Luck of the Irish

Here is a peek at the first weekend trip (to Ireland) out of the 10 days I got to spend with my mother in Europe:

I welcomed her and her traveling companion (my friend Casey's mom) at the airport when they landed a little before 8am, and rushed them onto the metro and to Maria's infamous apartment! I was way too hyper for the morning, especially because it was the middle of the night for them, but I could not contain my excitement about inviting them in to view my life abroad(from a viewpoint other than my FB pictures). Next, Maria and Cortes (mis padres espanoles) took us all out for the "Spanish Breakfast" of croissant plancha, pan tostado con tomate, churros, y cafe! The mothers were stuffed! After that my mom could have napped....but I wanted her to see the walk through the park that I see everyday on my way to school, as well as seeing SLU Madrid's beautiful campus patios outside every building.

Once we got back from our walk it was time to fly to Dublin! And here we are the next day stopping to view a castle on our "Paddywagon" day trip to the Cliffs of Moher! We are matching of course....

Isn't she cute???

Here we are arriving at the Cliffs!

Oh and here are the actual cliffs:

Wow God is really good.

 And she wouldn't be Colleen Misdom if she didn't freak out about me walking along the cliff's edge:

I promise all this matching was unintentional...

Also, I never knew Ireland had such a variety of landscapes, I saw cliffs, mountains, hills (the latter I did know about), waterfalls, and forests completely covered in bright green moss! So cool!

The Mother-Daughter gang!^^^^

Inch Beach during our tour of Kerry, Ireland. This happened to be right after we drove through Dingle, Ireland which is where my mom's grandmother (who she was extremely close with) grew up before coming to the US at 17 years old.

I absolutely loved that we got to spend our last day in Ireland with our family there! We wish we could have spent more time together, but realized that means we just have to come back....with my Grandma next time! It would be beautiful to see her visiting the birthplace of her mother. So that is my Mom and I's next goal! 

Here is my mom, Della and I, scoping out all of what Dublin had to offer:)

Cool fun fact: Della is the Irish nickname of Bridget!

2 Helpful hints if you ever get to eat in Dublin:

1. Get excited... because Ireland has the best food 

I've had yet while traveling Europe. I'm all about 

those hearty meals though. 

2. You have to eat at the Hairy Lemon for dinner! 

And don't be shy...get the bread pudding for dessert!

We ended up eating at this restaurant 3 times

 becausewe couldn't get enough of it's delicious

"Beef & Guinness pie"and its super

 friendly family-run staff!

Cute and scrumptious bakery!

 This place made me start loving tea again.

Then we had to say goodbye to Ireland, it was time to show my mom Madrid...oh and go to school. 

Thanks for the spin      Paddywagon!