The Perfect Pint

The first day that my family was here we walked around Dublin and saw the sights. Of course the most important attraction was the Guinness factory! As you walk into the “tourist” part of the factory you feel like you walked into a different word. The tour is self-guided and very interactive. You could spend hours upon hours there reading all the signs and experiencing the elements that go into a Guinness. There is even a waterfall in the middle of the tour that depicts the pour water they use. As we are going through the tour of course my dad is the one stopping at every single sign and reading in depth what it says. On the other hand my little sister is practically running through this tour so she can get to the end where they give a free half pint of Guinness. My family did not want to leave that tasting room! Everyone in the Rochon family and of course Allison fell in love with the Irish beer. We even went to their academy where we learned how to pour the perfect pint. There is a lot more to pouring this beer than I originally thought. There is a lot of science and math involved. And let me say I passed this course with flying colors! As we drank our perfectly poured pints we ventured up to the observatory. Here all of the walls are glass windows so you are able to look out and see the entire city of Dublin. This is one of my favorite views in the city. It is like looking from the Empire state building into NYC, just not that tall! I could spend hours up there drinking Guinness and looking at the city that I love so much. And I am glad that I could experience it with my family J

Pouring the perfect pint :)

We graduated!!!! 

View from the top with of course a Guinness in hand!

Guten Tag

I never imagined that I would fall in love with the city of Berlin, Germany. Everywhere you turned there was something inspiring. It was impossible to get lost and be frightened because where ever you ended up was a new adventure. We were given day passes to practically any museum or tourist hot spots. In the few days that we were there, we crammed as much as we could in. The first task though was transportation. In order to get anywhere you need to take either the U-ban or S-ban subways. Let me say we conquered that subway system effortlessly! The slight difficulty we had was not knowing German lol So in the end we just gave nicknames to all of the places. For example O’hamburger street was really  Oranienburger strabe. Once we figured out the subway system we moved about the city with ease.

There was so much that we did I could dedicate an entire blog to it! On our first day we took a walking tour around the city with our teacher. We saw where the Berlin use to stand and the place where it fell. The tour ended at Check Point Charlie. Here my small group of friends and I spent a good two hours. It was a museum dedicated to depicting what life was like for both sides while the wall was it up. They had amazing stories of escape attempts. Some people would hide in the trunks of cars and another curled up into a ball in a speaker. The stories of people trying to create peace were inspirational.

The next stop was the Anne Frank museum. It was not too large. It was about the size of a long hallway. On one side of the wall was the life of Anne Frank. It had pictures and stories from her childhood. On the opposite wall it had what was occurring in Germany at the time. Then at the end, displayed in a clear box was her first diary that she received when she was 13. It was incredible to actually see the handwriting of Anne right in front of me.

After this we needed a slight pick me up and went and found a Haagen Dazs. Now I know that this is not REAL German ice cream, but man did it taste better in Germany. We made it a thing to get the ice cream every night we were there J

 We also spent an entire day seeing museums. My favorite was the Pergamon museum. Here they have entire pieces of Greek alters and parts of the Byzantine Empire and so so much more. It was like walking back in time. My second favorite was an art museum where I got to three real life Monet’s. Not only could I look at them up close and see the texture and dynamics of the paintings put I also got to take pictures of them. Incredible!

 Berlin is a city that is on my bucket list to go back to. I did so much the small time that I was there but there is still so much more to see!

I do believe in faeries!!

Ireland is a country that has strong beliefs in the magic and fairy tales. If your keys go missing, you blame the fairies. If something goes awry, the leprechauns are acting up again. Folklore is a large part of Ireland. Here in Dungarven they have a fairy tree. It is said that if you truly believe in fairies then if you put your car in neutral, the car will begin to go uphill backwards! My family and I needed to check this out for ourselves. So we took the car up the mountain and put the car in neutral. THE CAR BEGAN TO ROLL BACKWARDS UPHILL!!! It was unbelievable. Everyone in the car was in complete shock! We tried multiple times and each time we went up the hill and at a rapid speed! There must have been a lot of fairy magic that day! 

The Magical Fairy Tree 

The Gift of Gab

It is said that if a person kisses the Blarney stone then they receive the gift of gab. Here in Ireland it is a character trait to be able to tell stories. And let me tell you, all Irish people have this gift! When my family visited me, I took them to Blarney Castle. The grounds were breathtaking. There were rivers and flowers covering the land. There is this one section of the grounds with mystical powers. There is a witches hutch and a wishing stairs. If you walk up the stairs forwards and backwards with your eyes closed then your wish will come true within the year. Of course my little sister was the first in line to make a wish! Then my dad followed after her. The Rochon family now has wishes galore!

When we finished with the enchanting forest we headed to the actual Blarney Castle. I thought that the blarney stone was at the base of the castle but man was I wrong. It was way at the tippy top of the castle! The journey to the top was over 100 steps of winding, shoulder width apart steep steps. We had my grandmother with us and she climbed the stairs like a champ! Although we did have to stop a few times and was asked if we were there yet we finally made it to the top a half hour later. At the top of the castle you could see for miles and miles, all the way into the next town.  

