A "Low Key" Weekend At Home!

This weekend was supposed to be a "low key" weekend at home, but that didn't really turn out to mean that we actually stayed at home! Somehow we still managed to walk for miles and drink for hours!



On Saturday morning a few of us got adventurous and decided that we would do the cliff-walk from Bray to the small, harbor town of Greystones just to our south. The walk took us right along the coast of the Irish Sea and was extremely steep and "close to the edge" at times. We came across some really pretty ruins (that's us posing in them) and also caught a pretty good picture of the DART cutting through the countryside. (The DART is the train that runs along the coast from Bray up to Dublin and beyond. It's the train we take to Dublin when we go). It was an absolutely gorgeous day, which I'm learning in Ireland means that it was about 60-65 degrees and only rained for a couple hours! Anyways, what better way to follow up a day of cliff-walking than an evening of pub-hopping! We decided to make a night of it in Bray in celebration of one of my roommate's birthdays. We encountered an Irish bachelor party out on the town, and I must say that an Irish bachelor party is much like an American one, only with a different accent! In case you're wondering, I won't be posting those particular pictures (or many of that sort) just in case I decide I want to run for politicial office one day! You'll have to see those in person!

On Sunday we headed into Dublin, and visited the Dublin Zoo. The zoo was really nice, located right in the heart of Dublin in this huge, grassy park. They had an absolutely amazing "African Safari" exhibit and I got really close to some of the biggest rhinos I've ever seen! It rocked!



A bit off the subject . . . a few other interesting/different facts about life here in Ireland have popped up for me this past week, so I decided to share them with you all! Please feel free to ignore this section of my blog!

• The police force (called the garda) do not carry guns. Their most "threatening" piece of equipment is a billy club. There has been quite an uproar lately about the garda not stopping enough of the crime, however they argue that with no weapons to protect themselves, what are they really going to be able to do.
• There is definitely no "leash law" here in Ireland and the dog's are ridiculusly well-behaved. Example: People take their dogs everywhere including shopping in town. When the owner goes into a store, their dog simply sits on the sidewalk at the door/window of the store and waits, not tied up or anything. I watched a dog sitting at a store doorway the other day when a second person came up and also left their dog outside. The two dogs simply looked at each other and then sat there and waited for their owners to emerge. Mind you, this was on an extremely busy street with people and cars everywhere. I find random little things like this surprisingly fascinating!

That's it for now . . . have a fantastic week everyone!!!