Back from Vacation (Reviews)

Mr. B and I got back from our wonderful vacation super early (1 am) Friday morning. We stayed 3 nights at an all inclusive in Montego Bay and 3 nights at a really small boutique resort in Negril. I think we booked the trip two weeks before we went, which is so out of character for the both of us. We did it because we've both been so overwhelmed with work commitments, school work, house selling stuff and everything else in between that we just needed some time for just the two of us to do nothing. And we did do absolutely nothing for a week and now I'm finding it hard to get back into the groove of things. Tomorrow is Monday and I'm dreading it so much that I want to call out. Is that bad?

So on to the trip details, pictures and reviews...

We booked our trip with the help of Orbitz.com and Kayak.com. We kind of started the whole booking process backwards in a way. We wanted to stay at this fabulous boutique hotel, The Rockhouse Hotel, but they only had 3 nights available due to an upcoming wedding. So we snatched up those three nights in an amazing premium villa and decided that we needed to tack on 3 nights to the end of the trip or 3 nights to the beginning. We looked for hotels within an hour or so cab ride from Negril and found so many nice looking hotels. We settled on the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton and Jamaica Resort. The reviews from Trip Advisor were wishy washy, but it was relatively inexpensive and seemed nice.

I won't bore you with the details of the multitude of things that went wrong before we actually made it to Jamaica. All that stress melted away once we got to the resort. We booked a transport from the Montego Bay Airport to Grand Palladium (GP) with Clive's Transport Service, which was one of the recommendations we got from Trip Advisor (TA). The rates were much cheaper than other places and we didn't want to get stuck on a bus with a million other people. Before we left for GP, we set up the rest of the pick ups for the trip with the airport representative.

Grand Palladium Review

It took about an hour or so to get to GP from the airport and it's actually right outside of Montego Bay. We were greeted with some complimentary rum punch at check-in. Our room wasn't ready yet, so they strapped some wristbands on us (which you had to wear the entire time...woo-hoo weird tan line) and told us to get some lunch, go to the bar and come back in a few hours. We went downstairs and had some lunch in one of the buffet restaurants. There are three huge buffet restaurants on the resort and they all pretty much serve the same food, although some of them are open at different time slots. The food was pretty good. Nothing amazing, but nothing really gross. They had a good selection of healthy and not-so-healthy foods and the fruit was amazing. We've never had such good pineapple in our lives!

We went back to see if our room was ready, and it wasn't...no big deal, so we went to one of the bars. We had just sat down with our drinks and a group of 4 people come in and start playing cards. Guess where they were from? South Jersey. Unbelievable...we travel thousands of miles and see people that live a few miles away from us. Strange, huh? After a few drinks, we went to check on our room and it was ready, but at this point it had started to rain. We took a nice, soggy transport ride to the Lady Hamilton side of the resort (even though we booked with the Jamaica side...both on the same resort, just split on different sides). Our room was on the first floor of villa #35 (3504) and we had a nice view of the ocean, some mountains in the distance and one of the resort's three beaches.

The room was nice, but we did find a few critters during our stay which included a cockroach, some spiders and lots of gnats and mosquitoes. Bring bug spray and try not to bring anything scented because the bugs will eat you alive at night. The room had air conditioning, but it never seemed to get really cool in the room and our clothes always felt damp. Nothing really dried in the room.

Our Room

View from our room

The grounds were gorgeous including the massive pool. Thousands of people could fit in there without it feeling crowded. We went to the beach one day and Mr. B got so burned snorkeling that we sat at the pool the other two days. There were plenty of chairs at both the pool and the beach, but towels were scarce. We went and picked them up around 9am and always had one, but I did see people walking around complaining they didn't have any left. I didn't think that the grounds were so large that it was hard to walk them. Alot of people on TA complained about walking everywhere, but I think they were just super lazy. We did go to the gym 2 days while we were there and it was sufficient for a quick workout. Nothing fancy, just a handful of treadmills, 2 ellipticals, some mats, a few benches, a set of dumbbells and some universal machines. It was so hot in there though; like a fricking sauna, so we never stayed longer than 30 minutes.

