"When you get an idea in your head, you find it in everything." - Victor Hugo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

As previously mentioned I had been reading books by authors of the countries I have visited. Upon arriving in Paris I bought The Hunchback of Notre Dame for a very reasonable price. I read about half way before I lost it on the plane from Paris to Milan. I am very sad since I had gotten so many quotes that I liked. But moving on....

 I just finished my crepe and am still working on my iced coffee but I am currently sitting at a cafe in the Quartier Latin section of Paris listening to some accordionists play for the tourists in the street. Other than the language, I feel a bit French. The musicians just started playing in the street and I love it. I loved it so much I had to pull out my iPad to tell you all how much I loved it. 

Today I woke up, made myself a hotdog and brie baguette sandwich and was off to see Notre Dame. On the train, on the way there, I read the chapter of the book that breaks down the origins of Notre Dame and what the city looked like all those years ago. I think if I wasn't about to actually experience what Victor Hugo was talking about, I wouldn't have been as interested. I remember studying Notre Dame in high school. In 10th grade to be exact in my World Cultures class but I don't remember why it was so important. I remember learning about the rose stained glass window but don't remember why I had to learn it. Something to look up later. Anyway, to go inside Notre Dame is free. However to climb up of course it is not. Despite how much I wanted to based on the fact that I just finished reading the chapter entitled "A Bird's Eye-View of Paris" I am on a strict budget while I am still in Europe. I walked in towards the end of a mass and took a seat towards the back. As I listened in French (not understanding at all) I took a look around and liked it but didn't love it. Maybe if they had gargoyles inside as well as outside I would have loved it. But let's talk about those Gargoyles. They are super cute. I really like the one that looks pensively out at the skyline deep in thought. I have a postcard I sent home to remember it. Anyway, gargoyles=cute. 

After I went to Notre Dame I read the chapter in The Hunchback of Notre Dame about how the cathedral was filled with life while Quasimodo roamed the halls and rung the bells and (SPOILER!) when Quaismodo left, it was empty and the building itself was lonely. What's funny is that I thought that before I read it. The walls look empty, dark, lonely and maybe because of other cathedrals, the built in enclaves that line the walls are filled with rich stain glass windows or scultupres of scenes from the bible. I don't know waht the reason, but Notre Dame seems more sinister than other cathedrals I have visited.
 Then I went to the Quartier Latin section of Paris. The brochure from the tourist office sold it as an area for bookstores, shops and restaurants. Bookstores? I'm on my way. Uh....I haven't seen any bookstores. But what I did find, was food from around the world. Mexican food? Yeah, it's here. They completely sold it wrong. It should be shops, restaurants from all over the world and tourist items for sale. The area was developed by the university students and personnel who live near by. And it has that feel. I mean I love it and can probably stay here all day. But the area is small and probably won't be here more than a couple of hours. However, I decided to take a break and break my strict budget to enjoy  a crepe. I mean I'm in freakin' Paris. To not have a crepe here would have been stupid right? RIGHT! (and yes I did find a bookstore. I actually found the bookstore that caters to university students so it was fun to see their history books and how they viewed Americans through them. 

I also got caught out in the rain in a white tank top and purple bra so to not look like a slut, I sat on the steps of a church with this little old lady taking random pictures of the area in the different settings of my camera. I got some cool shots of the area and myself that way. 

Yesterday, I started my day by going to the train station at Chatelet Les Halles that I knew well as it was my primary station. I knew it was attached to a mall where there was a food court I needed to pass through to exit. I decided to go to this place that reminded me of Chipotle. It was decent but still not Mexican enough for me. But I did have rice which was nice overall. Anyway, I picked myself up a burrito and the plan was to go and eat it next to the river after I had walked to the Arc de Triumph. But from the station that I was at to the Arc it was SUPER far. However, I did walk down "one of the most beautiful streets in the world" per what the travel brochure said and reached the Arc at the end of it. I at my little burrito with the Arc de Triumph as my background. As I was enjoying my bit of food and relaxation this creepy young guy comes and sits down next to me. However, he ignores me and tries talking to the girls sitting on the bench behind me. His creepiness exuded from his pores and all of a sudden I felt like I was in Taken. I listened and watched the whole encounter just in case he was planning on kidnapping these girls. He soon left as they were ignoring him and the three of us watched him walk off and disappear in hopes that he went home and never showed himself to the world again. I promptly left after that. 

Anyway, I started to walk down towards the Eiffel Tower and found myself at a fountain that sat in front of the Eiffel Tower. There were lots of people swimming in this fountain. I found a spot in the sun and filled out my postcards. I didn't go up the Eiffel Tower either. Mostly because my feet were killing me and I knew I would have to walk some more. I then picked a direction and walked and found myself a "la fromagerie". For those of you that don't know what that means, it was a cheese shop! Mmmm the land of brie. I bought some brie and a baguette and was ready to start living the French life. In Ireland my silly friend Kevin asked me "are you still obsessed with cheese?" Yes Kevin, I am and will always be obsessed with cheese. I went back to the Eiffel Tower at night because it lights up once an hour on the hour and watched it sparkle as I ate my brie and baguette. Oh the life! 

I also went to the Louvre. I spent all day there. ALL DAY. I even ate inside the museum to be sure not to waste time and see everything. The Louvre gives  you a pamphlet too with a map and the top 6 things to see in each section. I used that as my primary guide but saw most of the museum. Most of the museum you say? Yes, most of it but obviously not in great detail. My favorite parts were the sculptures, the French and Italian ones to be exact. I could have stayed there all day, just in the sculpture area. I got a picture with the Mona Lisa too and that was super crowded. However, I might be crazy but it wasn't my favorite thing. I think its another famous thing that I just don't get. Maybe because I think sculptures in general are just more beautiful and difficult so I appreciate them more but the Mona Lisa cool to see but....eh. 

I also went to Moulin Rouge. I did not get tickets to see a show despite wanting to because it was soooooo expensive but the area was fun if you like sex shops and random sexual art. There is also an exotic museum on the street (no I didn't go in) if you are so inclined. But if you want sex toys or films of any kind, they are there for you to choose from any number of stores. They are also gay and lesbian friendly which made me a little happy to know that they do not discriminate. 

There was so much graffiti in Paris by the way. I think more than any other city. I didn't see any in Ireland and if there was, it was not good enough for me to take a picture. I would complain to Kevin about it and he apologized for his country's delinquents and that they weren't delinquent enough. London there was none but I think that is because they cleaned it up for the Olympics. I also heard that they had graffiti parks too but didn't see any to confirm that all the graffiti might be in a park. 

Paris also has a basilica which isn't super impressive in the inside but I loved the outside and the surrounding area. The area is very artsy with people painting pictures of Paris or portraits for you to buy with restaurants and cute little shops. It was really cool to watch these artists work or to see their interpretations of the city in their art. I think that was my favorite part of Paris and made me feel like yes, this is the Paris that everyone talks about. That area and the basilica had some amazing views of the city. 

"For good and evil do not exist in themselves, each is simply the absence of the other." Jose Saramago

Jose Saramago is a Portuguese author. I picked up his book "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" in Lagos after walking into the bookstore and asking for a Portuguese author. In Italy I hadn't had time to read, but in Ireland I read James Joyce's the Dubliners, in England I read Sherlock Holmes so I thought that reading from a Portuguese author in Portugal would be a great idea. I wanted a Portuguese author to write about his travels or experiences in Portugal but I am enjoying this book. It won the Nobel Prize of Literature a few years ago so I had always known about it. It's difficult to read because the author does not break down the conversations and keeps them in very long paragraphs but it's still interesting. That is where the quote comes from for my blog post.

