18 April 2012

Natalie's and Mari's Grand Adventures! Part Two

Here's the rest of the featured photos from our adventures!


If you ever get the chance to drive the Ring of Kerry, you totally should.


Seriously, mountains of Ireland on one side...


...the sea on the other. Best done with awesome friends. BTW never take a pic of yourselves at the same time with two different cameras. You'll look at your own. 


Stunning. Just stunning. 


AND OH YEAH WE GOT STOPPED BY A SHEEP. 


A REAL SHEEP WHO GAVE US A LOOK WHEN WE STOPPED AND STARED AND LAUGHED B/C WE GOT STOPPED BY A SHEEP.


Another Ring of Kerry. Notice the look of bliss on my face. The cold look of bliss.  


This is a couple of days later. We visited Inishmore of the Aran Islands. My nails were painted the same color of this house. The man who was working on the roof waved at us. 


See those two dark spots right in the middle? THOSE ARE SEALS PLAYING WITH EACH OTHER! Because the Aran Islands have a seal colony. Sadly, these two were the only ones we saw.


Just us, on the Aran Islands. It was an amazing trip!

Again, sorry these posts took so long. Not only am I in the last week of classes with all sorts of tests and papers, but my grief requires a lot of sleep. Also, I can proudly say I haven't been homesick the whole trip! Except, I am really ready to go home. Not to leave Europe! But I also need to be home. Complicated emotions.

From this day, I have 22 days till I leave Ireland for London, and just 29 days till I fly home.

Baci,
Mari

Natalie's and Mari's Grand Adventures!

First off, again, my most deepest apologies for not posting sooner. Especially this post. This post is full of awesome.

You see, the beginning of March one of my bestest friends in the whole world came to visit me here in Ireland. You know her, Natalie, we studied in Rome together last semester. As I may have said before, she's still in Rome! So she visited and we did a whirlwind tour of Ireland. Seriously - whirlwind.


View Nat and Mari's Southern Ireland Adventure in a larger map


I'm dividing this post into two because I have a lot of pics I want to share with you. But as always, you can view all of them at my Shutterfly site.

So to begin....


We met up in Dublin. Walked around. Went to Temple Bar area. Saw this awesome 'advert'.


This strange orb is on the Trinity Campus in Dublin. There is another in the Vatican Museum. It's actually a sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro and there are several more around the world. No one is quite sure what it means.  

 
 ME AT TINTERN ABBEY. There's another, more famous one in Wales. But I didn't know that. I thought this was the one from the poem. Guess what. I don't care. It was absolutely beautiful.



 Our friend Rosemary is in the band! We visited her in Cork where she has been studying all year. It was so nice to go to a pub with her and listen to her play the fiddle with other Irish musicians playing various instruments. 



 That's right. Blarney Castle. And guess what...



 (Tehehe - we loved this as Capri was one of our other great adventures)



 (This was a neat little place where people who explored the areas beneath the castle left their marks)



 WE KISSED THE BLARNEY STONE! Had to literally bend over backwards to do so. However, we were thus gifted with the gift of blarney


 The Blarney Castle grounds are about a lot more than just the Stone. There are amazing gardens. They had a poison garden. There would have been  a marijuana plant but...well, you can read.


 The trees were so huge! And gorgeous and nifty.


This is us in the Fern Gardens. I felt like I was in dinosaur times. Roar.


In the Fern Garden. Another large tree. Awesome lighting. 


This is her "Are you seriously taking a picture of me?" face. Yes. Yes I am. 


See my head there?! Another super duper awesome tree. 


This is in the Rock Close, my favorite garden on the grounds and so magical! These are the wishing steps. If you go up and down them backwards without opening your eyes thinking ONLY of your wish it will come true within the year. 

I might have peeked. Stay tuned for part two!