Cheers!

Hey guys!! We're just pulled in to Ireland, and it is just gorgeous here! First, I'll update you on the end of our paris trip. We ended up spending about a week there, which we hadn't planned on, but were so glad it worked out that way! We really fell in love with the city, and are already scheming a way to move there...you know, logistics and all. ;) maybe someday!

So here's the quick rundown of what we did the last few days:

on the 19th, we learned a very important traveler lesson; the importance of booking way, waaay in advance when using a eurail pass. That was the reason we stayed in Paris so long, there were no trains to the north! So after learning that lesson, we booked the rest of the trains for the remainder of our trip. We also decided that we'd rather spend more time in each place, and really get a feel for each city--as opposed to trying to hit as many countries as we can. So we chose to see Ireland, France, and Italy. Here's our itinirary:

Ireland from now (6/24) to 6/30
Train to Bordeaux, France (7/1 - 7/5)
Train to Nice, France (7/5 - 7/10)
Train to Cinque Terre, Italy (7/10 - 7/13)
Then train to Paris and then fly back!

Ok so now back to Paris. We saw the Catacombes, which were wiiiild-- Jon loved it, I was moderately creeped out by it. But definitely an interesting experience! We also stumbled across the Moulin Rouge, which is horribly unimpressive, much cooler in the movie. Another random thing we witnessed was a Roller Party...Thats right, a roller party. We were just walking along one of the main streets in Paris, and then, out of nowhere, we saw HUNDREDS of roller bladers on the next street, just zipping around! The police had the area roped off and everything--they totally encouraged it. I went up to one of them and asked what was happening, and he informed me that it was simply the weekly roller party! Tres bizarre. After that, we took a train to a little town in Northern France, Cherbourg, where there is quite literally nothing to do. So we decided to take that valuable opportunity to catch up on sleep--a whopping 13 hours! The next evening, we caught a ferry to Ireland...more of a cruise ship, really. They had restaurants, lounges, and even a movie theater! It was an overnight ferry, from 6pm one night to 11am the next morning. We met tons of great people, and let me just say, Irish people are the friendliest ever! We got tons of recommendations of where to go and where not to go, so that was fun. Anyways, this morning we got off the ferry and hopped right on a bus to Dublin, where we'll be for 2 nights.

One last fun little story before we head out: Remember our favorite deaf cafe, cafe signes? Well, on our last morning in Paris, we stopped by to get an espresso on our way out of town, backpacks and all. The barista's asked if we were leaving, and where we were going, you know--general small talk and things. Which is quite interesting communication, at some points we had 3 translations going on-- one from a guy speaking sign language to us, which was translated to french by the other worker, which was translated to english so Jon could be in the loop as well. Pretty nuts! So as we were leaving, I asked them if their little espresso cups were for sale, and if so, how much were they. The guy said yes yes, paused for a second, and then handed us on, and said it was their farewell gift! How sweet is that! Best souvenier ever.

Ok, we're off to explore Dublin! See ya!