Riding into Lisbon on the bus we were in traffic. While in traffic I saw 2 car accidents. I felt like I was home!

Lisbon. Lisboa. I loved it. So in Faro and Lagos I mentioned that the streets weren't regular cement but were smaller smooth stones that created a pattern around the streets. Lisbon is much the same. They are super slippery so if you go, get shoes that have good traction. Anyway, much of the streets are lined with white stones and the black stones create the pattern. White and black are also the colors for Lisbon so it all fit. 

Coming into Lisbon from Lagos I kept thinking "this totally reminds me of San Francisco. Oh this looks like the Golden Gate Bridge". I later found out that the designer of the bridge in Portugal also designed the Golden Gate Bridge. Hmm no wonder it looked familiar. Anyway, Lisbon apparently is one of the oldest cities in Europe if not the oldest because of its location on the Atlantic. It was used as an advantage point and many a ships sailed from the Belem Tower for their Portuguese expeditions. I went by the Belem Tower and it was kind of cool and not what I would have imagined had someone told me "that's where they sailed all their expeditions from." I can't describe it but I liked visiting that area and realizing, they made history here. They literally made history by looking for something new. 

Lisbon's graffiti was pretty cool too. For those of you that don't know, I really like taking pictures of graffiti from the different places I have visited. Either it is significant of the city, beautiful and someone should notice it or completely random. Well in Lisbon it wasn't full on graffiti but they had paintings that covered the whole side of a building that were just beautiful and made the city feel beautiful. Also, I did not know this but Lisbon is known for their tiled buildings and tile as art. I have pictures as samples and brought a couple of pieces home. 

For those of you that don't know, I went to Portugal to try and discover my roots. My last name is Americanized Portuguese. Hundreds of immigrants that came through Ellis Island had their surnames changed or "Americanized" so that Americans had an easier time to pronounce and spell them. Many Americans assimilated and embraced this new identity. My family was amongst those hundreds of thousands that did. We believe that my great, great grandfather was illiterate and didn't know how to spell his last name of Amaral and it was Americanized to Emerald. I did some research in Italy to try and find out where my Italian family was from only to discover my Portuguese side was from Azores, the islands off the coast of Portugal. It was then decided I was going to Portugal. To travel to the islands was EXPENSIVE. No thank you madam, I do not have 700 euros (which would be about 1200 dollars) to travel for 4 days to the islands. Off season for me please. Either way, I would still travel to Lisbon to experience Portugal. 

In Lisbon, at my hostel, I told two guys of my quest to get my family coat of arms or a family crest. One guy who's name I never learned was really interested and wanted me to succeed because he wanted to do the same. He told me that John Emerald was probably João Amaral. But because Amaral was so common I should see if there is a second name like De Amaral or D'Amaral, etc. So with this new information I went back to looking and found that there was a Joao Amaral who sponsored a man and woman to come over from the islands and was born in the same year as my great great grandfather so it could be him. I tried to go to the registrars office in Lisbon to see if I could get a birth  certificate but alas because I did not speak the language no one was able or wanted to help me. So I will soon put my sister's Portuguese to use and have her inquire further once I return to California. Although I did not succeed in my quest for my family crest, my search is not over. 

One of the owners of the hostel kept trying to get me to talk to the other people at the hostel and kept introducing me to everyone. The group that she made me sit with were talking about smoking, tobacco and other drugs. Uh....I have nothing to contribute to that conversation. Anyway, at the hostel I did make a friend, Pedro. His second name is Tiago and I was like "Oh can I call you PT?" And he said "yes....but don't you think it sounds like pity?" "Oh....yeah Pedro it is then." Anyway, he was very cute and very nice and I enjoyed talking to him and getting to know him. He was asking me about things he had seen on TV and if it was true or not. Don't worry, we exchanged information and plan to be Facebook and emailing friends. And I have a friend to visit next time I'm in Portugal. He also made a special Portuguese meal for the people at the hostel if they wanted to contribute. It was really good with bread, clams, prawns, olive oil, salt, cilantro and I think that's it. We made a deal that when I returned to Portugal, he would then cook a special Portuguese dish with crab. He loves cooking so I was ok with that deal. Especially since I have already tried his cooking. And seafood is involved. I wish I could have taken a picture of him smelling the cilantro. I have never seen anyone so in love with the smell of fresh herbs in my life. After the owner saw that when Pedro wasn't working he would come and talk to me, she was like, ok I get it. So the moral of the story was you don't need to have a lot of friends, just one is enough if its the right person. I appreciated the time he took out to talk to me and keep me company and am glad to call him my friend. 

Anyway, he also was telling me that he came from Coimbra which is where there are 3 universities. I did not get to go, but as I was driving through at 2 in the morning, I wished I had. It looked so beautiful and just so like the college town that I would want to work and live in. I wish I can go back when they are in session and experience the Coimbra culture. 

Anyway, my trip to Portugal ended with me traveling up north to Porto and flying out of Porto to Paris. Oh Portugal you have a special place in my heart! 

Ancestors, ancient stones and Daleks oh my!

So before I left for England I did some research on my family history and found out that one of my great grandmothers down the line was from Southampton so on one of my days in England I made a trip out there. I spent most of the day just walking around and enjoying the sights. Southampton is known for two things, the Titanic and having the longest perserved walls from the Medieval period. Traveling around Southampton I walked part of the wall that is still in place. There was much of the wall still up that surrounded the whole city. Although a lot of the cities Italy that I was in were walled, much of the houses inside the walled city had been replaced with more modern ones. Southampton had a good amount of the houses still intact so you got the feel of what it was like all those years ago. It was kind of cool to walk in the footprints that my great, great, grandmother walked.  

I also made the mistake of going into a bookstore in Southampton. Me and bookstores get along well, almost too well. But as I was walking through this particular bookstore, Waterstone it felt familiar. As I looked around, it dawned on me, it's almost like a Barnes and Noble! Oh I'm home! And I unfortunately looked around. I found my Harry Potter book, a special edition that was only released in the UK and the lady after listening to my story of collecting Harry Potter books from different countries gave it to me half off because it was there last one and had been there for years. Thank you random Waterstone lady. I also found books that I would never, EVER have found in the US. Like for example, Kiah are you ready? For example a "Where's Waldo" spoof of "Find the Meerkat". AWESOME! And so many other random Meerkat books. Who would have known!? Not me that is for sure. I could have stayed there all day. 

Another day I traveled to Stonehenge. Stonehenge is such a weird idea when I really stopped to think about it. Yes it is a mystery as to why the rocks were brought to that location and why and I'm sure that is what attracts millions. But really they are just giant stones. I mean in the grand scheme of things, they weren't really carved, cut or rounded to build mosques, pyramids, or bascillica's; they are just stones. And they are just out in the open so if you just want to see them and not pay you can drive up and stand outside the fence. But if you want to be next to them, you have to pay. Since I don't have a car, I paid and took a tour out there. It also provided me with a tour of Salisbury, one of the cities next to Stonehenge. I went to the Cathedral of Salisbury which I really liked. I liked looking at the old sarcophogi and who got chosen to be buried there and with such elaborate detail and the side plaques of the history of who those people are. My favorite inscription was "John Blyth Bishop 1494-1499. Sometime Chancellor of Cambridge University." You kow, he was the chancellor only sometimes. They also had choir practice for the service so it was nice to listen to that and relax before I had to catch my train. 

