Gem and Jo take on Strange Weather

As you might know Gemma is a huge weather freak (she's obsessed..... it's kinda scary!), when we heard that the science gallery in Dublin were having an exhibition about weather we had to check it (Gemma probably would have imploded if we didn't). So this past Thursday we headed into Dublin city to have a look at the exhibit, Strange Weather, (and to have bit of a frolic in general).

The science gallery doesn't open until midday so we decided to head into Dublin a bit earlier and do a bit of Shopping (let's face it, we're girls and given any chance to exchange money for goods and services, we're in there like swimwear).

After a little bit of retail therapy, we headed for lunch in Captain Americas on Grafton Street. This place does super yummy food and cocktails but seen as it was only 1 o'clock (which is before the acceptable time to start drinking) we got ourselves some pizza (which was delicious we might add). *Oh quick side note, if any of you guys are with o2 (The phone network) you can get yourself a 'buy one, get one free' on all main courses so check that out here.

One of the beautiful buildings on the grounds of trinity college.

After we were fed and watered, we went on our merry way towards the Science Gallery. The gallery itself is on the grounds of Trinity college so we got a chance to look at the beautiful architecture that covers the grounds.

We got to the science gallery at a nice time and there wasn't a huge crowd there. By this stage Jo thought Gemma was going to explode with excitement and she wasn't let down.

 The exhibit had loads on offer for both children and adults interested in weather. From weather charts to people making clouds with helium, from  models of the earth and predicted weather cycles to a screen that let you interact with cloud patterns. There was even a place where you see what it's like to be a weather person and read off a teleprompter in front of a green screen. They even film it and put it up on Youtube so you can watch it later. We had so much fun with this and it's way harder than you may think. If you want to see us making complete messes of ourselves you can watch the videos below. 

Gem's Future Forecast

Skip to 0:49 to see Gem utterly confused by words...

Jo's Future Forecast

Unfortunately Youtube hates us and refuses to let us put Jo's video on the blog, so if you want to see Jo's forecast video you're gonna have to do the ole fashioned copy and paste of this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZBNo7i-PY

Over all it was a great day and the gallery was well worth it. The exhibit runs until the 5th of October and entry to the science gallery is free so there's no reason not to check it out if you're around Dublin. Check out the Science Gallery's website here for more information. 

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. 

Until next time

XO Gem and Jo 

Gem and Jo Take on Clouds

For the past few years Gem has been obsessed with anything weather related and this weekend she could not take her eyes off the skies! The clouds were really beautiful and the sunsets blew us away.

Here are some of Gem's favourite pictures she took this weekend!

Here's a glimpse of the camping site we stayed on too!

This one is Gem's favourite! Contrail clouds rule!! 

Bonus Round!!!!!

Here is Gemma's absolute favourite picture. She took it around February this year and it has been her screensaver ever since! 

Altocumulus Standing Lenticularis! 

Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any cloud or weather pictures send them to us on Twitter @gemandjo. We love to hear from you guys!

Until Next Time! 

p.s. Gem would really appreciate it if none of these pictures were taken or copied from this site. Gracias!  

Gem and Jo Take Bray Head

So today we got up nice and early and went for a hike! We decided to climb Bray Head, which is in County Wicklow and is about 250 meters high. It's right in the middle of Bray town and on the seafront so when you get to the top the view is amazing!

While we had believed it was to be a fairly overcast day, it turned out to be very warm! Gemma was really glad she brought suncream with her! Here we are at the start of the hill!

The walk up is really nice, not too difficult and filled with beautiful scenery, we even saw lizards but they ran away before we could get any pictures! But he kinda looked like this guy:

photo: politics.ie

There is a gorgeous trail that leads all the way around the mountain and overlooks the Irish Sea, which looked incredibly inviting in the warm weather! The path was tough at times but mostly it was really pretty and filled with native plants and insects!

View from the trail!

There was a sad part to our hike though. A few weeks ago, during a bout of hot weather, we noticed that the hills visible from our house were on fire and today we realised it was Bray Head that had been burning! As we walked along the trail, most of the hillside was burnt to the ground and some was still smouldering! We were so shocked at the damage wild fires could do! If you're interested in how to prevent a wildfire or some safety tips, check out this website, they have tons of really helpful stuff! Here's a picture of one of the areas that was not too badly damaged:

With the smell of burnt plants still lingering, we walked further on and met some lovely people on the way, everyone was so friendly and there were a ton of tourists about!

Not only were the steep cliff sides beautiful but the skyline was fabulous too! And with Gemma being such a fan of clouds she took lots of photos of the sky! 

When we had finished the trek, we sat on the beach which is right in front of the car park where we had parked and enjoyed the sound of the waves! It was really nice to watch people having fun in the water in Ireland for once, it's usually freezing! 

It was a great day out and we really enjoyed getting active! If you're looking for a place to hike but aren't the most experienced, Bray Head is perfect for you! It's not too hard and doesn't take very long at all and there is no need for hiking gear unless it's been raining! Also parking is super cheap at only 30c an hour!! That's a steal! 

Why not visit Bray's website and have a look at the views for yourself here

Until next time!!