interesting place and devoid of tourists which was fun. We kind of annoyed the waitress because we knew very little German and she very little English. However, it was all in good fun and great food.

There is so much here that I didn't get to see, that I can't wait to come back, but at the same time I'm happy to be going back home.

Random Day in Münich

So I decided to skip my hop on/hop off tour of Münich and just take a walking tour that the hostel provided. I did learn a lot; however, the guy doing the tour was rather pushy and rude, apparently he's world famous as he's the only black tour guide in Münich, whatever, I should have gone on the other tour, but you live and learn. The highlight: seeing the Glockenspiel and the Devil's footprint.
After the tour, I met up with Noelle, Justine, Cass and Flava for lunch at Hofbräuhaus; your stereotypical German beer hall, and had a blast. Nothing like having a pint in the middle of the afternoon with some good friends. I even tried pig's knuckle.
After lunch, I said goodbye to the Aussies and was told that they expect me in the next 5 years and that I have a fish dinner waiting as well as tours of the west coast. I then headed to the Jewish museum, it was interesting but more of an exhibit than a museum.
I then met up with Flava for coffee and went sovenior shopping, after which we said goodbye and I was told I must come visit.
The rest of the night I spent in the WomBar, attmepting to play pool and laughing at the drunks. I love being the only sober one in the bar :)

Walt Disney's Castle (Neuschwanstein)

Today was the first of the guided tours and it was amazing. The scenery and castle itself were gorgeous, and the history was so interesting; plus I managed not only to find a pretzel charm but also a charm of the castle itself for my bracelet. But the most amazing part of the whole day was meeting 4 amazing girls-Justine, Noelle, and Cass from Australia and Flava from Brazil. We kind of stuck together the whole tour and even took a horse carriage up to the castle. Then afterwards Noelle, Justine, Cass and I went out to eat with the person who's housing Noelle and Cass through couchsurfing.com and met some amazing people. Noelle and Cass gave me a boomerang from Australia so I wouldn't forget them and we're actually all hanging out tomorrow and going to the Jewish museum together, which should be interesting. It has been a truly amazing day and I can't wait for what tomorrow brings....

Day one Münich

4 a.m. is way too early to get up. I slept through most of the plane ride and a german girl, who was actually just coming back from Belfast from visiting a friend at Queen's took pity on me trying to figure out how to buy a train ticket through the machines and then sat next to me and chatted until her stop. the hostel itself was fairly easy to find. I feel like I'm at summer camp, to be honest, I'm in a 6 bed all girl dorm so we sleep in bunk beds and we have our own bath which is nice. After checking in, i decided to go spend the rest of my day wandering and I only got lost three times; first i was distracted by signs for the zoo so I tried to find that, I failed, then by leaving the train station through a different exit than I was used to, which lead me to find the polar bear thingy, which allowed me to get lost even further. I found the hostel again and then just spent the rest of the night chilling and talking to one of the girls in my room. I can't spell let alone pronounce her name for the life of me, but she's here doing a week study through her school in Paris, but she's actually originally from Moracco. We're going to exchange emails and then when Armelle, Heather, and I go to Paris, she'll give us a tour of the campus. All in all a fairly uneventful day.
Tomorrow - Castle Day!!