Flight & Days 1 and 2

The first flight, from Newark to Charlotte, was pretty uneventful. We were delayed, but thanks to the pilot's "shortcuts", we got there only three minutes behind schedule ("your welcome", he tells us over the intercom as we land; the man had a sense of humor). With about 40 minutes until boarding the connecting flight I walked to the next terminal, and, as I walked into the gate from which the flight to Dublin will depart, lo and behold, there are two girls standing there that are quite obviously (very) orthodox jews!. Of course, I engaged them in conversation, and it turned out they were on the same flight to Dublin and would be traveling through Ireland and Scotland. We exchanged emails and phone numbers (European of course) and boarded the plane, though it was not the last I would see of them.
On the plane I sat next to a wonderful Irish couple, who, when they heard this was my first time in Ireland, wrote an entire page of recommendations for the best Craic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic) in each of the cities I would be visiting. We chatted for a few hours throughout the flight, and they were, perhaps, the most pleasant flight companions I've ever had.
The sleeping situation was a bit less... pleasant, and I may have slept for half an hour, despite purposely not sleeping much the night before (in an attempt to make myself exhausted enough to sleep on the plane. Fail).
Security was uneventful, though I got my second dose of Irish friendliness when the passport control fellow started giving me recommendations for where to visit. Baggage claim was also quick and painless, and I spent it talking to those girls I mentioned before. I told them my plans (about how on Tuesday I would be going to the Fleadh Cheoil, a huge Irish music festival) and they seemed quite keen on going. We then took the bus into town together; they went to their hotel and I to mine. I dropped my stuff of, took a shower, and debated taking a nap before I quickly decided that I am here for two weeks and sleeping is at the bottom of my list. So, I went instead to Howth.
Howth was gorgeous. The first thing that went through my mind when I got there is that Howth is the Palisades of Dublin. Like the Palisades, Howth has beautiful hiking trails along a line of cliffs that are adjacent to some very nice neighborhoods and is easily accessible by public transportation from Dublin. Just that association alone made it a wonderful place in my mind, but the views out to sea, the islands, Salman Rushide's lighthouse (he stayed there for a bit during the fatwah) and Yeats' house (for a few years) made it even cooler. I hung out by the pier until one of my travel buddies, Yehoshua, made it in from the airport (his flight was delayed).
When he arrived we did the longest hiking loop there, a stunning six-mile circuit along the cliff edge. The weather was beautiful and clear up to 4, when we got some classic Irish...wetness? I am really not sure what to call it. It was like mist, but a little heavier, but it waslighter than drizzle. There was wetness falling from the sky, but if you put out your hand supine and spread out for 30 seconds it would barely be wet at all. We walked for another hour in this without putting on out raincoats and yet barely got wet. And yet it was wet. Somehow.
That night, between the hike and the lack of sleeping, I crashed. On the way back into town I fell asleep whenever we sat down, and finally, once I lay down at 930, I was out like a light.
The next morning we met the two girls on the bus to Cavan-town, where the Fleadh was being held. When we got there I think the first thing we noticed was that the more rural you go, the harder you need to work to understand peoples' accents. Some of these folks were practically unintelligible. However, music has no language barriers, and we spent all day going from recital to busker to trad session. It was a non-stop music fest and it was great. People weere playing the street, dancing in the street, every pub had impromptu sessions, the streets were packed with festival-goers...and it was a nice small Irish village as well, which was nice in itself. We heard a poetry reading outside the library where we stopped to eat lunch, we were attacked by bold bees in the parking lot where stopped to eat dinner, we met these two Americans there to compete, one of whom had a major gaffe (email me for details), we saw some pretty phenomenal musicians, including two harpists who had the fastest and most magical fingers I have ever seen. one of the girls and I kept making friends in the various pubs we went to... All in all by the time we got on the 10pm bus to go home we were pretty darn satisfied with our day. Ah! And I cannot forget! I had my first "real" Guinness in one of the pubs. The locals seemed a bit amused that I was taking the experience so seriously, but they also seemed a bit impressed and proud that I was taking it that seriously as well, and they wereglad I knew the proper Guinness-drinking rules (yes there are some rules). It was a brilliant first two days of the trip. I am now sitting in the hostel in Dublin, about to check out. Today we will meet Kevin, the other travel buddy, tour Dublin itself, go to the Guinness Brewery tour, and go to Kilkenny for the evening.
Slainte!