My parents came and we immediately headed west. They arrived on a Friday morning and after stopping by my work to show them around we headed to Westport. On the way we stopped in Longford for a traditional Irish lunch at a carvery. Lots of pubs here have places where for lunch it is served kind of cafeteria style only there are lots of really good roasted meats and a good variety of potatoes and other vegetables. best value meal in Ireland because the food is really good and the portions are very hearty. We then continued the Journey to Westport. My parents got their first taste if Irish roads which can best be described as 1.5 lanes wide instead of two and no shoulder. the most shoulder you get is either a 6 inch ditch dropoff or a 3ft tall rock wall. Not a lot of room to maneuver and things can get a little dicey with blind corners and hilly terrain. (Joey and Chris also enjoyed this, Dani however did not...) We found a B&B and then explored the new town. After Dinner, my dad and I went looking for the "Craic". We ended up sitting at a table next to a couple of musicians who were playing an accordian, a fiddel and a guitar, It was really entertaining. People randomly bringing instruments into pubs and having "trad" sessions is really popular around Ireland. The next day we went to Crough Patrick- a mountain just outside of Westport where Saint Patrick used to make pilgrimages. 2500 feet of elevation and a beautiful view of Clew bay was very picturesque. Due to time constraints and jet lag, we only made it about 3/4 of the way up but still had a really enjoyable hike. We then jumped in the car and took the scenic route to Galway. It turned out to be very scenic because we followed the coast line through Connemara National Park and we got lost several times stretching... But it was very pretty. After another B&B we continued the trip to Doolin and the Cliff's (http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/) Beautiful, crisp day.
Clear blue skies made the views spectacular. After an uneventful trip back to Dublin, my parents got a taste of city life- riding the light rail downtown to go grocery shopping. Monday we got up a 4:45am to get my parents off to the airport for their flight to Edinburgh. They spent Mon- Thurs traveling around the UK while I worked and then came back to Ireland Thursday night. We spent a couple days doing the usual Dublin highlights and then got them shipped off after a 6 hour delay b/c of the plane coming from ORD aka worst airport in the world. 
Without any break from the action, the following Wednesday was St. Patty's day. Dublin was a madhouse. Tons and tons of people everywhere. It was really crazy here. Daliana and another IPDP came to Dublin and we went to the all-Ireland, club hurling championship game. It was a really fun event and a good dose of Irish culture. Thursday morning I got up and caught a plane to London for training on a work program. I worked it out so I took Friday vacation day and then took got my flight back on Sunday from Manchester so I could go to the Manchester vs. Liverpool soccer game at Old Trafford. A woman I work with ahs season ticket and offered them to me if I could get a plane ticket. I invited Christy's nephew Geoff who had told me over Christmas if I could get tickets. He bought a plane ticket a week and a half before the game and met up with me in London. I spent my free day in London waiting for him by hitting most of the major sites and at the Belarussian embassy trying to get a visa to visit Kiryl in his homeland. That turned out to fail but the rest of London was nice except for the weather. Geoff's flight was delayed by 8 hrs so he met up with me at the hostel later on in the afternoon. We met up with a friend from college who is studying in London right now. She took us to some of her favorite pubs and we had a really good time. Saturday we trained to Manchester to meet up with Daliana who was randomly on a shopping trip. Sunday Geoff and I went to the Man U game. It was the craziest sporting event I have ever been too. There were 75000 people all singing and cheering and yelling for 90 minutes straight. The only break was halftime. Very fun atmostphere and luckily the home team won. Geoff and I bought gold and green scarves to show our support and wore Man U jerseys my mom had gotten us. I flew back to Ireland and Geoff spent a few more days in London. 
