"Coffee shops", Bagels, & Beer...Hello Amsterdam!

We arrived in at Hook of Holland port with some new friends but were harshly greeted by pouring rain and a 30 min wait for the train to Rotterdam. However, upon arrival to Rotterdam we got a more fitting greeting of bright sunshine. We arrived by train at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam and took a bus to near our hostel, Hotel Van Gogh. This hotel is by far the best we have stayed in thus far on the trip considering it feels like a nicer hotel (3-4 stars) with just more beds in the room. After checking our backpacks in at the hostel, Doug (who had been here prior in his trip) directed us to his favorite "coffee shop", Dampkring. This place was just awesome because of the mood set inside: great playlist, cool tables/lighting, and an intimate layout. Ruth, Doug, and I shared a few LEGAL joints while watching the trippy videos being shown on the TV monitor. This included zooming in/out on an African child covered in white powder, drops of rain on a pond, and an Alligtor repeatedly "laughing". After becoming officially tripped out by this footage, we all got the munchies and headed to a great bagel place that Doug knew about. I had a stellar sandwich with smoked chicken, pesto, and avocado. Next, Ruth and I bid goodbye to Doug, who was heading home to NY, and made our way back towards our hostel via one of the big shopping streets. This was the perfect place for Belgian waffles with chocolate and for Ruth to buy some clothes cheaply that she had wanted for awhile.

Upon our return to the hostel, we met two of our roommates and quickly made friends with the recent grad couple from Calgary. I took this opportunity to go run in huge Vondel park on what turned out to be a really amazing weather day. I got in 8 solid miles of loops at a brisk pace because I was always trying to catch one of the many runners ahead of me. Of all the parks I have run in and visited, this one definitely has the most people and "life to it".

After showering, Ruth and I went to dinner with the Calgary couple at a great Italian place we had passed on our way back to e hostel earlier. The waiter recommended the seafood spaghetti and he was spot on! We also watched favored Spain score a last minute goal again Croatia, which was exciting. After dinner we headed the Rembrandt square and Smokey's coffee shop for some pints and to enjoy the new atmosphere. Although the club was "bumping" next door, we were getting tired and headed back to te hostel...we will save our raging for tomorrow nights' pub crawl with all our roommates ;)

The Last London Lunch, Portabello Market, & cruising to Netherlands

After 5 relaxing nights in London with our friend Crystal and her two whippets, Jamba and Heidi, it was our final day with our gratious hosts. We all slept in, I went on a short run around Hyde park (still sore from yesterday's tough long run with workout incorporated), and the three of us went to lunch at a little Italian place on one of the Little Venice canals. It was a great way to celebrate our new friendship and past few day of time together; we even has a visit from the Pims Party Boat! Ruth and Crystal got some ridiculously funny pictures with the promotions outrageous characters, including Ab guy and big stash/chest hair guy. I shred a Superfood salad and Picante Pizza with Crystal and it turned out to be one of my best Italian meals since visiting Italy. Crystal was so kind to treat us to this lunch but we vowed to tret her and her husband Roger in either Barcelona or Seattle.

As one final "taste of London", Ruth and I took a recommendation from Crystal to visit the Portabello Market down the canals from the flat. This was also fun as Ruth scouted out vintage clothes but ended up buying a book and a bracelet with custom charms. The atmosphere in this market was so funky that I wished we could replicate it more often in th States.

After getting a little lost on our way back, we hurriedly packed up and had a snack before bidding goodbye and heading on our 12 hour journey to Amsterdam. The journey went own without a hitch as we made our trains, met a new friend Doug from Purdue, and celebrated late into the night on the ship as we drew closer to Amsterdam.

Ruth's first cricket game & my new haircut...hilarity ensues

When we had walked by the Lord's Cricket Grounds yesterday on our way to the zoo and saw that there would be a game tomorrow (Saturday), we half jokingly said we should go. Naturally, at 9:30am Saturday (today) we were on our way to our first cricket game, Oxford vs Cambridge (we finally realised that college sports in Europe is no where near as hype as it is in the States)! Our excitement was put on hold as we approached the stadium and found that everyone entering  was dressed in their finest clothes (dresses, shirt & ties, etc.). Luckily, the British ticket salesman was understanding of us as American tourists and sold us the tickets, reminding us that we were allowed only 2 cases of beer or 3 bottles of wine upon entry into the stadium (I could get used to this sport!). Anyways, we entered the stadium and, feeling somewhat lost, asked one of the smartly dressed attendants where we were entitled to sit with our tickets. As has been the case throughout the trip, Paul was incredibly warm and offered us recommendations on where to sit along with a full blown explanation of how cricket is played. Unfortunately, none of his explanation sunk in too much for Ruth or I. Most of the game was spent laughing at the actions of the players and the peculiar way in which the game was played. By far the best instance of this from our 3 hours at the stadium was when Ruth thought that one of the players, a large indian guy with Oakley shades and popped collar, was actually the security guard for the field since he was standing by the bleachers. Justifiably, she was quite dumbfounded when her "security guard" trotted onto the middle of the field to bowl to the next batsman. We were also quite entertained by the actions of the fans, who all seemed to be dressed in their "fratty-est" attire for the occasion...thus, we decided that cricket was the "fratty-est" sport we had ever seen. As the wind picked up and the jokes stopped coming as frequently, Ruth and I made our way to the exit in search of some lunch.

