England in March?!

Last week I had to decide when I want to have my time off next year. Six weeks for a year. It was not easy to decide when I want to have time off, paid vacation. But I decided to take 2 weeks off in March (the other four weeks are around the year)! I start planning my trip to England in January (and I will update my blog more often during that time).
But I already know a little. I'm going the first or second week in March for a week and I'm going to stay in the south. In Dover. When I was in Ireland I met Ryan (I mentioned him a couple times in my blog). We stayed in contact and now I'm going to visit him! I probably can't stay at his place but I will find a place to stay. I can't wait. I saw some pictures of the area and it looks gorgeous! I have no idea what places I will see. I'll figure that out soon enough.

Next trip?

I really want to go on another trip but I still don't know where I want to go next and when I will be able to make it. I know I want to visit Ryan and he is coming here (I'm going to update this blog when he is here because I'm going to do a lot of touristy things in that time).
So I guess England is next on my list! And I can't wait. I've been to England before (on my way to Ireland) we drove thru. I don't really remember anything tho so I definitely have to go back! And I want to go back to Ireland (stay in Galway for a week or so).

There are a lot more places I want to go. Lets make a list (there is no real order to it)

• Sweden
• Finland
• Norway
• Denmark
• France (I've been to Paris but I would like to see other places)
• Italy (I love Italy)
• Ireland
• England
• Vietnam
• Indoesia

There are a lot more places I want to go. Any suggestions? Any place I forgot to mention (no South America for me tho)
As soon as I know more about my next trip I'm going to write an update!

Pictures

As promised here a couple pictures. My mom took most of the pictures (her camera is way better than mine).

Monterey Bay Aquarium

That were just a couple pictures. More to come :D
San Francisco

Monarchs and other stuff

It looks like dry leaves but those are Monarch Butterflies

 Tide Pools Davenport Beach

Carmel Beach










It was beautiful and we saw a lot.

Back in Germany

We are back. We arrived yesterday after a long trip. So but first the last few days. What did we do...?
On Monday we went on a trip with my Grandma. Watched the  Monarch Butterflies (they are beautiful) but they are still coming back to Santa Cruz so we didn't see as many as there are. But still it was really nice. The walk to the spot was nice to. Close to the coast. After the Monarchs we had a lunch and saw a beautiful little cat afterwards in the parking garage. She looked weak and sick and she was supposedly pregnant. We told the woman who worked in the garage but it didn't look like she was calling the authorities. It made me sad. In Germany I would have taken the cat to an animal home. So we left the cat behind because I didn't know what else to do. The woman told me that someone feeds the cat and that the cat lived in the garage. I hope she is fine.
We wanted to go to the Marine Lab but it was closed on Monday's so that didn't work out as planned! But it was nice just walking aroung.
On Tuesday we went with Jackie and Lis to Gizdich Ranch. It is a Ranch in Watsonville. The have apples and berries and sell pie. So we were there to eat some Pie. I had an Raspberry Pie with Ice Cream and it was delicious! The others got Apple Pie and it was supposedly the best Apple Pie they ever had! It was really great weather (almost a little bit too hot). We also had a great apple juice on the Ranch. It is really just the juice nothing added. No sugar nothing! And that made it great!
After the Ranch we drove do Davenport and went to a really nice beach! With Tide Pools and everything. It was beautiful but the water was freezing! We had some food in Davenport (it is a really small town) and then got back to the house. Relaxed there a little.
Wednesday we went to Big Sur. It is a really great area. So beautiful. The mountains and the ocean. We ate at a restaurant called Nepenthe. Which has a nice view. Afterwards we sat down in the river (there is a place called River Inn and they have chairs in the river). They told me that I have been there already but I don't remember that at all. And I don't remember the Ranch Clint Eastwood owns but I was there too. I skip the last two days because nothing really happened.
The flight back. San Francisco to Munich was a nice flight. I slept most the time (it was Business Class so you really can sleep although it was my first time that I did really sleep). I watched two movies on the plane but nothing really interesting happened. In Munich we had to wait a while till our next flight and then they asked us if one of us could go to Economy Class because of some one else. My brother said he would but in the end he got a seat in Business. We got food and drinks or at least everyone else got something do drink because the guy forgot me and the man in my row. So we had to call him and as an apology we both got a bottle of Riesling.
My uncle picked us up from the airport and my cats were happy to finally see us again!
So the next entry is going to be with some pictures.
I don't know when exactly I'm going on m next trip. But hopefully soon. We will see :D

We saw whales!