After a four day break, Joey and Chris flew in from Madison. We headed straight for the west side of the country stopping in a small town for a full Irish breakfast (egg, baked beans, bacon, sausage, pudding and potatoes) Joey especially liked the solid, filling breakfasts in Ireland. We then went to the Cliff's on the nicest day I've had in Ireland. We hopped the safety fence and went exploring the cliff's edge and did a bit of hiking around. Gorgeous day. We then found some other smaller cliff's on the way to Galway. We took the scenic route along the coast and found some awesome places to boulder. Chris climbed a 30 ft rockface in an attempt to start the trip with a sprained ankle but luckily he didn't fall. Really fun place to explore and climb around on the rocks. Galway was a completely different place than when Dani and I visited last January. It felt like an Irish version of Madison. Absolutely beautiful seaside town, with tons of people and the main roads were closed off to traffic. We got the travelers settled and then went out on the town to explore and find that first glass of the black gold. Very successful showing Joey and Chris the Irish social scene. Saturday we got up early and headed back to Madison. Another gorgeous day was spent touring Dublin and having a traditional Irish meal at O'Neill's Irish pub. We ended up spending a bit of time there watching a rugby game and experiencing a "Pour your own Pint" table. basically these are tables that have two taplines (Guinness and Carlsburg) running up through the middle of the table and a meter that counts how many beers you pour. All you do is give a cc to the bartender and then cash out when you're done. A very fun time. We got a professional lesson how to pour the perfect pints of each beer. Joey had a funny experience b/c none of us really knew what was going on and then she asked him if he had ever poured a pint before from a tap. his answer was yes but the technique she demonstrated was far from a solo cup and a rubber hose. We also found a pub with a live band that was really entertaining. Sunday was spent exploring all the sites of Dublin and getting ready for the work week. Chris and Joe flew out to Switzerland on Monday and continued their Journey.
After another four day work week I had yet another visitor. Dani came the following Friday. It was really good to see her. We planned it so that we had a few days in Dublin then flew to Prague, Trained to Berlin, and then flew back to Dublin. It was a very fun trip. We went running by the river Liffey downtown Dublin and discovered a really sweet lighthouse that extends about a mile into Dublin bay and provides really sweet views of the the city and surrounding areas. On easter we flew out to Prague. Originally I had a lot of trouble buying the tickets b/c the Ryanair website was being a real pain in the ass. unbeknown to me, I accidentally bought plane tickets for March 7 instead of April 7. So figuring that out the week before we left caused a slight amount of panic but fortunately turned out to only be a 170$ mistake. We got to Prague late at night and checked into the hotel. This trip was a big step for us b/c we upgraded from hostels to hotels. Very fun not having to worry about things like not having heat or hot water that we have experienced in the past.
We spent the next couple days touring Prague and experiencing the Czech culture. Prague is probably the most touristy city I have ever been to but it was very beautiful. Lots of really different architecture than I'm used to and much cheaper than Dublin (as is everywhere). We found a couple Czech beer halls where noone really spoke any english with lots of locals. Really pretty but overall not my favorite place. I think I expect too much from it. One thing I did really like was that the city is very Hilly. Much more so than any other city except for San Francisco that I can really remember. Lots of restaurants and pubs are not in the main buildings, but in basements or set back off down sketchy hallways from the main thoroughfares. The train ride to Berlin was really awesome. Very beautiful countryside and lots of really neat villages along the way. Berlin is an amazing city I would really like to go back to. The S-bahn is really easy to get around and there is so much recent history that I can relate to and want to learn more about. We took a free tour and had an amazing tour guide. Really told the story of the city well and had tons of energy. Dani commented she wishes he would have been her high school history teacher because she would have learned a lot more. He was really captivating and informative. We also visited Sachenhausen concentration camp which was a very sobering experience. This camp effected more more than Dachau but both are really horrifying but necessary reminders of the past so we don't repeat our mistakes... Going off a recommendation from Joey and Chris we went to the Prater Garten which is one of the few beer gardens in Berlin. Very fun place.
I also highly recommend the Reichstag. Dani really wanted to go there and I wasn't convinced but it was definitely worth going to. THe glass observation dome is awesome. Great views of Berlin, free audioguide and incredible architecture. Really amazing history behind the building as well. We traveled back to Dublin and then spent a few days on the Irish countryside and Dani got introduced to her first Crossfit gym. I think that covers most of it. It's been a very fun couple of weeks. The next couple are going to be just as busy. I am flying to the USA for PDP week next Saturday for 9 days, my friend chris is visiting Dublin the following weekend and we are taking a 4 day trip to Norway. More adventures to be had. It has been amazing having people visit. I am really excited to make it back to Chicago next weekend but I think I will be in for a bit of culture shock.