One of the beaches


Massive pool

In addition to the buffet restaurants, they also have 'a la carte' restaurants. The lines for all the restaurants were out the door anytime after 6 or 6:30. All of them require reservations you make that night and it's included in the all-inclusive price. We only went to the Mexican restaurant and it was just ok. Nothing spectacular, but good.

Overall, we had a pretty good time here. The drinks were pretty strong, although they are served in small cups. The food was decent and it was much better than what I was expecting from the TA reviews. We'd definitely go here again, maybe with a group of people next time. I'm glad we went here first before going to Rockhouse Hotel (RH), because it was alot more lively and more of a party atmosphere.


Rockhouse Hotel Review




Let me just say that I already had extremely high expectations of this place from the amazing pictures on the website and TA, as well as the reviews. This place just looks like it oozes sexy solitude and relaxation from every inch. We used Clive Transport to take us from GP to RH and they were on time. We had the car to ourselves and the ride took about an hour. The driver had the windows open, so by the time we got to RH we were drenched and cranky. The front desk staff greeted us with a complimentary glass of rum punch and told us our room wasn't ready (we got there at about 1pm and check-in is at 3pm). They said to go hang out by the pool, get some lunch and they'd call for us. So we took our drinks and went off exploring.

One of the pathways on the property

The grounds here make you feel like you're in some kind of secluded jungle. It was kind of a maze to get back to the pool from the front desk area, but we made it and hung out in the pergola they use for yoga in the morning. It was so nice to just sit there, relax and overlook the ocean. After we finished our drinks, we did some more exploring of the property and took tons of pictures. A guest even came up to us and asked if we wanted him to take our picture....this was already much different than GP, everyone was so friendly.

Twenty minutes after we got to Rockhouse and I already felt uber relaxed. Could it have been the rum punch?!

After exploring, we decided to take a dip in the saltwater pool and grab some lunch from the poolside bar. We split the BBQ chicken sandwich, which was delicious and made right there. Eventually, the front desk called the poolside bar and told us our room was ready. We were in Premium Villa #5, which is on the other side of the resort past the Rockhouse Restaurant. Our room was exactly how I expected it; rustic and romantic and pretty minimalistic. I didn't expect that the windows would only be shutters, no glass, and the doors would not shut tightly, but it all added to the rustic feeling. The bed had a mosquito net that we used every night, but we still ended up with lots of bites on us from sitting outside after sunset. We had a nice little porch outside of our room that had two wooden chairs and it overlooked a sunning pad that we shared with our neighbors. Our room was situated in a little cove of the property and we had 3 different accesses to the water, which any of the other guests can also use. There is no TV in the room, but there is a mini-fridge with beer, water and some sodas (for a fee). Most people go to the local supermarket called the Hi-Lo and just pick up some beer to stock up the fridge and save some money. A cab ride there will run you about $5.

Our room

Premium Villa #5


Sun pad


The cove right by our room with access to the crystal clear water


Mr. B jumping off a cliff. I am no where near as crazy and did nothing of the sort!

The shower and the toilet were both outside in separate rooms. It was nice to shower outside, but it was a little distracting because the road is so close to the back of the rooms. There were constantly people zooming by in cars honking their horns and yelling. You couldn't really hear it inside the room though. There was also a small issue with hot water...there basically was none. After a day or so, we kind of got used to it. It's pretty hot outside, so you really don't need scorching hot water when you shower. Having the toilet outside was strange and I wish it were inside. The backs of the rooms are pretty much right on the walking path to other rooms and Push Cart, so people are constantly walking back and forth just a few feet from where you're trying to use the facilities. It's not a high-traffic area by any means, but still something to consider. The sink and dressing area were situated behind a half wall that the bed backed up to. It was a decent-sized space and we had plenty of room for our clothes, etc. We did have a little incident with a cockroach that crawled into a gap between the sink and the stone countertop. That was the only huge bug we saw inside the room and Mr. B took care of that with the quickness :)

It was really amazing how close everything is to the water and it is so unbelievably relaxing and beautiful. You can't help but fall in love with this place. We explored the water a little bit and then got ready for dinner. We made reservations for 6:30 at the Rockhouse Restaurant when we checked in (definitely recommend making reservations!) and we sat down just in time to see the sunset. Dinner was great; I had the Old Time Synting, which was a soup of sorts of different fresh seafood and Mr. B got this when we ate at Rockhouse Restaurant on our last night.

