Sunday, 8th of May

The first time since I arrived in Ireland and had a boy sitting next to me during the church service. And let me tell you, that feels goooood:) After the service we decided to go to Howth. If you're a dedicated reader of this blog you know that I've been there before and that it is a little paradise on earth! We went with the Dart (electric train of Dublin) to Howth. It was absolutely wonderful. We sunbathed in the sun while lying on the rocky beach, had a nice walk through the town of Howth and enjoyed a splendid ice cream.

We finished the day off with a gorgeous pizza and a pint of Bulmers/Carlsberg.

Saturday, 7th of May

Today was absolutely magical. I planned to go on a tour to Wicklow, Glendalough. The weather was not working in our advantage though... Especially in the morning it was really cloudy and we couldn't see everything the guide wanted us to see. Later in the afternoon it all cleared up a little and we saw an amazing waterfall, lakes and old monastries.

Funny story; we had lunch and we got sandwiches with fries. Dirk can't live without mayonaise, and they come in a really 'handy' wrapping. The 5th attempt to open this wrapping resulted into a disaster. A disaster which spilled all over my clothes and my freshly washed hair...:) Yeah, you got it right, I was covered in mayonaise from top to toe. Ok, I might be a bit exaggerating.

The rest of the day was absolutely wonderful. My hair looked like I tried to wash it with olive oil, but other than that it was marvelous. We decided that we didn't want to cook today, so we went to the oldest pub in Ireland (at least they're one of the 100 pubs who claim to be the oldest pub in Ireland). We ate a traditional Irish dish: Traditional Irish Stew. It was a mix of vegetable-soup, mashed patatoes and meat. It was absolutely delicious!

Friday, 6th of May

3:00, 3:01, 3:02, 3:03, 3:04, ..... I've seen every minute pass on the clock last night. It was insane.. I couldn't sleep but didn't want to get up either. Because I knew today would be the best day that I would have at my stay here in Dublin. And that is because... My wonderful boyfriend came over to see me:) But first I needed to get through the morning, eat breakfast and pretending to be relaxed while my mind was at the airport. At 9:05 I took the Airlink bus to the airport. I had to wait for half an hour until his plane would touch the Irish ground. Those last minutes were dreadful. It took forever... I watched the gate expectantly and every time the doors opened I hoped for HIM to walk through them. Finally a cloud of blond hair announced his arrival...:)

I asked a colleague about the transport from the airport to the hostel. He said to me that I could take a 'normal' bus from a stop just a little walk from the airport. It would be cheap and easy to find. I had to hop off at Dame Street, which is just around the corner of the Four Courts Hostel. Well the first part went pretty well. The second part on the other hand... We had to hop off at Dame Street but I didn't pay enough attention... I've got a good reason for this: I was distracted by my wonderful company.

We finally managed to get to the hostel and got a warm welcome from my colleagues. They were absolutely fantastic, they didn't even want Dirk to pay for his stay in the hostel! When I left this morning they threatened that they would behave very silly upon his arrival. Fortunately they didn't dare to do that;)

I didn't make a plan for the rest of the day beforehand. I knew a couple of places I still wanted to see, but I wanted Dirk to decide which sights he would like to see. Eventually we went to Dublin Castle. It was really nice, the guide was rather enthusiastic about it which made it interesting.

The rest of the day we just walked around, made pasta and chilled out:) Wonderful first day!