Dublin

I took the tube to the airport Monday morning, and my friend Emily happened to get on the same train car as me on her way to the airport as well (We were going to cycle together in Ireland). She had come the day before and spent a day in London and then we had both booked the same flight to Ireland. When we got the airport Emily took the elevator and me the stairs, which each led to a different place. Consequently, I looked for Emily for 20 minutes then when I when I just decided to go get my tickets the woman said the flight had finished check in and I needed to run to catch it. I made a mad dash to security, politely excused myself to the front of the line, then ran into Emily who was doing the same thing. We made it to the plane just before they stopped boarding, and I was reminded once again to get to the airport early, which I know I will never do. I guess I just hate sitting in airport terminals. I always think I am smarter than those ignorant fools who wait at the gate two hours in advance. If I could just perfect my timing so it didn't involve running madly through the airport, I think I would most certainly be the smarter one.

When we arrived in the Dublin Airport Emily marveled at all of the souvenirs, which I have to admit are so tempting. Dublin has an entire market just revolving around things with the clover on it. Shirts, shoes, thimbles, oven mits, earrings. Anything with a clover is fair game. And of course the Guinness logo is also one of the biggest tourist sensations. They have whole stores devoted to selling only Guinness merchandise. Interesting, you don't see Miller or Coores stores in the U.S.

We checked into the Hostel and just did some errands. Food, shopping, email, bike shop, picture taking, etc. We had dinner at nice hotel then went to bed early. Unfortuantely this is the point where Emily got really sick. The whole night before we were to leave she was not feeling well at all. So the next morning we talked and she said she needed a few days to recover. I went on expecting her to meet up with me in a few days but unfortuantely I found out that she didn't get better, only worse and had to go home. It was really dissappointing and I mean it when I say the trip wasn't the same without her on a bike beside me. I missed you so much emily!