ireland to paris

there's so much swimming around in my head that i'd like to share about the last few days...the last four weeks! we left portland four weeks ago today, and tomorrow morning we are leaving this country for our second one, france! the last time i wrote we were in a crossroads of not knowing where to go next...we found a great website called helpx.net which is kindof like WOOOFing but not under that umbrella, where you volunteer and help out at people's houses/farms in exchange for free room and board. an amazing opportunity to learn a different way of life, new skills, and to meet some amazing people! we are set up with a 3 week opportunity in northwestern rural france that begins next week! it is very exciting, unknown, new, and amazing. we are flying out of galway tomorrow for paris, where we will be for 5 days. because of our last minute planning, most of the hostels were booked for the weekend in paris already....in a twist of fate, one became available last night online called the hotel richard, which has been reviewed by past visitors in the range of "grotesque," "a strange smell coming out of the drains," and "weird, but for some reason i'm coming back." i don't think it will be the best place we'll stay on our trip, but at least it is a roof over our heads i guess....the location of it is pretty good i think. for the first two nights we're staying at a hostel called "oops" that just opened last month! i think that one will be nicer!

we finally changed hostels in galway, actually. we were staying at the galway hostel for 5 nights total, it's billed as "the happiest hostel in galway," and it is very cheerful, especially the 5 front desk guys we got to know. there were a few long term hostelers that were there all the time, it seemed, and it was nice to develop some familiar faces we'd see around there or around town. but we were always in 8 bed dorms, in small narrow bunkbeds where we couldn't sleep together, and that got a bit hard, especially with drunk dormmates coming in late into the night or the occasional snorer... :) yesterday carson found the great place we're staying now, the claddagh hostel, just down the road, and we have our own (little) room with a bunkbed mattress wide enough for both of us! it is yellow-walled and has no windows but a tall skylight, with a little fresh air, and cozy blankets...a nice big kitchen, a beautiful sitting room with free internet and cozy couches, etc. it's been a great blessing (it's so nice to have our own room!!!!!!)

we feel quite at home in galway, i think we've spent most of our ireland time in this sweet town. on saturday and sunday we found the market on a side street, and bought some fresh produce. there were many handmade and imported goods, baked goods, and some yummy food stands, like fresh crepes or these DELICIOUS handmade falafel salads where he fried the falafels right in front of us and it was like we'd never eaten before, we got two they were so good! on sunday we kept running into people around town that we recognized, one australian girl was in three different places we went! we found our little coffee shop, java's, it's french themed and open until at least 3am every night, and we had a large cappuccino with cocoa sprinkled on top. they give you little french chocolates for free with every drink you order, it's very nice. a girl came in and started playing amelie songs on the piano, it was beautiful.

carson and i have been doing our pages every day, which has been a great committment, and rewarding too. we'll have a lot to share of our experience when we come back. we are addicted to the tart co., where they have incredible little tarts for only 2euro each, we get the rhubarb one....today we went in twice, and the second time she gave us a free tart for the road, so sweet! the new yummy local irish foods have been my favorite...today we calculated that we're on our 7th little block of cheese in 11 days :) the irish cheddar is so delicious. we've cooked most of our meals and ate out a couple of times, but we've eaten really well. it's very easy to find fresh produce, organic foods, high quality dairy, even kombucha.

tonight we walked along galway bay to watch the sunset. there is so much more we could've seen of ireland; we didn't even make it to the cliffs of moher, which is unfortunate because they are supposed to be so amazing, but i guess it's good to leave things for next time too. it's been great to settle here for a few days after all that moving around we did in the US and all the flying up and down. we're excited for a little change of pace in paris too, it will be a whole new world there! i've been trying to remember little bits of french, conversational...of course i know all the food words, i can always read a french menu very well :)

well i'm sure there's lots i've forgotten to mention, and i might be writing again tonight....i've been inspiring carson to write his first blog since vermont, and i think he might do it tonight, so hopefully you'll hear from him too! we've both got a little cold, but i think we're going out to the quays tonight for one last guinness and to hear that band we heard last tuesday night, they were amazing. love to everyone we know and love, feel free to comment and write to us to let us know how you are doing!
love,
melissa