First of all, sorry that it has been so long since my last blog post, but you'll be happy to know that I am loving Lancaster more than ever! My roommate Nikki even came and saw Lancaster for herself on a day trip which was amazing!
Last weekend, November 7th-10th, my friend Sarah and I travelled to Limerick, Ireland to visit my long-time friend Haley as she is also studying abroad. Our trip began by arriving in Shannon airport around 9pm and catching a bus to the university. However, Sarah and I unfortunately missed the university stop and had to ride the bus back into town and catch another bus back to the university!(whoops, minor snag in the plan). Besides that mistake, the rest of the weekend went quite smoothly.
On Saturday, we all went into town to eat lunch at a place called the Soup Cafe. As you imagine by the title alone, they specialize in a variety of different soups accompanied by build your own sandwiches. I opted for the sweet potato soup (good decision) and a ham sandwich. On our way to the Hunt Museum, we stopped at a traditional Irish wool store, in which I wound up buying a beige sweater and printed scarf (when in Ireland, buy wool, right?). Moving onto the museum, it had a large display of historical artifacts from the surrounding area which were interesting to examine.
That evening, we met up with one of Haley's friends and ate a Japanese restaurant in town, which was delicious! I had the salmon teriyaki dish although I was tempted to try the sushi. We ended the fun evening relaxing in a friend of Haley's flat, playing cards and catching up :)
On Sunday, we decided to grab lunch at a classic "american" diner before exploring Limerick's milk market which is set up every weekend in town. Although it is labeled as a milk market, the venue holds various eateries, shops selling wines, cheese, and almonds as well as unique boutique stores scattered throughout. Not to mention homemade dessert stands selling macaroons and cakes! After exploring the market, Haley took us to her favorite coffee shop in town called the Cellar Door. The cafe was honestly one of the coolest coffee places that I had ever seen! To start, it was hidden from the everyday tourist with a little "cellar door" marking its entrance. After climbing down a few steps of stairs, the shop was underground and had a relaxed atmosphere. The Cellar Door also hosts live music occasionally on the weekends and has the "leave a book, take a book" policy. Lastly, I ordered an Americano while browsing some of the merchandise of a boutique store that the accompanied the cafe. After a caffeine buzz, we traveled to Penny's which we came to find is the Primark of Ireland (so many clothes, so little time! Except there is always time to buy a lion onesie).
That evening, we walked to Haley's friends house and all had a home-cooked meal along with traditional black tea in an early celebration of Haley's 20th birthday. The celebration was fun, as was meeting Haley's friends, although we had to turn in relatively early as our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:15 am the following morning. Getting up at 3:45am, Sarah and I said our goodbyes to Haley and another Happy Birthday cheer as we left for the Shannon Airport.
Once back in Manchester, Sarah and I had our customary porridge at Joe's Kitchen before taking the train back to Lancaster!
Well that is all for now! Next weekend I will be traveling to Amsterdam so expect another blog post relatively soon!
xoxo
