A Pinch of Home, a Sprinkle of Barca, a Dash of Paris, and a Call from London

So, it has been awhile... and there is much to catch up on.
In my last post I mentioned that some of my favorite people were in town. A little bit of home came to Ireland :). My mother, aunt Deb, sister Alex, and cousin Nathan all were finally miles away from home and close to me. I could imagine for some of them it was like hell getting here because of the snowstorms and missing flights. BUT they all got here and left together so it was definitely worth it, I would say. Although I was not the one traveling...

While they were in the Emerald Isle, we all did some traveling which was just fabulous! Here's a mini version of our itinerary...
Sunday: By this time everyone had arrived and still had jet lag. One accomplishment of the day was that Nathan tried blood sausage. You know what they say, you are what you eat. Of course, he loved it. After waiting for 3 and a half hours in the airport for Alex to arrive from London, we went into Dublin and had a traditional Irish meal in temple bar, what can get better than that on the first night? So Irish... 

Monday: Toured Dublin quite a bit on a tour bus, walked around Grafton Street, and even got some shopping in. It was snowing a little bit unfortunately. To get away from the cold, we had some cheeseburgers in paradise. It was a lovely day for sightseeing around Dublin. 

Tuesday: After I went to my morning class I got picked up and lectured by mom for at least 15 minutes on how and how not to burn a candle... I shall never forget, thank you. After leaving campus, we headed (on the left side of the road) to Dingle. On our way we stopped in Limerick for some lunch. The highlight of the day for me was making a few pit stops on the way to Dingle to take photographs. We jumped a fence and ran around in the field while having some mini adventures (mini things are always a good idea). The scenery was absolutely incredible. Those brief moments reminded me why I love Ireland so much. When we finally reached the little fish town, we grabbed some more traditional Irish dinner at a restaurant by the water. If there's one thing I know about this trip, it's that we ate right. (These things do matter). 

Wednesday: We walked around Dingle and went into some shops (it is really a must to shop in almost every place you go if you're a girl, right?) Dick Mack's must have caught Aunt Deb's attention because it was a little hole in the wall haberdashery where people would go to meet up with each other. It was very neat! An old Irish man named Oliver Joseph Mary MacDonald gave us some Baby Guinness's :). The rest of the day we drove around the Ring of Dingle and stopped to see the bee hive huts and plenty of sheep... there were so. many. sheep. but they were cute :). We headed to Drumoland Castle where we were to stay the night. We stopped at the beach on our way but were only there momentarily because of the weather. We had a nice dinner at the castle, although I had Irish stew which came with lamb. I may have been able to eat it any other day, but after driving all day and stopping to see sheep after sheep, all I could think of was bahhhh when i put that poor little lamby in my mouth. So, lamb is forever ruined for me. Later, we got Irish coffee which is where one of the funniest moments happened. My mother decided to take her drink stirrer and hold it up to her eye like she had one eye. The waiter came over and literally said "I don't even know what to say". You know something's weird when the waiter says this. Then it was time for exploring and more mini adventures around the castle. We were even able to get onto the roof! It was amazing to see all the stars from that spot. Another highlight of the night was when we found the ballroom. It reminded me of Anastasia. We had our own little dance party and all the lights were turned off. I just HAD to go and ruin it though because i knocked a glass onto the floor and it shattered... oops! We sprinted out of there as fast as we could, until Ali realized she left her purse in there so we had to act like James Bond/do some parkour and sneak back in and get it. Then we all said nighty night.

 

Thursday: After free breakfast, it was a bit rainy so we headed to see the gardens which were beautiful (even without the flowers) and were off to Galway. There, we did some more shopping and walking around. We stopped at a little cafe for lunch which was really delicious. Then in the afternoon it was back to Maynooth for class. Nathan and Alex stayed with me that night and we had tapas at my favorite cafe in Maynooth called Twist. It was delicious, like always. Then we went to the Roost later with everyone and hung out there for the night. We all had a blast! I missed hanging out with those two.

Friday: We were summoned back into Dublin for the day. We got a nice Starbucks lunch and did some more shopping on Grafton and  went into Jack Wills where I fell in love. We wandered around Dublin a little more and found St. George's Arcade which was really neat and then had lunch. Later on before dinner, we went to the hotel to nap and relax. We went a little early for dinner because our reservations were for 9 and had drinks. They surprised Alex and I for that being our birthday dinner so we both got some jewelry and some Jack Wills stuff, oooo la la! It was nice :). Then we all said our goodbyes and they ran after me on the bus back to Maynooth, which made me laugh all the way home. My family is crazy, but how can you not love them? That pretty much sums up my week of having a little bit of home close to me. I couldn't have asked for anything better for my birthday (even though it was a month away). 

Now for Some Fun in Barcelona... 

Let me just state first off that Barca did it's damage. 
St. Christopher's accommodated us which is right by La Rambla ( the main road going down to the harbor where a ton of vendors are including gelato stand after gelato stand). 

I'm not going to go through everything we did, but I'll state the highlights and my favorites.

(Everything was pretty much my favorite)

• Watching LE take out her giant celery and peanut butter in a plastic bag in the airport at 6 in the morning.
• Being able to take my jacket off and getting a little sunkissed.
• FINALLY having a burrito.