On Friday my brother and my Dad fixed some bikes while I was updating this blog and when we came back we went for a nice Bike ride. It took us 1,5 hours around town. Our first stop was down at the wharf where we saw whales! Yep, we saw them! I didn't think we would be that lucky but we saw 4 of them! It was really cool and exciting. Unfortunately we had no cameras with us. So no pictures. And that means no proof but we still saw them (my brother made a short video the next day where you can see the whales a little). After the bike ride we relaxed in the hot tub. Which was really nice! For dinner we went to Hula's a nice Hawaiian Restaurant. I had a Vegetarian Burger and it was so delicious! That was the whole day.
Saturday (yesterday) my mom and I went shopping again while my brother and my dad were fishing and after that went on a longer bike ride. My mom prepared some gluten-free cake (the people loved it) for the garden party. The garden party, hosted by Jackie, a wonderful person, was great. We laughed, ate and laughed some more. Thats just how it is with Jackie. She makes people laugh. That was Saturday. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but it is always funny and good.
Today my grandma is coming back to Santa Cruz with my cousin Tony I think and we are going to barbecue. We have some plans for Tuesday and Wednesday but Monday, Thursday and the last day Friday is still open. At least as far as I know. But we will fill those days just as we did the others. (Maybe one last shopping trip?) Who knows. We will see and I try to tell you :)

finally a new update

First of all: Sorry it took me so long. I had no Wi-Fi I could use with my laptop. I'm sitting in a small coffee shop with Wi-Fi right now.
A week has past now and we already did some things. I love it here. We arrived last Thursday around noon and it took us an hour to get thru immigrations and customs. We were really tired and glad when we finally arrived in Santa Cruz at the house. So we didn't do a lot that night. We watched a little TV but we couldn't stay up to watch the new Big Bang Theory episode. We slept almost 13 hours and we needed the sleep really badly. Friday we went Downtown Santa Cruz and to west Cliff. It was really nice weather. Warm and sunny. Thats all that happened on Friday.
Saturday was an easy going day also. We went to West Cliff and Downtown. We watched the surfers and it was just beautiful. We took some pictures. I'm going to upload some of them next time hopefully. In the evening we had Dinner at a restaurant down at the wharf with my grandma and Lis. The food was good.
Sunday was a day full of waiting around and doing nothing. We only knew my dad would come back on Sunday but didn't know when exactly so we waited the whole day for them to return and they came back at 8 pm. Pretty late. We could have done a lot of different stuff but we didn't.
Monday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I love it there. I've been there probably 5 times already but it is great every time. We took beautiful pictures (or my mom did). On our way back we stopped and bought some fruits and vegetables. My mom cooked dinner and it was really nice to eat together.
Tuesday was a long day in the city. We left in Santa Cruz before 10 am and got back around 8 pm. A long long day. But it was a good day also. We drove over the golden gate bridge, ate in Sausalito, parked at the pier somewhere and walked forever to get to the fishermans wharf, the Rainforest Café and Ghiradelli Square.
Wednesday we drove around a little bit, looked for a game, went to the farmers market in Santa cruz and had Dinner at the house. Not a lot happened that day.
Thursday, yesterday, we had our first real shopping trip in a Mall. It was exhausting but we got some good deals. We bought shoes, Jeans and stuff. We are not done with the shopping part. We have a couple days left for that.In the afternoon we went to the Wine and Cheese at the social hall in the park. I've been to an event like that last time I was here. It is always fun just talking to all the people.
We don't know whats planned for the next couple days but we will see.
So I hope I find the time to update my blog more often.

Arrived in Frankfurt

We are in Frankfurt. First step of our journey lies behind us and I'm really tired. The flight was good, we had some breakfast on board. It was way better than the breakfast Economy got. I wanted to relax during the flight but even before we got in the air the woman next to me fell asleep and was snoring, really loud! I even heard it with my music on! That wasn't really relaxing and it wasn't helping with falling asleep. I must admit I was a bit jealous because she could sleep everywhere, obviously. Maybe I get a little sleep on the long flight after I had my champagne of course. Champagne at 10 am. That's what I'm talking about (although I don't like champagne). 1 hour 40minutes to our departure and 13 more hours to get to San Francisco. Plus the time we need to get thru security and the drive to Santa Cruz. We still got some way ahead of us. But it's going to be a great vacation!
Next update comes from California.

not enough sleep

It's almost time. At 5 something is our first flight to Frankfurt and I couldn't sleep. My cats were sleeping right next to my legs so I couldn't move a bit. I slept an hour maybe two but thats it. Not a lot. I hope I can sleep when I'm on the plane. Really excited. I still got to back some stuff for the plane. Like my laptop and a few other things but than I'm ready to go! Back to America. I'm excited and can't wait. 19 more hours or something like that and I'm there. Countdown started!
So I'm going to get ready and wait for the Taxi to pick us up. California here we come!

The journey in a few pictures

Ok I tried to put the pictures in the entrys but that would be kinda weird. Random pictures in some text. So I'm going to put some pictures up here. Lets start with Tuesday and the Free-Walking Tour. One of the first stops was the Dublin Castle where there were some sand sculpteres. Impressiv!

 A giant head! I think it looks really great! It is really impressiv what you can build out of sand!

A human heart!? I thought it was one of the coolest things I ever saw! There were two more sand sculptreres in the middle of Dublin castle. But these two were the best for me.












I'm not really good with taking pictures. And my camera is not really good. Most of the pictures are not good. The next stop (on the next day) was the Archeology Museum.

