Ireland.! to Dublin and beyond.!

My overall thoughts of Dublin: constantly drizzly, chilly, running to get EVERYWHERE, distinct lack of sleep, and constantly ravenous. First off, Hannah & I arrived at the tube station bright eyed and eager at 5 AM friday morning. Alas- the tube station remained resolutely closed until 5:30. Realizing that our international flight left at 7:30 and the tube ride was AT LEAST an hour, we were quite panicked and rushing. We ran down to the Piccadilly line and impatiently awaited our train, due to arrive in 1 minute. We heard it roaring up the tunnel towards us and got poised for action- it never stopped. It roared right past us, carrying rocks- we considered hopping on. 5 agonizing minutes later, we were on our way. That train stopped a few times too, which was particularly worrisome O_o. I'm not sure how, but we somehow made it on time, with 7 minutes to spare at the boarding gate. We were literally running with our luggage all over the airport. At the security gate I got stuck behind this woman laden with an overabundance of jewelry and the security guard told her to take off all of her jewelry, and she was taking her SWEET TIME doing it O_o..they saw me all anxious behind her and let me go ahead through. We just barely made it to the gate- all sweaty and gross from running so far with out heavy luggage- the flight itself was pretty uneventful and short- just tried to half sleep. When we made it outside, the first thing Hannie & I's bespeckled eyes did behold in Dublin, Ireland was a magnificent beautiful rainbow!! I wanted to follow it, naturally. Surely a sign of things to come..hopefully good things..We got on our bus, then Hannah was ravenous/ravishing..so we opened the door to a pub & 20 men all over the age of 40 stared back at us blankly. Hannah said "Oh! there's only men here" & closed the door. We tried somewhere else and they didn't take cards, so then we went to another pub and I got a vegetarian irish breakfast.! When we walked in the waiter told us he wouldn't bother us with his 'tales of woe so sad they'd bring a tear ta yer eye'..Oh what adventures had already transpired..& how many more to come.! After browsing around shops, we met Sara at the hostel and then RAN to city hall to be in time for the free walking tour of dublin. Our guide was really knowledgeable, and we got to see a lot, including Dublin Castle, Viking remains, Christ Church Cathedral, Trinity College, the National Library, where lived, Temple Bar, a bar and restaurant that Bono owns, and more.! It was a nice way to see and learn more about the city, but we were all pretty tired by the end. Took a nap in our hostel, and met nice girls studying in Scotland who told us all the stuff there that we needta check out when we go this weekend. Then we hung out at a well known pub called O'Neills for awhile, and danced at Bono's club unknowingly, and went a few other places as well. Had to wake up EARLY saturday morning to RUN across the city to make it to our tour bus by 6:50 O_o..it was beautiful GREEN countryside as we drove to the west coast of ireland, towards the cliffs of moher. We passed by where parts of braveheart and ps i love you were filmed, and saw fields full of hundreds of fluffy sheep and cows. As we approached the cliffs of moher, however, fog intensified until it seemed like we were driving through a crystal ball. You couldn't see ANYTHING..we spent two hours at the cliffs that we couldn't even see..there was a nice old man outside playing irish music to lead us through the fog..so that was the highlight for me. 'twas a bit disappointing to pay that much money and travel that far to see where beautiful cliffs are supposed to supposedly be. It wasn't a complete bust because we did get to stop in Limerick, Doolin village, other cliffs (that we could actually see), and Dunguaire castle..however, it was a VERY long day..we got back to dublin even later than we were supposed to, and everyone was absolutely exhausted. Enjoyed gigantic delicious plates of chinese food when we got back around 9 PM. Then a bunch of us went back out a few different places around the city- got back at an ungodly hour..5:30 AM actually..and had to take a freezing awful shower with no towel, and climb into my damp-smelling hostel bed for a restful hour and a half of sleep..Had to get up early sunday morning to RUN to make another tour bus with Hannah- to Kilkenny, Glendalough, and Wicklow. The first place we stopped at, Hannah & I were STARVING so we tried to buy food but apparently the hotel didn't sell food until later unless you were a guest there, so we innocently snatched up a meager piece of bread each. It was a beautiful time walking around, but as you can imagine, by this point we were absolutely exhausted. We stopped at an awesome cafe for lunch that the driver recommended- Nostalgia. Great food, and decorated with interesting antiques. We got back to Dublin around 5:30 PM, did some last minute shopping, then went ahead to the airport to wait for our 9PM flight. Of course, when we got to the airport, all of the places selling food were closed except for one ridiculously expensive place and burger king..so I ended up with a "vegetarian wrap" that tasted like mushy fake lukewarm chicken in a tortilla. Delicious. Then our flight was delayed an hour. Then we were nervous that the tube wouldn't be running anymore by the time we landed..and we didn't have a backup plan to make it back to central london..Amazingly enough though, as soon as we entered the tube station there was an announcement that the last train of the night would arrive in 2 minutes..so we just barely made it.!