We found a nice little place for sandwiches and pancakes right by the tube station before departing to Westminster. Upon arrival there, we walked around and took some pictures of the abbey and the House of Parliament. After walking around in the crowds of tourists, we escaped to some side streets where I got a haircut from a cute Australian girl and Ruth bought/wrote a thank you card for our hostess in London, Crystal. For those of you who get your haircut in foreign countries (usually a bad idea as I have found numerous times), they will charge you more for using scissors than just the clippers but not for putting disgusting product in your hair! I learned this the hard way. Needless to say, I walked away after having a nice but unintelligent conversation with the Australian barber (who had a boyfriend of course), 15 pounds (or $30) lighter, and with a ridiculous greasy European faut-hawk. We took the tube back to the flat and hung out for awhile on Skype with friends and family before I decided to get in my long run.

This may have been my best run in Europe thus far as I did 13-14 solid miles with some great strength work mixed in. I started my run by conquering Primrose Hill twice despite the strong wind in my face. I then moved on to do two full outer loops of Regents Park. I concluded at 10 miles with 400m, 800m, 400m on a dirt track in the park at 73, 2:40, 76. This was a really good workout for me since I had not done much distance, speed, or hill work the past two weeks although I had be running consistently.

I was warmly greeted back at the flat with a homemade pasta dinner courtesy of Ruth and Crystal. Over dinner, Ruth enjoyed sharing with us tweets about weird (probably false) facts, which of course Crystal and I criticised relentlessly. In return I shared Jim Gaffigan stand-up with both of them courtesy of Netflix instant play. We spent the rest of the night laughing at his McDonalds, Disney, Subway, Domino's, and parenthood jokes..."I'm lovin' it!"

"Zoo Late" Groupon Fun & Some Irish/Jewish Luck

Another restless night of coughing with my cold still not gone meant that I ended up sleeping in until 1pm (I had been up at 6am eating breakfast because I just couldn't sleep). Regardless, once I got up, Ruth "shoo-shooed" me out the door to go run. She has finally caught on that I cannot get mobilised to do anything productive until I have gotten my run in...it's truly an addiction as many of you know ;) I had made it my mission to explore one of the other big parks in London: Regents Park. Although I had been there when visiting the college inside the park two days prior and had run it in 2008 when I visited with my family, I was excited to get back to explore all the park had to offer. It was a pleasant 1.5 miles to the park boundary and when I arrived, I tried my best to get lost in the multitude of trails. I passed the London Zoo (which we would visit later), ponds, statues, and gardens. When compared with Hyde Park, it was very difficult to say which one I liked more. They were both just great places to run and people watch! After a solid 4 miles in the park, I headed back towards the flat. Upon returning, it still took Ruth and I awhile to get going. We made lunch at the flat, which consisted of eggs for Ruth and a Jelly/Nutella/Banana sandwich for me (there was no PB unfortunately), and sat outside to enjoy the unexpectedly nice weather.

Around 5pm we headed to the main attraction for the day, a Groupon we had bought for "Zoo Lates" the day prior at the recommendation of Ruth's friend Cassie. "Zoo Lates" was a rare occasion at the London Zoo during the summer where the park would be open to 18+ patrons to eat, drink, and party 6-10pm with the animals. It ended up being as advertised and quite a spectacle: Young Brits dressed in animal costumes, faces painted, walking around with expensive drinks and poking fun at the animals. Ruth and I went for the more controlled approach (battling the American stereotype of doing everything to excess) and didn't really drink at the park with the ridiculous prices (5 pounds or almost $10 for a beer!). However, we enjoyed great food from street vendors in the park as Ruth got a sweet crepe and I stayed with my Spanish cravings from the night before by ordering paella. The weather also held up nicely and we were able to see all the shows we wanted to see from the Asiatic lions to the Komodo Dragons to the Improv Comedy Show in the oldest aquarium in the world (built in 1853!). Ruth and I got some great pictures and enjoyed watching the people almost as much as the animals. We both agreed that we wished there were more opportunities like this in the States to go out and have a social drinking night in an interesting location.

As parts of the zoo started to close around 9pm, we grabbed some dessert from the street vendors (Red Velvet cupcake for Ruth and Sour Amaretto Brownie for me) and headed triumphantly to the exit. We were in such a good mood and it was light/nice enough outside that we decided to forgo the tube ride to walk all 1.5 miles home.  We were so glad we did because we got to see more of the amazing park as the sun set on the horizon, caught the game-winning England goal versus Sweden at a pub, and even found 20 pounds on the ground! Ruth and I agreed that we had really lucked out tonight...maybe some of the Irish luck had rubbed off on us :)

Lazy Day, Hyde Park, and Tapas at the right time

Not too much to report from today since neither Ruth or I felt too good and we stayed in most of the day because of it. At around 5pm, I figured I would check out the famous Hyde Park just about 3/4 mile from our flat. It turned out being a great roughly 8 mile run with three loops of the park complete with gold statues, Italian fountains, and Kensington Palace gardens. This enormous park was bustling with runners, dog walkers, bikers, roller bladers, and many more types of people. I wish we had these types of parks in more of the big cities in the States, besides just Central Park or Lakeshore Drive. Upon my return, Ruth and I headed out to get some food and some groceries. We stopped at a little Tapas place we ran into first. It was a great meal (Spanish rice and Bean casserole with sausage and chorizo) and the owners were the cutest Spanish couple Ruth had I had ever seen. The little bald husband would yell at the small TV set up in the restaurant whenever Spain (who was playing Ireland in Eurocup group play), would have a good shot on goal. When Torres scored he went crazy! After dinner, we grabbed groceries at the nearest Tesco Metro although we had some trouble with the self-scanning machine and the Indian employee was none too pleased. We got back to the flat just in time to beat the rain and catch the end of the Spain game, a blowout of underdog Ireland...maybe the Irish should stick to their pub-crawling ;)

