Hello, my faithful clan of followers. I'm baaaaaack! I am in Drogheda for the next few days. Drogheda is 20 miles from Dublin and about the same size as Indianapolis, maybe a little smaller. The hostel I am staying at is not so great. I am really trying to decide if I feel this way because I am so tired and hungry or if it is really bad. I will stick it out for at least the next two nights. I may move on to Cork on Thursday instead of staying here. Cork was not on my orginal plan, but the area is nice and it's not too far from Killarney, which is the next stop before I go back to Shannon and head home on June 30.

Over the past few days, I have been to a few places. I went to church on Sunday like a good catholic girl and spent the rest of Sunday resting because I was still really tired from being sick. Yesterday, I took the bus to Giant's Causeway. It is just the neatest place! It is said to be the 8th Wonder of the World. I took the nice half mile walk to the bottom and walked around the Causeway. I then took some great pictures to share with all of you when I get home. The day was perfect. It was the best weather I had seen since I came to the North. I decided not to walk back to the top of the Causeway, it is really steep and well, I was lazy. So, I took the little bus back to the top.

Since my appetite has been almost nonexistant, I decided that while I was out, it would be a good time to eat something really tasty that I didn't have to fix. I made my way over to the Causeway Hotel and had a fantastic lunch of chicken strips with garlic dipping sauce and garlic potatoes. There was so much food there I could have shared it with someone else. But, there wasn't anyone to share it with, so I had to leave about half of it. I was too afraid to ask for a take away box...I don't know if you can do that here and especially at such a nice place.

I had a nice ride back with the most polite bus driver I have encountered. It was smooth and pleasant trip back. You really begin to appreciate kind people when you don't run into them very often. I have noticed that in the North, people tend to not be as friendly as in the Republic. I think it goes back to the Troubles and not knowing if you could or could not trust people.

I met a new friend when I arrived back at the hostel. Jennifer was from NYC and was also traveling on her own. We had a very long chat about everything under the sun. I felt like I knew her. Anyhow, we spent the night doing laundry, exciting I know, but it had to be done. Being the cheap people we are, we decided to only put a few things in the dryer ( less money to spend) and hang the rest of it out across our room. Let's just say it looked like a refuge camp when we got done! We laughed so hard we thought we might wake up the people next door. We decided to take pictures of the occasion! Gosh, our parents would be so proud!

I was really bummed that I had to leave Jennifer and our refuge camp this morning, but I was ready to get out of Downhill. So, I packed up and got to the train to leave the North. I arrived here in Drogheda before 3:00. I had the chance to ride the Dublin Explorer, which is a really nice train that has tables and comfy chairs! I of course, fell asleep.

So, now I am going to find some food! Maybe I will look into some new accomodations for Thursday night. I hope to go into Dublin tomorrow and be a total tourist. I will let you know how it turns out. Well, until next time...Heather