Then it was time to kiss the stone. In order to do this you have to situate yourself so that your butt is practically hanging off the side of the castle. Then you have to do this backbend to reach these poles. THEN these guys only hold you on your waist to lower you down to kiss the stone. The only thing that separates you from the ground is two bars that a person my size could easily slip through! It was the most thrilling and scariest experience. As you kiss the stone there is a camera that takes your picture. At the bottom of the castle you can choose to purchase this.  The face that the camera captured from my grandma was priceless. It was pure terror and excitement about kissing the stone. It was so epic that we bought the picture for her J

TK Tour!

Bright and early Saturday morning everyone staggered on to the bus for a tour given by Tom Keith. These tours are known as TK Tours! We have them planned for 3 Saturday’s while we are here. The first place he took us to was the sacred grounds Mt. Melleray Grotto. Here in August of 1985 the Virgin Mary was said to appear to a young women and two boys. She gave them the message that the world is becoming corrupt and filled with evil. The human race had to change their ways and become more peaceful. We had the opportunity to speak to the woman that had this encounter with the Virgin Mary. She said it was a life changing experience and she tries to live a peaceful life.

The Statue of the Virgin Mary is where she actually appeared on the hill

After this spiritual stop we continued on the bus for about another 45 minutes. We went through the dead land of the country were all the grass is brown and rocks cover the land. On the other side though was luscious green fields and a haunted lake. We stopped here at the Vee where you had the chance to do photo ops. While we were here a few girls decided that they  wanted to pet some sheep. So they ran into the hills and tried to sneak up on the animals, but the sheep were to smart and ran away. It was a funny sight to see.

Can you see why they call it the Vee??

Chasing the sheepies!! 

Then again we hopped in the bus and went to Mitchelstown Caves. These caves are couple hundred million years old and we got to explore them. The passage ways were narrow and water kept dripping on my head but this place was amazing! We saw fossils that were over 350 million years old in the walls. They sometimes use these caves for concerts. Wouldn't that be a thing to put on the bucket list.

This rock is called the Swan

Cahir Castle was the next item to visit on the TK Tour. This is one of the oldest castles in Ireland. This castle was only invaded once. You can still see a few cannon balls lodged in the walls from past attacks. They still have a working drop gate. It can be lowered in 5 seconds! On the wall of the dining hall is a skeleton of an Irish deer. They have been extinct for years but this head was found preserved in the bogs.

The last stop was Ormond Castle. It was built for the Butler Family, who also owned Killkenny Castle. When the Butler family moved into Killkenny castle they lift this home to fall to pieces. Only about half of the house still stands. 

Sunshine Shine down on Me

The town of Dungarven just gets more beautiful every day! The other day the sun was shining and the sky was a rich blue so me and some friends decided to go on a bike ride.  We took the bikes to the first beach here in town. As we got there I could smell the salt water in the air. It reminded me of home when I go to the beach with my family. This time though I was surrounded my family here in Dungarven. As I looked over the bridge I could see the different colors in that water. It felt like you were on a tropical island. Then since the sun was still out and there was not a single grey cloud in sight so we decided to venture on to the next beach. This was a little farther then anticipated, but it was worth it. On the ride their it was almost surreal. There was the hills with the patchwork to the left and farms with cows and sheep with in petting distance. We all had a realization that at that moment we were all taking a bike ride in Ireland. Although we have been here for almost two months it still doesn't hit me that I have this amazing opportunity to be here. It is almost like I am watching a movie starring a me; it is not like real life. After about 20 minutes we realized that we were getting close because we could hear the waves. With the last of our strength we peddled as fast as we could to get to the beach. The sight was awe inspiring. You looked out and to the left there was a majestic green cliff with rocks at the bottom and waves crashing up against them. We took off our shoes and ran towards the Celtic Sea! As one would think the water was freezing! My little toes turned pink and numb but it did not matter because I was in the ocean in Ireland J We walked the beach getting lost in the sights and looking for sea glass. We only found a few pieces but I did find a starfish. After poking it a few times to see if it was living, which it was, I then saved its life and put it back in the water. Good dead of the day! Then as we were walking back to our bikes a man on horse back came galloping along the beach. It was the frosting on the cake to an amazing sunny day here in Dungarven, Ireland!

Street Art Galore!

I have always wanted to see meaningful street art. Not the graffiti that you see on the side of buildings but paintings that stand for something that is more than a gang sign or Harry <3 Sally. When you walk down the streets of Berlin you feel like there is a museum of art surrounding you. On every corner there is an amazing piece of art work. When my friends and I visited the Anne Frank museum we had to pass through an ally way that was covered from the ground to the sky in art in all different forms. It was awe inspiring. Then a few days later, we visited the East Side Gallery. It is part of the wall that still stands and stretches over 1.3 km of land. On one side there are beautiful murals that have been painted by people all around the world. Then on the other side it has graffiti words. If you look hard enough you will find me and a few friends initials on that wall. WE SIGNED THE BERLIN WALL! I would rather show you the paintings and have them speak for themselves than have me babble on about how amazing they are.

Our initials on the wall :)