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!