(McNeil) That's the beach?

Last week we had the pleasure of visiting the costal town of Sandycove.  Needless to say I was more than thrilled when they told us we'd be visiting the beach, me being a girl from the south I'm dying to see some ocean and feel the sand between my toes.  To my surprise, the beach in Ireland is not exactly the beaches we experience that line the Gulf of Mexico.  It was cold and there was still no sun but I was amazed at how crystal clear the water was, it honestly looked like you could drink straight out of the Irish Sea.  Though I neglected to partake in that idea we did have some extra time to explore due to the scheduling mishap at the Joyce museum.  Though we were disappointed, a few of us were able to partake in the "beach" experience that the Irish know.  A few of the boys chose to jump right on in to the Irish Sea and enjoy what the Irish knew as a fun day of swimming in the ocean.  Needless to say they were quite shocked of the cold temperatures of the water as the came up after bravely taking the plunge in.  Afterwords we were able to leisurely walk back to the train station and take in our surroundings.  I had then pleasure of enjoying my first ice cream treat while in Ireland, it was called a baby cone! Basically it was just a ice cream cone with raspberry drizzling on top, though very refreshing and tasty.  We were able to walk along the shore and pick up some sea glass in all sorts of shapes and colors, we even recreated the legendary Titanic photo along the shore line.  I would imagine that this is what the beach is like around the north shore of our country, though it was an enjoyable trip, I'd much prefer my sunshine, tan sand and murky Gulf of Mexico.