Looping London's Bridges with the Beatles and Finding the Secret College in the Park

After the long travel day yesterday, it was no surprise that Ruth and I slept in a little bit in the nice comfy bed we now had available to us for the first time in the trip. However, when Ruth's friend from UNC-Charlotte, Cassie, messaged Ruth that she would be able to meet us at 2pm at the Tower of London, we mobilised quickly. I was able to get in a quick 6 mile run along the canals of Little Venice and then finished with roughly 400m, 800m, 800m, 400m intervals around Westborne Green, immediately next to the flat we are staying at. This run really helped clear my chest of a my cold and get me going for the day ahead.

A few quick tube rides on the Bakerloo and Circle lines and we arrived right next to the Tower of London. The British are really quite spoiled by this amazing public transportation; who would need a car in this city?? Unfortunately, as we walked across the street to the Tower ticket offices, we realised that we were really unsure where Cassie would be meeting us (ticket office, entrance, or somewhere in between). We also had no way to immediately contact her...enter our saviour Starbucks. We jetted over to the Starbucks nearby, jumped online, and Ruth was able to catch a Facebook message from Cassie saying that she was running late and would be there around 2:30pm (the time at that moment exactly). We ran back to where we were waiting originally and finally got a glimpse of Cassie as her and her classmates as Regents College (they are doing a one month program there in PR this summer) crossed the street from the tube station. At this point, looking at the steep price of admission to the Tower (almost $40!) and remembering that I had actually been to it before 4 years prior, I elected to let Ruth and Cassie's group go in together while I made a replica key for the flat we are staying at. This ended up working out extremely well as I got to do a ton of stuff in my 2+ hours flying solo. I made the key, picked up stamps to mail Ruth's postcards (what a great brother I am...right?), and did a self-guided loop across both London and Tower Bridges. This was a great time for me to get some personal space and just explore on my own after being with Ruth or other new friends to this point in the trip. I took some funny "selfy" pictures on my Windows Phone, observed what looked like the taping of a Japanese bachelor show, and explored the back alleys around the River Thames. All the while, I was listening to Beatles playlist, which really got me in the right state of mind. After completing my loop of the two bridges, I headed back to Starbucks to post a few of the pictures I had taken on Facebook and hang out until I needed to meet Ruth. While there, I had the pleasure of meeting a nice young woman from Israel who was visiting a friend in London. We had a long conversation about technology (she is a computer programmer), Israel, and traveling the world. I told her I would be in touch if I am ever in Israel on vacation or working, and told her to do the same if she was in the States.

The timing worked out perfectly as Ruth and Cassie walked out of the Tower just as I was walking over to meet them. Unfortunately, the two southern sorority girls had lost their friends while inside the Tower and we waited for them about 20 minutes by the exit with no success. We headed back to Cassie's school, Regents College, by tube during the busiest time of day as work let out (5:30pm). This was quite an experience and not something I would recommend for anyone claustrophobic. However, the trip was well worth it as Ruth and I were shown to one of the most beautiful little campuses we had ever seen right in the middle of humongous Regent's Park. As if the location and old, ivy covered buildings weren't enough, the food at the cafeteria was awesome and cheap. I had some risotto and a mix of different salads...delicious! After dinner, I let Ruth and Cassie talk sorority stuff for awhile while I browsed the internet on my phone. Around 8pm, Ruth and I started walking back to the flat so that Cassie could do homework and pack for her trip to Dublin the next day. It was a long walk back but with the weather nice and it still light out, Ruth and I thoroughly enjoyed being out there and saving the tube ride. When we returned, we were quite exhausted and just watched the Eurocup game on.

Overall, a great first full day in London complete with sights and seeing friends.

Megabust but a warm bed...finally!

This LONG travel day began with a strenuous run, mainly because my cold and asthma were acting up. I got up around 8am tonrun up part of Arthur's Seat that we had not hiked the day before. It was definitely one of my slower and shorter runs on the trip but had a great view in the middle and I felt a lot better at the end. After. Quick breakfast and hostel checkout, Ruth and I headed to the bus station from which we had arrived a few days prior. Unfortunately, the cheap Megabus was a Megabust, having none of the amenities we had seen online (wifi, plugs, clean/working restroom). Being that we are good travelers, we just made due with what little battery life we had on our phones, iPad, and Kindle while sleeping a lot of the 9 hour bus ride. Upon arrival, we were well rested and quickly navigated the tube in London to get to Warwick Avenue, where we met Crystal, a family friend we would be staying with in London. What a great woman and host she is with her two cute whippet dogs! She gave us access to laundry (my bag had started to stink hardcore), clean/warm bed, and even bubble water made with an awesome contraption...what more could we ask for after all we had been through in a week of backpacking?!

Take a Seat Arthur! I am gonna hike all over ya!

