Sometimes dreams come true.

I have yet to write about Dublin.  Oh Dublin.  Dublin was a hoot.  In a slightly ridiculous way.  You know your trip is going to be good when you think that you are going to be riding on a ferry from Wales (yup, found out I had been to Wales this weekend) to Ireland, and it turns out to be a mini-cruise ship.  Seriously, just like my cruise ship to Alaska, just a few floors smaller.  And no pool...that I could tell.

Anyway, we proceed to Dublin and I ask our taxi driver what to do in Dublin.  Keep in mind that I am in the passenger seat, but really the driver seat in the U.S....up there with the driver.  He says all there is to do in Dublin was to get drunk.  I decide to not get into a religious conversation and explain how I don't drink, and I decide to just go with the whole, "Oh, what if your underaged?"  He laughs and states that age doesn't really matter in Ireland.

Okkkaaayyyy...

We pull into Dublin and go to our VRBO. (Vacation rental by owner.)  However, it turns out to be a VRWO+SARAG.  That means: Vacation Rental With Owner plus Son and Random Asian Guy.  Oh, and I think the owner's wife was there too.  I am convinced that the Asian guy slept in the closest under the stairs because there weren't any rooms left in the apartment.  The owner was Boris, or that's what we called him.  The scent of the place was so strong that when I smelled my clothes in Phoenix, Arizona, they still reminded me of Boris and his hospitality.

Dublin was a beautiful city, full of pubs and stone buildings.  We went on a day tour of Wicklow National Park, and that was gorgeous.  Have you seen P.S. I Love You?  If you haven't, you need to.  It's filmed in the park, and it was even more beautiful than what was filmed in the movie.  We did see the bridge that's in that movie, hipster points for us.

But my dreams came true on our last day in Dublin.  A handsome Irish boy waltzed right into my life.  Ha, I wish.  No, instead, I got fancy hot chocolate.

When we were on our day tour, I described to Valon and Camille how I always wished that I could have hot chocolate that had a steamed milk design swirled in it, like you always see the fancy coffee drinks.  That night I even had a dream that I had that type of hot chocolate.

Well, the next day we went and got brunch. And I ordered hot chocolate.

'Nuff said.  Dreams come true.

(And the P.S. I Love You Bridge.  And some random people.  Who knows.)

And there we have it.  A completely ridiculous, superfluous post about hot chocolate with a design in it.  And great scenery.

#bloggerstatus
Elise

Fish and Chips

To all of you Pinteresters (new word?) you have probably seen this.  This is copied off of my cousin's Bucket List board.  So what do we do when we are in London?  Cross things off the bucket list of course!  

Reader, I ate fish and chips in London.  

I wish I had a picture of the place we ate at, but here is the street we stayed on.  I was starving and I couldn't wait to eat some authentic fish and chips. We all order the large except for my cousin, who ordered the regular.  

And this, my friends, is the large.  Two hands long.  It is a full fish that is huuuuuugggeeee. The regular was maybe a quarter smaller?  Who know the portions were so big.  Sad news?  Not the most flavorful fried fish I've ever had.  Not even the vinegar helped.  

However, check that off a bucket list.  Two truths and lie fodder perhaps?

xoxo. Elise 

A little country hopping for ya!

I've been all over the U.S.  Crossed so many state borders, I've lost track.  I live half an hour away from a state border for heaven's sake!

So imagine my surprise when crossing country borders....was kind of the same thing.  Except maybe even more anticlimactic because we didn't even cheer as we crossed.

See, over in Europe a lot of the countries are all part of the European Union.  Because of this union, there isn't any border control whatsoever.  Going from Germany to France to Luxembourg to Belgium was very similar to going from Utah to Idaho to Wyoming to Colorado.

Downside?  No passport stamps.

The first day we stop in Trier, the oldest city in Germany.  It's home to a Roman Gate (yes, as in bajillion years old Romans) that is nicknamed 'The Black Gate' because, well, it's black.

There were all of these kids everywhere on a field trip...and I wonder what type of life they live.  I mean, who goes on a school field trip to a Roman gate...in Germany.  Don't mind me, I just went to the Kingman Power House year after year after year.  (Kingmanites, you know what I'm talking about). 

Keep in mind it was 90 degrees over here.  Yes, 90 degrees and so humid it felt like a permanent sauna.  That is why my face felt like it was melting off.  This is when we vowed to never put any effort in our appearance in Europe ever again.  (That lasted until the next day).  We also visited some Roman Baths, a beautiful cathedral, and had the most amazing gelato ever.  I had blood orange and, oh my, it was heavenly.  Helped my craving for something cold.  Fun fact about Germany: they have no ice.  Anywhere.  They probably don't even know what ice is.  And their drinks?  Cool, not cold, at best.  

We then stopped at a U.S. military cemetery in Luxembourg.  This was amazing.  It was sobering to look at all of those white crosses in row after perfect row of people who died so I could live in a free country.  

 Luxembourg was gorgeous.  It is one of the wealthiest countries in the world (I guess their big income is banking? Who knew!), and you could tell.  Everything was clean and nice. Seriously, I would probably move there in heartbeat...actually, I would move there in a heartbeat.

Belgium was only about a half an hour away...so why not?  We tried some French fries from a little roadside stand.  Fun fact number 2: French fries are from Belgium. World War II soldiers were given some from soldiers that spoke French so they assumed they were from France, but they were actually from Belgium.  These fries were heavenly...fresh and hot.  We also had an assortment of sauces to taste test.  (Curried ketch-up?  Thumbs down.)

Our last stop was a war memorial, Battle of the Bulge to be exact.  This was an amazing experience for me because I had just learned about this battle, the history behind the name, and the significance of it.  The memorial was huge, and I would highly recommend looking up the story.  Again, it made me so proud to be an American.  It also reminded me of the great world we live in, at risk of sounding corny, it was a great reminder that there are good people out there.

('Scuse the appearance...it was a long day and as mentioned, I basically melted).

Sorry this was so long...when you do three countries in one day, it takes a while.

xo. Elise