• Wearing my superstar sunglasses.
• Enjoying all of Gaudi's beautiful architecture. 
• Walking to the market every morning and picking up a 2 euro breakfast, including a fruit smoothie and croissant. 

 

• The ginormous drink we all shared (the nightlife is a must)!
• Contemplating while looking out in awe at the entire city of Barca from a hill top. 
• Walking around the city one night... for 4 hours. And finding the best swing.

• Of course, eating gelato and drinking sangria.
• Walking along the beach. 
• Watching Charlie laugh at us when 3 pairs of our shoes just disappeared into thin air. 
• Reuniting with my BEST FRIEND Maddie Sampson :).
• And wandering around trying to find the shops with Madison, when we were on the road parallel the whole time, oops! I got the best scarf from Zara :). 

Some of my not so favorite things...

• Losing my phone for good and the cleaning people taking our shoes for some strange reason.
• Listening to these guys every 5 minutes.

But everything was an experience :)

Like I said, Barca did its damage. 

I have one word for Paris: Magical.

Erin and I traveled throughout Paris on the metro for about 3 days and saw so much. We didn't plan anything before we landed in France, so we just went with the flow so it wasn't stressful at all. The first thing we did when we got there was have a delicious Italian meal. You know when the owner is eating at his own restaurant it has to be good...

We then proceeded to take a 3 and a half hour nap and lay in bed the rest of the night and watch The Black Swan. It was actually lovely :). 

The next day we got up early and started the day off right with a chocolate croissant thing for breakfast, which was delicious. 

We spent the day Wednesday starting from the Louvre and seeing Mona, the park, and the Eiffel Tower from afar. 

We visited Lover's Bridge with all the locks (we had to put one on) and the beautiful Notre Dame. 

And one of my favorite parts... NEUTELLA AND BANANA CREPES.

To finish off the day we devoured some Chipotle (a moment of pure satisfaction and a feeling of home) and visited Moulin Rouge! 

 

On Thursday we started the day the French way and got baguettes and let me tell you... the French make bread the right way. I'm a big fan. We went to the Arc de Triomphe first, then shopped our way down Champs-Elysees where all the big shops are. We got some lovely smelling lotion! We then went to sit down and relax and have the best snack in Paris... Macaroons and a nice Starbucks frappuccino! I saw everyone getting some iced chocolate type drink and so I tried it... and I fell in love again. It's that simple. The Iced Java Chip Frappuccino is my new favorite.

One thing I've learned about myself is that I get starstruck very easily. I kind of freeze up and shut down, my mouth drops, and I am in a panic/awe sort of state. So, if this happens when I see a person I've seen on TV a million times, imagine what happened to me when I saw the Eiffel Tower after looking at a picture of it hanging on my bedroom wall for a few years. I was in shock and felt like I was in heaven. It was beautiful SPECTACULAR. Need I say more? Look for yourself... 

We saw it while the sun was still shining,

At dusk,

 

And in all of it's glory at night.

It was absolutely magical. If there's any spot that's worth going to and just sitting and contemplating about whatever it may be, this is a perfect spot to do it... take my word.

Needless to say (I think), I left my heart in Paris and have no intention of taking it back.

London's Calling...

So many may already know that my favorite band is Onerepublic. One thing I realized while in London straight away is that this song is mostly about London, which just made me fall in love with the city even more. This discovery may be a bad terrific thing. As I was singing it the whole trip, I realized I was going to the places in the song and it just made me one happy girl.

The Good Life

Okay, moving on. I definitely could have spent about a week more there just to fit everything in. We just did not have enough time, but what we did do was amazing. 

Here are the highs and lows. Just kidding there are no lows because everything was a high.

( I will put pictures at the end) 

1. Harrods was like heaven on earth. Never knew it was possible. We got delicious cupcakes and ate them with a nice Starbucks coffee (this seems to be the usual on our trips). 
2. Being starstruck yet again, walking up from the tube into Piccadilly Circus and seeing the big screens. I wish we had a picture of our faces, they were priceless.
3. Everyone agreeing they would help me succeed at doing a handstand against the wall before we leave Ireland... I will not forget thank you very much!
4. Reuniting with my favorites (Charlie and Madison). :)
5. Having tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace... I got peppermint and scones with real jam and butter.
6. CHIPOTLE.
7. Shopping for Charlie's European side was an adventure!
8. Seeing Les Miserables was incredible. Even though we stood for 3 hours watching it, it was worth it. 
9. Seeing Morgan Freeman's twin in the Chinese buffet restaurant and LE actually believing that it was him. ;)
10. Having a real English breakfast.
11. Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace! SO glad we did this.
12. Seeing the real London Bridge and the famous Tower Bridge where we had roasted peanuts.
13. Big Ben, of course. *Starstruck* and Westminster Abbey.
14. Being the Beatles on Abbey Road... We're awesome. 
15. Seeing the Harry Potter platform! 9 3/4ths!
16. And most of all, being with some of the best people I know and goofing around! Love you all :). 

**Europe's tea has taken me hostage...**

Obviously, my favorite place in Europe is Ireland BUT out of the places I've traveled I wont let myself choose a favorite because they're all so different! And I love them all :). If I had the chance to return to any city I've been to I would definitely go back to Barcelona in the summertime and I will be returning to London for sure. I love America, buttt Europe has been stealing my heart one city at a time.