And they had some dead bodies (I'm not posting the pictures of those if you want to see them you can ask me), a skelleton, gold stuff and bone carvings which I found pretty cool. In Galway is even a class you can take to carve your own jewlery from cow bone. I guess it is a thing I'm going to do next time I'm over there.









That was in the Guinness Storehouse. It was away to demonstrate that you need a lot of water to brew Guinness. It was cool. And I like the green light in this picture.

 And finally Galway! It is a bench with Oscar Wilde and another author. I forgot which one it was! It was a great day and I sat almost on his lap.

 Spanish Arch right at Galway Bay of course with two musicians. Street artist are everywhere in Ireland and I love it!

This is the river in Galway Corrib. I think it is just beautiful. And some more information about Galway. Land: 50,8 km² (where I live: 58,1 km²), Population: 75.414 (74.574).
 So it is almost the same but Galway is way better! I love the city!
I got some more pictures but most of them not good. If you want to see some more pictures just ask!

Back home

We made it. We are back in Germany. Yesterday we had to get up at 4 am to catch the plane but of course I was awake at 3 am. And I couldn't fall asleep because two guys in our room were snoring (really really loud) and one girl was talking in her sleep (she said 'That's an Irish Men'). Even with earplugs I could hear them snoring. So no more sleep for me. But I don't need sleep! I can go all night long (at least in Ireland) I waited for my alarm to go off before I woke Joana up so we could get ready. We paked our stuff the night before so we got our things to leave the room. We did't want to disturb the other people. We took a Taxi to get to the airport for 25 € including tips but we were a little disappointed because our tourguide from the Free-Walking Tour told us about Taxis in Dublin. He told us that Taxi driver in Dublin tell you either some bullshit or they share some wisdom with you. But our Taxi Driver did neither. We just learned when the flight from New York arrives in Dublin every morning. Thats it. But it was really early (around 4:30) so maybe he was tired or he thought we were tired. I don't know. At the Airport we asked a guy where the security is and instead of answering he first asked us where we were going and he asked us if we had some room for him because he wanted to come too. It was kinda funny. You gotta love irish people! The flight was good and way better than the crappy Airline we took to Dublin. We arrived safley in Frankfurt. It is a huge Airport so we had to ask twice how to get to the Central Station! The tickets to use the public transportation were really expansive. 4,25 € for one way? That's a lot! We arrived at the central station. Because we both were really hungry we started looking for a place to eat. We wanted some Vietnamese food (I LOVE Vietnamese food) but Google Maps showed us places too far away. Once we were out of the station we almost immidiatley saw a vietnamese place. Thank you Google Maps for not helping! We ate there. We ate both Vegetarian phở even though it was not on the menu but I asked and he said it wouldn't be a problem. Really nice! The soup was Ok not as good as in Hamburg but that was fine. I didn't expect that anyway. We had a couple more hours to kill so we walked a little around looking for an ATM but we only found some where we had to pay 3,99€ to get some money. Without any money, water or food we wanted to take the Bus home to Hamburg (it is an 6:45 hour drive). The Bus came from Zurich and we just sat down (we did buy some food and water and paid with debit card). I tried to sleep and it did work a little. The bus journey is not really interesting. We arrived safley in Hamburg and agreed on how beautiful the city is! I love coming home to Hamburg because I see the city with other eyes. My mom picked us up from the Central Station in Hamburg (I was a little, maybe a little more, bitchy) and she took us home.

For me the vacation in Ireland was great! I love the country even more now (if that is even possible) and the people there. We met really nice people I will never forget. I'm not going to see most of them again but I will remember them for the rest of my life! I had lots of fun and learned a lot. It was great speaking English the whole time especially because people told me that I make hardly any mistakes and I have a slight american accent. I love hearing that :). I would love to use more English. But I get my next chance in 6 weeks because I'm going to California. Can't wait for that. More English!

For the future of this Blog: Like I said the blog is going to be my travel blog. Everything about travelling is coming up here. When I plan my next trip I'm going to write more entrys and when I'm on my next trip (in 6 weeks CA) you can hear everything about it right here. I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly did. And it is a good thing for me because I can revisit my travels now in my Blog.
See you soon with the next enry! The pictures will be up soon (hopefully today or tomorrow)
Life long and Prosper!