I also went to King's Cross. (I will explain the significance of this in a second if you don't already know.)  I only went to transfer to another train at first and then...you know what? I'm here I might as well go look at the tracks. I went looking for Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter where the students from Hogwarts catch the train. They lovingly have put a sign that says "Platform 9 3/4" and half of a trolley sticking out of the wall so you can take a picture with it. I of course did. But it is not near that actual platform, it is off to the side for tourists such as myself to take a photo. Smart. I didn't even bother looking for the real platforms, no point after I got my photo right? 

After London, I made a special trek to Cardiff. I met up with a girl I had met in Florence at the bus station in London and then we were off. Cardiff for you none nerds is the home of Dr. Who. It is where Dr. Who is based and filmed. So being so close I had to go since they just recently opened up the "Dr. Who Experience." It totally made you feel like you were in an episode with the animatronics and timing and the sets. I really liked it. I don't think it should have been 15 euros though but I had a lot of fun. What was also cool was that walking to the building, as you were following the signs, they had signs of Daleks, the mortal enemy of Dr. Who, pointing you in the right direction. Don't worry, I have a picture. 

The next day we went to Bath. Bath is beautiful. It truly is. It is also the basis of a lot of Jane Austen books which I have never read. I can't get into her books, I get lost in the language and the drawn out points she takes forever to make. The architecture of Bath is beautiful. And it is so unique. Bath is where the expression a man's home is his castle. So the exterior of the buildings in Bath have a castle like feel and each apartment within the larger building is completely different. The architects at the time just had to have the facade one way but had full range to do anything else they wanted so when you look at the back of the building, it is just a hot mess. Another area has a round park in the middle. Around the park are three large curved buildings that create this cool look and gives you this feel of like being in an intimate surrounding that you shouldn't be. I can't really describe it but it's totally the trip out there.  Bath also has Roman baths. So it's these baths that  Rome put around the natural hot springs and it's totally intricate and detailed. The problem was that whoever invaded after (I forget who) covered them up and they were rediscovered in the 1700s and now is a tourist attraction. I didn't love the Roman Baths. I appreciated the walking tour put on by the city much much more. On the walking tour I found out that much of Bath was bombed in the Second World War because Britain had bombed Berlin. As revenge, Hitler researched all the historical cities of England and bombed them making Bath a prime target. Isn't that just messed up? I really liked Bath much to my surprise. Thanks to my sister for making me go! 

Sometimes I spend longer trying to think of the post title than the actual post!

I went to the British museum. Based on my friend Hayley's recommendation but I have to admit William from the bar is the person that actually sold it to me. He put it this way, "You know why the British museum is the best museum? Because they stole all the good shit from everyone else in the world and put it all in one place." I have to admit it, but its true. I mean at that point I was tired of museums but when you put it that way, I'd have been an idiot to not go. It was pretty gnarly. And the British museum anticipated people like me that would be all musuemed out and put together a top 10 list of things you have to see if you are short on time. I wasn't that short on time but the blister in my foot did not want to go to the museum at all. 

I did go up to the specialty floor for the drawings and etchings and saw their Picasso exhibit. Looking at the etchings, it made me think of a friend that I haven't spoken to in 10 years. The only outing this friend and I went out on in the few years we knew each other was to see a movie about Picasso and his drawings. So Picasso always makes me think of this person. The not talking to him for 10 years did not make me sad, but the reason that we no longer talk is what made me sad. I kind of know what he is up to because my LinkedIn asked me if I knew him so I kind of saw how he was doing. Despite us having mutual friends, our friends don't talk about us to the other person. And I always come to the same conclusion that is stupid that we don't talk anymore but I have made my peace with it. But thinking about this person, did not help my homesickness blues that started to creep up in London.  

But also let's talk about Picasso. I think he was a little into bestiality. He would draw himself as a Centaur engaged in passionate embraces and more with his mistress or model in the pictures. And I mean the rest of the etching wasn't symbolic so it leads me to believe that him being a centaur wasn't a symbolic gesture and leads me to believe he was into bestiality. I could be wrong but that's just me. 

Oh yeah, and the British museum has the Rosetta Stone. Kind of a big deal. But it didn't move me as I thought it would. I mean it's awesome that it unlocked so much history but....it just didn't move me. But I would still advise people to see it. 

My favorite exhibit in the British museum was the Gallery of Clocks and Watches. There was a clock that was created as a ship and it would sit on the table of kings and the mast would launch when it hit a certain time and people on the ship would walk to announce that it was dinner time. It was sooooo cool. The British museum also had a gold medal on display so you could see what people were wearing around their necks. Another cool part of the museum was the African part. I noticed that much of the items in the museum were only a century or two old which made me sad since Africa has had the oldest civilizations in the world since that is were human beings originated from. However, in the middle of the display is a tree, The Tree of Life that was made from recycled guns that were collected from a drive in Mozambique. They would trade their guns from their war for farm equipment. The tree that they created is very breathtaking, at least for me. I was very moved at the art that they made from the collected guns. It is reported that 7 million guns are still hidden within the landscape of Mozambique. I would recommend seeing that Tree of Life in person. 

There are 2 things I wanted to do in London that I did not get to. I didn't get to go to St. Paul's Cathedral but at this point if you've seen one you've seen them all right? Probably not but I'll see next time. The other thing I didn't get to go do was go to Portobello Road. Now, many of you won't know what this is so let me explain. Portobello Road is just a road that has shops and a market. Nothing spectacular really. But the reason I wanted to go was based on the movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"which isn't a great movie, nor is it new or fancy but it's very special to me. When I was little, it was the first VHS (I'm showing my age here) that I owned. I actually remember the day that my dad brought it home for me as a present and I watched it a 100 times. My friend Jessica who grew up with me, HATED that movie. I for whatever reason liked it. But anyway, in the movie they go to Portobello Road and buy a knob. I wanted a knob from Portobello Road kind of as a keepsake and souvenir but didn't get a chance to go. Next time it is on my to do list! 

"What's meant to be will always find a way."- Trisha Yearwood

So this is part of a William update. He did not email me despite my hoping but I knew it was a long shot. That night and the night after it was a nice to feel pretty and popular. In LA, it is very rare for someone like me, who I consider myself to be perfectly average to stand out. Sometimes I think I'm so averagely average that it's boring. I've always felt like that. I even mentioned it once to a friend in high school and he turned to me and said "Do you know how many people would probably love to feel average?" And then it took some years and I realized that I have moments of averageness but in the grand scheme of things I am not average and it's a roller coaster of being on my A-game and sometimes not. But this is my long winded intro to the following post: 

Sometimes I feel that when I'm feeling really down about not meeting any guys I get these signs like my nights in London that kind of tell me to hold on, the person I'm supposed to be with is coming soon, don't give up yet and he'll be there. But when?! My friend Janet and some other people have accused me of being either too picky or not picky enough. But you know what? I'm picky because I know what I want. And when I met William and talked to him I recognized that this is what I want. He was smart, really smart, worldly, gentlemanly, interesting, interested and I found him to be really sexy mostly because he was so smart and smarter than most people I know. OH and he loved banter. He made it a point to point it out. And I love banter and we could have had adorable banter together if the music hadn't been so loud. And was he the person I am supposed to end up with? Probably not because I wouldn't be writing this post if that was the case. However, I recognized what I wanted when I saw him. The problem is I don't meet many men that fit into what I like. 