After running into our pub crawl friends from Chico State, Bryce and Jillian, the night before, I made the decision that we would go with them on their Edinburgh explorations the next day that mirrored our own aspirations. This involved an earlier wakeup that Ruth and I had anticipated. However, the day ended up being quite productive and fun. We started at the National Museum of Scotland where we attempted to follow Scotland from its early Pictish (heavily painted and tattooed natives) beginnings all the way the way to modern industries of textiles (i.e kilts). We literally could have spent 3 days in the museum but instead spent just a few hours. Next, we grabbed some lunch nearby and visited the birthplace of Harry Potter, the coffee shop where J.K. wrote her fabled series while gazing up at Edinburgh castle. After filling up, we were off hurriedly to Callans Hill to catch a glimpse of the 1pm castle cannon shot and accompanying tower ball drop. We arrived just in time! We got some awesome pics and video as smoke billowed from the castle and the ball dropped (which used to signal ships in the harbor of the time). We then climbed all over the Parthenon replica on the hill and took some more cool pics. Then, our two friends and I descended the hill to climb Arthur's Seat, another huge hill overlooking the city and harbor. This was  quite a short but arduous hike even for a fairly experienced hiker like myself. It was well worth it, however, as we got some more incredible views and even ran into th cutest little English kid who was so excited to see the ruins on the lower part of the hill. His excitement rubbed off and I had to sit back and really reflect on the beauty of the place. The whole hike up and down took about 2 hours and by that time we were getting quite hungry again so we headed back to the hostel to share beers and an appetizer platter while watching the England vs France Eurocup game at the bar downstairs. Ruth came down and I got a kick out of an Aussie trying to explain why PCs and Androids are better than Macs and iPhones in terms of their power to complete a range of tasks and be customized. To a heart loyal Apple user and non-programmer like Ruth, this was incomprehensible since she could do all the tasks she needed to do quickly and easily...of course, she won the argument and got good recommendations to study abroad in Melbourne rather than Sydney Australia. Ruth and I got to reflect on the trip and what are expectations were moving forward. This trip has truly has strengthened my relationship with Ruth with the way we have been able to get along in close quarters despite some minor squabbles. As if on cue when our discussion ended, Bryce knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to get food with him and Jillian. We followed him in search of a Spanish Tapas place, which was evidently closed by the time we finally found it at 10pm (food stuff closes so early here!). We elected to "go big" on both our last nights in Edinburgh and splurged on some Hard Rock Cafe. It was a great way to cap a really awesome, although short, stay in Edinburgh. Feeling the onset of a cold worsening and with a relatively early wakeup tomorrow for checkout, we headed back to the hostel.

Orienting ourselves with the grisly history on Edinburgh

After the past night's raging, it was no surprise that Ruth and I were a bit hungover/exhausted this morning. We only ended up getting up because of a strange fire alarm that went off early in the morning. We grabbed a simple free breakfast downstairs at the bar before passing out for another few hours. I got back up around noon to get in a quick run before the walking tour at 1pm. I still wasn't feeling great but the excellent running weather and discovery of a 1.5 mile loop around Meadows Park made the run more bearable.

I got Ruth up when I returned, which has become somewhat of a ritual by now, and made our way to the walking tour. Again, we lucked out and got a really awesome tour guide, Brendan from Ireland (an Irishman talking about Scottish history was quite interesting because of the throughlines he drew like joint conflict with Great Britain). I won't recap everything from the tour but the highlights were Ruth volunteering to be an example of someone who would be tortured in Edinburgh's past, finding out the origins of "getting shit-faced", and finding out about the immortalized dog Greyfriers Bobby (who looks exactly like our little dog Donovan!). We met some nice people on the walk such as two girls from UNC-High Point (who of course Ruth shared mutual friends with given her enormous social network) and a nice woman from Boise. Brendan finished the tour in the Princess Street Gardens looking up at the castle and told us the truly epic story of how four Scottish college students from Glasgow returned the Stone of Scone, a symbol of national pride back to Scotland when they stole it from England. Overall, the tour was a really great historical snapshot and provided plenty of intrigue with its grisly details of torture, execution, ghosts balanced well with lighthearted stories like the one just mentioned.

This was more of a chill evening as Ruth and I watched Ghostbusters (ironic since we are in one of the most haunted places in the world) with more people from Chico State in the hostel's chill out room, got our discounted dinner at the bar downstairs of the hostel while watching the Eurocup match of Ireland and Croatia, and booked our travel/hostel's for the remainder of the trip. Tomorrow will be a big day of doing all the things that interested us on the tour today!

Buses, Ferries, and Edinburgh crawling

We had seen a good bit of Befast and so we departed for Edinburgh. It was going to be a long travel day so I got up and ran a quick 5 miles down the River Lagan the opposite direction I had gone the day before, which ended up being far less scenic (pretty much industrial wasteland) than the huge nature reserve I had discovered before. Either way, it got me up and prepared for the 8 hours of travel to come...

When I booked the cross-channel express (bus and train) rather than a short 45 min flight, I had mostly money in mind. However, it ended up being an experience that Ruth and I both enjoyed more than flying. The first part of the trip after a short bus ride to the harbor was a Stena Line ferry across the Engligh Channel to Scotland. This was basically a luxury cruise complete with on board restaurant, free hot drink refills, and most importantly, WiFi. We were able to blog and catch up on Facebook because of this. We also got some nice pictures on the deck as we neared the Scottish mainland. After leaving the ferry we jumped on the second threeish hour bus part of our trip. This part was even better than the last because we got to be entertained, see scenic views, and then rest up. First, we laughed at the antics of a Scottish family consisting of drunken father, toothless mom, one tooth grandfather, and 5 kids who enjoyed saying foul words just to get one their mum's nerves. Just when we were starting to get a bit annoyed by this scene and the noise, they got off at one the first stops and we were left to our iPods and Scottish countryside. We passed pictureque coastside towns, many of which seemed to have more sheep and cows than people. It was incredible to see the history, castles and old buildings, interwoven with the more modern architecture. Ruth slept a ton on this ride and I could have done more had I not been distracted by the window views. As we passed through Glasgow, Ruth and I agreed even before seeing Edinburgh that it was a really good last minute audible from Glasgow. Glasgow just looked far to modern and gigantic to really see and appreciate in 3 days.