Hurling

So yeah today was the Hurling Semi-finale. Clare vs. Limmerick. But before I get started on the game review (because thats going to happen) I'll tell you what happened. We walked around because the game was supposed to start at 3 pm. We walked somewhere we haven't been before. It seemed to be the asian part of the city. Less tourists everywhere and asian restaurants. Even a Vietnamese place so we decided to get some Vietnamese Soup. I was curious how the Vietnamese Noddle Soup is in Dublin. We took the soup to got and sat down at a playground. A lot of Asian (most of them vietnamese) women were there with their children. They played hide and seek and stuff like that. It was really cute. So we sat down and started eating. I have to say I like the Vietnamese Soup in Hamburg better. But it was fine. After that we walked around again because we had a lot of time left (we had no idea that there was already a game on: Limmerick vs. Galway Galway won YEAH). We sat a while at the river across from Forbidden Planet a Comicshop. I really wanted to go there so we did. I prefer my comic dealer in Germany! It is the best shop I've been to and I tried a couple. It was almost three so we decided to go back to the Poets Corner to watch the game. But the Clare/Limmerick game wasn't on till 3:30.  We saw the last 20 minutes of the Limmerick Galway game which was pretty cool and than the second game was on. Hurling is a nice, sometimes brutal, chaotic game. I don't get all the rules but it is fun to watch because a lot is happening. In the game Clare vs. Limmerick was a lot of fighting going on. I guess the players didn't like each other or something like that. They were hitting each other witch their Hurleys and stuff. Some players got injured. But it was still a good game. Did you know (probably not) that in the beginning of the game (1400 B.C) it was OK to kill? I had no clue but a couple days ago Ciaràn told us. And today I saw that it is good that killing is forbidden. Sometimes during the game it seemed like the player hated each other. But maybe that is totally normal in that game?
If you never watched a Hurling game you should watch at least 10 minutes. It is way more fun to watch than football/soccer. 7 years ago I watched some Hurling games and I liked it back than and I still like it.

Tomorrow our journey back home starts. I don't want to go but I really want to go back to my cats. We have to get up at 4 am and take a Taxi to the Airport. A two hour flight to Frankfurt 4 hours waiting in Frankfurt and 6 hours bus drive back home. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm going to be exhausted but maybe I can sleep on the bus this time. That would be nice. There is going to be another entry tomorrow night or Tuesday with a summery about our way home and a short conclusion. And the next journey is in 7 weeks so it will start again. Maybe I will update the blog sometimes inbetween. There is always stuff about travelling. I'm defintley going to continue this blog and it will be a travel blog and stay that way. I hope you like it :)

Saturday

There is not much to tell about yesterday because nothing really happened. We had something planned but in the end we did something else. But that was fine, too. It all started in the basement of our Hostel where I can use my laptop to write this blog and stuff. I only wanted to do a little online. Like checking my e-mail account and facebook massage but than Ryan came so we sat down here talking. Later a woman (Clown, Storyteller, Childrenbook Author, Teacher) from California joined us and told us weird and fun storys of her and her daughters life. It was really fun to hear all the different storys and it was great to meet an author because thats what I want to be. She thought it was cool that I already wrote one childrenbook and one Youth book and I thought maybe I could learn something. So we sat in the Basement for a long time. A couple hours but some of us got really hungry and we went to eat in a Pub. There was a Football game on the TV nothing really important. After that I wanted to buy myself a Hoodie and a T-Shirt and a T-Shirt for my brother as a suprise. I hope he likes it! I have the same in a smaller size and different colour. Hope he doesn't mind otherwise I have to wear both of them. Ryan, Joana and I sat in a Park for a while and it started to rain (we had a lot of luck with the weather here) while everyone was getting up sitting somewhere dry we just stayed where we were. It was just a little rain no reason to move. Ryan had to catch his flight (and he was pretty tired) so we went back to the Hostel where he had put his stuff in our locker. In the end we walked with him to the Busstop and waited with him. (Waiting alone sucks) Joana and I wanted to go out one last time because tomorrow we have to get up really early. This time we went to a different Pub. Called 'Poets Corner' the name is great and it was really nice there. Some live music and more irish people which I liked. We had a Guinness and went back to the hostel. That was the day yesterday. Today we are going to watch Hurlin in the Poets Corner and we have to pack our stuff, get ready for tomorrow. Maybe we will walk around one more time take some last pictures (we have some really good ones I think) and then go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long long day!

