More weekend adventures

So I am already half way done with my time here in Ireland. Wow, that went incredibly fast so I can only imagine the next 4 weeks will fly by! Since weekends are really my only free time to explore and go on adventures I have been staying really busy. So, here are this weekend's adventures!

Friday Night
Pub night! I really haven't gone to the pubs much here (which I'm pretty sure is a sin) so Friday night I messaged Katie, who I met through Greer, my American housemate, and off we went! Our first stop was a pub called the Quays (pronounced like "keys"). We stayed there most of the night because there were two guys playing live music and they were great. They did covers of everything from traditional Irish songs to some Johnny Cash and the Killers. I absolutely love the atmosphere of live music in a pub.

Then we went to another place called McGowan's because Kelsey, who was the other American intern at SAOL was spending her last night in Dublin there. We went to dance for a bit and say goodbye to her. I'm pretty lame, though, and don't stay out until 3 in the morning like a lot of these Dublin pub-goers because I had to be up at 7am for another adventure!

Saturday
So Saturday morning I was up bright and early, hating myself for going out the night before, to go on a coach tour to Wicklow! Katie was going to come with me, but she wasn't too feeling too hot from our night out, so I ended up going by myself which was fine. The tour basically took us into the mountains of Wicklow. Now, coming from Colorado, the term "mountains" holds a lot more weight...the mountains in Wicklow are only about 500m or around 1600 feet, so to me they are more like "foothills", but it's all relative. Anyway, they were beautiful! I just love anything that has to do with nature so this was the perfect tour! It was funny because the tour guide was actually English, but he knew so much history and fun facts about the country so he was a great guide! So here are some of my favorite pics from the trip...

The bridge used to film a scene in the movie P.S. I Love You

The Lower Lake

The Upper Lake

There was a beautiful cemetery there. I have kind of realized that I have a fascination with cemeteries...I think they are so beautiful, especially these really old ones

The tv series Ballykissangel was filmed here and we had lunch here

I don't know how many times I have said/written this about all of the places I have seen in Ireland so far but it was so incredibly beautiful! I feel so lucky to be able to see all of these places...there is so much beauty in this world and to think that this is just a sliver of it blows me away.

Sunday
Sunday morning Federico, Lorena, and Eva all left the house so we got 3 new housemates...2 spanish guys Nico and Juan and a french guy (whose name I don't remember...) and they all seem pretty cool and they are here to learn English.

I met up with Katie Sunday afternoon to go to Kilmainham Gaol, which is an old jail built in the 1700's. We stood in line for about 45 minutes to buy tickets for a guided tour...they said this place is always super busy like that, so we were excited to see it!

Hangings would occur in the front here for public entertainment

Behind the alter in the chapel is a doorway where the priest would lead the prisoners, reciting their funeral scriptures, as they were going to be executed

The oldest part of the building was built with a stone that would retain moisture, but not heat. There was no glass in the windows when it was first built so you can imagine how wet and cold it would be.

Inside a jail cell

Newer corridor built around 1850

Newest corridor built in late 1800's. It was round and has incredible acoustics so the guards could pinpoint noise coming from any prisoners, and they could keep a 360 degree view on the area

Prisoners used the spiral staircase because only one person could go up and down at a time. The handrail is only on one side, making it impossible to run up or down, therefore preventing riots

4 boys, aged 18-22, were executed for having one colt 45 gun in their possession.

Execution walls

Statues of the leaders executed

Blindfolded and shot

The tour was really cool and very informative. It was creepy to walk through the halls and to peer into the jail cells. It's awful what some people went through here, and some of them were innocent or only had a crime of being in possession in a gun, like those 4 boys.

It was a very busy but good weekend. Today I gave in and decided to pay a little extra each week so I can have my own room. So I got all moved in and it feels so nice to have my own space! I know, I'm spoiled. Also today I think I went into a food coma. All of the SAOL team members went to our bosses' house for lunch...the meal his wife prepared was absolutely incredible! We had so much food, I don't even know how I didn't explode...it was a 3 course meal with an appetizer of salad and a pastie I think it's called, an incredible main entree of a chicken breast and a veggie lasagna type dish and of course several dessert options of different cakes, pies, and fruit. It was so good! The best part is they live just a street over so I might be going over there for dinner more often....