Immediately upon arrival to Edinborugh bus stations, Ruth and I were blown away the beauty of the buildings, parks, and castle on the hill. Personally, I had not seen any other city like it save for maybe Florence, Italy. A short walk through the center of the city and we reached our hostel, St. Christopher's, directly above a bar! Of course, the first thing on our mind was food followed by drink so after dropping our stuff in our room upstairs, we shared some nachos in the bar downstairs with Ruth's student discount (we found out that this is a great meal for us to share since Ruth loves the really cheesy top chips and I prefer the less cheesy bottom ones to dip in assorted toppings). Again, we were just in time to get over to the hostel pub crawl that started up the street from us. Upon entering the first bar, the rain started to pour and was unrelenting throughout the night. Gladly this didn't stop us from having a really excellent time. We met some interesting people and made some fun memories. For times sake, I will just mention the highlights (in order of occurrence):
1. Meeting a couple who had just graduated from Chico State and staying at our hostel. We even stumbled back home at the end of the night with the and they gave us a preview of the walking tour along the way.
2. Meeting Adit from India and Anthony from Singapore. Adit thought that a tour group from Indiana was actually from India and got really excited for a minute. Anthony expressed upon us that in Singapore you can be hung or whipped for possessing marijuana (yea, harsh right?).
3. Seeing a scary lead singer woman from a rock band performing in one of the bars and calling me our in a songs as I took a picture.
4. Seeing a midget almost throw down a drunken group of male macho tourists for making fun of him on the dance floor.
5. Attempting to hit on a 25 year old French woman by using my French...fail.
6. Ruth and I both lifting up a barrel in an Irish bar to the dare and chants of "USA!" from a group of Irish guys. Needless to say, the bartender was not a fan of this.
7. Drunkenly cheering on the 2am breast cancer walk on our way home from the crawl.

The Troubles, the Titanic, & the Old Irish men

This was definitely my best night's sleep yet as I got 8 solid hours and was up right at my 7am alarm to get in a run before our only full day in Belfast.
I headed out for my run with some great soggy mist conditions and ran an easy 4 miles down the River Lagan into a beautiful nature preserve before turning around. The greenery was just magnificent! I got back and got Ruth up so that we could make the most of the day. We decided to do a highly recommended Black Taxi tour of the city's murals. We were so lucky that we did this as we received an insiders perspective of Belfast's Troubles from 1967 to 2001 when the peace treaty was signed. Our driver, Shamus, had lived through the entirety of this time and, despite being a Republican Catholic, exposed us to and explained murals on both Republican and Loyalist sides of the Peace Wall. The most powerful moment came when he began pointing to people on a memorial wall that he had known and worked with (6/8 taxi drivers and others including his wife's father). He even shared that his wife had been shot but luckily survived. When I asked him how he lived through this fear of death on a daily basis he responded that he didn't live in fear since it was "just normal for him" until it really ended in 2001. I left the tour with a sense of just how much bloodshed politics and religion, especially when they are linked, can cause even in a relatively small city like Belfast.

Shamus was nice enough to drop us off at our next destination, the Titanic museum, for just a few extra pounds. This museum had just been redone to the nth degree with, clearly, tons of financial backing. The exhibits walked through the beginnings of Belfast industry to the intricate details of building the Titanic, to its eventual collapse and discovery deep underwater. I really enjoyed the stunning use of technology as a learning tool throughout, including surfaces and touch screen visuals (I know...I'm a geek ;)

After spending a solid 3 hours at the Titanic Belfast, Ruth and I meandered back towards the hostel to rest before going out. While back, we finished watching Finding Nemo on the iPad (cute movie) and got recommendations from our main man Greg about good Pubs in the area, which he was more than happy to talk my ear off about. We set off to check out the closer pubs that he recommended.

The first pub was in a back alley and already filled to the brim with what looked like older Irish locals getting hammered at 7pm on a Friday. We took a walk through the pub but saw no tables and felt quite unwelcome/out of place here. Thus, we headed to the next pub, one that was not even on the tourist map but had been highly recommended by Greg. Maddan's didn't look like much from the outside as it sat quietly in a back alley with just one smoking man out front. At first, we couldn't even get in but the smoking man helped us by ringing the buzzer on the door (wow quite a secret place we have here!). Upon entering we found a few locals, a big screen showing the Russia vs Czech Republic Eurocup game, and a really nice atmosphere. We sat down on some stools to have a HARP ale and watch the game but before long we had struck up an animated conversation with two experienced street performers, Mike (from Wales) and Thomas (from Ireland). They were a "real kick in the pants" as they spoke with us about dogs, American sports, and even a bit of American politics. Mike aided us in bashing the Seahawks and their horrific track record while Thomas told a fairly tasteless joke about Obama and Palestinians (we definitely sensed his British loyalist political views). Two drinks down and 2 hours later, Ruth and I were getting tired and hungry despite the entertaining conversation. We bid "Cherrio" to our new friends and head out in search of some food. Unfortunately, none of the pubs or restaurants were open at 9pm (we found they eat and party much earlier here than in Spain or other parts of Europe) so we ended up in the large Americanized mall called Victoria Square. Here we found the good ole TGI Fridays on the top level. We chowed on mozzarella sticks and beef wraps while surfing Facebook on the free WiFi. After dinner we were both tired and, despite the urge to hit more pubs on our last night in Belfast, we elected to go back to sleep. We knew we had a long day of bus & ferry travel to Scotland tomorrow.