Every morning we ate breakfast at the Rockhouse Restaurant. It was a little on the expensive side, but it was within walking distance and what the heck, we were on vacation! I don't drink coffee...at all, and every morning I had at least a cup of their Blue Mountain Jamaican coffee. It's delicious!!! I also suggest trying the callaloo, which is a leafy green veggie that is amazing. We had lunch every day at the poolside bar; Mr. B always got the BBQ chicken sandwich and I got the grilled snapper sandwich. The drinks were pretty good here; Mr. B stuck to the Purple Rain drinks and I fell into a groove of getting the Lime Daiquiris...I love rum and lime together :) Our second night at RH we ate at Push Cart, which is another restaurant that's right next door and adjoined to the property. We got a jerk sample platter with chicken, pork and shrimp and the shrimp was by far the best thing we ate. The drinks were just ok here...don't get the Watermelon Cooler! It was horrendous!!!!

Dinner at sunset at Push Cart

I honestly can't say enough about how beautiful this place is. I had to keep pinching myself because it didn't seem real or even possible that a place is gorgeous could exist. Everything just seems so well thought out and planned and natural...simply amazing.

Sunset over the pool our last night at Rockhouse :(

We got massages together at the spa and I was expecting a little more. I've had plenty of massages before and this was probably not in the top 5. I don't know what it was that made it just ok or what could have made it better. Both of us prefer to be in our own rooms when we get massages and I had asked for separate rooms, but they put us together anyway. It's just kind of distracting with other people in there and hearing them talking/moving.

The staff here was friendly, but I was expecting more of a personal touch due to the smallness of the resort. At full capacity, it only holds about 60 people. We said 'hi' to them more than they said 'hi' to us, which was quite different from when we were at GP where all of the staff greeted us when they saw us. Chevon at the poolside bar was definitely the exception; he was super friendly and always added a little extra rum to my drinks ;-) That could be why I liked him so much!! They have a happy hour from 5pm till sunset at the poolside bar where you can get 2 for 1 drinks. This made me happy!

Mr. B and I would definitely go back here again and we'd probably try to stay in the same vicinity near PV #5. I'm not sure if it's really worth staying here if you're not in a villa or a premium villa. Next time we go, we'd probably venture off the property more. We thought about going to Rick's or some of the local restaurants, but really just wanted to relax and do nothing. We had such a relaxing time at RH that it felt like we were there for weeks and we were only there for a few days. I wish we could have stayed longer and I can't wait to go back!

It's been awhile...

Work and school have kept me pretty occupied lately and I haven't had much time to do anything else. We had an impromptu showing 2 weeks ago, but nothing came of it. Since then we haven't had any showings or open houses.

Mr.B and I just booked a last minute vacation to Jamaica. I can't wait to sit in the sun by the ocean sipping some cold tropical drinks. We haven't had a vacation since last May and I honestly can't even concentrate at work. I hope the weather is nice and we get good rooms and good service. I'll be sure to post pics and reviews when we return.

Since yesterday we've been eating really clean and I'm finding that hard to do with all the Easter candy in work. We also revamped our workout plan for the next 2 weeks to get us in the best bathing suit shape possible before we go. Right now I'm craving chocolate something fierce and this sugar free gum is not quite cutting it.

Last night I had to restrain myself from going to Sonic and getting a lime real fruit slush (my favorite!) or to the local ice cream place for a vanilla and orange sherbert twist. Ugh...they are both so delicious and this hot weather in NJ makes me want something cool and refreshing like that even more. I went and looked at the calories on line and that kept me from going. I've already lost 4 lbs since January and I'm trying so hard not to break my momentum. Eating well is hard, especially when the majority of the people around you eat junk.

I have to admit that I did go a little overboard with the eating on Easter, but it really could have been worse. My family gets babka once or twice a year and this year we found an amazing babka to replace the bakery that closed about 5 years ago. L&M Bakery's babka tastes pretty much the same as Village Bakery's babka before it closed. I'm pretty sure I ate at least half of one by myself. Completely divine and delicious. My mom asked if I wanted to take some home and it pained me to say no, but I knew I'd scarf it down if I took some home.

