Ireland

Dublin

The first stop on our international journey was in Dublin, Ireland. After many hours of flying and waiting, and being awake for about 36 hours, we finally crashed in a coffee shop waiting for our AirBnB host to show us to our house. Once our hostess showed us to our lodging, we all went to bed, preparing for the next day and the full 2 weeks ahead of us.

Throughout our time in Dublin, we spent every night in a pub, as would be expected. We ate out, having your steriotypical Irish foods like shepherds pie, Guiness, and potatos. We spent each time walking around the city, exploring churches, universities, coffee shops, and of course, more pubs.

We were even able to go to the Library at Trinity College, considered the largest library in Ireland. We spend a few hours on the campus, laying in the grass and just enjoying the amazing weather (we had perfect weather for all 2 weeks).

After spending a few days in Dublin, we packed our bags again and boarded the train for Galway.

Galway

Our time in Galway was brief, yet beautiful. While the city did not have much to offer in terms of popular tourist attractions, our main goal in coming was to see the Cliffs of Moher (which are apparently in The Princess Bride, but I have never seen it). We purchased bus tickets in order to get from the city to the cliffs. During the bus ride, we found out that our driver was basically a retired historian, and gave us history lessons of all the ruins and land marks that we passed on our way to the cliffs

Once we arrived at the cliffs, we set out climbing to the top. We had about 3 hours to explore as much as we wanted until it was time to go back to the bus and head on home. As we climbed to the top, the winds quickly became stronger. So much so that you began to activel resist the push that the winds were giving you. This made walking to the edge of the cliffs a little more exciting, since the winds were trying to push you right off.

We were able to walk about halfway through the cliffs before we had to come back and make it back to the bus in time. The cliffs were one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, with the pictures barely able to capture how breathtaking the moment actually was. While it was cold and windy, the cliffs themselves contained such majesty that you were lost in the magnitutde of the height and natural beauty.

Italy

Rome

Our first stop after leaving Ireland was Rome. The house we stayed at was situated right next to the river and somewhat near the center of the city. Due to its location, we were able to walk to almost every place that we wanted to go. Every night we would go out to eat at some fancy restraunt, getting different types of wines, and consuming our body-weight in pasta. The food was delcicious and the depth of culture and history was inspiring.

While in Rome, we made sure to do all the steriotypical tourist attractions: the colosseum, the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, and Palatine Hill. We would get paninis, pizza and more pasta. We would drink coffee almost all day (which hasn't really changed), and get gelato for dessert. A few times, I would wander away from our group and just walk around the city, going into bars (different from bars in America) and see if I could somehow communicate my order to someone who speaks no English.

Florence

Florence was where my roommate had studied abroad, so he knew the city fairly well. The house we stayed at looked like a castle from the outside and our AirBnB hostess greeted us with a bottle of wine. Out of all the cities that I ate at, Florece had the best food. My roommate brought us to this build-your-own pizza shop that had some of the best pizza I have ever had, as well as to one of his favorite restraunts, where I again had some of the best pasta and salad I've ever had. The churches there were beaufitul and had such unique styling to them that they almost seemed out of place.

Venice

Similar to how the flow of these descriptions are going, by the time we got to Venice, we were pretty burned out. We had been on the go for so long, with so little sleep and an amazing amount of walking, that by the time we got to Venice, we were happy to jsut get a bottle of wine and sit by the canal, watching the boats sail past.

City, Country	Time Spent There	Tourist Attractions	Food/Drink
Dublin, Ireland	3 Days	Trinity College and Library, bars	Guiness, mashed potatos, shepherds pie, beef roast, stew
Galway, Ireland	2 Days	Cliffs of Moher	Guiness, mashed potatos, shepherds pie, beef roast, stew
Rome, Italy	4 Days	Colosseum, Vatican City, Palatine Hill, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain	Wine, pizza, pasta, croissants, and coffee
Florence, Italy	3 Days	Churches, museums, Ponte Vecchio	Wine, pizza, pasta, Florentine steak,croissants, and coffee
Venice, Italy	2 Days	Gondala rides, churches, museums, canals, island hopping	Wine, pizza, pasta, croissants, and coffee