After sitting around the apartment for a few days over Christmas, we took a 3 day holiday to Scotland on December 27 to check out Edinburgh (our first international trip since being in Europe!). Our 6:30am flight was a bit rough, but after a quick hour flight we were in Scotland and didn't even have to pass through customs (which was actually a bad thing as we wanted to get stamps to activate our UK visas just in case we want them later, but our visas should still be ok without them); we still don't really understand how you can fly into another country without seeing a single airport official, but I suppose we're used to strict American security policies! We took a bus into Edinburgh and the sun was just starting to rise, which looked gorgeous over the cityscape. We walked to our hostel which was slightly south of the city centre, through a large park called the Meadows and dropped off our bags. The women at the front desk was not nice or accommodating in anyway, but the hostel was a cozy house and proved to be a pretty decent place to stay in the end.
We all needed a boost of energy and therefore went to the closest coffee shop, which happened to be Starbucks; Edinburgh has a surprisingly large amount of Starbucks considering that it's a small city. After looking over some brochures, we decided to start the day with a 3 hour FREE walking tour of the city. Tips are encouraged if you enjoy the tour, but essentially it's a free way to see the city and learn all about the history behind the landmarks. Our tour guide was an energetic, witty Canadian and we learned tons of interesting facts and stories, and it was a beautiful, nearly cloudless day with sunshine- a rare treat in Edinburgh! We went by Edinburgh Castle, famous pubs, museums, a graveyard, parks, and weaved our way in and out of the city centre along the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a street actually a bit over a mile and is Edinburgh's main thoroughfare. It starts at Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official palace in Scotland and has served as the principal residence of the kings and queens of Scotland since the 15th century. From there the Royal Mile continues uphill, ending at Edinburgh Castle at the top of Castle Rock. One interesting stop in the middle of the Royal Mile is the Heart of Midlothian, a heart-shaped mosaic built into the sidewalk. It represents the position of the 15th Century tollbooth which was the administrative centre of the town, prison and one of several sites of public execution. Today it is the only place in Edinburgh where you are legally allowed to spit, so naturally we felt inclined to take pictures of ourselves spitting on the heart (see Picasa photos).
After a quick lunch at Subway (hey, it’s cheap!), we climbed up a huge hill on the edge of the city called Arthur’s Seat. It was a steep incline and made us all heavily pant, but took only about 20 minutes to get to the top. It had incredible views of the city, including the castle and all the way out to an estuary called Firth of Fort. The sun was still shining, causing all of us to overheat in our big jackets and winter gear, but soon began to set and cast a gorgeous golden light over the cityscape. After our slow descent down the slippery slope, it was nearly dark (at 3:45!) and we decided that we definitely needed some coffee. We went to the Elephant House, the café where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter!!!!!!! Of course we were all immensely excited about this. We sat next to the window overlooking a cemetery and enormous school which inspired Hogwarts!! Very very cool.
That night we went on a ghost tour called “City of the Dead” which took us through the huge underground vault system under the city. In the 1700s the city was getting too crowded but people didn’t want to move outside the city walls, so they decided to build underneath the city. The vaults often flooded and were disgusting, full of sickly people, poor families, thieves, and waste. Many people died down there and until fairly recently the vaults were actually forgotten about. Today they claim that something called “The Entity” haunts the maze of vaults. Our tour guide believes that there was so much negative energy leftover from the people who used to live there that it built up and now attaches to other people with negative energy (i.e. those who are scared, depressed, etc). They have some pretty scary stories about people who have been caught down there and then come out with scratches all over their bodies yet those people don't feel anything at the time. The scratches always come in a set of 3 and are perfectly spaced apart, as if people are reaching out for help and attempting to grab whatever they can... pretty spooky! She also claimed that the energy can attach to you and follow you home, but luckily the three of us came out scratch free and didn’t experience anything creepy that night!
We started off Sunday with a trip to the castle! The castle overlooks the city and has some amazing views (see youtube videos). It took us over two hours to explore all the nooks and crannies of the castle, and we also went on a guided tour of the outside which was really interesting. The castle’s chapel is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh dating from the 1100s! There is also a prison where American prisoners of war from the American Revolution were taken, and we even saw etchings on a door of an American flag from way back then! The castle also houses the crown jewels of Scotland dating from the 15th Century (the second oldest in Europe) which consists of the crown, the scepter, and the sword of state. These were right next to the Stone of Destiny, the traditional coronation stone of Scottish Kings and Queens which is still a powerful symbol of Scottish independence. It was very neat to see but of course we weren’t allowed to take any pictures of the historical artifacts.
