Island of Ireland... diddly dee potatoes

The flight to Ireland went really well, scored another window seat and enjoyed the short flight over the sea to the very green land where we were spending the next week. Managed to find the right bus this time and made our way into the city to meet our next couch host ‘Robbie’.

Robbie met up with us in the middle of town and gave us directions to his place. Where his girlfriend was waiting to meet us, first he invited us out that night on a pub-crawl that he was working on. Not ones to pass up the opportunity to drink we decided to meet up with him a little later on at the pub.

We drpped off our stuff at Robbies place and met his lovely Greek girlfriend Vassa. A quick freshen up and we made our way out to meet Robbie. We had an absolute blast on the pub-crawl, drank some fantastic beer, danced to some live Irish music. The rest of the night was a little fuzzy but was full of laughs, dancing, some guy flashing us his balls and some delicious curry chips and cheese mmm…

 Day 1: HUNGOVER… yep we had an awesome first night in Dublin but were paying for it toady, after a big sleep in woke up and were spoilt with our first Irish breakfast cooked by Robbie. Great breakfast to fix our huge hangovers even got to try our first black and white pudding that was pretty good.

Robbie had the day off and came with us to go and check out Kilmainham Gaol. The next available tour was not for another hour after we arrived so we checked out the museum before hand. The tour of the Goal was really interesting, we learnt a little bit about the history of Irish independence and the rebels who were jailed and executed in the prison for wanting a free Ireland.

After the Goal, Robbie left us and we went on the Guinness factory tour. The self-guided tour of the factory was a little touristy but still fun. We made our way around the factory learning about how the world famous stout is made then enjoyed a free pint at the top of the factory in the sky bar.     

That evening we were all a little tired so enjoyed some dinner and wine at home, shared many travel stories and Robbie even introduced us to some classic Irish music, another great night.

Day 2: After a good night sleep we were up and ready to go on a Walking Tour of Dublin with Robbie as our guide. We had already learnt so much about Ireland from Robbie it was crazy just how much more we learnt on the 4 hour walking tour. Dublin city was not one of the prettiest cities we had been to but it was full of history. We got to see many of the main sites on our tour; Dublin castle, site of old Viking village, Liffey river, trinity college etc.

After the tour we warmed up and enjoyed some delicious Irish stew at O'Neills before we made our way back to Trinity College to see the oldest book in the world ‘Book of Kells’. As it was late in the day we could see the book for half of the normal price (yay). It was cool to see the book but even more impressive was the huge library full of thousands of other old books floor to ceiling. 

After the snippet of literature history we made our way back to O'Neills for some more beers with Robbie where he convinced us to come on another pub-crawl tonight (not too hard to convince us!). For dinner we grabbed some fish & chips that were amazing, so good to have some traditional fish & chips that were so close to what we know and love from home.

The 2nd pub-crawl was just as much fun as the first, a little different as we went to some different pubs which was good. Another crazy night, after Robbie had finished with the pub crawl we continued to some other bars and even got to go to a locals only downstairs bar which was open after hours.

Day 3: HUNGOVER AGAIN, but this time we were meant to pick up our hire car at 10am… we only got home at 6am! Needless to say we slept through our alarm. Finally we awoke, managed to pack up our belongings, said our goodbyes to Robbie, caught the bus back out to the airport and picked up our rental car. We were not very eager to go for a drive when all we really wanted to do was sleep, plus we also had to drive on the other side of the road too!

Marc said driving back on the left hand side of the road was not too hard but he still had to think a little bit to make sure he stayed on the correct side. The drive out of Dublin went smoothly, and the dive through the countryside was awesome, so many little narrow roads and green rolling hills. Our first stop was Glendalough a national park. Just before going to the park we stopped at a little café for something to eat. We had a lovely lunch but the thing that stuck out the most was just how friendly everyone was here and everywhere else we had been in our short 3 days. The Irish are always up for a chat, a quick joke and to wish you well on your way, so awesome. Even when we passed through customs at the airport when our passports were checked we had a great little chat and joke with security, which was a huge change to anywhere else we had ever been.

As to be expected when we arrived in Glendalough it was raining, not very hard just passing showers so we dug out our rain coats and went for an explore. Glendalough was a beautiful place; cool to see the really old Monastic Site where I got some great photos, we walked a little further to check out the lake and some more monastic sites. Even with the rain a great place to visit.

We had such a late start to the day after the park we made our way to Kilkenny for the night. Again another nice drive, so many sheep with baby lambs, crazy narrow roads and everything was green! In Kilkenny we found a lovely little hostel for the night. Both pretty knackered after such a huge first week of travel and drinking we managed to get our own room for the night, which was awesome. Before we passed out we headed into town for a quick dinner at one of the local pubs, a great little pub and we got some more great Irish food… but not a single beer was ordered ha ha. We returned to the hostel, quick showers, load of laundry and a super early night.