Once again I got roped into doing the Easter egg hunt but I justified it by saying that all the money I got would pay for stuff in our Jamaica trip. I gave all the candy to my little cousin to keep me from eating it. I have a feeling I'm going to be guilted into doing the egg hunt until we have kids of our own. There's already been things I said I'd stop doing once I got married, but that hasn't stopped my family from making me do them. Ah, families...aren't they great at guilt trips?



- Mrs. B

Updates

I'm on the train to DC with about an hour left till I get there so I have plenty of time for updates. We haven't had any more calls for showings since this past weekend, but I'm hoping that we'll hear something soon. I took off work tomorrow as a little reward to myself for all the work I've been doing for my work project...the one I'm presenting today. I plan on getting some good sleep, catching up on my DVR, and doing some cleaning. The house is looking a little dirty right now because I haven't had a spare second this week.

Mr. B's dad stayed with us this weekend and we finally ended up going to Moore Brothers Wine Shop. They had such a great selection of wines and they were pretty cheap too! The staff was super helpful and we'll definitely be going back. In fact, we took a bottle of wine to a byob last night that we got from there and it was really good. It was much different than we're used to, but the change was good.

Here comes the usual train headache that I get, so off I go to study my slides.


- Mrs. B

Being Away

In my old job I used to travel at least twice a month. I absolutely hated it. I mean, at first it was great…you get to see new places and travel on your employer's dime, but then the little things started to get to me. Like not being home to see friends that were in town and missing birthdays. Not to mention eating out every single meal and just being completely exhausted.

My new job doesn't really have me traveling much, but when I do it's usually local or to a fun place (like Spain!). This week I had to make a quick jaunt down to DC to go to some meetings. The trip hasn't been bad so far…I got to see one of my cousins that lives here, so that was a plus, but I can't help but think I'm so happy I don't do this for a living. I'm a creature of habit and I miss my boring same ol' same ol' life. I miss my husband and going to the gym…I miss being in my own bed and eating the same food I always eat. I'm boring, but I'm ok with that.

- Mrs. B

Ohio

We made it! Back and fourth in a little over 24 hours, which makes Mrs. B a very cranky girl. We arrived at the Cincinatti airport, which is actually in Kentucky, at about 11:30am yesterday. Mr. B's dad's friend (Mike), who organized the party, picked us up and we went to a brunch place called First Watch. I was a little leery because it looked like Denny's, but the food was excellent. I got an extremely fresh glass of grapefruit juice and I ordered a Key West Crepe. The crepe came with bacon (yum!), smoked turkey, avocados, and some kind of cheese. It was really good!

After that we went on the never ending cake search. Mike hadn't gotten a cake yet and we ended up going to 5!!! different places. He took us on a tour of downtown Newport, KY, which was really nice and reminded me of Olde City. We checked out a super famous ice cream shop, Graeters, and the nice girl at the counter gave us some free samples. I loved their Black Raspberry Chip. It was to die for! It made me want to franchise a Graeters in SJ--any backers?? LOL

We didn't find a cake, but we decided to go to a huge Krogers on the way to the party. Mike took us back to his house and we met his doggie, Thunder. Thunder is super old, but really cute. He was also very well endowed for a little Yorkie--it was very strange. We got changed and headed over to the Krogers. I've never been in a Krogers, but it seemed nice. They were having a wine tasting--I love grocery stores that sell liquor! :)

We got to the party and were introduced to everyone. Mr. B's dad came about an hour later and had absolutely no clue about the party, let alone us flying in. He walked in and you could tell just by the look on his face that we duped him! We were hiding around the corner behind the fridge, so he didn't see us until he walked in and talked to a few people. I thought he was going to have a heart attack! The party was nice and I've deducted that people from Ohio are really nice!


This morning we went to The Original Pancake House. I had chocolate chip pancakes and they were good, but a little too sweet :( Overall, the trip was pretty good. I'm glad we went. It was nice to see Mr. B's dad and meet my step mother-in-law and their 6 crazy dogs. I have to say that I am pooped and desperately want to take a day off tomorrow!