For lunch we went to a famous pub called The Last Drop. Apparently back in the days of hanging by gallows they used to take the sentenced men/women to The Last Drop for their last drink before they were hung! It was pretty neat to eat there and we figured this would be a good place to try haggis! It’s sheep organs (heart, liver, kidneys) that are ground up and cooked in the stomach lining from the sheep- yum yum! It’s often served with tatties (mashed potatoes) and neeps (mashed turmips) and everything was surprisingly tasty. The consistency of haggis was a bit funky, but the flavor was nice.
After lunch we strolled around the city. We all really wanted to buy a kilt because they’re pretty cute but unfortunately none of us could find any that we liked for a reasonable price. We bought a couple small souvenirs, and then went on the 'Scottish Whisky Experience' tour. We learned all about how Scottish whisky is made, about the different types of whisky, and even got to taste test two different blends! None of us are big whisky drinkers, but it was still really interesting and fun, and we got free whisky glasses! Afterwards we got an afternoon snack: deep fried Mars bars! The Scotts deep fry pretty much anything you can think of, and though the bars looked pretty gross coming out of the fryer they were, of course, extremely delicious. That night we decided to do our own mini pub-crawl and hit the famous pubs in the city. We started out at Deacon Brodie's, named after the man who inspired the story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was a locksmith who ran out of money so he began burglarizing all the rich people he made locks for. He was a reputable man so nobody ever considered him the culprit. Then he headed the search to find the 'thief' when really it was himself all along. The bartender was really nice (as were most people in Scotland) and let us sample 4 different Scottish beers, all pretty bland actually. After that we went to Maggie Dickson's. This story is crazy- essentially she was going to be hung for hiding the fact that she was pregnant. She was hung, put in the casket, and carried away. Suddenly noise started coming from the casket... she hadn’t died! But, she couldn’t be hung again because of double jeopardy, so she lived for another 40 years and opened a pub right next to The Last Drop. Brilliant! We really liked this pub because we could get mixed drinks for 1.95 pounds! That is waaay cheaper than Dublin. Actually, Edinburgh was a rather cheap city despite being on the pound (the exchange rate between the pound and euro right now is almost 1 to 1), which made us all very happy!
We decided to go on a tour of the Highlands in northern Scotland on our last day which lasted 12 hours. At the first stop on the trip we saw a highland cow! His name was Hamish and he was a very funny but cute looking animal. The whole Highland region was absolutely gorgeous, and it was actually sunny for most of it! The day was pretty perfect and we learned some interesting Scottish history as well. Around lunch time we went to Loch Ness! The lake has the largest volume of water in all of Scotland due to its great depths. It’s probably the most northern place any of us have ever been to, and my oh my was it cold! We took a one hour cruise on the lake and looked for the monster. Tales of Nessie have been around since the 6th century and were first recorded by a monk, but the frenzy didn’t really start until the 1930’s when the first photo of the alleged monster was published. Since then, Loch Ness has been a major site for tourism as people flock to try and catch a glimpse of the creature. Alas, Nessie eluded us, but we do believe! (At least, Erica and Sarah do; Erin is a little more hesitant). We decided to stay on the top part of the boat the whole time, so by the time we got off all three of us were numb.
On our drive back to the city we saw a magnificent sunset behind the tallest mountain in the UK called Ben Nevis! It was awesome. Because we had traveled pretty far north, it was going to take about 3 hours to drive back to the city. Our driver started playing Braveheart! We have wanted to watch that movie for a very long time because none of us have ever seen it so we were really excited. Halfway through, the movie stopped working! It was highly annoying because we still haven’t been able to find it at movie stores in Dublin and thus haven’t seen the end of the movie. Anyway, we got back to the city and then immediately headed off to the airport. It was a great trip and has made us all really exciting about traveling to other countries later this year!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Danger: Blowholes
We took a 4 day road trip before Christmas down to the Southeast of Ireland to celebrate the holidays and explore a few towns. Erica’s boyfriend Majid is visiting for Christmas and came on the trip with us, which was a lifesaver as we were supposed to get an automatic car but ended up getting a manual. None of the girls know how to drive a manual well enough, especially when you take left hand side driving into consideration, so if Majid hadn’t been there we have no idea what we would have done. The car was under Sarah’s name because she is the only 23 year old and technically was supposed to be the one and only driver. Of course, the car was parked directly in front of the office, so Sarah had to drive out of sight so that Majid could take over. A few stall outs later, Sarah managed to get going and turned down a side street, handing over the keys to Majid. He did quite well driving out of the city, especially considering that we didn’t have a map. After a quick breakfast in the small town called Kill, we were on our way to Kilkenny.
