Howth

Not many people can say they have seen their life-long dreams come to pass. When I was little, I had many big dreams: to be an astronaut, to be an author, to have my very own horse, to have a flying magic carpet that I could operate with switches. Some of these dreams have faded or changed, and some have stayed with me (I still want that magic carpet). One that I have carried with me for as long as I can remember is a vision of standing on the shores of Ireland, and feeling the sea spray hit my face and the wind whip my hair. To feel the magic of a wild, new land.

Yesterday it was announced that we were to take a day trip out to the town of Howth. The reasons for the trip were twofold: to get us familiar with using the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit), and to show us how easy it is to get out of the city and into the more beautiful countryside. A quick, twenty-minute ride brought us to a small town on the edge of the sea.

 The immediate impression one got was that this was definitely a fishing village. Boats filled the harbor, seafood restaurants lined the main street, and fishermen could be seen on the boats, going about their business. We had a quick group pow-wow where we were told of the excellent cliff hiking in the area, reminded we had to be back in Dublin at our apartments by 6 and were expected to make our own way back on the DART, and were encouraged to explore and have fun. We set off instantly for the docks. Being a personable bunch, we immediately made some friends

This seal was giving me the same burning look that my dog gives me - like its trying to beam a thought into my brain with its eyes: Bring me food. You know you want to.

before heading down to the very edge of the docks to take some pictures and see the water.

We were standing on a stone wall overlooking the water and taking these pictures when all of a sudden came a wind so strong it almost blew us into the water. We barely had time to look around at each other before a stinging rain/sleet mixture crashed down on us from a suddenly black sky. All of the normal people (aka everyone except me and my friend Lindsey) got off the wall to avoid an unwanted swim and tried to collect their things. Lindsey and I, being somewhat stranger souls, remained on the wall, and I quickly unbound my hair and shook back my hood. Before my eyes, my dream vision solidified around me - the wind whipped through my hair, an Irish rain beat down on my face, and the sea slashed out below my feet. Moments after this moment, I began to fear for my safety and quickly retreated down off the high wall. The rain left as quickly as it came, and we made our way, completely drenched, back the way we had came. Turning back, were rewarded for our trouble:

One thing that has come as a surprise to me since arriving here is that almost every sign is written in both English and Irish. I was under the impression that Irish was only still spoken in the smaller villages, but this has proved to be untrue. Every street sign and many shop names are written in both languages, and one can hear people speaking in Irish whenever walking down the street. 

We discussed going back into town and doing the cliff hike another day as the sky still looked a little threatening, but only briefly before we all decided that, rain or no rain, we were going on our hike. The walk up to the start of the hiking was beautiful, and there were many great pictures taken. Not all of my pictures are here, as uploading pictures takes an obscene amount of time. I will probably put the full amount on facebook at some point, but these are some of them.

Taking a picture of Ian taking a picture

On our way up to this spot, we met a very friendly local who walked with us a ways and chatted about the geology of Howth and the snow in New England. :)

The further island on the right is a private island owned by a Duke. Humans are not allowed to go there, to give privacy to a group of wallabies that was released there in the past.

A little stair leading up the side of a hill

Ian, Liz, Patrick, and others I can't make out above me on the cliffs

We were told not to go off the main path.... it's possible we didn't listen to that advice.

Someone had been horseback riding on the steep hills

We cut across someone's field

This is what happens when you go off the beaten path: you find really cool things.

The mud got pretty bad in places and here ate Sam's shoe.

We found a little abandoned structure and explored inside

Andy poking out the window

Attempting to not fall in the mud.

We eventually made our way back to the main track by a roundabout, cross-country method and got safely back into town just in time for our 6:00 meeting to head to dinner. It was a truly incredible day!

This an emotional representation of how awesome our adventure was, brought to you by Andy.

I just realized that I skipped a day and forgot to upload pictures from adventures exploring two city parks, Trinity College, and the Book of Kells. Hopefully I can get to that tomorrow!