Overall, our time in Belfast had been short but we got to do basically all the things we wanted, from the murals to titanic to pubs, and were still able to rest up for raging in Edinburgh.

We wanted to meet Irish locals...of course, we met the rowdiest of the bunch

This was our first travel day while on the trip and it was definitely well-timed: we were hungover after last nights epicness, the weather was crap, and it was time to leave Dublin for Belfast to the North. Our initial plan was to hit the Jameson Distillery and the Chester Beaty library before departing but on this particular morning though either Whiskey or books made Ruth and I both shutter. So we trudged through the rain to the bus station, boarding the noon bus. The ride was uneventful as Ruth slept in typical "Mouth Open fashion" while I read about Belfast on my Kindle. The three hour ride passed quickly and before long we found ourselves in an equally rainy Belfast with no British pounds and no idea where our hostel might be. Of course, a friendly Irishman in the station coffee shop again came to our rescue when he drew us an excellent map of directions.

Upon arrival at the hostel (in a shady back alley off of a nice main street), we were greeted by Greg, a friendly South African who would end up coming to our rescue later on...

Feeling adventurous, we had elected for the 8 bed option after going with 4 bed at the last hostel. We figured we would just meet more awesome people like Sean and David at the last hostel...we were wrong. Let me preface this with two things:
1. Every Irish person we had met to this point was both kind and respectful.
2. Because of this, I had stated on the bus that I hoped we could really meet and befriend more Irish locals.

With these things fresh in our minds, Ruth and I arrived at our Linnen House Hostel room to find two Irish friends, Rebecca (21) and Carmichael (17), downing mixed drinks happily (which should have been an immediate red flag for me since the hostel had clearly posted signs stating how drinking in rooms would end in being expelled from the hostel). Anyways, they cheerily sparked conversation with us even though it was sometimes hard to hear with their thick Irish accents and vocabulary. Aside from finding out about how Irish despise American politics and gluttony, we discovered that the other people in the room that night were friends of theirs going to a Deathmau5 concert that night. RED FLAG: Ruth and I are dead tired and looking to rest up and plan travel to Scotland and these Irish kids are throwing a full on rager pregame (and likely postgame/drunkin' antics after the concert)! We knew this could be our first adversity on the trip. Pretty soon our worst fears were realized as 12 Irish teenagers of the worst kind ( spiked hair, tight jeans, lack of respect) showed up all at once and began smoking and drinking inside the room. I attempted to tune it out and book the hostel in Edinburgh on the iPad but before long I was ready to just peace out for a different hostel. Then came our man Greg from before walking in! My initial hope was that he would see the alcohol and kick all of the hooligans out leaving Ruth and I with a huge room to ourselves. However, we got the second best option of him moving us to a quieter room away from this craziness. We ended up being moved to a huge and cheaper 21 person room but it was just fine because we got our good, restful night sleep :)

Shorts are great for Cliff running but not for clubbing

This was he day that we decided to pursue Ruth's dream of seeing the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland. It just so happened that we had the great luck of taking the hostel-endorsed tour with our roommate, Sean Conway, along with two recent Minnesota grads, Amanda and Rachel, on a BEAUTIFUL 70 degree (and clear...very importantly) day. Both instances of "Luck of the Jewish (in Ireland)" worked together to make our third day something truly special.

The day started at 6:30am with breakfast in the hostel kitchen with our friends mentioned above. Clearly, we were all glad we had "taken it easy" last night with the early wakeup today. A short, brisk walk to the tourist center near Trinity College and we boarded the tour bus. first stop: Galway. We slept most of the 2 hour ride there in preparation for what would surely be a big day. Upon arrival, our walking tour guide met us and told us all about the 4th biggest city in Ireland and historic one on the Atlantic. One of the coolest things we saw on this tour was St. Nicholas Collegiate Church. Here, we heard all about the history behind the words "Lynching" and "Lynch Mob" in relation to a father who killed his murderer son in Galway. Our tour guide, seeing our keen interest in the church, even pulled us aside to show us a Knight's Templar buried in the corner and calling references to "The Da Vinci Code". After leaving the church, we saw the colorful streets of Galway and Kennedy Park, named after the late Irish-American U.S. president. Before long we were back on the bus and headed to the main attraction: the Cliffs of Moher.

As we wove our way through the countryside of County Clare, it became apparent just how well these rural Irish maintained there quaint houses (some with traditional thatched roofs) and how much work went into stone property dividing walls. Our tour guide did an excellent job of mixing Irish incites with dry humor, most of it calling reference to his ex wife and his supposed ability to get any girl he wanted on the bus. We stopped for lunch in one of the small towns and dined on delicious seafood. I ordered the smoked salmon open-faced sandwich and was not disappointed. Within 45 minutes we were back on the bus and headed to the Cliffs, just as the sun became strongest and the shades fittingly came out.

