PS - I love you.

My friends from George Mason had been visiting this entire week and Friday was their last full day in Ireland before an early flight departing Saturday morning. I thought it would be fun to see the country side and some of the infamous spots used in films like PS-I love you. For 22 euro, we took a tour of the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough National Park. We got picked up at 9:30 am and hopped on the bus. Our first stop was Wicklow Mountains. This is where the movie PS- I love you was filmed. We stopped first at Guinness Lake. It gets the name from the water being black and the white sand at it's edge, making it look like a pint of Guinness. Atop the hill it was extremely breezy and frigid. A quick photo-op and a gaze into the gorgeous scenery ensued. I felt guilty just taking a picture then getting back on the bus. The views were incredible and minus the wind it was a perfect day. I tried to muster up enough strength to stay outside in the bitter cold but the wind and chill got the best of me and I headed back to the bus.



Next we stopped at the bridge in PS- I love you where Gerard Butler meets a young Hilary Swank. Hoping we too would meet the Irish man of our dreams, we hopped off the bus anxiously to recreate the monumental minute in the film. The next stop was a mans house that was in a valley. It was a cute farm house that had a rushing waterfall leading down into some trees. We got a complimentary shot of whiskey at the stop, because well who doesn't want a shot at 12pm? It is places like these that make me want to seriously pick up and move out here after college. I can't get over the sheer beauty of this country, and each day I find something more I love about it.





After a pit stop for lunch we were headed to Glendalough National Park. The weather was getting iffy, with overcast skies quickly darkening and finally resulting in a short drizzle. Regardless we had two hours at this park. We started by walking through an old monastery, which was just ruins, completed with a cemetery and a church at the entrance. It was so windy and cold, but the aging gravestones were a good distraction. I find cemeteries peaceful. Slightly morbid, but I enjoyed reading through the names of these people who had an impact large enough to be buried in this special cemetery. The watch tower of the monastery is the second tallest in Ireland, built to watch for impeding attacks by the Vikings. The church, called Kevin's Church, was named after Saint Kevin and marks the entry to the monastery grounds.



After the monastery, we walked around the park for a couple hours. We saw the twin lakes located at the center of the valley. The park was beautiful, and even in the rain I managed to be completely at peace with the weather. It was humbling to be surrounded by such gorgeous natural forestry. The park had gorgeous waterfalls, so much greenery it made my eyes hurt and a large tree that took us about 25 minutes to scale and take a picture in. After a two hour jaunt around the park, we headed back to the bus and were back in Dublin by 5pm. The nature in this country is absolutely gorgeous. I'm not trying to be all nature child or anything, but it really makes me appreciate the beauty of naturally made structures like mountains and lakes.