Arrival in Greystones and Dublin!

This is day two in Ireland and we've already done and seen a lot. It is so lovely here and while it was spitting rain at us from the airport, the sun came out to welcome us to Greystones.

The plane ride was long with moments of turbulence, the food was great, but I hardly got a wink of sleep so I went up for nearly 33 hours without sleep. Because it was an overnight flight, with what little sleep I got I haven't experienced much jet lag at all. Just because the sun rose five hours before it was supposed to…

So I want to introduce to you my traveling buddy for the semester. Her name is Niamh. (Pronounced Neev) We arrived at the airport super early so while we were waiting Niamh wanted to send some greetings home.

It rained on the coach ride from Dublin to Greystones, but I managed to snap this shot of … SHEEP!

Then we arrived at Greystones, unpacked a little, and got to explore to quaint little town. It is so nice! I love it here. The view is great, I can see the edge of the sea from my bed!

Our first stop was the famous Happy Pear where I nursed a cup of Dark hot chocolate. I think I'll be making visits there often. (Funny fact. I don't have a picture yet, but another “famous” pub here in Greystones is The Hungry Monk but on one of the signs the letters fell off and now read “The Hung Monk” which is a humorous interpretation.) One of the things I've noticed is that the doors are open to EVERYTHING. I've hardly had to open a door in the time we've been here. I love it! But it feels so strange not to have to reach out a hand and open a door to walk into a restaurant or store. (I'm going to come back and will be running into clear doors...)

This is a The Cove, which I'll likely be visiting often. I'm going to love being able to walk along the beach every day. I'm not a fan of hanging out at beaches that are warm and sunny (and packed with people) but I really enjoy a good wild, beach with a storm on the horizon.

It is fun to see all the different types of birds that live here.

This is Little Sugarloaf as seen from the courtyard of Coolnagreina. We will be hiking up it during our stay here.

On Saturday we explored Dublin and did a Photo Scavenger Hunt. This is our group at one of the sights. (O'Connell's memorial)

Dublin is filled with marvelous old, beautiful buildings, but it was a large city full of people and lots of traffic. So it really wasn't up my alley, but it was great getting to explore. My favorite part was spending time walking around Trinity College. Despite a large number of tourists there viewing the Book of Kells, it seemed a world of its own and it was easy to imagine myself there several hundred years ago. It was full of old grey stunning building and greens courtyards with the most beautiful ancient trees. It was completely walled off and seemed a separate world from Dublin city.

With a pigeon on O'Connell's head!

Lost travellers in Dublin... This happened a lot. Fortunately, the locals were super nice and pointed us in the right direction

The streets of Dublin. (Actually, most of them didn't look like this. The main roads were much like ours.)

I've seen a rainbow both days. Yesterday's was in the northwest and very wide and foggy. Not crisp like the ones we see at home. The one I saw in the east from my bedroom's window was a double rainbow, thinner and more crisp like the ones at home. It was also repeating slightly on the brighter one like the one I saw earlier this year!

I can't believe this is the view from my bed!!! See the Irish Sea in the left!!!