Dublin, the aftermath

DUBLIN.  IS.  AMAZING.  Seriously though, I had such an awesome time there and meeting up with Chrissy was incredible - I've missed my family so much!  This has definitely not been the last time that I visit the amazingness that is the Dubs.  Enjoy!

Christina arrived earlier than I did, and was sitting in the common room of the hostel when I got to there.  She was skyping with mom, and mom captured this shot right after we were reunited!

Chrissy had blown up 24 green balloons in celebration of my birthday!  So sweet!

Our rooms were on the top floor, and we had skylights that were about 15 feet up.  We were given this crazy looking 300-esque stick to close the windows at night...it was tricky.

Chrissy trying (and failing) to make things happen.

We missed you, T!

Christ Cathedral, Dublin

Dame St.

Dublin Garden

Genius!  A straightener in the bathroom in the pub!  Well, I thought it was genius, until Jill pointed out that it was a communal straightener...at a pub....oh well.

Celebrating my 24th!

And what better way than with a round of Jaigger blasters.

With two friends we made that night, Kamil and Remi.

Guinness Brewery!

On the top floor there was a bar, Gravity, that gave you a panoramic 360 view of Dublin.  However, Tina wasn't too fond of the ride up. 

Buuut we made it...

Unfortunately we couldn't even finish our complimentary pints...but they were delicious!

The view from the Ha' Penny Bridge

More of the Dubs

Last night in Dublin...Chrissy had left that day, and I met a few cool guys in my hostel.  We joined a pub crawl to celebrate our last night in the Dubs....so much fun!!

Dave and Ed (from the pub crawl) were on my flight the next morning.  Well, I guess you can tell we had a lot of fun the night before, haha.

Chrissy - we forgot to take a picture of Rick's Burgers! 

the luck of the irish

Allrighty, I'm off to explore Dublin, Ireland with the one and only Christina!  I've been waiting for this trip foreverrr and now it's finally here....5 whole days of pubs, castles, gingers, shenanigans, and who knows what!  Pictures and details upon my return!

(We'll be missing you, T!  We'll have a pint in your honor...or two.) 

 

the boys' birthday!

Today Andreas and Daniel had their birthday party!  Andreas turned 2 a couple weeks ago, and Daniel just turned 1 the other day.  They're so precious!  I can't believe how big they've gotten since I've been here!

Right after this shot he grabbed a handful of ice cream, naturally.

Andreas sporting a new 'do!  I tried to convince Anne to let him get a mini mohawk, but she wasn't having it.

Such good food...all of the desserts they have here are made from scratch...DELISH!

Sweeeeeden

So sorry I've been MIA for almost a month...No worries though, I come bearing gifts!  I just got back from a long weekend in Gothenberg, Sweden, visiting my good friend from Semester at Sea, Mario.  He was in town for a couple of weeks visiting his cousin.  It was only a train ride away from here in Akre, so I popped over for a visit.  (Almost missed my train and about had a heart attack, but that is a story for another time.)  Had a GREAT time!

Reunited and it feels so good! (Yea, we're 23.)

Downtown Gothenberg

I was hoping for better weather than we've been having here in Norwizzle...meh, not so much.

Mario's cousin Chris made us a bomb dinner!  

Ready to see what Sweden has to offer.

Marstrand, a summer town off the coast of Sweden.

So quaint

A little chilly

Mario, pointing to Trygg-Hansa:  "I think this is the name of the village that we're in right now."

Chris:  "Uh...that means life vest in Swedish."

We wandered around a fort in Marstrand...

I love how they built on top of the existing topography, instead of demolishing it.

Swedish meatballs!

We made our way to the border of Norway and Sweden.  

So I went on a trip to Sweden, but then making my way back to Norway.  Go fig.

Ventured into "Old Fredrikstad"

Discovered these delicious chocolate desserts we named "Poufies."  It was a tasty sweet whipped like cream in the middle, covered with a chocolate shell and sprinkled w/coconut.  MMMMMM.

Packing our lives away.