How hard is it to find someone that fits what you are looking for? Apparently the hardest thing in the world. But I'm ready. I am ready to meet someone. This trip has been years in the making. I have done the partying, the going out, the socializing I should have been doing when I was in my early 20s but do to an emotional stunted growth period, I waited until now. True, I am a little behind when it comes to some life experiences but I've had more than enough to make up for the ones that I am only now having. Am I doing it all a little backwards? Probably. But I think I can recognize it more now and reflect on it as an older person. But now that I have those life experiences that other people have, going abroad, being abroad and experiencing life abroad I am now ready to meet someone and have different types of experiences. 

Friends reading this, if you have an idea that I am asking to be set up with any random guy. I AM NOT! I know that when this idea pops into your head you find some random guy but that only shows me that either A) you hate me because they turn out to be losers or B) you don't know me at all and both cause me to be sad and upset at you. I would only set you up because I have put some serious thought into it and think you and this other person would hit it off. Please show me the same courtesy. Put some thought into it. 

I have come to the realization that currently, that I surround myself with men who offer me a little bit of what I want from the person I am supposed to be with so together, parts of all the men in my life morph into my perfect guy but only one comes close. And even then he's missing some things. Up until this point though, I have been comfortable to settle with my male friends making up for what I am missing. But no more. I am ready to go out into the world and let my guard down....I just need to meet the right guy to let my guard down. 

Everyone tells me he's out there....but I think he missed his train, plane, boat and car. 

"I walked down London Bridge last night, I saw you by the lampost light, Then bells rang out in sleepy Londontown"-Jo Statford

Do you know how many songs there are written about London? Tons apparently. As I start to write this I currently have "London Calling" by the Clash as the title of this post but as I look at the many, MANY options I have I'm sure it will have changed by the time this actually reaches you. Which it has. I picked a song lyric about London Bridge since that is where I stayed. 

So this is my London post. I was in London for a week. I originally was going to stay for 5 days but after meeting a girl in Florence, we decided to go to Cardiff together which caused me to extend my trip in London but I am very happy that I did. London has so much to do and see as well as the fact that I used the extra days for some day trips for my own personal want. 

 What I liked about walking around London was the statues that they had. Not only did they have statues of general English people I have never heard of, royalty or something strange but they had statues of important people from all over the world. The influential people, JFK, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, etc. I thought that was really cool. They also had statues commemorating the women of the wars, the animals in wars that lost their lives and I thought that was kind of cool to remember everyone. 

I forgot to mention that when I saw the Changing of the Guard, advice for the future. My friend advised me to get their early but without a real time frame. I got there about an hour and 15 minutes early and there was already a crowd gathering. If I could go again, I would stand up on the Queen Victoria statue as high as I could to see the parade of soldiers walking into the Palace and see the whole process on a grander scale than from where I was. 

Although I walked by Westminster Abbey when I first arrived I didn't go inside. When I went back to go inside I was so surprised at how expensive it was and saw that there were evening services and I heard this tour guide recommend coming back to it. So one day, at 5, I went in to the service at Westminster Abbey. It was pretty cool. Almost the entire thing is sung by a choir. I did not get to see the Westminster Abbey choir despite my best efforts of trying to go back and see them but I saw a choir from Ohio. And since England withdrew from Catholicism I imagined a little bit of a different service. Yes it was primarily sung by the pastor and the choir, but the order of events and the prayers were very Catholic. Luckily I had been to enough services in my life to kind of understand the rhythm of events. But to be quite honest, I would say seeing that service at Westminster Abbey was one of my favorite things I did in London and maybe the entirety of my trip. 

Because I am a nerd, I went to the Science Museum too. They had an exhibit on the growth and importance of the steam engine which wasn't all my style but still interesting. They had this awesome space exhibit though which I totally loved. And it was cool to see it in another country because they were talking about the space race, and the battle between the US and USSR and how the English gave money to the US to help finance the moon landing and etc. Less egocentric and more global. I loved it. They also had exhibits on the growth of the planet's population and pollution and the next steps toward green energy. One of the floors was dedicated to the overall growth of technology with Google at the center of it all and how when you see an image online that you think its in one part of the world but the actual fragment of that image is somewhere else and how it gets routed to you. And with the underlying message that Google is going to take over the world. That's what I got out of that one cause it was all Google operated and sponsored. The top floor had an exhibit on genetics, and  irrational phobias and the five senses. It was mostly geared to children but I am a kid at heart and totally found it really interesting on how they broke it all down. 

I also went to the Tower of London. I think it was my sister's favorite place, not really mine. I mean the history of it all is fascinating and the layout is pretty cool but kind of depressing. And I imagined ONE tower, because it is the "Tower" of London right? It implies one but its not. There are many. I would say the coolest thing about the tower is the tour guide that shows you around. He was very funny and witty, very British humor which I always like. But the other cool thing I thought was the inscriptions on the tower walls from the people leaving their marks. Some of the inscriptions had very detailed and ornate carvings definitely showing people had been there a long time. But also at the Tower of London you can see the royal jewels. I'm not the biggest fan of jewelry but DAMN now we are talking. The detail on the crowns was beautiful as it was all laid out and how they have been recycled and passed down. I think the saddest thing is that the original jewels were destroyed when England decided to not have a monarchy for a period of years but then they went back to their monarchical ways and recreated the crowns. 

London post to be continued! 

Lies have short legs. - Portuguese Proverb

As I write this I am at one of the beaches in Lagos Portugal. I wasn't going to come here but am only here on the recommendation to come because "they have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world." SOLD! However, I looked up the most beautiful and best beaches in the world and it is not on there. But whatever! I am so glad I came. I can feel myself recharging under the hot sun and the feel of the cold water on my skin. The actual sand on the beach is more rock than sand so a little difficult to walk on but still beautiful. The water though being on the Atlantic is FREEZING. However, I gotta give it up to this little old lady, maybe about 80 who just walked right in and danced like no one was watching. It didn't make me want to go in the water still but I appreciated her love of being there.

I flew into Faro which is about 45 minutes outside of Lagos. Faro had the feel of just a town that people stop into because they have to. Not much was open, I found people to be rude, and nothing was open. I wasn't a fan. This man I met a bookstore today, was telling me that if you aren't spending money then the Portuguese don't really like you and you really see how they feel about tourists. It was a little sad, but I felt it when I was in Faro.

However, Lagos itself is very beachy. Imagine Laguna Beach but with younger people, tourists, and more touristy shops than boutiques and you have Lagos. Lagos apparently is known for their party scene. I went out to experience it. It was fun but it's just a lot of bars in a small area and a perfect location to do a pub crawl. But, and maybe it's the area I'm in but there isn't any spots to dance or just good jolly merriment just lots and lots of drinking. I went to this place called the Three Monkeys, one of the top rated bars in Lagos and is super close to my hostel. I picked it for the location really because the streets in Lagos are super windy and confusing to get around even when you are paying attention. I couldn't imagine trying to find my way back drunk so let's keep it close and easy. Also, the streets are super slippery and my lack of balance is not good for this area.

But moving on, I got there earlish, 10:30 or 11 and sat at the bar with the very friendly bartenders. Those bartenders by the way can drink! They kept making shots for each other and included me in on some of them. Bartenders giving you free shots? Awesome! and I even discovered a new tequila shot that I need to get the ingredients for. YUM!

The Three Monkeys was really fun. One of the bartenders told e to come back again early because she wanted recommendations on stuff to do in America cause she goes there in about a month and she said "and we can have some drinks..." Lady I don't work in a bar, I'm not that big of a drinker. But ok. The bar has a wall of a list of different countries. The list has a number next to the country of how many people from that country have drank a beer bong. So people go and try to represent their country and boost their numbers. Australians are in the lead by about a hundred behind the United States surprisingly. But I think its because you can't drink in the US until you are 21, so Americans go when they are 18 and legal there and just out of their minds crazy! But that's my thoughts on that. Australians are just goers so it was natural to see them in the lead.