What came next was quite possibly the most amazing runs of my life and probably the most treacherous as well. Of course, I had aspirations of running along the cliffs when I found out we were going but had not done any research to see if it was even possible. Pulling off my long pants and pull over, I exited the bus in just short shorts, t-shirt, and my signature Oakley shades hoping for the best. I asked the driver if there was any path aside from the approximately half mile of paved walking path around the visitor center. His response was that he "could not recommended" that I explore outside of this path because everything else was private property, as if he was just daring me to disobey him and explore further. Of course, in the name of an incredible running opportunity, I did just that. Heading left along the path on the cliff I came to a stone barrier marked with "Danger! Uneven Terrain" and watched as multiple tourists in front of me simply jumped right over it with no consequences apparent. I followed and soon found myself on a dirt and grass trail along the very edge of the cliffs. I began my run, even picked up the pace, as other tourists barked "be careful!" and the cows on the bordering property looked at me as if they were dumbfounded that this idiot American was braving this feat. For about 2.5 miles I ran along the cliffs unregulated despite the occasional tourist or rocky ravine. The path wound along the cliffs and finally culminated at the furthest cliff where an ancient stone building overlooked the Atlantic. For about 10 minutes, I just sat uninterrupted and gazed out on the light blue water crashing into the cliffs and the islands jutting up in the distance. I couldn't help but reflect on the simplicity of life and the beauty of nature despite all the conflict we see in our world today. Worried about missing the bus, I headed back the way I came with a little more confidence that I would not fall than I had on the way out. I arrived back at the visitor center just in time to hit the bathroom and meet Ruth with her crew before boarding the bus.

The ride back was fairly uneventful except for the the occasional picture stop for a great view or ancient stone structure. In all honesty, the group and I slept anywhere from 75-100% of the ride back after such a long day. It was good we did because all of us felt quite refreshed when we arrived back in Dublin around 9pm. We all (Amanda, Rachel, Sean, Ruth, and I) decided immediately before arriving that we would make a pasta dinner in the hostel kitchen to save a little dough. The girls headed back to the hotel to wash up and begin dinner while Sean and I picked up pasta sauce and drinks at a nearby grocery store. Before long, we had an excellent dinner/pregame and were ready to "go hard" for our last night in Dublin. 

Our original plan was to meet with the pub crawl again but the addition to our group of the frat guys from Maryland (one named Ari and in AEPi) made us scrap this plan. We headed to Fogarty's bar in the center of Temple Bar. Here we came upon an amazing discovery: Green woven hats being worn by many tourists in the pub. Before long our entire group had them and was belting out Backstreet Boys and YMCA to the joint amusement of tourists and locals alike. We even did some horrific "Irish" dancing. One person utterly entertained by us was an elderly couple, Ruth and Cornelious, sitting next to us and who had met 45 years ago at this very pub! A few Irish ciders, Guinness pints, and some hoarse voices and we headed out in search of our next adventure, it being around midnight at this point. As often happens in big groups, I became the leader fully responsible for our next scene of debauchery, which in the group's mind would be meeting up with the pub crawl finally. Of course, as equally frequently the case, I had no idea where we were going. No matter though because upon not finding the crawl, we ran into a friendly looking partier American with an Irish friend (fully suited up in a way that would make Barney from "How I met your mother" proud). This Barney-esque Irishman instructed us to walk 15 minutes to a club called Copper, which he said would still be popping and even allow our ridiculous green hats. Unfortunately, the frat stars had to kill this plan with their decision of two of them to wear khaki shorts, not allowed in this club or the one next door. This would not discourage us though as we soon stumbled upon Dandelion, a bar and club that took us in without a hitch. A few beers for the guys and Strawberry daiquiris for the girls later, we were cruising downstairs to a full on rave that put Rick's American Cafe to shame. For about an hour we danced among the smoke, strobe lights, and mirrors until the lights came up for closing at 2:30am. Our walk home ran right into a boy band playing on Grafton street and we sat down to listen for a bit, creating a quite a scene as other people soon joined us. Of course, our next stop was munchies in the form of the always reliable and locally adapted McDee's. This was a great time for people watching as this was clearly the destination of drunken young, tourists and locals alike. I ended up in a few pictures and almost a fight with an Irishman I called an "asshole" (when he found out I was American he was quite nice about it though and I explained my loose lips). On that note, we headed back to the hostel just as the sun was coming up...it was 4am. What a frickin' day & night!

Howth the Hell Did this Hat Get Here

I will keep this shorter than my first entry (kinda), which is fitting since it was a bit more of a low key day. It started with my first run in Europe, a 6am, 6.5mi fartlek run around the squared outside of the city park of St. Stephen's Green (it turns out this park doesn't open until 7am :/). Upon return to he hostel, I was ready to "conquer the day" and tried as hard as I could to get Ruth to do the same. Unfortunately this was not in the cards with how hard we went last night. Thankfully, I was able to rise Sleeping Beauty for some breakfast in the hostel kitchen. She would thank me later because she got some good toast with butter and a nice conversation with a loft-raging Aussie, who told her all about the benefits of studying abroad in Australia as a college student. Of course, she passed out after this, giving me some time to type up my first blog entry. 

We officially started our day when we met the brother/sister combo from Indiana we met last night, Pat (not Matt I soon realized) and Jessie Muehr, at the DART train station near the River Liffey. We almost missed them due to a miscommunication from no wifi communication but gladly we saw them in time to jump on the train to the fishing community Howth. A short 20min ride and we were on a peninsula with all the small village charm on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. We got some advice from another nice Irish couple to hike up into the hills behind a hotel up the street from he main drag. We were so glad we did this since we got a muddy but picturesque hike and a funny story. Ruth, in her typical fearless leader fashion, lead the way up the hills overlooking the city and came upon a dry and mint condition Leprechaun hat! The funny part of this was how dry it was despite the consistent rain throughout the day, suggesting it was dropped just before we came upon it...we did not see another soul the rest of the hike. We just unanimously decided that a leprechaun had dropped it and that he was now watching Ruth, waiting for the minute to trip her up and snatch it away. Each time Ruth tripped on a branch or slipped, the running joke was that the "Leprechaun made her do it". We finally arrived at a great lookout over the town but were dismayed to see how foggy it was, limiting the scenic view. Regardless, we trekked down and explored the roof fish & chips places before settling on the warm little pub directly below the train stop. This was an excellent choice as we munched on delicious local fish & chips washed down by some Irish coffee around a warm fireplace. Ruth elected for the just dessert approach with a rich brownie while she chatted it up with an Irish family living in Australia. Some funny quotes came from this exchange:
Irish guy to Ruth with new hat: "we don't do hiking, we do Guinness", "that is not your best look, you look fuckin' ridiculous!"

