ireland

I saw these two people in the town of Dublin.
I think they looked so nice, so I've put this picture here.
If they find they are here, I'm sure they will be very surprised.

I forget if my friend said "I'm dying because I am so bored.", but it's true that　Makiko, a friend of mine, who studied in Ireland, asked me strongly to visit her.
Therefore, I decided to go to Ireland with Akiko who traveled in England with me the year before. However, this trip was hard.
After we finished our work at around 17:20, we initially flew to Paris by the 21:55 Air France. Although we arrived at Paris 30 minutes ahead schedule, we had to wait for our flight to Heathrow for more than 3 hours. To make matters worse, the departure was late, so we arrived at Heathrow late and couldn't check in for flight to Dublin in time. They didn't allow us to board, although the plane was still there, and our luggage had already been checked in and in fact went to Ireland ahead of us!
It was summer, which is the peak tourist season, so flights are usually full. We had to wait for a cancellation for more than 2 hours at Heathrow Airport. Finally we got seats two flights later, however, we were unable to sit together. I was worried about our luggage. Luckily, the man sitting next to me, Larry, was staff of a flight company. After we arrived at Dublin, he took us to our luggage and recommended us to use buses if we wanted to go to the town because it was the cheapest way. Then he got on the bus with us. Thanks to his help, we made up for lost time. Finally, Akiko and I joined him in a drink. I think I drank 2 glasses of Guiness at the ariport and a Gin and tonic in the town with him. Therefore, we lost more time. However, I have to say, "Thank you.", because with his help we could go to the town without any difficulty.

The first day
Tokyo--Heathrow--Dublin

I got extremely tired and we didn't have much time as I mentioned before, so we just walked around the town. We got into a carriage(left) and saw Dublin, as Akiko had wished.
Clippety-clop. Riding a one-horse carriage around the city was quite comfortable.

That night, Makiko took us to an Irish Italian Restaurant(I wonder what "Irish Italian" means?) to eat supper. When we left the restaurant, it was already after 9:30. However, it was during the summer, so it was still light. Because we had some problems with our flight, we were really tired. Therefore, we went to bed without taking a shower. Immediately after that, I was in a deep sleep until 8:30 the next morning.

I saw a lot of strange but very artistic sculptures in Dublin. The left lower is a statue of James Joyce who is famous for "Ulysses".
On the street, we saw some pretty performers like on the left below photo.

My friend who studied in Dublin said, "We can either walk or take a taxi if we want to go somewhere." Finally, we had to walk because we couldn't use a taxi every time. "I'm fed up with walking.", she said. I asked her, "Can we use trains or buses?". She answered,"Yes, but almost all the buses go to the suburbs not where we want to go. Therfore, we have to walk".
As I recall, I walked and walked and walked in Dublin.

The second day
Dublin--Galway
Akiko wanted to take it easy, in Dublin, the hotel which we stayed at was a little expensive. On the second day, we ordered Irish breakfast for the first time, but there was too much, so we couldn't eat everything and didn't feel hungry even at noon. However, look at this picture! Do you think it looks tasty? Actually, yes, it was really delicious!

On the second day, we walked around a park a little. After that, we visited Trinity College and looked around the library. They say that the library is old and historical, I remember that I felt some kind of nostalgic atmosphere and it smelled of old books. Being in the library made me comfortable.
I like visiting souvenir shops, so here I was also attracted by the Library Shop. I bought some Celtic accessories. They are very beautiful!

In 1592, Trinity College Library was founded. The oldest surviving building was the Old Library. It was built between 1712 ande 1732 to the design of Thomas Burgh.

After visiting Trinity College, we walked around a park nearny our hotel. Makiko and I left for Galway by bus. It took about three and a half hours. From there, we planed to go to Aran Islands the next day. Akiko didn't go because she wanted to relax in Dublin. Because of the summer season, the bus was quite busy. They probably run an extra bus, so our bus departed from Dublin ten minutes earlier than the schedule.

left : a relief of Claddagh ring. Galway is famous for it. I heard that Claddagh Ring is the symbol of peace and friendship.；middle：a pub whose name is Keath. We could see the ground floor from the first floor. I liked that structure. Don't you think it's stylish? I had a cup of Irish coffee and a gin and lime ; right : scenery after the sun set. There were many swans there.