It only took a couple hours for us to get to Kilkenny, and our first stop was at the castle. We took a pleasant walk around the grounds and inside the large castle. Afterwards we explored a few craft shops and walked along the main streets of the medieval “city,” which were bustling with Christmas shoppers and even a hilarious dancing Santa. We stopped for lunch at a little place called Mug Shot Café and then continued our walking tour, stopping at a couple churches along the way including the Dominican Black Abbey and St. Canice’s Cathedral. By this time it was dark, so we went to the grocery store and made our way to our hostel about 10 minutes outside of town. After driving on extremely dark roads and missing our turn, we eventually made it to Foulksrath Castle, which is a renovated 15th Century Norman castle supposedly haunted by the original owner’s daughter who was killed in the castle. It was really cool to stay in an old castle, and we spent the night playing cards by candlelight, drinking wine and making delicious curry for dinner.
After a sound night without sleep disruptions from the ghost, we walked around the castle/hostel before heading to the nearby Dunmore caves. We were the only people there and it was quite nice to have a private tour of the limestone caves. After descending hundreds of stairs (supposedly around 700 stairs in total throughout the cave) into the wet darkness, we learned that the cave was a site of a Viking massacre back in 928 and thus many artifacts have been uncovered by archaeologists deep in the cave. It is also the home to eyeless shrimp and 6mm “straws”, which are mini stalactites the exact diameter of raindrops that hang from the ceilings. It also has the biggest stalagmite in all of Europe, which strangely happens to be in the shape of a hand holding a Guinness pint over the Irish flag.
A man working at the cave suggested that we check out the priory ruins in nearby Kells, about a 30 minute drive away through tiny, twisting country roads. Upon reaching some ruins that we thought were the priory, we discover that the entrance was locked and tried to decipher a map showing the way to the actual priory entrance. Erica wanted to walk down the hillside, but the rest of us overruled her and decided to try to follow the map via our car. A few minutes and u-turns later, we find a parking lot that says “Entrance to Priory” next to a run down old mill on the river. We take a stroll for a few minutes along the water, only to discover that we’re on a peninsula and reach a dead end. We now half-jokingly conclude that this priory must not exist, and head back to the car and decide to drive down the road just a bit further to see if we can find it. To get out of the parking lot in the direction we wanted, it was an awkward, sharp right turn on a hill. This proved very difficult for Majid as he stalled out at the top and each time he restarted the car and tried again we sank further and further down the incline towards a stonewall. This was definitely the scariest car moment of the entire trip as we thought we might have no alternative but to crash into the wall. However, with a turn of the wheel in the opposite direction, Majid managed to get out of the situation and onto level ground again. With relief, we decide to give up on the priory and now have a new mission: lunch.
There were 3 pubs to choose from in Kells, and we walk into the first one to find it empty during prime lunch time on a Saturday afternoon. We ask the bartender if they’re serving lunch and he responds, “Food isn’t served on the weekends.” We’re completely mystified as to why a town wouldn’t serve food on the weekends, and this plus the nonexistence of the priory made Kells pretty worthless, though it was pretty scenery. We continued on our journey to New Ross, where we stopped for lunch and devoured fries and sandwiches. Then we took a tour of the Dunbrody famine ship, a recreation of the original ship built in 1845 which transported people and cargo from Ireland to the New World during the potato famine. We again had a private tour of the ship, and it was fascinating to learn about the conditions that people endured for 50 days in hopes of surviving long enough to make it to the US. Interestingly, JFK’s great-grandfather left from New Ross to New York, and Jean Kennedy Smith came for the launch of the replica in 2001. After our educational afternoon, we drove to nearby Waterford where we stopped for a coffee before heading to our hostel in the seaside town of Tramore. The Beach Haven hostel was really nice and clean, and the main room had a fireplace. We were all excited about having a real fireplace to sit by, but despite attempts by Erin and Majid to get a fire going using coal and a phonebook, it took a real Irishman to show us what fire starters look like in this country (grey blobs which were, naturally, right next to the fireplace).
