U-S-A

my voyage back to the US begins today. Paris to Amsterdam. Amsterdam to Iceland. Iceland to DC. DC to VB. Europe, you have been good to me but the United States of America will always be home.

PARIS TOMORROW

yes, that's right. I am heading to PARIS tomorrow for 2.5 days. SO PUMPED! This last week has been amazing. I can't really stay up to write about it now because I only have 4 hours to sleep before we wake up to head to the airport. I will write after Paris, but just know that Dublin has been such a magical and wonderful place and I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped me along this journey. This is the most amazing experience that I have ever had in my life and I have made memories and friends that will last beyond a lifetime. Back in the states on Tuesday and I will update more then!

xoxo

Galway, Cliffs of Moher, Killarney, Annascaul and Cork

This past weekend, we traveled with the Paddywagon!

The Paddywagon took us from Dublin to Galway, Killarney, Annascaul and Cork. We took a 3 day trip ann left early Friday morning. The first place we headed towards was Galway. Galway is a nice little city that is on the west coast of Ireland. We actually had some troubles getting there. Our bus was a little unorganized and we didn't end up leaving Dublin until almost 10:30 and we were supposed to leave at 8. We got into Galway and went to dinner with our driver and then Sara and I go up to take some pictures the next morning.

After Galway, we headed south towards the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are probably the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. There are no words or pictures that could justify how beautiful they are, and if I have to recommend somewhere in Ireland for travelers to visit, it would be the Cliffs of Moher. We had about 2 hours here to explore and take pictures.

After the Cliffs of Moher we kept on trucking south towards Killarney. Along the way, we got a call that our hostel was overbooked because there was a Gaelic Football final that day and they had forgotten we were coming. So we headed more southwest towards Annascaul for the night. It was Courtney's birthday and we were literally the ONLY people in town so we just took over the pub and had a birthday party for her.

Singing the Spice Girls!

Now it was Sunday and we were headed towards the BLARNEY CASTLE! It was so gorgeous and I kissed the Blarney stone. 

Good luck for the next 7 years... 

Along the way, we saw a bunch of castles and beautiful land. Here are some pictures form all those places.

London, England

Soo.. London has completely stolen my heart at this point. Went there for the weekend, and NEVER wanted to leave. I completely fell in love with the city and all the sights. We stayed at a hostel right off of the bayswater station. It was in a great location right by Hyde park and all the great things to see in London. This is the outside of out Hostel. It was great!

The first place that we visited was Hyde park and the Kensington 

palace. The sunken gardens at the palace were amazing.

"Round Pond"real original name

Sunken Gardens at the Kensington Palace

After that, we walked through Hyde Park to the other side. Along the way we saw this huge statue and we went over to see what it was. All we found out was that it was "Albert," but it was beautiful!

from far away

closer up

We then headed towards Buckingham Palace. Along the way we stopped at this war memorial. It was beautiful and there was this great archway that was there too.

Australian War Memorial

The next stop was Buckingham Palace. As we walked there, we saw a huge crowd gathering. When we got there, we found out that it was five minutes until the changing of the guards! We didn't even plan to see it, but we had perfect timing. We also squeezed through for some pretty good spots. Here are some pictures from that.

me outside of the palace

guards walking by

guard out front of Buckingham Palace Doors

"Hi-ho hi-ho, it's off to work we go"

the palace from around the traffic circle

typical tourist

NEXT STOP=BIG BEN & WESTMINSTER ABBEY!

From there, we saw the London Eye, and walked along the river to the London and Tower bridges. After that we went to the Tower of London and then Picadilly Circus. ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT WE WENT TO WIMBLEDON! I had a great time! More to come... bed time now!

the london eye and our ride

down river

we made him smile

the thames

my future house

tower of london

tower bridge

wimbledon