And that pretty much ends my Lagos update. I'm going to the beach again tomorrow before I go to Lisbon. I will update on London soon!

BMX Racing Became an Olympic Sport in 2008 in Beijing....now that I have answered that question, read my post!

This is my post about my observations of the Olympics abroad. Enjoy!

First off let me start that I generally have not been the most avid Olympic sport or world competition watcher before coming to Europe. But being abroad has really made me appreciate not only the competition but the hardwork that people have put into it, the training, and the whole other world that surrounds the Olympics that I never knew. I think the reason that I was never a big watcher of the Olympics was because I found it so egocentric watching it in the States. "Oh there goes America again. Is America in all of these sports? And winning all of them? Boring!" But my friends, that is not the case! They don't win everything, (although at this point in time they have 94 medals and it is day 16 out of 17) to be quite honest, they aren't even in ALL the millions of sports that the Olympics has to offer us, we just think they are!

I started watching the Olympics in Italy. I unfortunately did not get to watch the Opening Ceremony since the kids I was with were watching cartoons.The beauty about being in Europe while the Olympics are on is that....I'm almost in the same time zone as when the actual events are on (although being in London now I am obviously in the same time zone). But being in Italy and watching it live and not have to stay up til 3 in the morning to watch it live has totally made me appreciate the proximity of the games to where I was and am in the world.

In Italy I watched the Olympic sport of Fencing for women although it is not called that. But whatever, it was fencing. Italy took home the gold, silver and bronze. It was pretty awesome to see them kick ass like that. I also watched Fencing for men but did not get to watch as much of that since I was babysitting and Simone, he 8 year old I was watching, didn't seem so in to it. Although when Italy was not in the sport like swimming or running, we would watch anything that had Great Britain or the US in it. But it was really neat to see other sports that the US or GB (that is what everyone is calling Great Britain by the way. Team GB!) I was only in Italy the first two days of the Olympics so I did not get to experience much of the international beauty of watching the Olympics in Italy.

After Italy I went to Ireland. Oh Irelaand! I did not get to watch much in Ireland either because we spent a lot of time in the car driving from once place to another but I did see a lot of boxing. We were watching one of the matches that Ireland won in one of the pubs in Dublin. It was favored that Ireland would win in boxing so it was natural that it was on all the time. It was fun to watch it with the Irish as the boxers advanced into the finals. I would also watch portions of soccer and running in Ireland too but it was more background noise in the pubs. Running seemed to be a common theme that ran (pun intended) throughout all of the countries I watched the Olympics in now that I think about it.

Then from Dublin I went to London. YES! I am in the same city as the Olympics. I was actually there as it was happening right before my eyes. I took a bus from the train station to my hostel and before I arrived we drove by the actual center of the Olympics. There were so many people and it just felt so overwhelming to be so close to the excitement and then fans and spectators. It was just amazing. However that was as close as I got to the O2 arena and other events. Later that night I overheard that there were Olympic events that were free and so I looked them up and had decided that I would go to the sailing one later in the week and just do my touristy things the next day especially since part of the events would be going by the touristy attractions.

So the next day I awoke to go to Buckingham Palace. When I arrived I found out that they weren't going to be doing the Changing of the Guard because....oh I don't know the triathlon would be coming by. Oh well! I guess I'll have to stay and get a good spot to watch the Men's Triathlon. So I watched it live. Only the cycling portion though because to watch it start or end, you had to have tickets for that part of the arena and I unfortunately did not. But what I did get to see was pretty exciting and I got some good video to show my friends and family back home.

During my time in London, I met very few Americans. Wearing my Italian blue jacket around London, I was often mistaken for being Italian which benefited me from people trying to sell me items or get me to try something. However, because I was able to blend in to the not English speaking crowd I was able to meet some rude Americans. As I was waiting for the Changing of the Guard on my second day in London, I was about a foot and a half away from this woman. Granted being an American that is kind of close when you don't know that person but its a popular event and crowds gather so I didn't think I was that close. Since I had my jacket on, the woman I was standing next to starts talking about me to her friends. How I'm too close, what a bitch I am etc. I just completely ignored. So after a while, she starts talking to me like I'm an idiot and telling me I'm in her space and to back up. All I respond with was "ok" because I knew that it would get more crowded. Wouldn't you know it? Two little kids soon come up to her and stand right behind her, so close that their hands are on her back trying to lean in to the bars. All I could do was look at her and the little kids and smile. I wanted to say something but karma was already kicking in and I didn't want to ruin the magic.

And since I had just left Ireland, I was noticing a lot of Irish things and people. The Irish people at the Olympics dressed in their Ireland gear did not represent well. They literally all dressed like leprechauns. I'm not joking nor was it an exaggeration. Come on people, you are coming to a place where you can represent your country and that is the message you want to leave behind? We are a bunch of stereotypes? No Ireland. No. Stop it.
Irish people in London not representing well

In England though, I watched the sports that I never thought to watch in the US as an Olympic sport. I watched the equestrian games. I mean it makes sense. You always think of them riding arond in their riding gear in movies and on TV but I never thought of it as an Olympic sport NOR ever have seen it in the US. But yes, it exists! I also watched a lot of sailing, kayaking and canoeing. I don't recall ever watching that in my life as a precursor to the Olympic games or during the Olympics ever. And I think its because the US is just involved. Although I was glad to watch it because Ecuador (whoop whoop) was represented. Although they did not advance to the finals, it was nice to cheer for them. The sailing and the equestrian games all seemed very British and very White upper class and so it was exciting to cheer for the underdogs like Ecuador or like Mexico who weren't known for those types of sports. I also watched a lot of boxing in the evening because that's all I remember being on when I was at the pubs.

I watched the closing ceremony at the pub I liked O'Neils. There were hardly any Americans there. There were a lot of Irish, Dutch, Brazilians and few English now that I think of it because they could stay home and watch it. But it was cool first of all to see it before all my friends and family but to be in the culture and the area that the Olympics were representing. It was just an awesome experience that I won't ever forget. So awesome I want to go to Rio. I want to make it happen! I don't even need tickets but just being there with the people made this trip to London totally worth it. And if I can't go to Rio, I would like to watch it while traveling through different countries because it was just fun to be with people from all over and get a different experience from them.

But Rio 2016! Let's make it happen.

Everyone loves an American girl

I went out again last night to the same pub, O'Neils, as the night before where I met William. I honestly didn't think I would run into him again (and I didn't in case any of my friends were planning on getting their hopes up). But I went because I liked the pub and hoped there would be the same band playing covers or some other form of live music. There was another band playing covers and the lead singer for this band was really good. A lot of energy and just very funny and personable.

As I was watching the band and the boxing match in the background, this man comes up to me and asks me if I am Brazilian. No good sir, I am not Brazilian. Oh where are you from he asked me. I am American, I'm from Los Angeles. He tells me, "Oh, I'm sorry, but that makes sense. I thought you were Brazilian because of your skin tone and you were watching the boxing match and Brazil is playing and I might add, you are very beautiful and I know Brazil is known for their beautiful people. But then so is Los Angeles, so that makes sense you are from Los Angeles." So for those of you that know me, I am not someone that people call beautiful. I'm just not and I understand that. I can pass for pretty when the light is right, I know I'm definitely cute but beautiful not so much. He introduces himself as Roberto from Italy. We talk for a little bit (not so much my type being an older gentleman but still nice to talk to) and I explain what I am doing here and we discuss the Italy education plight as it stands in the nation. He then goes to join his friends. Shortly after he returns and asks if I would like to join them and I politely decline. And then he tells me that one of the guys standing next to me wants to talk to me (cause he had been observing, either sweet or creepy, I don't know which yet) and doesn't know how. But Roberto didn't know what he was waiting for because I am very sweet and he should just talk to me already. So I nodded, Roberto says good-bye again and I leave to go upstairs because the band was finished at this point.