The next morning we explored sleepy Tramore, where it was quite obvious that the town thrives as a summer resort but has little going on the rest of the year. We went in search of the famous “metal man,” a metal statue set on top of one of three pillars on the coast and originally erected to warn sailors of shallow waters. However, we couldn’t find the statue for awhile and, after driving for at least 20 minutes and asking for directions, see three pillars off in the distance with a tiny man on top of one of them. We couldn’t get anywhere near the statue, and wondered how a town could advertise having a statue that you can’t even get close to. Confused, we head to the beach to take some pictures and a walk. We quickly abandoned the idea of the walk after we got out of the car and realized how windy and cold it was. We snapped a few photos, then decided that Tramore had little to offer us and we continued on to Waterford.
We were all looking forward to the tour of the Waterford Crystal factory because it’s a big tourist attraction and is supposed to be really interesting. Sarah had called a couple weeks ago to make sure that tours were still going on so close to Christmas, and they were supposed to be open. However, we arrived only to discover that the workers had been sent home early a few days ago and therefore no factory tours were possible. Slightly annoyed, we walked around the crystal retail store which had some very impressive pieces of crystal- a grandfather clock, chandeliers, and even a small version of Cinderella’s carriage complete with horses, yours for only 23,000 Euros! Now it wasn’t even lunchtime and we weren’t sure what to do with ourselves, so we went to a museum called the Museum of Treasures which had a few interesting artifacts but was pretty much a waste of money as it went into excessive detail about Waterford’s history. After a great lunch at Subway, we visited a couple churches and then had dessert and coffee at a really cute café. Finally we headed back to our hostel where we hung out for the rest of the night, watching tv, reading, and making dinner.
We woke up on our last morning and drove to Hook’s Head peninsula, taking a shortcut on a car ferry, much to Majid’s dismay. The peninsula was beautiful and we stopped at the lighthouse, which is the oldest working lighthouse in Europe (possibly even the world)! The existing tower dates to the 12th century, but some sort of beacon has been in place since the 5th century. The lighthouse was closed for Christmas, but we still had a lot of fun climbing on the seaside rocks and enjoying the scenery. We also saw a bunch of seals in the water right near the coast! Right near the lighthouse were haystacks, and as some of you may know Erica loves taking pictures on top of haystacks. We had trouble finding haystacks the entire trip because it was hard to find good places to pull off on the side of the road, but these were perfect and she was very happy. Our next stop was the coastal town of Wexford, a tiny place hard to maneuver by car. We didn’t have much time here because we needed to get back to Enterprise in Dublin that evening, so after a quick stroll through lively Main Street we had a delicious lunch at a café and were back on the road. A few hours later, after finding our way through rush hour and one-way streets in Dublin, we made it back just in time to return the car. It was a really fun few days!!
It only took a couple hours for us to get to Kilkenny, and our first stop was at the castle. We took a pleasant walk around the grounds and inside the large castle. Afterwards we explored a few craft shops and walked along the main streets of the medieval “city,” which were bustling with Christmas shoppers and even a hilarious dancing Santa. We stopped for lunch at a little place called Mug Shot Café and then continued our walking tour, stopping at a couple churches along the way including the Dominican Black Abbey and St. Canice’s Cathedral. By this time it was dark, so we went to the grocery store and made our way to our hostel about 10 minutes outside of town. After driving on extremely dark roads and missing our turn, we eventually made it to Foulksrath Castle, which is a renovated 15th Century Norman castle supposedly haunted by the original owner’s daughter who was killed in the castle. It was really cool to stay in an old castle, and we spent the night playing cards by candlelight, drinking wine and making delicious curry for dinner.
After a sound night without sleep disruptions from the ghost, we walked around the castle/hostel before heading to the nearby Dunmore caves. We were the only people there and it was quite nice to have a private tour of the limestone caves. After descending hundreds of stairs (supposedly around 700 stairs in total throughout the cave) into the wet darkness, we learned that the cave was a site of a Viking massacre back in 928 and thus many artifacts have been uncovered by archaeologists deep in the cave. It is also the home to eyeless shrimp and 6mm “straws”, which are mini stalactites the exact diameter of raindrops that hang from the ceilings. It also has the biggest stalagmite in all of Europe, which strangely happens to be in the shape of a hand holding a Guinness pint over the Irish flag.