Day 4: Sleep was amazing but good to get up and do more exploring. Checked out Kilkenny Castle that to our surprise was free (all castles are free the first Wednesday of every month), woo hoo. The Castle was really cool, we enjoyed wandering around the many rooms and grounds. Kilkenny was only a small town so after walking around the little streets we hit the road and made our way to the second castle of the day the ‘Rock of Cashel’.

The ‘Rock of Cashel’ was only about an hours drive from Kilkenny, another lovely drive along little narrow roads that hugged the fences of the local farms. Again we obtained free entry into the ruined castle that sat on top of another hill. We joined the free tour, got to see a really old chapel, the remains of its paintings and walked around the grounds. But as the wind was howling and our parking was running out we cut the tour short to hit the road again.

Killarney was our last stop for the day and our destination to sleep for the night. We were lucky enough to get a bed at another cute little hostel ‘The Sugan’ that was right in the centre of town. After we settled in we went for a walk around the tourist town that did not have as much charm as the smaller towns we had been to but that was to be expected. We were still recovering from all the partying we had done so we had another sober night! Marc called our friend in Ireland to let him know that we were in Killarney and would arrive on Friday for a catch up drink, but as Friday was good Friday we decided to drive up to Breen’s place a night earlier and spend 2 nights with him.  This meant that the next day would be a lot of driving but we were sure after all the driving in the USA we would be fine.

Day 5: Up early to try and miss the hoards of tourists we had been warned about we took off to drive the ‘Ring of Kerry’; the drive really was lovely and showed a very different aspect to Ireland that we were not expecting. We drove through Killarney National Park, stopping to check out the waterfalls, views over the rocky, dry, shrubby mountains and big lakes. Next with our little car and Marc’s excellent driving skills we managed to navigate our way around the coastline stopping to take in the stunning views of the rolling green fields that ran into the deep blue sea. The roads were very narrow but as long as you took care around corners you had plenty of time to pull over and give way to on coming cars.   

We had driven the ‘Ring of Kerry’ within a couple of hours and as we had time decided to continue along the coast to a little fishing town called ‘Dingle’.  Another nice drive through small towns with bay views we arrived in Dingle where we strolled around the little streets, brightly painted houses and checked out the sights. For lunch we found a great little fish and chip shop ‘Reel Dingle Fish’ grabbed some take out that we ate in the sun, nom nom nom.

After Dingle we made our way to Portlaoise, which was a 3hr drive away. On the way we stopped off at a look out just on top of Dingle. The views were awesome but our favourite part was the incredible winds that were coming up from the ocean to our look out, so we had some fun playing with the wind 



while enjoying the views. The rest of the drive was pretty straightforward and we actually drove on our first double lane freeway that was a nice change after all the small roads. Late afternoon we arrived in Portlaoise and met up with out friend Breen. After some beers and a catch up we made our way out to Breen’s family’s house that was just outside of town. It was great to be able to stay with a family after a few nights in hostels, Breen cooked us up some delicious dinner, and afterwards we headed out for a few beers at a local pub. A great night but relatively early as the next day was Good Friday so everything shut up early.  Back at Breen’s we had a couple more beers before calling it a night.

Day 6: A little hung over we had a great night sleep in the spare bedroom that was in the attic of the back shed/band room. Once we were all awake we made our way to the Cliffs of Moher our last sight on the Island of Ireland. The drive was about 2hrs from Portlaoise that Marc did not really enjoy driving due to the number of beers he consumed the night before.

The cliffs were awesome; we had to pay for parking that was per person, which was a bit of a rip off but Breen ended up shouting us so can’t really complain at all! We spent a few hours at the cliffs, luckily the weather held up pretty well with only a couple of light showers and a little bit of wind. We ended up walking a large section of the cliffs stopping to lie down and look over the edge. On the walk it was really cool to see all the sea birds playing in the ocean wind, diving in and out of the cliff walls, we even got to see some puffins zooming around.   

After the cliffs we were all super tiered and made our way back to Breen’s place. I ended up driving part of the way home to give Marc a break, a little weird driving back on the left but changing gears felt loads better. That night we were all tapped out so hung out watch some TV and had an early night. 