Vegas!!!!

Vegas was a blast!!! We had so much fun! I ended up winning quite a bit at the roulette tables. :) I knew it was going to be a good trip when I won $62 at my first slot machine. We can't wait to go back.

We stayed at the Mandalay Bay and the pool was really nice, but filled up quickly. We had to get to the pool by 8am to get a seat--kind of a pain, but we were up anyway. We usually left the pool in the early afternoon, got lunch and then went sight-seeing/gambling/trouble-making until it was time to get ready for dinner.

The second day we were there, we got massages at the Spa. I absolutely loved my massage!!! Although, the guy kind of weirded me out by asking if I played sports because I had really tight legs. Umm...no. I saw Mr. B after his massage and I knew something happened just by the look on his face.

He didn't come clean until we were back in the hotel room. His lady told him to get undressed and get on the bed....and he did just that. He completely ignored the fact that there was a sheet on the bed. Wonderful. Ok, so now the woman comes back into the room and she must have thought, " Oh, God...not another perv." So he's on his stomach with his ass all out in plain view and she starts to lift up the sheets for him so he can 'shimmy' under them. Now, if that were me, and I was the one giving the massage, I would have said something like, "Oh, I must not have been clear....I'll step out so you can get under the sheet." So he says that he had to kind of caterpiller up (ass in the air) to get under the sheet, which means he was definitely all out. How freakin awkward???!!! I don't know how he was able to relax after that...ha ha ha!!

We saw "O" at the Bellagio and it was amazing!!! I don't know how those people do those things with their bodies; it's just crazy. I'm kind of jealous :P We had dinner at Olives and it was just ok...not great, just good.

I don't know what is wrong with people when they walk. They seem to take the path of most resistance. I mean, honestly, you cannot miss me!! Even if you're short you have to see my humongous feet all the way down there. I had so many people walk right into me and I'm standing there like, "Hello?! WTF is wrong with you people?! Did I magically transport back to Europe where that's the norm?!" Mr. B and I were joking that if I ever had the gall to be a stand-up comedian that The Path of Most Resistance would be the name of my schtick and it would be all about how annoying people are and how it seems like it's some people's jobs just to annoy others. I think it's promising, but I'd never go through with it. Maybe if I write a book I'll use that--no stealing my phrase! (unless I'm properly given credit, of course)

The plane ride home was HORRIBLE. We flew US Air and the have to be the most terrible airline ever. Not only do they charge you $15 for your first checked bag, but they only gave us one drink during our 4.5 hour flight AND there was no movie. CHEAP!!! The guy next to me was quiet and polite the entire 4 hours until the pilot said we were ready to land. We didn't land for another 30 minutes and the guy next to me was freaking the eff out. I thought I was going to have to stop him from taking the plane down. He was a raving lunatic--talking about how the Philly airport sucks, how the pilot doesn't know what he's doing, blah blah blah. When we finally landed he immediately took out his cell and started calling everyone he knew to talk about how horrible the Philly airport is and how he went to Vegas for a 15 minute interview. Whoop-dee-doo Mr. I'msoeffingimportant; who gives a flying eff?

Other than those few mishaps, the trip was great and very relaxing. Unfortunately, today was my first day back to work and it was drama-filled. Yay for welcoming Mrs. B back with open arms and rainbows :(....

Spain Tidbits

One of my friends is going on a Mediterranean cruise (so jealous!) and they're making a stop in Sevilla, Spain. I wrote up some quick facts about places to see and eat so I thought I'd add it to my blog.

Sevilla
Places to See:
1. Catedral y Giralda--located in the center of the city and right across the street from Real Alcazar de Sevilla. I loved the orange trees! This took about 2 hours to see everything.

2. Real Alcazar de Sevilla--Gorgeous old palaces with Moorish influences. We spent a few hours here. The gardens are amazing.

3. Museo Taurino y Plaza Maestranza--This is the bullfighting museum and it?s located right along the river; right down the street from El Torre de Oro. It was really interesting and you might even be able to see a bull fight if you want. The tour was about 30 minutes.