A man working at the cave suggested that we check out the priory ruins in nearby Kells, about a 30 minute drive away through tiny, twisting country roads. Upon reaching some ruins that we thought were the priory, we discover that the entrance was locked and tried to decipher a map showing the way to the actual priory entrance. Erica wanted to walk down the hillside, but the rest of us overruled her and decided to try to follow the map via our car. A few minutes and u-turns later, we find a parking lot that says “Entrance to Priory” next to a run down old mill on the river. We take a stroll for a few minutes along the water, only to discover that we’re on a peninsula and reach a dead end. We now half-jokingly conclude that this priory must not exist, and head back to the car and decide to drive down the road just a bit further to see if we can find it. To get out of the parking lot in the direction we wanted, it was an awkward, sharp right turn on a hill. This proved very difficult for Majid as he stalled out at the top and each time he restarted the car and tried again we sank further and further down the incline towards a stonewall. This was definitely the scariest car moment of the entire trip as we thought we might have no alternative but to crash into the wall. However, with a turn of the wheel in the opposite direction, Majid managed to get out of the situation and onto level ground again. With relief, we decide to give up on the priory and now have a new mission: lunch.
There were 3 pubs to choose from in Kells, and we walk into the first one to find it empty during prime lunch time on a Saturday afternoon. We ask the bartender if they’re serving lunch and he responds, “Food isn’t served on the weekends.” We’re completely mystified as to why a town wouldn’t serve food on the weekends, and this plus the nonexistence of the priory made Kells pretty worthless, though it was pretty scenery. We continued on our journey to New Ross, where we stopped for lunch and devoured fries and sandwiches. Then we took a tour of the Dunbrody famine ship, a recreation of the original ship built in 1845 which transported people and cargo from Ireland to the New World during the potato famine. We again had a private tour of the ship, and it was fascinating to learn about the conditions that people endured for 50 days in hopes of surviving long enough to make it to the US. Interestingly, JFK’s great-grandfather left from New Ross to New York, and Jean Kennedy Smith came for the launch of the replica in 2001. After our educational afternoon, we drove to nearby Waterford where we stopped for a coffee before heading to our hostel in the seaside town of Tramore. The Beach Haven hostel was really nice and clean, and the main room had a fireplace. We were all excited about having a real fireplace to sit by, but despite attempts by Erin and Majid to get a fire going using coal and a phonebook, it took a real Irishman to show us what fire starters look like in this country (grey blobs which were, naturally, right next to the fireplace).
The next morning we explored sleepy Tramore, where it was quite obvious that the town thrives as a summer resort but has little going on the rest of the year. We went in search of the famous “metal man,” a metal statue set on top of one of three pillars on the coast and originally erected to warn sailors of shallow waters. However, we couldn’t find the statue for awhile and, after driving for at least 20 minutes and asking for directions, see three pillars off in the distance with a tiny man on top of one of them. We couldn’t get anywhere near the statue, and wondered how a town could advertise having a statue that you can’t even get close to. Confused, we head to the beach to take some pictures and a walk. We quickly abandoned the idea of the walk after we got out of the car and realized how windy and cold it was. We snapped a few photos, then decided that Tramore had little to offer us and we continued on to Waterford.
We were all looking forward to the tour of the Waterford Crystal factory because it’s a big tourist attraction and is supposed to be really interesting. Sarah had called a couple weeks ago to make sure that tours were still going on so close to Christmas, and they were supposed to be open. However, we arrived only to discover that the workers had been sent home early a few days ago and therefore no factory tours were possible. Slightly annoyed, we walked around the crystal retail store which had some very impressive pieces of crystal- a grandfather clock, chandeliers, and even a small version of Cinderella’s carriage complete with horses, yours for only 23,000 Euros! Now it wasn’t even lunchtime and we weren’t sure what to do with ourselves, so we went to a museum called the Museum of Treasures which had a few interesting artifacts but was pretty much a waste of money as it went into excessive detail about Waterford’s history. After a great lunch at Subway, we visited a couple churches and then had dessert and coffee at a really cute café. Finally we headed back to our hostel where we hung out for the rest of the night, watching tv, reading, and making dinner.