Day 7: Last morning in Ireland Breen cooked us up a mean Irish breakfast yum yum yum. I drank a little bit too much tea so was a little edgy when we left Breen’s place. After our good buys we headed into Dublin a little behind schedule. We were not too worried except for the fact we wanted to stop in at the Harley Davidson store. Everything kind of went wrong from that point… I was charged on the caffeine from the tea and we were late so due to a combination of errors we could not find the god damn Harley store so not wanting to miss our flight we had to give up and make our way to the airport. The rush was on, we made it to the airport, dropped of the hire car and after an extremely painful wait for the airport shuttle we rushed up to the counter to check in as we could not check in online before hand as Breen did not have any Internet. We had about 45 min before our flight was due to take off but when I tried to check in was advised check in was closed. A little confused went up to the desk and was advised that the flight time had changed and our plane had just taken off 50min before the time I had doh.

Very flustered we spoke to customer service who were really nice about everything and changed our flights to the next available flight in 5 hours time at no extra cost to us. The rest of the afternoon we hung out at the airport and I kicked myself for not updating my records with the time change (idiot!!)

6pm finally came around and after a super short (45min) flight we arrived in Edinburgh made our way to the hostel and had a quiet night after such a long day of waiting around.

Amsterdam, buds, beers, canals and more!

Our last 2 weeks in Innsbruck spring had arrived and we were spoilt with really warm days. However this made snowboarding a little difficult as it was too warm by the afternoon the snow was super slushy. We managed to get up a few mornings though, the park was loads of fun and even the run to the bottom of the mountain was good until our last day when we only just made it ridding the dirt slush.

We packed up all our snowboard/winter gear and shipped it home so we would not have to carry it all around Europe with us, which all went smoothly. After a quiet good bye dinner with Anna Lena, Andy and Vreni the 27th of March had arrived and it was time to leave Innsbruck and start our 12 week journey home.

Day 1: We had booked some cheap flights from Innsbruck to Amsterdam so we did not have to drive back to Munich, this also meant that we got to fly out over the alps! Innsbruck airport was tiny and so was the airplane left in. The flight to Amsterdam was amazing, only a short hour flight but the views out the window were incredible. First we flew over the alps and small mountain towns, flat farm lands, passed a dozen other airplanes, then the Netherlands farming land which was surrounded by canals of water and in some places appeared to be flooded but I guess this is what happens when a country has about 25% of it's land below sea level and 50% only 1 meter above sea level!

The flight went smoothly however getting into Amsterdam we had managed to get onto the wrong train (must have been out of practice!); no big drama it just took us a little longer to get to the central station. We had 4 nights in Amsterdam, luck had shone upon us again and we had scored a couch to surf. Our host would not be home until that evening so we locked our bags up at the train station and headed out to explore the city.

Grabbed some corn on the cob for a late lunch at Neiuwmarkt then strolled to the palace of Amsterdam. On the way we accidently walked right through the heart of the red light district, which was a bit of a surprise, as I was not expecting to see so many ladies on display early afternoon!

Amsterdam palace was very different to all of the other places we had seen, not very grand on the outside or in but still interesting to see. The palace was still used today as a town hall and the bedrooms were used to accommodate important guests of the city.

Next we continued to walk around the city; stopped in at Mals for a delicious falafel, checked out the Tulip market, sampled some delicious Dutch cheese and stoop waffles, walked over the oldest bridge in Amsterdam, checked out the beautiful house boats on the canals and I even managed to get hit by a bike (no major damage to me or the bike, just a bit of surprise and a sore shoulder)! 

Late afternoon we collected our bags from the station and made our way to meet up with our couch surfer for the next few nights. Our host Mike lived very centrally and had a lovely apartment and spare room for us we were stoked. After sharing some stories we settled in and then went out for dinner at ‘Burger Meister’ that was only a 5-minute walk from Mike’s house. The burgers were delish however did not come with fries which was a little weird. That night we kicked back at the house watch some TV and had an early night.

Day 2: In Amsterdam the main mode of transport is by bike and staying with a native Dutch man, Mike had 2 spare bikes we could use while we were in Amsterdam. This was great news as saved us having to hire bikes. However one of the bikes had a flat tier that we dropped off at the local bike shop to get fixed at the fraction of the price of full days bike hire.

Bikes ready we took off for our first destination for the day the Van Goh Museum. It was pretty early in the morning so the line and crowds were not too bad. We both really enjoyed the museum and learning about how Van Goh became an artist and how he only really became well known after his death. As the museum was created and run by his family the museum focused more on the art rather then the troubled life of the artist (Marc was a little disappointed that there was no mention about why he cut off his ear) but all in all we had a good time.

Next we made our way to the Pancake bakery for some lunch; a satay pancake for main and traditional dutch pancakes for sweets, delicious lunch that we enjoyed in the sun next to a canal.