I also forgot to mention this about the night before when I met Ollie from Ireland. When he was chatting me up, he kept going on about how I have a beautiful smile. And he said this line to me, which now that I think about it I can't believe I left it out but he said to me "You have a beautiful smile. It's a real treat to make you smile. The guy who makes you smile is the luckiest guy." Isn't that super super sweet and just smooth? Too bad that he had to keep talking and become rude and crude. Maybe that's why I forgot to mention it before, I remembered his rudeness.

The night before, upstairs was not crowded when I went up there but last night it was already packed. As I walked around the area to see where a good place might be for me to be a wallflower I pack a group of about 5 guys ALL looking at me and watching me. I give them a half wave and proceed to get a drink. As I walk by them again, they drop a glass to the floor and it shatters EVERYWHERE causing me to stop and kind of look at the scene. Two of the five guys really start to chat me up. One of them was toooooo attractive for his own good. Within the first couple of sentences I KNOW they are Irish. Their accents were so thick and so stereotypical of what I imagined everyone in Ireland to sound like that I was surprised I didn't hear more when I was in Ireland. So after telling them about how I was just in Ireland and loved it and yada, yada, yada, they kind of adopt me into their little group.

I only remember one guys name Alan cause I was like...that's not Irish and I couldn't hear the others. Alan was not the one that was too attractive for his own good by the way. Alan looked like Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live although I couldn't remember last night to tell him so it doesn't matter. But I also couldn't find another American to ask either. Anyway, people that travel will tell you that Australians know how to party. And trust me they do. Being on the cruise,  in Ecuador, traveling around currently, you want a good time, you find the closest Australians and get in good with them. What I learned last night (although it could have been the guys I was with) you want a wild time, you find the Irish and party with them. They were doing like drinking parlor tricks, and I never saw them without two drinks in each of their hands. The only thing I did not appreciate was that instead of putting their glasses down on a table or something they kept dropping them on the floor (which is why the glass dropped and broke right when I met them) or people would stop on them if they landed ok and break the glass. I think they must have been responsible for at least 30 broken glasses if not more. But anyway, they were a lot, a lot of fun!

I met some other Italians later in the evening and discussed the Italian Education system with them too. (I sense a pattern). And then left when the band left and even though I knew where I was going it still took me 2 hours to get back to my hostel and I got in at about 4:30!

It was a good night. I felt pretty and popular. Everyone needs one of those once in a while!

Thank you For such a lovely time William

I'm writing this on 4 hours of sleep so please forgive the nonsensical remarks as they come up. 

Last night after finding a temporary solution to my Mexican Food craving in London, I went to Piccadily Circus to try and watch some of the Olympic Games in the square like people would do in Times Square because to me Piccadilly Circus reminds me of Times Square: with the people and jumbo screens, the Broadway show signs, the theaters, etc. However, they weren't showing anything. So I remembered that there was an Irish pub I walked by the day before that I thought looked cool.
Maybe because it was in the middle of the mini Chinatown district I don't know. 

Anyway, I went by, grabbed a Snakebite which is a different drink in London and proceeded to watch the games. A Snakebite here by the way is half some beer I've never heard of, Budweiser and a red liqueur. Surprisingly good since I hate Bud. Well, much to my pleasant surprise there was a band, actually there were two bands (not Irish) that played music shortly after I arrived. They did all covers, but they were all sing your heart out as loud as you could covers! I loved it. I sang my little heart out with my Snakebite in hand and have a sight sore throat this morning because of it.

Despite the music though, and the drinks and the people around, I got that lonely feeling again. I don't know how people go to bars by themselves.  No one talked to me for a long while. When I got my second drink I went to go stand at the bar because I have found more people to be chattier at the bar. As soon as I got to the bar, this man, Ollie, starts chatting me up. He's from Ireland and has been living in London for about 10 years as an electrician. I would say he was handsome but his jokes were crude and badly timed and it got to the point where I was wishing I wasn't talking to anyone again. I promptly finished that drink and left with another drink in hand to go at least find a place to watch the games. 

There were a small group of people watching the TV, guys actually since it was a boxing match. I had only been there a minute when William leans over and asks me who I am cheering for. I was cheering for Italy because....I only just spent 6 weeks there, I'm part Italian and didn't even know what the other country was. And we naturally feel into a conversational rhythm. I wouldn't go as far to say we had banter, mostly because the music was tooooooo loud but he, like myself was a big fan of banter and I completely appreciated that. We talked about travel, about my time in Europe, his time in the US, how London and New York are very similar but both very different, history, museums etc. It was the type of conversation that you would look back and be like....damn, that was a good conversation, because it just was. He restored my faith in not only men you meet at bars, but just meeting people out socially. I enjoyed his company immensely. It was just refreshing to be talking to someone new, who wasn't creepy, old or crude. 

The night ended with him running into people he knew and me (being new to traveling past midnight in London) leaving at 2:30 to struggle how to get home. I ended up getting home 2 hours later half walking back, half finding the right buses to take me back. (Oh roundabouts and your tricky tricky ill marked signs!!!)

William was so passionate about the museums in the city that I asked him if he wasn't busy to join me at one of them and he could choose and told him to find me here, via my blog (he asked me what my blog was, programmed it into his phone and bookmarked it).  That is why I am writing this kind of early in the morning in the hopes that he sees this and we can somehow meet up. William, if you are reading this, not in a creepy way but I did enjoy your company and would like to hang out with you on the streets of London. (If you read some of my other posts, you can see I'm pretty normal.) I enjoyed your passion about the art, life and history and think it would be totally fun to go see a museum of just hit the streets of London with you and see it through a real Londoners eyes. If you want, you can email me at elizabethcemerald@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you! 

"When you have eliminated the impossible, however improbable must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

I arrived in London and immediately felt lonely. I think its because I had such a good time in Dublin and was with a friend and I won't see someone else I know for a week. My friend Jessica thinks because I felt so comfortable being in Dublin and with Kevin that I felt like I was home. In her words "Good people make you feel like you're home" and I think that's what it was. Kiah thinks its because it feels like home since its harder to think that I'm abroad being in London or Dublin. Whatever the reason is...I'm homesick and feel a little lonely.

But anyway, my flight into London was far from the center of the city. So I took an hour or so bus into the city center. And driving through I was surprised. It's more brown than I imagined. Way more brown actually.

Also, London is huge. It reminded me of New York which was a little boring. With the crowded public transportation, people on the streets walking rapidly, jay-walking, the skyscrapers and all sorts of diversity walking around. And other parts reminded me of LA, at least the part I passed through on the bus totally reminded me of the downtown LA area that were all like filled with buildings and restaurants of immigrants that settled in the outskirts of the area. I arrived in London in the early afternoon at about 5:00 after passing through the outskirts and after settling into my hostel went across the street to get Indian. I had been craving Indian food since Dublin since walking around we saw so many in such a small area but I am glad I waited. I forgot that India was a colony of England and therefore there are tons of Indians walking around. Based on that history, I can only assume that the Indian food in London would be better than in Dublin. But of course, this is only speculation. 