Guinness Storehouse & Galway

So first of all I decided to change the language to English. And now... Where should I begin. A lot happened since my last entry. So we went to the Guinness Storehouse. We walked there from our Hostel and it was pouring. It was the first time we had 'bad' weather since we arrived and it was pouring the whole way. We walked about 30 to 45 minutes. And I only wore flip flops. Not the best ideas I ever had. But we arrived safely not dry and walked right in (of course we got our tickets first) we learned a little about Guinness (did you know that there is water in Guinness?). On the top floor we got a free guinness but it was so crowded and I asked a couple if we could join them. They said yes and we started talking. Maybe you can guess which question was the first one. Where are you from... It was an older couple from Australia and really nice. We drank our Guinness and talked. I don't remember what we were talking about but it was a lot and really funny! They left after they finished their beer and we kept standing on the top floor with this beautiful wet view over the city. The couple told us about the Guinness Acadamy where you get a certificate for pouring your beer and they recommended it. After we finished our beer we went back downstairs to do that. My Guinness was delicious. Possibly the best Guinness I ever had! While we were sitting there and had our second beer two guys came up and asked us if they could join us. Of course they could and after a while we started talking with Ciaràn and Oliver. Two really nice teachers. Ciaràn from Cork and Oliver from France. We kept talking for a long time in the Storehouse and then they asked us if we would like to join them for something to eat. I had so much fun so I wanted to go and we went to a vegetarian restaurant somewhere in the city. It was really good and we kept talking and talking about everything! After the restaurant a pub came. We wanted to go to bed early but that wouldn't work out I knew that. But we went to a pub with them. Had some Guinness and a Whiskey from Cork. It was a really fun night. They took us to the hostel with a taxi. We were back at the hostel around 1. The bus we originally wanted to take was going at 8 am so we had to get up early. We decided that my inner clock would make the decision. I didn't set an alarm but when I am awake at 7 we would go. And of course I was awake at 7. I was awake at 5 and 6. We got ready but we knew we wouldn't make the bus at 8 so we had a breakfast got some money and took the bus at 9. It was a long drive and I fell almost asleep a couple times. Around 12:30 we arrived at the Busstop in Galway and I immediatly knew where we were and where we should go but we got a map. Just in case. We had something to eat and then wandered around the city. We saw the Museum, the bay, the St. Nicholas Church and (for me the second time) the cathedral. But this time the cathedral was more beautiful than last time. So impressiv. We decided to go back to the bus because we had no Idea when the busses are going, got Ice Cream on the way and walked back thru the city. We had 20 minutes left so we sat down in the park close to the busstation. The whole day it was beautiful with sun shining and everything but when we got ready to leave it started raining. Just a little bit. The weather was mirroring my feelings because I didn't want to leave the city. In the beginning I was scared. What if the city is different than I remember? What if my memories are not correct and I made it better in my imagination? But there was no reason. I still love the city. Maybe even more now because I saw way more! I definetley want to go back. And this time I'm not waiting 7 years to go back. Maybe next year? I would love that. But Cork, Limmerick and Kilkenny are also on my list of cities I want to visit. I am already sad when I think about leaving on monday but I miss my babys and I will come back.
So far we have no real plans for our last two days. On sunday is a Hurling game we are going to watch (at least part of it) but other than that? We will see.

kurzes Update

Heute wird es ein kurzer Eintrag werden. Vermutlich lohnt es sich nicht einmal einen zu schreiben, denn seit dem letzten ist nicht wahnsinnig viel passiert. Aber ich schreibe trotzdem einen. Ihr wollt doch sicher alles haargenau wissen :)
Gestern wurde in der Tat ein ruhiger Tag. Während ich schrieb hat sich Joana noch mal aufs Ohr gehauen und ich bin danach noch alleine einmal raus gegangen, aber nur kurz bevor ich sie geweckt hatte, denn ich steckte voller Tatendrang. Doch hatten wir nicht wirklich den Plan was wir noch machen sollten und so sind wir einkaufen gegangen mit dem Plan Bier zu kaufen um eins im Hostel zu trinken. Die Auswahl war alles andere als groß und so kauften wir kein Bier, sondern 5 Liter Wasser (für 1,29) und Chips. Gesundes Abendessen. Während wir auf unserem Zimmer gesessen haben, war die ganze Zeit der Wecker eines Zimmergenossen an und er klingelte unermüdlich bestimmt eine halbe Stunde lang bevor wir gegangen sind und ja wir haben auch mit dem Gedanken gespielt ihn auszumachen, aber ich wollte nicht in fremden Sachen herum wühlen also ließen wir ihn weiter klingeln. Aus dem ruhigen Abend wurde dann doch noch ein Pubabend. Obwohl wir uns gestern nur in einen rein gesetzt haben. Fakt ist aber auch einfach, dass die Pubs hier von Touristen überlaufen sind. Sehr schade, denn eigentlich würde mich schon eher das 'normale' irische Leben interessieren und ich hätte auch nichts dagegen den ein oder anderen Iren kennen zu lernen. Noch haben wir ja ein paar Tage und wer weiß was auf uns zu kommt. Was genau heute geplant ist, wissen wir noch nicht. Vielleicht das Laprechaun Museum? Oder noch mal zurück ins Archäologische Museum, denn da haben wir nicht alles gesehen und dann noch ins Guiness Storehouse? Das ist doch schließlich ein Must-See. Das Laprechaun Museum kostet 10 € und das Guiness Storehouse 13€ eintritt. Also mal sehen. Eigentlich wäre beides ein Besuch wert.

Mir ist gerade aufgefallen, dass ich das Archäologische Museum gestern nicht erwähnt habe. Es war super interessant dort und ich habe massig Fotos gemacht! Vorallem die Skelette und Sumpfleichen haben es mir natürlich angetan und habe ich mehrfach fotografiert. DIe Mumien fand ich auch sehr interessant, aber Mumien habe ich nicht zum ersten Mal gesehen. Wobei eine mumifizierte Katze hatte ich auch noch nicht gesehen, Ich war etwas schockiert, da ich direkt an meine beiden Babys zuhause denken musste. Die Katzen wurden dort nicht immer nach einem natürlichen Tod mumifiziert, sondern ihnen wurde das Genick gebrochen, was mir wiederrum das Herz brach. Von dem Archäologischen Museum wird es auf jeden Fall viele viele Bilder geben, die ihr euch ansehen könnt, wenn ich wieder in Deutschland bin.