4. La Plaza de Espana--This was really cool, but watch out for the ladies with the herbs! It?s an open air plaza that used to be used for carnivals and as a market.
5. Museo de Bellas Artes?We breezed through here, but got to see some nice paintings.

6. I wanted to go on a cruise of the river, but Mr. B gets sea-sick so we had to pass that up.

Places to Leave:
7. Roman Aqueducts--We found these by accident and they really weren?t in the best area of the city. Not a must see.
8. Alameda de Hercules--This is in a shady part of town. There are a lot of gypsies in this area.
9. Torre de Oro--Nothing special. I think it?s a museum now.

__________________________

o We were able to walk everywhere in the city with no problem, so you don?t have to take a bus tour if you don't want to.
o We didn't have any problems with pick-pocketing, but I would still watch your purse/wallet/cameras.
o Nothing really opens until about 9am and then places close down around 1pm or 2pm for lunch and a siesta. Stores open up around4pm or 5pm and stay open until 7 or 8pm.
o Dinner is really late here and people usually eat around 9pm or 10pm. Most restaurants don't even open until 8pm or 8:30pm.

Where to Eat:
1. Coloniales--This was our favorite place by far! We went here for dinner our first night in Sevilla. The guy at the front desk in our hotel recommended it. It's on the corner of Jimios Castillejo and G de Vinuesa. I forget the name of the main street that the trolley runs down, but it's right off of that street. There's a camera store on the corner and it's right down a little alley way from there. We got there around 8pm, when it was just opening, and by 9pm it was packed!

2. Estrella--This was another recommendation from the guy at our hotel. It's right around the corner from el Catedral on a street called Estrella and it intersects with Argote de Molina. The food was really good here and I had the red sangria (Sangria tinto) which was delicious!

3. Vineria San Telmo--We ate here with some friends the last night we stayed in Sevilla. It's a small place with a huge wine selection. The tapas were really really good. I had the black spaghetti with scallops...mmm! This place was a little harder to find, but it's worth it! It's on the corner of Menedez Pelayo and Catalina de Rivera and Santa Maria la Blanca. There's a big park out in front and it's in a strip of restaurants and shops.

What to Eat/Drink:
o Breakfast--Breakfast is kind of small in Spain. They usually do coffee and some kind of pastry. Our hotel offered breakfast every morning for about 7Euro and it included: juice, coffee, soda, fresh fruit, cold cereal, rolls, bread, lunchmeat(usually 2 kinds of sliced chorizo and maybe ham) and a couple types of cheese.
o After breakfast--They usually have another smaller meal in here. We usually just grabbed a snack somewhere
o Lunch--We went to tapas bars for lunch. Cruz Campo is the big beer over there and they usually bring it in a huge mug :) Most places have a menu in English if you ask (Una carta de Ingles). We loved the Patatas Bravas (potatoes with a spicy sauce) so good! We like seafood so we usually got the Gambas Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp) and the Chiparones (baby squid). The croquets were good and so was the chorizo.
o Dinner--It's usually really late and the good places get crowded quickly. If the restaurant is crowded, people usually just get a drink inside and then stand outside and wait for a table to open up. Paella here is really good, but it does take awhile for it to come out. They usually serve some pan y picos with dinner (bread and pieces) which I loved and I wish I had brought some home! The weird thing is that they charge you for bread, but it's usually less than a Euro
o Drinks--The rioja is a red wine that's pretty much only made in Spain and it's amazing. You guys should also try some Sherry. It's only made in certain areas and Spain is one of them. I wasn't a real fan of it, but it's worth the try! Tio Pepe is a big sherry over there.

Vegas, Baby!

Mr. B and I just booked a super affordable vacation to Vegas for May. I'm so excited!!! Too bad it's 2 months away. Some of his coworkers are going too. We used www.mgmmiragevacations.com and promo code PSUMEM for a $65/night hotel room.

This will be our first real vacation together (minus our HM, minus Spain because that was really a work trip). Now it's time to get in shape for the pool. Gotta look better than everyone else ;)

Dublin--Last days

Our third full day in Dublin we went to the Guinness Factory and the Jameson Distillery. I absolutely loved the Guinness Factory. We spent a good 4 or so hours in there going through the self-guided tour. That place is amazing! N and I both got to pour our own pints of Guinness and I think we did the best. We even got certificates!!