My first day in London was just me kind of walking around and going to bed relatively early because I felt like I had been traveling all day. My second day, I planned to go to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard and then grab lunch and eat it in Hyde Park because they are airing the Olympics on big screens there. So I got up, got some breakfast and proceeded to walk from my hostel to Buckingham Palace. I thought it would be nice to walk around and maybe find some things I wouldn't normally see if I hadn't walked. BIG MISTAKE. London is HUGE. I had gotten so used to these small European cities where you can walk from one end to the other in 20-30 minutes. London is not like that at all! I bought and Oyster card which is used for the "Underground" (not just for underground systems but for the buses too) and have been using it since! But anyway, I walked by Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. As I arrived at Buckingham Palace and asked the officer where I should stand to watch the Changing of the Guard, he proceeded to tell me that it would not be happening today. Instead the men's cycling part of the triathlon would be passing through instead. Uh....free Olympic event? Yes please! So I waited for it to start and pass through the Buckingham Palace area. It was pretty fun! And people from all over and each lap of the cycling was different than the rest. Then I tried my hardest, my absolute hardest to make it to Hyde Park to watch the end and see who won but unfortunately I did not and saw the announcement of who won. (More specifics on the Olympics in another blog post soon to come!) 

After I left Hyde Park, I walked down Oxford Street. Even though my friend Hayley told me to avoid it, I just ended up walking on it because they rerouted me to that street since other parts were closed due to Olympic traffic. Hayley told me to avoid it because it would be busy and crowded. WOW, she could not have been more right. It was horrifically busy as people were walking around lost or looking for the next Underground stop. As I got on the Underground, I headed to the next stop that sounded the most interesting to me: Baker Street. For those of you that don't recognize the importance of Baker Street, it is significant to Sherlock Holmes. And walking out of the stop, the walls are tiled with little Sherlock Holmes hats. (Don't worry, I have pictures). Anyway, he lived at 221b Baker Street. I went to the "museum" if you can even call it that. Not worth the money if you have a good imagination and have already imagined what his little flat looked like. I would just go into the gift shop instead because that was adorable. So adorable I considered getting a Sherlock Holmes teddy bear. But I don't need it so I didn't get it, but I'm here for another few days. 

The day ended with me going back to the hostel and booking my flight home!!! I think the homesickness was my final push to finally book it! See you soon my fellow Americans! 

Do Not Ask an Irish Person to say "Top of the Morning to ya"

Don't worry, I did not ask an Irish Person to say "Top of the morning to you" although they should for the tourists. This blog post comes from one of the first days I met Kevin and I asked him to say something really Irish and he asked me for an example and before I could say "Magically delicious" (which is also a little wrong to ask but I felt like it would be less insulting to ask that because I was betting that they did not have Lucky Charms in Ireland but anyway) he stopped me to say "Oh and Irish people do not say top of the morning to you'". And I was like, that didn't even cross my mind, although technically he still said it to tell me that Irish people don't say it.

On one of my days in Ireland I asked Kevin if I looked like a tourist. He said yes, that my skin tone gives me away. And I laughed because much of my friends and family would say I was light compared to them. Although I have a tan now, I still think I'm pretty light but in Ireland I'm dark. I even noticed it as we were walking around.

Anyway, I really liked Dublin. The city feels really young, is not too big but not too small. It really just has a calming/welcoming feeling. Kiah and I have already discussed returning next summer as we both would like to continue our travels abroad. What I forgot to say about Ireland previously is that they are like the UK and drive on the opposite side of the road. Having only seen this in Ireland I was totally tripping out and just kept constantly looking both ways so I wouldn't die. In Dublin, as you are crossing the streets, they have in white painting either look left or look right for people such as myself that are not used to looking to the other side of the street upon crossing. Thank God for those signs. Although, if you are like me and have been drinking, those signs mean nothing. On our first night out, I had to hold on to Kevin because I was not going to be able to cross those roads by myself and survive.

Oh yeah....it makes sense but no one ever mentions it...there is a river that runs smack in the middle of Dublin. Yes, I should have assumed there was a river as it is an older city, with a lot of history and they needed it for transport and etc. but NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THE RIVER. Not only is there a river, but they have canals that connect to the river. Yes, I know, it seems so obvious but it should have been mentioned in pictures or in a sentence such as "as you cross the river" or "as you cross one of the bridges"  but nope, never been mentioned.

On our first day in Dublin we arrived by bus in the early evening and then went to a pub to get a drink. We walked through the really touristy part of Dublin and found something more off the beaten track to get a drink and watch Gaelic/Irish Futbol. When Kevin first told me about it, I was like "Yes, I want to watch that" because that is so cool and cultural and I had NO idea that such a thing existed. It is played between the different counties in Ireland. It played with 15 players on each team on a soccer type of field and the players have to score by either kicking it over the goal posts like in American football and they get one point or kicking it through the goal posts and they get 3 points. they can carry, bounce, throw, kick, pass or solo which is a drop of the ball and a toe-kick back up into their hands. It was kind of cool and really past paced. I really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. I mean, come on, I'm in Ireland at a pub watching an Irish game with Irish people, totally cool. We went to a couple of more pubs (and is it bad if I can't remember what we ate?) and spotted out some Starbucks to go to in the morning and went back to the hostel to sleep.

The next day, we did more the touristy things, walked the river, walked up and down the touristy areas, got my Starbucks (yes, yes, I did get my frappe), walked by St. Patrick's Cathedral, went to Stephen's Green, went to Trinity College (totally beautiful, I would love to work there) where there was this spinning golden statue and my Star Wars reference was lost and I was sad.

For those of you that don't know, I started collecting Harry Potter books from different countries in different languages as kind of my souvenirs from where I traveled to. I told Kevin  I wanted a Harry Potter book in Irish and he didn't think they existed. I looked it up and they did. Although when I did further research in the morning of our second day, I found out that some of the corporations that do this are not in Ireland. One is in the United States! Buying one from the US would not satisfy me. So I decided to look at the covers and if they were different then to buy one cause it'll work. Anyway, we found paperbacks that had totally cool covers and none I had seen before. I got the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince one because on the cover were the Cliffs of Moher and that just fit the whole Irish theme and Irish book so I was pretty happy. As I pointed out a book, Kevin points out the Harry Potter books next to the book I originally pointed out that was in IRISH! Now I had a dilemma. Which book?! They both fit perfectly so what did I do? I got both of course! I was in love with both of them too much to put one back.

This probably will not help anyone but I'm going to throw in this little blurb because if you know me, you know this is totally my style and it'll also give you a better idea about my Irish friend. Earlier in the week, I had asked Kevin one of my favorite questions. Who would play you in the movie of your life? And I was surprised I hadn't asked him before. But anyway, at first we came up with Justin Timberlake, Neil Patrick Harris and people like that. No one we were completely satisfied with so the question still hung in the air. As we were walking around and waiting for the rain to subside we walked into a CD/Movie store. I don't remember what movie it was but he turns to me and says "Jude Law. Jude Law would play me." And as I had just seen the same movie title, I thought the same thing. I don't know if we ever came to a conclusion for me but I would like to think Tina Fey and I'm going to pretend that was our conclusion.