Where are you from?

Der zweite Tag, den wir wirklich nutzen können. Oder vielleicht auch nicht, da zumindest eine von uns beide zu Müde ist (Hinweis: ich bin es nicht, obwohl ich 2 Stunden weniger geschlafen habe).
Für heute stand das Archäologische Museum auf dem Plan, das kostenlos ist. Nachdem wir beide fertig waren, tigerten wir los (diesmal tatsächlich ohne uns zu verlaufen, so langsam finden wir uns zurecht) zum Museum. Auf dem Weg dorthin, wurden wir doch glatt zwei mal von Iren angesprochen. Zwei nett aussehende junge Männer, die für Amnesty International arbeiteten und uns als Mitglieder werben wollten, aber selbst hätten wir gewollt, hätte es nicht funktioniert. Das stellte der erste Typ fest, entschuldigte sich bei uns dafür, dass er unsere Zeit vergeudet hatte (seine Worte nicht meine). Aber alles halb so schlimm denn wir hatten wenigstens eine nette kurze Unterhaltung in der er uns nahe legte, dass wir das Nachtleben erleben mussten und 'Irish Men' kennen lernen sollten. Das haben wir lachend, nickend entgegen genommen und sind weiter gelaufen. 5 Minuten später wurden wir direkt vom nächsten Amnesty International Typen angesprochen, dem ich die Mühe ersparen wollte in dem ich ihm mitteilte, dass wir nicht in Frage kommen. Das interessierte ihn dann aber herzlich wenig und viel interessanter war es woher wir denn kommen würden! Das ist wohl die Frage, die man hier am häufigsten gestellt bekommt und ein guter Konversationsstarter wie mir mittlerweile schon desöfteren erklärt wurde. Also unterhielten wir uns mit dem jungen Mann noch ein wenig, stellten fest, dass er nur 2 Monate älter war als ich und was man sonst moch so alles in einer kurzen Unterhaltung erfährt bevor er seine Arbeit weiter machte und wir unseren Weg wieder auf nahmen. Unterwegs sahen wir dann noch die National Library, die wir natürlich gleich ausprobieren mussten. Und so waren wir schnell drin in der Bibliothek sahen uns die interessante Ausstellung von William Butler Yeats an wo ich leider ohne Ende fror. Um dann in den Leseraum zu gehen. Leider war das etwas enttäuschend. Ich hatte mit viel mehr Büchern gerechnet, aber gut. Das meiste war wohl auf Microfilm. Vielleicht saßen dort auch und versuchten vermutlich über ihre eigene Familie etwas heraus zu finden. Da ich über meine Verwandten aus Irland keine Informationen habe, konnte ich mich dem leider nicht anschließen, obwohl ich sehr gerne ein paar Infos darüber hätte. Aber im Oktober kann ich ja meine Grandma fragen. Sie kann mir da sicher ein wenig drüber erzählen.
Auf dem Weg nach draußen aus der Bibliothek wurden wir noch von dem Mann an der Rezeption angesprochen (beim reingehen hatten wir ihn schon angepsrochen was er mit einem 'Where are you from' quitierte), der dann wissen wollte wo in Europa ich wohnen wollte. Eine merkwürdige Frage wie ich fand und so sagte ich einfach, das ich Irland sehr mochte. Eine ehrliche Antwort, die für ihn doch sicher positiv sein musste. Er erzählte dann was von den Balkanstaaten womit ich nicht gerechnet hatte. Aber auch das hörte sich Interessant an und ist sicher einen Besuchwert. Also mal sehen. Danach ist eigentlich nichts spannendes mehr passiert. Wir sind essen gegangen und zurück zum Hostel. Aber noch kann ja allerhand passieren und vielleicht ist ein ruhiger Tag auch nicht schlecht.