Back on the bikes we continued our tour around Amsterdam, we rode past the house of Ann Frank (crazy line so decided to give it a miss) then made our way to Brouwerij’t IJ brewery for some afternoon drinks. The brewery was great not only was it next door to a windmill but the beers were fantastic. After one too many beers in the warm sun we had to make our way back to the other side of town to pick up some groceries. On our way out I thought that there was a free sample plate of the famous 'Goat Cheese' (the goats are fed the malt dregs from the beer to enhance the cheese flavor). So I grabbed a sample from the bowl and excitedly turned to Marc to let him know that there were free samples… however silly me had actually stolen some cheese from someone’s plate oops. Marc thought this was hilarious but was grateful that we got to taste the cheese (it really was delicious). The bike ride home was loads of fun, I nearly fell off a couple of times as for some reason my balance was not as sharp as it normally was.

We picked up some food for dinner then made a meal at home that we shared with Mike as a way to say thanks for the hospitality. Later that evening we decided to go and check out our first coffee shop just around the corner. A really strange experience walking into our first coffee shop and I’m sure we looked like 18 year olds walking into our first nightclub legally! Not really knowing what to do we checked out the menu and picked out the novice pre rolled joints that Marc then went up and ordered. It was the weirdest thing ever but when in Rome… do as the Romans do. The rest of the evening was a bit of a giggle but someone had too much and ended up going to bed pretty early.

Day 3: Road trip! We had organised a hire car for the day and as chance would have it our friends from Germany were also in Amsterdam at the same time and were joining us for the day. After 2 amazing days of sunshine the weather had turned rainy and cold.

We picked up Karti and Jim then made our way to the Amsterdam Harley Davidson. The traffic in Amsterdam was a little crazy but we managed to make our way out of the city without hitting any cyclists. It was cool to see another amazing Harley Davidson store and pick dad up another pin for his growing collection. After a short drive we had made it to our first destination of the day ‘Keukenhof’ tulip farm. We were a little early in the season so the fields of colourful flowers were still in sprout stage but the farm did not disappoint. None of us had every seen so many tulips and orchids before they were beautiful. Even though it was a little cold we really enjoyed our walk around the grounds… however poor Jim had forgotten a jumper and was freezing by the time we got back to the car.

Next we made our way to the famous ‘Kinderdijk’ to see the windmills, the drive was a little longer then expected. After a quick stop at the worst possible place for lunch (mmm microwave burgers), we arrived at the windmills. It was well worth the drive to see them but the wind was a blowing so our time there was pretty short. A quick walk up and down we got some great photos and made it back to the car within 30 min.

Last stop of the day was ‘La Trappe’ brewery for Marc. Unfortunately the brewery was only open for 30 more mins when we arrived so each of us ordered 2 beers kicked back and enjoined the trappest beer, which was delish and extremely strong… lucky we only had 2 or none of us would have been able to drive back.

Just like that our road trip was nearly over, the drive back to Amsterdam went quickly as we were all a little happy after the beer. 

We arrived back in Amsterdam dropped the rental car off then made our way back into old town to explore the city at night. Amsterdam at night was really different to the day with all the tourists, coffee shops and the red light district the feel of the city became a lot seedier. Still had fun enjoying some more beer and walking past the double level windows filled with young/pretty and then some not so young/pretty ladies or even cross-dresses. I think the thing that amazed us the most was the hospital clean smell the came from the open doors as everything was so sterile… didn’t really seem like a very sexy place at all.

Day 4: After a very big day yesterday a slow start to today was on the books. The weather was still a little wet so we strolled around the famous Albert Cuyp market. Enjoyed checking out the stalls but as normal the food was our favourite part we enjoyed some fresh stroop waffles, poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) and Marc enjoyed a pickled herring roll.

We still had the bikes so made our way to Vondelpark park and rode around stoping to check out some of the scenery on the way including a really weird goose duck whose legs were too big for it’s body.  We continued to explore the city and stopped in at ‘Gassan’ for a free Diamond Tour (great to learn and see how diamonds are cut so they sparkle), strolled through the Rembrandt district and Hippy Market then stopped in for some more boutique beer at another cool bar Marc had found in his never ending beer search.

That evening we caught up with Karti and Jim again for some dinner and drinks. We found a great place (with the help of a local) for dinner at ‘De Blauwe Hollander’ a traditional Dutch restaurant; Dutch food is delicious, all comfort food with meats, gravy and mash and we were glad to have made the decision to stop and try it out. After dinner we stopped in at ‘Lux’ lounge for some drinks before making our way back to the red light district so Marc and Jim could check out a live sex show while Karti and I stopped in at another bar for a nightcap. Marc and Jim thought the show was more of a comedy then an erotic performance and enjoyed the experience.

Day 5: Last morning in Amsterdam we strolled around the market one last time and ran into Karti and Jim again for one final good bye. After the purchase of a couple of souvenirs we packed up our stuff, thanked our wonderful host for letting us stay then made our way to the airport for our second flight and destination Dublin!