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!

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!