Wir sind da

Ja, und das schon seit gestern, aber aus gegebenen Anlass hatte ich keine Zeit hier zu schreiben. Aber erst mal zu der restlichen Reise.
Nachdem wir eine halbe Ewigkeit am Gate gewartet haben, wurden wir alle noch mal raus geschmissen, damit wir vorher noch durch die Passkontrolle gehen konnten. Das war schnell erledigt und dann zurück zum Gate und weiter warten. Der Flugsteig sollte um 18:25 geschlossen werden, aber um die Uhrzeit war noch nicht mal ein Mitarbeiter der Fluggesellschaft anwesend. Als dieser dann endlich kam, konnte es auch schon fast los gehen. Auf jeden Fall war es dann soweit und wir mussten durch strömenden Regen zum Flugzeug rennen. Auf dem Flughafen stand das Wasser fast bis zu den Knöcheln und ziemlich durchnässt kamen wir dann am Flugzeug an. Da wir keine reservierten Plätze hatten, konnten wir uns einfach irgendwo hinsetzen. Der Flug war an sich in Ordnung, das Flugzeug allerdings eher unbequem und die andauernde Werbung sehr nervig. Aber nun gut, war ja auch ein billigflug. Und dann endlich, nach einer gefühlten Ewigkeit sind wir in Dublin gelandet. Noch mal durch eine Passkontrolle und dann los zum Bus und zum Hostel.
Das Hostel ist in Ordnung. Mit unseren Zimmergenossen haben wir noch nicht wirklich reden können, aber im Großen und Ganzen ist es in Ordnung.
Gestern wollten wir dann auch direkt die Free-Walking Tour machen und lernten dadurch Ryan, einen Engländer aus Dover, kennen mit dem wir den restlichen Tag verbrachten. Leider haben wir bei der Walking Tour nicht so gut aufgepasst, welche Straßen wir nun lang gelaufen sind und konnten uns am Ende dann einfach nicht zu recht finden. Wir hatten uns Hoffnungslos verlaufen! Nach 3 Stunden Tour irrten wir noch weitere 1,5 Stunden durch die Stadt auf der Suche nach unserem Hostel. Dort angekommen, machten wir uns aber gleich wieder auf den Weg, denn wir wollten ja was essen. Also sind wir wieder los und haben Pizza gegessen bevor wir uns mit einer Französin getroffen haben, die Ryan kannte. Unsere eigene kleine Pubtour konnte damit beginnen. Wir waren in 5 oder 6 Pubs wobei ich sagen muss, dass ich etwas enttäuscht war. Ich hatte mehr Pubs erwartet. Aber dafür hatten wir nette Gesellschaft. Die Französin hat noch zwei Österreicherinnen und zwei Franzosen (wobei der eine davon eher nervig war) und dann trafen wir noch zwei Amerikanerinnen in dem Pub. Also waren wir eine bunte Mischung aus sehr interessanten Leuten und wir hatten viel Spaß zusammen. Natürlich sind wir auch länger geblieben und hatten ein paar Biere. Neben Guiness habe ich O'Haras probiert, aber das ist nicht ganz meins. Kurz nach 3 waren wir wieder im Hostel und um kurz nach 6 wurden wir alle wegen eines Alarms geweckt. Was auch immer das war! Keiner weiß oder hat eine Idee was es gewesen sein könnte. Vielleicht Feueralarm? Das wäre wirklich schlecht gewesen, weil nicht einer aus unserem Zimmer aufgestanden ist um zu gucken oder ähnliches. Stattdessen sind wir einfach wieder eingeschlafen, als der Alarm endlich zu Ende war.
Momentan sind wir am Überlegen eine Tagestour nach Galway zu machen. Das wäre natürlich ein Traum für mich. Zwar bin ich von Dublin positiv überrascht, aber an meine Lieblingsstadt Galway kommt sie trotzdem nicht ran. Obwohl es natürlich fraglich ist inwiefern Galway wirklich noch meinen Erinnerungen entspricht und wie viel ich davon verschönert habe, aber das kann ich nur herausfinden, wenn ich da bin. Fakt ist zumindest, dass ich Irland liebe und ich gerne mehr von diesem wunderschönen Land sehen möchte. Aber noch habe ich ein paar Tage Zeit zumindest etwas Irland zu genießen auch wenn es zu kurz sein wird. Aber immerhin war das Wetter bisher gut. Ein kurzer Regenschauer und das war es. Also bisher ein wunderbarer Urlaub. Wobei ich vermutlich eine Woche durschlafen muss, wenn ich wieder in Deutschland bin. Denn viel Schlaf habe ich bisher nicht bekommen. So dann verschwinde ich gleich ins nächste Abenteuer!

Ach ja und Fotos gibt es dann erst, wenn ich wieder zu Hause bin, da ich kein Kabel dabei habe.

Frankfurt Hahn!

Wir sind heil in Frankfurt Hahn angekommen. Vor Stunden! Die Zeit schleicht vor sich hin, aber wir schaffen auch noch die letzten 4,5 Stunden!

Aber fangen wir von vorne an. Bevor ich losfahren konnte, musste ich eine Runde Panik schieben und meinen Bruder in den Wahnsinn treiben. Gehört doch zum verreisen dazu oder nicht? Er fand es nicht witzig, ich auch nicht, aber ließ sich in dem Moment nicht ändern. So wie er nun mal ist (der beste Bruder aller Zeiten nämlich) hat er die Wraps gemacht (die sehr lecker waren) und meine Mutter hat mich zum Treffpunkt gefahren. Joana und ich sind dann mit der Bahn zum ZOB gefahren. Die Nervosität und Aufregung konnte man uns wohl deutlich anmerken. Als wir dann am ZOB einmal alle Busse lang gegangen sind, haben wir uns entschieden, dass der nach Mannheim unser sein musste. Und das war er auch! Leider ließ der Bus etwas auf sich warten, trotzdem fuhren wir pünktlich los. Sobald der Bus angefahren war, kramte ich meine Schlafmaske heraus, stöpselte meine Kopfhörer in die Ohren und versuchte zu schlafen, vergeblich! Es war unbequem, obwohl die Sitze schon gut waren und laut. Als ich dann aber doch endlich dabei war einzuschlafen, kündigte der Busfahrer über Mikro an, dass wir eine -dreiviertelstunde Pause in Kassel machen würden. Oh yeah! Schlaf konnte ich mich von daher eigentlich auch wieder abschminken. Weiter dösen lautete die Devise, was ich getan habe bis wir endlich an unseren erstem Ziel angekommen sind. Frankfurt Main HBF! Eine einzige Baustelle! Und lauter Menschen (2), die uns nach Geld gefragt haben. Nicht unbedingt das beste Bild von der Stadt. Wir haben uns also um kurz nach 5 auf den Bahnhof gesetzt und gefrühstückt. Bevor wir dann den ersten Bus nach Frankfurt Hahn verpasst haben und 1,5 Stunden auf den zweiten warten mussten. Den bekamen wir aber und da konnte ich tatsächlich so ne Viertelstunde schlafen. Wahnsinnig viel, wie ich bemerken darf.