We woke up on our last morning and drove to Hook’s Head peninsula, taking a shortcut on a car ferry, much to Majid’s dismay. The peninsula was beautiful and we stopped at the lighthouse, which is the oldest working lighthouse in Europe (possibly even the world)! The existing tower dates to the 12th century, but some sort of beacon has been in place since the 5th century. The lighthouse was closed for Christmas, but we still had a lot of fun climbing on the seaside rocks and enjoying the scenery. We also saw a bunch of seals in the water right near the coast! Right near the lighthouse were haystacks, and as some of you may know Erica loves taking pictures on top of haystacks. We had trouble finding haystacks the entire trip because it was hard to find good places to pull off on the side of the road, but these were perfect and she was very happy. Our next stop was the coastal town of Wexford, a tiny place hard to maneuver by car. We didn’t have much time here because we needed to get back to Enterprise in Dublin that evening, so after a quick stroll through lively Main Street we had a delicious lunch at a café and were back on the road. A few hours later, after finding our way through rush hour and one-way streets in Dublin, we made it back just in time to return the car. It was a really fun few days!!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Around Dublin
As you can see, we've been pretty lazy about updating the blog. I (Sarah) will now attempt to give a synopsis of the last few weeks...
Well, we're finally starting to feel comfortable and at home in Dublin, and have been having a lot of fun. We went to a social for BUNAC (the organization which helped us get our visas) which was at a pub's amateur comedy night. The acts were all quite funny, except for this one lady who got up on stage and started singing a’capella about trees and rivers, who needless to say did not get a warm reception from the crowd. That night I met a couple other girls who work at the same university I do, one American and one Canadian. It was really nice to meet other people who can relate to my job, and I've hung out with both of them since then.
Speaking of jobs, I’m not enjoying mine very much- the office is chaotic and I have a ton of responsibility. Most days aren’t too bad, but I’ve learned that I don’t want to work in an office again anytime soon! Erica and Erin, on the other hand, really like their job at Abbey Court, and have met some cool people who we’ve all hung out with a bunch. We’ve had some great craic (pronounced crack- Irish term for fun, haha!) with them out at the pub and at a couple parties. One memorable night, as some of you have already heard about, was when the 3 of us and Cayla (New Zealander who works at Abby Court) went to our favourite local pub, The Woolshed (pitchers of beer for €9.50 on Thursdays- can’t beat that)! Thursday is also karaoke night, and we decided to sing a song in honor of our W&M friends: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It’s one of those songs that would come on and everyone would start singing along to it, so we thought it’d be funny to karaoke to it. The 3 of us had never karaoked before, but it was so much fun, even though I’m sure we sounded horrible, but people at the pub seemed to get really into too and sang along! Later that night we heard our names getting called again, and it turns out that we won the prize- we didn’t even know that there was one! It was a €30 gift certificate for food, so we went back a couple weeks later and got a huge platter of greasy goodness- garlic fries, chicken wings, spring rolls, onion rings and potato skins- yummy!
We ventured outside the city on a Monday bank holiday a couple weeks ago because we all had the day off. We went on a bus tour (once again, for free!!) down south of Dublin to the Wicklow Mountains, and it was freezing! It was extremely windy and a lot colder than we had anticipated; we certainly were not dressed properly. The countryside was beautiful, and our pictures don’t even look real- it looks like we snapped a photo of fake model-sized mountains and trees. One lake we stopped at is nicknamed the “Guinness Lake” because the water is so dark that it really looks like it’s filled with Guinness. At this stop we got complimentary tea/coffee and biscuits, which was amazing as we struggled to stay warm. Later in the day we went to St. Kevin’s Monastery in Glendalough (“a glen of two lakes”), the origins of which date back to the 6th century. For about 500 years it was one of Ireland’s great ecclesiastical foundations and schools of learning, was continuously attacked by the Danes but ultimately got destroyed by the Normans in 1214. It was a really interesting place to wander around with old headstones, crosses, ruins, and scenic valleys and lakes. Pictures will be up on Picasa soon!
Well those are some of the highlights from the last 3 weeks. As some of you know, today is my birthday and Erin, Stephanie (our housemate) and I are going to a wine bar for dinner! I'm excited. Erica's parents are visiting right now so she is driving around the country with them- unfortunately missing my birthday but still having a great time with her family!
Well, we're finally starting to feel comfortable and at home in Dublin, and have been having a lot of fun. We went to a social for BUNAC (the organization which helped us get our visas) which was at a pub's amateur comedy night. The acts were all quite funny, except for this one lady who got up on stage and started singing a’capella about trees and rivers, who needless to say did not get a warm reception from the crowd. That night I met a couple other girls who work at the same university I do, one American and one Canadian. It was really nice to meet other people who can relate to my job, and I've hung out with both of them since then.