Full anrd warm, we headed back to Dublin by train

The evening was much more relaxed than the night before even though we ended up being treated for FREE to the hostel pub crawl.  This was in place of a comedy show that we could not for the life of us find but I'm not complaining because free beer is indeed free beer! The highlight of this second go-round of the crawl was the live music at the second two pubs, which Ruth and Jessie really enjoyed through dancing, singing, and giving the band members a good ole American hard time. However, the last few pubs were far more dead than the last few nights so we just decided to Irish our time together over a cheese pizza near our hostels. This was a great way to cap a nice night and allowed us time to gather advice from Pat and Jessie as they finished their similar trip to our own. They were great buddies and we will definitely stay in touch with them!

Hitting the ground running in Dublin...I mean stumbling

To start off, when I imagined what it would be like our first day in Dublin, I never thought Ruth and I would be able to accomplish as much as we did in 24 hours. The main reason that we were able to do so well immediately was that we jumped on opportunities that sounded interesting even if we were a bit tired/jetlagged. I guess this is how life is in general though...

Upon a beautiful arrival into Dublin, after passing over lush green fields with the Coldplay song "Paradise" ringing in my iPod headphones, we made our way through security with the hoards of other American college age tourists. I couldn't help but notice that we looked less like tourists than most because we didn't wear Boston Celtics gear or ALL green attire. We instantly felt welcome when the security officer joked about the length of Ruth's travels this summer. This would be a taste of later warm interactions with the Irish. After grabbing our bags we jumped on a cheap 2 Euro bus to the Temple Bar where our hostel was located. We were lucky enough to get there just in time for a free walking tour of Dublin put on by many of the local hostels. Our tourguide, Eileen, was cute and sharp brunette from the south of Ireland with with a real passion for Irish history and the humor within it. Her wit and stories kept Ruth and I awake and interested, quite a feat, for the entirety of the 3 hours. She told stories about Prison escapes, Irish rebellions against the British, and the occasional reference to Jonathan Swift's baby-eating "Modest Proposal" after passing his birthplace. Our tour was nicely broken up by a stop at the Old Storehouse pub where Ruth and I shared Irish coffee (alcohol and coffee do mix!) and a Guinness pint (first of many). We chatted with two sisters from Penn State and Illinois, Amanda and Callie, along with Will from Indiana. These guys would become our friends that would later join us on the epic pub crawl. The tour ended in St. Stephens Green, a park in the middle of South Dublin, where a 10k walk for cancer was just getting going around 2:30pm. Over the buzz of people entering the park, Eileen told us a heartfelt story about Michael Collins, from her hometown, and how he helped bring about Irish independence. Overall, the tour was quite useful in getting a feel for the the city and it's history in the scheme of Ireland's as a whole.

Next, we dragged ourselves through the 10k crowd to collapse in our hostel for a 2 hour "phat nap" before the night's festivities. I was going to get up and run but elected to take the time for extra sleep and a shower after a lot of walking during the day. This will not become the norm...I promise you that my fellow runner critics! Feeling quite refreshed on this beautiful 60 degree and sunny evening, we made our way to a back alley Cappuccino bar with croissants for Ruth and a chicken sandwich for me. Upon filling up for the forthcoming night of drinking, we made our way to the first pub where we would start our hostel pub crawl...

The names of the pubs we went to and even the types of alcohol consumed are quite irrelevant (and honestly I couldn't tell you from memory ;) but what really stood out were the people we met and the experiences we had last night. First off, our pub tour guide was a real "boss" and made it his mission to get all the tourists in the group pumped up for the next bar. At our final bar, he even socialized with us telling us the hilarious story of how he just witnessed two bitchy American girls complain about a drunk Irishman hitting on them, resulting in him being kicked out of the bar! No wonder we Americans get such a bad reputation. Speaking of American reputation, we had the opportunity to play beer pong in the bottom of an Irish pub in what turned out to be a real American frat party, Irish style. There were even some University of Maryland frat stars to get overly pumped up when they made a cup. Definitely the best friends we made last night were two 28 year old women from Toronto and a brother/sister from Indiana named Matt and Jessie. Jessie was celebrating her 26th birthday and wanted to do it "real big" in Ireland. I can confidently say that she accomplished that with some help from Ruth, who became her Irish dancing buddy in each bar mwe stopped at. By the end of the night it was clear that both were enjoying each others company immensely despite the malmost 8 year age difference. I will say that Ruth also earned some serious stripes as a "wing man" in this particular situation. That being said, I rewarded her with a taxi ride (rather than long walk) and some late-night munchies cheese pizza when she said that she was hungry and about to pass out. Passing out is exactly what we did, especially with the discovery of 2 new roommates in our hostel room when we returned.

Great day, great night, no complaints. If this sets the tone for the rest of the trip, Ruth and I are in for a real treat!