After drinking some beer we headed back to the hotel to drop off all of the Guinness propaganda that we bought and then quick caught a bus back into the city for some fish and chips. I had some lemon sole and it was delicious!!

The Jameson Distillery isn't in the best part of town, but we took the tram over there to get our drink on. The distillery isn't where they make the actual whiskey anymore, so it's more of a museum with a bar. We both volunteered to do a taste testing, which was fun. I'm not much of a whiskey drinker, but I like Jameson! I bought a bottle of 12year old whiskey for Mr. B while we were there. We also took some glasses from our tasting ;-) Gotta love free souvenirs!

We did some more shopping afterwards and got some food in the room. The next day we were on a mission to find everything that we couldn't find before. We ate at Lemon again--love their chai! We were able to find the Dublin castle, which was very cool and we also found St. Patrick's Cathedral :) N and I also made a stop at Temple Bar for a drink and had a nice conversation with an Irish guy that claimed to be an ex-pro golfer. On the way back to the hotel that night we almost got into a scuffle with this supremely rude guy on the bus. He pushed past N even though we were obviously getting off of the bus too, so we gave him a Philly-style verbal beat down. He didn't like that too much and ran far, far away from us. It was pretty funny.

That night we just did some packing. We had alot of 'free' souvenirs to pack and my luggage got a nice heavy tag on it, but no extra charge, which was nice. I'm so glad that I went to Ireland. It was a blast!

Dublin--Day 3

On our second full day in Dublin (day 3 of our trip) we decided that we had spent enough time getting lost in the city that we had found our way around. We took the train up to the town of Malahide to see the Malahide Castle. The round trip train ride was pretty inexpensive and the train was pretty nice. The ride there only took about 30 minutes.



Right outside the station there was a really pretty church. We took some pictures and then headed towards the castle. The walk there was never ending, but it was pretty cool because you're just walking on a paved path through the forest. The castle was really pretty and had really lush green land around it. I was upset that we weren't allowed to take pics inside, but N snuck some pictures in some of the rooms. The entire place was really small and I found myself ducking down in alot of doorways.




We were just leaving the castle to make the trek back into the town of Malahide to get something to eat and this lady came up to us with her daughter, her bike and a dog. We thought she was going to ask us to watch the bike, but she asked us to watch the dog. I was amazed by how trusting she was. I guess she figured that alot of tourists visit the castle and what are they going to do with someone's dog while they're on vacation? The dog was really cute and her name was Oscar, which is the same as N's doggie :) She must have been some kind of pug mix because she kept doing this snorty-grunt thing. So cute!!!


N and I tooled around the town a bit, but decided to eat at one of the first places we saw, Duffy's. We were just about to cross the street to go in and we saw this guy trying to parallel park. A cab driver was behind him and kept inching up even though the guy was obviously trying to park. The guy parking opens his door, leans out of the car and starts yelling, "Are you trying to be an asshole, or were you just born that way?!" at the cabbie while STILL parallel parking. The cab driver parks his car and gets out to ask the guy what he said and yell at him some more. I'm not lying when I tell you that the guy in the car parked his car perfectly while having an argument with this guy. Now they're both out of their cars yelling at each other and then the next thing you know they throw their hands up in the air and go their separate ways. I wish we would have taken a picture or video. It was so hilarious!

Our lunch at Duffy's was very good and not at all what I was expecting. I had a wrap with some spicy chicken, cheese and red peppers, which came with crisps (potato chips) and N had a grilled cheese with chips (french fries). We both got a pint of Bulmer's, which is a delicious hard cider that tastes like apple juice. The pub was really empty for lunch time, so we still don't know when people from Ireland eat their meals.

We took the train back to the city and tried to find St. Patrick's Cathedral, but to no avail. We did find Christ Catholic Cathedral and this really delicious pastry place called, Queen of Tarts, which I highly recommend!! After that we were both pretty tired, so we went to Spar and got some booze for the room. Booze and cookies...mmmm....