St. Patrick's day, I'll be honest, was a bit of a bust. When initially planning my adventure so many months ago the idea to be in Ireland for St Patricks day was at the top of the list. I guess in my heart of hearts I'd sort of hyped it up like most people did NYE 2000 - there was such a massive build up and in the end it was just another New Years Eve (actually I still feel like we're going to find a whole community of people living underground who are in hiding...

Stay with me, I've been sick so I'm playing catch ups - this may be a long post but I'm cramming the last 10 days or so into one... here we go! Ever since I was about fifteen years old I have dreamt of coming to Ireland. I'm not sure if it was the beautiful scenery that I'd seen in photos and on screen in films and TV series, or maybe it was how much of a turn-on the Irish accent seems to be for me (yes I know, another cliche - but I can't help it!). Whatever th...

A little weary from my travels and using my stunted ability to navigate Google maps to my hostel, I managed to lug all my stuff at least a block and a half in the wrong direction - classic Lil, and no Ashlee, I had no f***ing idea which direction the ocean was! I had arrived on the Wednesday and fortunately the hostel was overbooked so they put me into a single room instead of a four person dorm at no extra charge. After the few days I'd had it was the perfect op...

Monday had an interesting start because I could hardly move my neck. Thankfully the previous night's bath did manage to soak away the other small injuries that I had but my neck did get quite a beating so my mission for the day, apart from washing, shopping and cooking, was to track down some heat rub or something equally as soothing. It's been non-stop since I hit the ground runnig here in Munich so it was nice to have a lazy morning and fill my day with some do...

The Cologne themed dinner held in tribute to the pending festivities of Carnivale was without a doubt one of the most unexpectedly delicious evenings I've spent in Munich thus far. Ralf's friends were gorgeous and the traditional Cologne dishes were more proof that my knowlege of 'traditional' German cusine was not only limited but entirely based on a stereotypical depiction of such a small part of German culture.  The hospitality continued late into the night ...