more from my day in a postcard

Day 4 (continued)- so after we finally got back in the van, we continued up the mountain (in Wicklow Mountains) to Loche Tay or 'Guinness Lake.'

it got it's nickname because (as you can see) it is black and has a sandy beach resembling the head of a pint of Guinness.

difficult to see in this picture is that after the clearing, tucked into the mountain and the trees there is a house, owned by a member of the Guinness family (the clearing is their helicopter pad).

our tour guide

was all too eager to tell us that Tiger Woods has stayed there as well as Michael Jackson (while he was on trial).

<- Tracie and I were blown away by the

views...and the crazy wind.

after taking pics, we enjoyed tea and coffee with chocolate biscuits- perfect Irish picnic :)

we stopped a few more times before eventually getting to Glendalough.

our tour guide took us through

the Monastery and told us all kinds of incredible stories about the city. we saw the Round Tower, St. Stephen's Kitchen (which is actually a church) and St. Kevin's Cross.

local legend has it that if you can wrap your arms around the cross and touch your fingers together, all of your wishes will come true.

i did it! yay!!

after the tour, we hiked to upper and lower loch in Glendalough (remember, 'glen of 2 lochs')

both were incredibly beautiful. this was by far the best day of scenery we've had.

<- this is the lower loch. you can walk right up to it.

once we arrived back in Dublin, almost all of us went out to dinner w b.love. we had some in depth conversations with him about student social life at UT and gained an insiders perspective to politics within the UT prof community. it was a good talk lol

all in all, it was a fantastic day. <3