Nach 1,75 Stunden hatten wir dann auch das zweite Etappenziel erreicht: Den Flughafen. Natürlich war es noch viel zu früh, wir hatten ja noch 9(!) Stunden Zeit! Also suchten wir uns draußen, denn die Sonne scheint, einen Platz im grünen, mehr oder weniger zumindest, ließen die Sonne auf uns nieder brennen und warteten und warteten, aßen ein wenig und warteten dann noch länger. Also bisher kann man festhalten, dass unsere Reise aus viel warten bestand! Und jetzt geht das Warten noch ein wenig weiter. Jetzt sitzen wir jedenfalls am Gate, auf unbequemen Stühlen und machen dies und das um uns die Zeit zu vertreiben. Etwas anderes bleibt uns ja auch nicht übrig. Ich für meinen Teil freue mich darauf in Dublin anzukommen und vor allem freue ich mich auf einen mehrstündigen, erholsamen Schlaf. In diesem Sinne wünsche ich euch noch einen schönen Tag (heute wäre Schrödinger 126 geworden, feiert es ;)) und bis zum nächsten Update und dem ersten aus Irland.

Die Reise kann beginnen

Nachdem ich den Fahrradurlaub einer Freundin über ihren Blog verfolgen konnte, dachte ich mir: Warum machst du das nicht für deine Irlandreise?
Ich wollte nach Irland, ja und das schon längere Zeit. Also fragte ich ein paar Freunde ob sie Lust, Zeit und Geld haben (wichtige Kriterien für eine Reise) und eine sagte zu. Also buchten wir vor ca. 4 Wochen den Flug. Heute würde ich das ganze ein wenig anders machen, aber für eine mehr oder weniger spontane Reise passt das schon. Eigentlich wollten wir ja von Hamburg nach Dublin fliegen. Da wir dann zwischen 10 und 20 Stunden unterwegs wären, entschlossen wir uns von Frankfurt aus zu fliegen. Tja, das hätten wir eigentlich auch lassen können. Denn natürlich müssen wir auch noch nach Frankfurt und das dauert! Nachdem wir Flug und Hostel gebucht hatten, guckten wir also nach Zug oder Busverbindungen. Natürlich muss man dafür um die 6 Stunden einplanen. Heute Abend geht es also dann los. Vom Hamburger HBF zum Frankfurter HBF. Kommen um kurz nach 5 Uhr morgens an. Vom Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt müssen wir aber noch einmal zum Flughafen Hahn. Das ist eine weitere Busfahrt von knapp 2 Stunden. Sagen wir, wir kommen um 8 Uhr morgens am Flughafen an, dann müssen wir noch mal gute 12 Stunden auf unseren Flug warten. So hatte ich es mir nicht ganz vorgestellt. Aber es wird schon werden. Nach fast 24(!) Stunden werden wir dann in Dublin ankommen! Darauf freue ich mich schon. Aber da kommt dann noch eine weitere Busfahrt von ca. einer halben Stunde und dann ja dann werden wir auch endlich im Hostel ankommen!
Für die lange Busfahrt und vor allem den ganzen Montag habe ich gestern noch Proviant besorgt. Kekse, Corny und Wraps werde ich machen. Verhungern werden wir wohl nicht.
Noch habe ich allerdings nicht fertig gepackt und darum werde ich mich gleich noch kümmern müssen. In meinen schönen, neuen knallpinken Rucksack muss noch einiges rein, vor allem auch die Kamera, damit ich viele, viele Fotos von meinem Trip machen kann.

Für die Reise bezahlen wir:
Flug: 150 €
Unterkunft: 100€
Bus von HH nach Frankfurt und zurück: 53 €
Bus von Frankfurt zum Flughafen: 14 €
Bus vom Flughafen zum Hostel: 6 €

Lasst die Reise beginnen.
Und sorry der erste Eintrag ist ein klein wenig durch einander, muss eben noch einiges erledigt werden. Hab ihn jetzt mehr zwischen Tür und Angel geschrieben.