So as previously mentioned, I love Harp. It is one of my favorite beers and I didn't think it would be hard to find in Ireland since its an Irish beer. But of course, it was. I wanted to go to a pub and listen to an Irish band play Irish music so we went to the touristy area of Dublin known as Temple Bar (there is also a bar named Temple Bar which I will soon mention) to have our beers and listen to music. The first pub we went into was crowded. Not only for the music but because Ireland was going to be on the TV in the Olympic sport of boxing. But as I was looking for seats or a place to stand....low and behold there was Harp! So we had to stay of course and have a pint or 2. And to be quite honest, Kevin and I weren't overly loud or talkative or that energetic but I just had so much fun being there and people watching and just in  a pub with Irish people enjoying Irish beer and music. After our pints, we went to THE Temple Bar. This is a bar that is so photographed and is like the representative place for the whole area and we were trying to find out why this one pub was so popular and everything kind of circled around it. The only thing we found out was that its big, (they also had Harp) expensive, and know for their Whiskey,...and that was it. I think people were in there like we were, "why are you famous Temple Bar? Let's go in and see." But it was still fun despite the costs.

I would have to say that my second day in Dublin might probably have been my favorite day abroad. Despite being the first day that I wanted to text people back home sooooo badly and starting to get homesick, it was just a good day with my Harry Potter books, the Irishness and just being with someone you like to be with. The day wasn't too tiring or too touristy, it was just a good day.

Thank you Kevin and thank you Ireland!

"Never Trust Irish Weather" - Kevin Healy

So my second day in Ireland was very laid back. I learned that they do not have Dr. Seuss in Ireland. As I was telling Kevin that my last post was a Dr. Seuss quote, we talked about how he kind of knew the movies (Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc) but not any of the books. I was so sad to learn that fact and was telling him about how as a typical graduation gift, people give "Oh the Places You Will Go" and how I thought that was perfect for traveling.

We went to Ceide Fields. According to Wikipedia it means "fields of the flat-topped hill." It is an archaeological site that is the most extensive Stone Age site in the world and contains the oldest known field systems in the world. Unfortunately we did not get to walk too much of these fields because of the weather. We also drove around, saw some gnarly cliffs and kind of just planned our next few days. Speaking of depressing from an earlier post, my friend was telling me how the cliffs were known for their suicides. Depressing! The day ended with TV watching and general relaxing.  


Things I learned. Ireland, particularly in the North, the wetlands are covered in what is known as bog. I would say bog looks like black tar that has been solidified. But driving around, you don't see much of it because it is covered by fields. I would say they were the type of fields that on a beautiful day you would run through like in the movies. Bog is basically millions of years of deposited plant life compressed together. So what happens is that people dig it up, dry it out and use that to burn for fires. How greenly efficient is that? I thought that was pretty cool to help planet earth. 

Side note from Kevin- I read your blog and found it quite entertaining, in fact I got my sister to read it too.  The whole bog and turf cutting isn't eco-friendly at all, it's a fossil fuel that burns and emits emissions which isn't too good for the environment as far as I know... 

There is also a musical bridge that we only stopped by once but drove by three times. Apparently when you roll a rock across the bridge it plays musical tunes. We found clips on youtube and I really wanted to try it. Next time right? 

Anyway, on my third day in Ireland we went to the Cliffs of Moher. My friend Lyndsay had recommended them as she had spent a summer in Ireland. The selling point was that they were featured in the 6th Harry Potter movie and so I kind of had a general idea of what they looked like and I was like "I'm a little tired of museums, I can see some nature." Kevin never been to the Cliffs himself despite his university being not far arranged for us to go. From his house, we drove two hours to Galway which is kind of a young, college, beach town (a total party feel running through) and we caught a tour bus from Galway to the Cliffs. Before leaving the car, we were deciding which items to take or not take. With his jacket in hand, Kevin looks at the sky and says "it should be a nice day, I'm going to leave it here." and returns his windbreaker/rain jacket to the backseat of the car. Luckily I took the sweatshirt he let me borrow with us. 

So my mistake. I was thinking that they might be more environmentally friendly since they weren't chopping down ton of trees for burning wood and were using other materials that were abundant but didn't serve any real purpose. Oops. 



Along the way, the tour guide does his job and tell us about the area and the history and so on and between stories we listened to traditional Irish music. Kevin proceeds to tell me that the people in the south are more into the traditional music. Everyone he knew from I think Clare county except for one plays traditional Irish instruments. What are traditional Irish instruments you ask? Pipes, flutes, bodhrans and harps. So I said "Oh, I didn't know harps were traditionally Irish." Kevin stops, looks at me and asks me "Isn't your favorite beer Harp?" (Harp is an Irish beer by the way). And I respond with "well yeah." And he proceeds "The Guinness logo is a harp. How have you not noticed this before? You didn't see that there was a pattern?" And then I stopped and could only laugh. How did I not notice the blatant signs that harps are traditionally Irish? DUH! I laughed about it the entire duration of my trip because after that, I saw the harps EVERYWHERE. I could even get little harp earrings if I wanted to! But I think the reason I found it so funny was I felt like I was in the shoes of the other people that I'm usually with and often find myself asking them "how have you not noticed that before?" It was a very humbling moment that I shall forever appreciate.

Depending on the tour bus that you take you can either stop at some caves of a birds of prey area. We stopped at the Aillwee Caves. The Aillwee Caves are some of the oldest in Ireland but were only found quite recently when a dog ran into the caves and his owner ran after him. Apparently the caves were used by bears who would come in to hibernate because the only remains they found at this time were of bears. No human remains had been discovered. Our tour guide proceeds to tell us that Ireland does not have bears, they all died out on the island. And I leaned over to Kevin and said "I didn't know you didn't have bears" and his response was "I didn't know we EVER had bears." (There are also no squirrels in Ireland).

Correction from Kevin-And apparently we do have squirrels in Ireland, two types in fact! So that was news to me as I've never seen one here, although judging by Google they seem to be in other parts of the country. So I don't know if you want to alter the blog then or not, but thought I should fill you in on those two tiny things! 

Finally we get to the Cliffs of Moher. It's a little rainy, more sprinkling and as we notice the weather Kevin says "I don't know why I didn't bring my jacket. Never trust Irish weather." And I appropriately gave him the sweatshirt he let me borrow since he was kind of nursing a cold and temperature wise I was ok. The cliffs are 8 kilometers long which is about 4 miles I believe. They are beautiful! However, the mood is a little dampened by signs saying "Need to talk? Call us at....-Samaritans." I can only assume it was to prevent suicides.

We walked the appropriately labeled paths with the railings since its Ireland everything was a little wet. If I had better balance, I would have walked along the cliffs that were off the protected path but with my bad balance and the muddy, slippery path, decided against it. Then as we decided to turn back, it started raining. Not the light "oh its sprinkling, it might start to rain" that I had been in the last few days but the rain came down in big, cold raindrops and we walked to jog back to the gift shop or the general enclosed area to wait until our tour bus left. We looked at coffee table books and little Irish facts.

The bus took us past a lighthouse which was really pretty and then to a small town called Doolin. I had soup to warm up and after we ate, of course the sun was out so we sat outside to enjoy the sun and dry off a little bit. I don't know how we got into the subject of naming objects but he had very strong opinions of naming objects that weren't people or pets but it only went as far to cats and dogs. I then told him about our office and naming Clare (the plant) and how she was part of the office. I didn't mention the birthday balloon or the pictures of her, I think he would have thought we were too crazy had I mentioned them. Anyway, he believes that the naming of objects is an overly American idea and as he previously said I could name his car, decided against it. Sad day.

The day ended with us going to Supermacs which is an Irish fast food chain but partnered with Papa Johns. It was good and had skinny fries which I hadn't seen much of here. On the way home, we talked about how the day was a bit "Irish" which really is what I wanted. And then it dawned on me, I hadn't seen a rainbow yet. Then, as luck would have it, I saw a rainbow and was completely happy. That was the ending of a really good day.