Speaking of jobs, I’m not enjoying mine very much- the office is chaotic and I have a ton of responsibility. Most days aren’t too bad, but I’ve learned that I don’t want to work in an office again anytime soon! Erica and Erin, on the other hand, really like their job at Abbey Court, and have met some cool people who we’ve all hung out with a bunch. We’ve had some great craic (pronounced crack- Irish term for fun, haha!) with them out at the pub and at a couple parties. One memorable night, as some of you have already heard about, was when the 3 of us and Cayla (New Zealander who works at Abby Court) went to our favourite local pub, The Woolshed (pitchers of beer for €9.50 on Thursdays- can’t beat that)! Thursday is also karaoke night, and we decided to sing a song in honor of our W&M friends: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It’s one of those songs that would come on and everyone would start singing along to it, so we thought it’d be funny to karaoke to it. The 3 of us had never karaoked before, but it was so much fun, even though I’m sure we sounded horrible, but people at the pub seemed to get really into too and sang along! Later that night we heard our names getting called again, and it turns out that we won the prize- we didn’t even know that there was one! It was a €30 gift certificate for food, so we went back a couple weeks later and got a huge platter of greasy goodness- garlic fries, chicken wings, spring rolls, onion rings and potato skins- yummy!
We ventured outside the city on a Monday bank holiday a couple weeks ago because we all had the day off. We went on a bus tour (once again, for free!!) down south of Dublin to the Wicklow Mountains, and it was freezing! It was extremely windy and a lot colder than we had anticipated; we certainly were not dressed properly. The countryside was beautiful, and our pictures don’t even look real- it looks like we snapped a photo of fake model-sized mountains and trees. One lake we stopped at is nicknamed the “Guinness Lake” because the water is so dark that it really looks like it’s filled with Guinness. At this stop we got complimentary tea/coffee and biscuits, which was amazing as we struggled to stay warm. Later in the day we went to St. Kevin’s Monastery in Glendalough (“a glen of two lakes”), the origins of which date back to the 6th century. For about 500 years it was one of Ireland’s great ecclesiastical foundations and schools of learning, was continuously attacked by the Danes but ultimately got destroyed by the Normans in 1214. It was a really interesting place to wander around with old headstones, crosses, ruins, and scenic valleys and lakes. Pictures will be up on Picasa soon!
Well those are some of the highlights from the last 3 weeks. As some of you know, today is my birthday and Erin, Stephanie (our housemate) and I are going to a wine bar for dinner! I'm excited. Erica's parents are visiting right now so she is driving around the country with them- unfortunately missing my birthday but still having a great time with her family!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Picture Update
We now have a new website for our pictures since most of you were having trouble viewing the Snapfish photos, and we wouldn't want you to miss out on seeing them!
http://picasaweb.google.com/eegrady
We promise this will work better :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/eegrady
We promise this will work better :)
Guinness is Good for You
A couple weekends ago we went to the Guinness Storehouse, the brewery in Dublin at St. James Gate. It was a really interesting place, and because Erin and Erica work at a hostel they got in for free (and Sarah got a discount)! The building is modeled on a giant pint glass, stretching up from the ground floor to the Gravity Bar at the very top. They have the original lease displayed in the entrance, signed by Arthur Guinness in 1979 and good for 9,000 years at an annual rent of £100- not a bad deal huh? The first part of the brewery explains the brewing process and details about barley, hops, yeast and water, the 4 ingredients used to make the beer. Guinness gets its dark color from the roasted barley and this one brewery alone uses 100,000 tons of Irish grown barley per year in the process.
Next we got a small taste of the new brew they are experimenting with in the tasting lab, which wasn’t too tasty; it was like a watered down version of regular Guinness. We then made our way through the history of Guinness advertising filled with old memorabilia which was really cool to see. There were lots of old bottles, coasters, stickers, posters, glasses, and a huge variety of other Guinness paraphernalia. “Guinness is good for you” was an old slogan used after some serious scientific researchers in the 1920s asked Guinness drinkers why they drink the beer, and they continuously heard the same reason: “because it makes me feel good.” For a long time people thought there were medical benefits associated with the beverage, so doctors used to prescribe it, and people also thought that it made them stronger. Next we learned about the history of the Guinness Book of World Records. None of us had ever made the connection before that the book was associated with the beer, though now the link seems pretty obvious. The story goes that in 1951 the managing director of the brewery went on a hunting party and got into an argument about what game bird was the fastest in Europe. After realizing that it was impossible to confirm this fact in reference books, and supposing that every night in pubs across the world people must debate about various topics, he had the idea for the book. It was first published in 1954, and the rest is history- it now holds its own record as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time.
