Back in Dublin

Katie speaking:
Hello to all! So our poor cousin Carolyn had to go to the hospital yesterday. She was in a lot of pain and it took over 4 hours to get seen and cost £66. Sarah and I, being the insensitive cousins we are, stayed the morning in Galway to go to the street market and walk around the city a bit more. It was a beautiful morning and the harbor was gorgious! There were tons of swans, giant fish, and it was very nice and sunny. Then we jumped on a train back to Dublin and decided to put our backpacks in a locker at the train station so we didn't have to find our hostel right away. We are trying to be as thrifty as possible to we insisted to the locker attendant that we could fit our huge packs in a medium sized locker because it was cheaper. After a lot of pushing and shoving we succeeded and saved £3 :) Then it was off to the Guiness Storehouse! It was a self-guided tour up through lots of exhibits on how the beer is produced. There was some tasting and the top is a 360 view over Dublin. You could see mountains in the background on one side and the sea to the other side. It was a sunny day and the view was so gorgious! You also get a pint of Guiness at the top! Both Sarah and I have never had it before, so we weren't sure what to expect. I loved it straight off the bat... it is thick and tastes like roasted coffee and chocolate. Sarah hated every sip she had to take, but made herself drink the entire thing because it was part of the entry fee. I would have gladly finished it off, but she declined and suffered through it. We met some nice men from Greece who were following the Bruce Springstein concert tour through Ireland (hilarious!) and they gave us some great travel pointers. Surprisingly, we were both very tipsy afterward (4pm) and were stumbling around the street for awhile!
Carolyn was smart and booked a room for us at the Travelogde last night. It was the cheapest thing we could find because it was the weekend, but it was a really nice hotel and we had our own room and it was AMAZING! We finally had our own space with the comforts of home! We had soup and baggettes, watched some TV, and just relaxed. Carolyn flew home this morning and Sarah and I are now back at a hostel. We explored a bit more today and found a music festival going on in a nearby park. Then we went to the National Gallery which had many famous and interesting paintings.
I must note that we have been very good at budgeting so far (only because Sarah keeps tabs on all the spending and £££). I'm always asking if we can split an ice cream cone or get a good meal and she insists that it's just too expensive. So we bought noodles, sauce, peppers, and chicken stuffed pancakes and made them at the hostel tonight. It was actually a great and filling meal, but we're splurging on some chocolate for dessert. She keeps saying that we can eat the famous foods in each country (Belgium waffles, Beer in Germany, Pizza in Italy, Gyros in Greece, Hot Chocolate in Switzerland). We're also going to start camping pretty soon which I'm hesitant about, but we aren't lugging the tent and sleeping bags around Europe for nothing! We're running out of computer time so it's time to wrap up! We're just going to go back and have some hard cidar at the hostel and watch a movie!
Sending love and luck from Ireland!