Polish host, French movie, Swiss dinner guests and Northern Irish partiers! Yes, I am still in Ireland.

So my last day in Dublin was great. I went to the bus station and found that I could catch a bus to Kilkenny in 8 minutes or in two hours and 8 minutes. I was very hungry so I opted for the later bus. I followed part of the walking tour in Rick Steves' travel book and part way though, went into a church that he just mentions, St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral. It isn't technically a cathedral because the pope hasn't said it is yet- but St. Patrick's and Christ Church in Dublin both are- but St. Mary's is the largest church in Dublin. I went in and there were people in the pews and I sat down and a choir rehersal with the organ began in the balcony. I couldn't see the choir, but I could hear the director and it was definately a rehersal. It was a good way to spend time before the bus. I stayed maybe a half hour.

The bus to Kilkenny was good, but long. Maybe two and a half hours. When I got to Kilkenny, Nina, my host came to meet me. She is Polish- I haven't had an Irish host yet! She took me to her house and I met her son, Bart, and had homemade soup (yum!) and then worked on my computer. She and I then went to a pub for International Movie Night with her friends. They projected a movie onto a screen and played it for everyone in the pub. This week it was The Science Of Sleep, a French movie with the guy from Motorcycle Diaries. It was very good. We had a beer there (her favorite German beer) and then stopped for chips (French fries) at what she said was the best chip shop in town. They were too salty for both of us, so neither of us finished. But they were good.

Today I had my first excitement with bus transfers. Not all stops are at a station and even if they aren't at a station, they are still transfer points. I had two of them and tried to talk to people at the stops to be sure I was on the right bus. Most everyone here is very helpful and will tell you more than you'd ever want to know about something you didn't ask about at all.

I found my way to Clonmel for my first transfer, about 20 minute wait, then on to Cahil, where it was an hour wait so I went to the castle, just near my stop. It was free as I bought the Heritage Card which gets me into many sites for free. They told me to have fun exploring the castle and it really was exploring- like a big kid jungle gym. There were stair (steep and without rails) and you could walk along the top of the castle and up the towers, passing the jail cells, and up to the lookout towers. It was very good. And free is never a bad thing.

Arriving in Cashel, I found my way to the hostel (my first hostel of the trip!) and met a few American girls traveling after graduating and a few Swiss people who I had dinner with (pizza, soup, salad, cheese and 7-up finish off with Ferer Rocher... a feast). They have just gone to bed and there are a half dozen Northern Irish guys in the kitchen of the hostel listening to traditional Irish music and I saw a bottle of whiskey... or is it whisky... either Scottish or Irish add the "e" in whisky... can't remember. They sound like they're having fun. They offered me a drink, so I may take them up on it before going to bed.

Polish Mass, Polish Sweets, Point Break and Octopus Sushi! Yes, I am in Dublin!

Busy few days without a chance to Blog. A lot to catch up on.

Friday I met with Elana and her sister Daniella for a bus tour of Hill of Tara and Newgrange. It was very cool. Very old obviously and full of prehistoric history. Met one of the drivers, Peter, while I was eating my lunch. He gave me suggestions on what to do and what to avoid. Also met some Americans there that were nice. I wound up going on a Literary Pub Crawl with them and then out for more drinks. They were so nice they even paid for a taxi for me to get back to Ibrahims house.

The next day I met with them to see Book of Kells, a really old book with beautiful artwork and lettering. The Long Hall, the library, was very Harry Potter-ish and I think I liked it more than the Book of Kells itself.

That morning, I met up with my new host, Jean-Christophe, who is Italian (I do not think there are any Irish people in Ireland). I am using his laptop now and it has a French keyboard so I have not found the apostrophe key yet so I sound very formal. I am not. Also, letters are in different places, mainly a m w z q and the . and numbers you use shift key. Sorry if things are misspelt.

Saturday we went for pizza- if an Italian tells me it is the best pizza in Ireland, I believe him. We went with his girlfriend and her surfer then to Phoenix Park for a CS BBQ. We got lost in the park for over an hour but once we gave up we found it. Of course. I stayed and the other three left to see a movie. After the BBQ I got a ride with someone but we were seven people to a five person car so two people rode in the trunk! It was funny. After going to someones house for a bit we met with other CSers for the weekly CS drinks at Elegance Bar. It was fun to meet people.

Sunday we went Joanna's Church for Polish Mass. It was interesting and had lots of incense and was in a very old church. We then wandered around town together to parks and shops and for coffee. It was really laid back and nice. On the way back to Jean-Christophe's house Joanna took us to a Polish shop where we got sweets and pretzels. We ate them with wine and sun dried tomatoes while watching Point Break.

Today is a Bank Holiday so much was closed. I slept in, did laundry, went to Tesco and bought cheap food for the day then met up with Jean-Christophe and Joanna and went for sushi. I had octopus! I decided to try something new.

Tomorrow I am in Dublin then the next day I take the bus to Kilkenny for a day. I will be sad to leave Dublin, but good to keep moving.

Clam Chowder- shell and all! And don´t forget the butter!

Today was laid back for the most part. I woke up late and had to transform my daybag into an overnight bag. I am staying with Christof from CS. He lives just out of Dublin and on the way to Howth, which is where I went today.

This morning, I wandered town to explore. I was really disoriented yesterday, so it was good to see town. I found a Mark & Spencers, which is a big department store with clothes but also with a grocery in the basement. I found a sandwich, crisps (potatoe chips) and drink (cola, sparkling or still water) for €3.95 which is about $5.30 and a good price for Dublin. I also got an Orange Juice with ´juicy bits´, or pulp. That cost more, but juice sounded good.

Later in my strolls, I found a small street (really alley) market and bought an apple called a Delisdor. It looks like an asian pear and kind of tastes like one, but is certainly an apple. The guy gave me a sample and it turned out he was from New Jersey. Go figure. We chatted for a while and then I went on my way.

I took my sandwich to eat in front of the Book of Kells in Trinity College and got a phone call from Elana, from CS, asking if she and Daniella could join me for Howth. We met and headed out there. Note there are no toilets in the DART train station nor on the DART itself. We learned that the hard way. For €4.20 we got roundtrip tickets to Howth and once on, we sat next to a gentleman, Sean, who told us all about Howth and Dublin. He showed me just where my next host´s home was and gave plenty of suggestions. In Howth, we walked along the harbour. There were seals, islands, a lighthouse and plenty of fishing boats. We found a place with €3 clam chowder takeaway that we planned on returning to on our way out of town to eat on the DART. It smelled really good but they didn´t give us spoons. Elana and Daniella asked for one but they didn´t have any. She said usually the locals just drink it from the bowl and then pick out the shells with their fingers! Turns out the clam chowder is made with a buttery broth and the clams (small) are put in with the shells so you drink the buttery broth and then pick out the shells with meat in them still (most fall out) and eat them kind of like oysters. A good deal of meat sinks to the bottom so that´s a treat, too. Yummy, buttery, fresh clams. Neither Elana nor Daniella finished theres, so I boldly offered the three French guys from Brittany who were in the booth across from ours if they wanted it. The guy who took it (sorry if you are reading this, I´ve forgotten you´re name!) was the one who asked us if the train we were on went to Dublin, the bolder of the three. They seemed like nice guys. It always pays to be bold- you may get free soup out of it!

I got off at the DART station maybe 15 or 20 minute walk to Christof´s house. We had salad with lettuce, tomatoe, cucumber, blue cheese and a yummy yougurt and balsamic dressing. It was a good finish to the clam chowder. Christof is now off in town with some friends and I will be going to bed soon, possibly to not see him tonight nor tomorrow, but that is ok with him. Tomorrow he leaves for New York City and Niagara Falls.

Tomorrow I will go with Elana and Daniella (and a bus load of tourists) to Bru Na Boinne, or Newgrange, and Hill of Tara. Newgrange is a neolithic burial tomb and Hill of Tara has old land carving in it (ditches, mounds, other land formations). The tour is 6 hours, so it should be a lot of information.

tTomorrow night I will return to Ibrahim´s house and back to my computer and I won´t have to retype so much- I´m on Christof´s computer now and he is German so his Z and Y are switched, he has extra keys for Ä, Ö, µ, € and other buttons which throws off my typing. Of course, it doesn´t help that I´m about to fall asleep.

Here I am!

Greetings from Dublin! I arrived early this morning after more than 24 hours travel. Everything went well- I was allowed to carry on both my bags and I was able to sleep about three hours on each flight and two hours in the Boston airpot in my 11 hour layover.

I met a nice gal, Alice, who is from New York and traveling to Ireland for a week and renting a car with her son. I spoke with her on and off for a few hours while we were waiting for Aer Lingus check in to open. Before our flight left, she let me use her phone to call Mom and Dad and let them know I was alive and well. On the flight from Boston to Dublin, I sat next to a gentleman from Germany, Frank, who travels a lot to the US and elsewhere, and he had great advise for me.

At Dublin, I took the bus from the airport to city center but the bus driver pointed me in the wrong direction for Aungier Street, which I soon figured out and turned around. It was a bit early to go to my Couchsurfing host's house (around 6.30a by this time) so I went to the hostel just by his house and had a latte macchiato (with a beautiful heart of foam! yes, I took a photo. I'm a dork). Jetlag, hunger and exhaustion hit me hard while I was there, so I was grateful when Ibrahim let me nap while he was at work until he came back for lunch (he works a 5 minute walk away). When he went back for lunch, I went to wander the town and wound up at Dublin Castle. I bought the Heritage Card which gets you free entry to many sites in Ireland. It's good for a year and usually 21 EUR but they took my student ID (with out a year on it! The best thing I got from Luther besides an education) so I paid only 8 EUR. I came back to meet Ibrahim before he went to class and took another nap and then watched the football (soccer) match with him and his roommate. Now we're about to eat and watch the Obama 100 Day speech.

All's well. Plenty of sleep and rest and then tomorrow I plan to hike in Howth. Hopefully it won't be too rainy (it rained most of the day today). Friday I'm going to Bru Na Boinne (Newgrange) with a gal from Virginia and her sister who I met on Couchsurfing.