One room in the storehouse was quite unique, it had a circular wall of small, rectangular pieces of paper posted from top to bottom where anyone can write whatever they want. People from all over the world come to the storehouse as it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Dublin, so it was cool to peruse the wall and see what the people before us had written. Erica and Erin both left a message (Sarah wasn’t feeling creative at the moment). Erin wrote, “American girls love Guinness, it’s good for us!” and drew an American flag outlined by the words “Go grab a pint of Guinness.” Erica wrote, “On a rainy day drink Guinness! (In Ireland, that’s everyday!)” accompanied by a picture of an umbrella safely covering a pint of Guinness from raindrops.
The last stop on the tour was the Gravity Bar, which is at the top of the storehouse. It’s the tallest building in the city with glass walls, allowing for a 360 degree view of the city. It was pretty cloudy and foggy, but still great views. You get a free pint of Guinness included with the ticket, so we hung out and drank the delicious “black gold.” It’s served at 6 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), and the proper way to pour it is to fill the glass at an angle about 75% of the way, and then wait for it to settle for about 90 seconds. Then you top off the head of the beer, and you’ve got a delicious pint! Guinness is sold in 150 countries around the world, with 10 million glasses sold every day (3 million of which are sold within the Republic of Ireland, despite a population of just over 4 million!). We all 3 have learned to appreciate the beer so central to Irish culture.
Next we got a small taste of the new brew they are experimenting with in the tasting lab, which wasn’t too tasty; it was like a watered down version of regular Guinness. We then made our way through the history of Guinness advertising filled with old memorabilia which was really cool to see. There were lots of old bottles, coasters, stickers, posters, glasses, and a huge variety of other Guinness paraphernalia. “Guinness is good for you” was an old slogan used after some serious scientific researchers in the 1920s asked Guinness drinkers why they drink the beer, and they continuously heard the same reason: “because it makes me feel good.” For a long time people thought there were medical benefits associated with the beverage, so doctors used to prescribe it, and people also thought that it made them stronger. Next we learned about the history of the Guinness Book of World Records. None of us had ever made the connection before that the book was associated with the beer, though now the link seems pretty obvious. The story goes that in 1951 the managing director of the brewery went on a hunting party and got into an argument about what game bird was the fastest in Europe. After realizing that it was impossible to confirm this fact in reference books, and supposing that every night in pubs across the world people must debate about various topics, he had the idea for the book. It was first published in 1954, and the rest is history- it now holds its own record as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time.
One room in the storehouse was quite unique, it had a circular wall of small, rectangular pieces of paper posted from top to bottom where anyone can write whatever they want. People from all over the world come to the storehouse as it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Dublin, so it was cool to peruse the wall and see what the people before us had written. Erica and Erin both left a message (Sarah wasn’t feeling creative at the moment). Erin wrote, “American girls love Guinness, it’s good for us!” and drew an American flag outlined by the words “Go grab a pint of Guinness.” Erica wrote, “On a rainy day drink Guinness! (In Ireland, that’s everyday!)” accompanied by a picture of an umbrella safely covering a pint of Guinness from raindrops.
The last stop on the tour was the Gravity Bar, which is at the top of the storehouse. It’s the tallest building in the city with glass walls, allowing for a 360 degree view of the city. It was pretty cloudy and foggy, but still great views. You get a free pint of Guinness included with the ticket, so we hung out and drank the delicious “black gold.” It’s served at 6 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), and the proper way to pour it is to fill the glass at an angle about 75% of the way, and then wait for it to settle for about 90 seconds. Then you top off the head of the beer, and you’ve got a delicious pint! Guinness is sold in 150 countries around the world, with 10 million glasses sold every day (3 million of which are sold within the Republic of Ireland, despite a population of just over 4 million!). We all 3 have learned to appreciate the beer so central to Irish culture.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Galway Luck, Galway Girls
We made it out of the city yet again for one of our many adventures. This time, we took a bus across the country (the thought of being able to take a bus across a country is still staggering) to Galway on the west coast, which only took about four hours. We checked in to our hostel, where we got one of our two nights for free because of Erin and Erica's job benefits from Abby Court! Sarah just pretended that she worked at Abby Court too and avoided questions from the receptionists so that she could the discount too. The job perks went even further: we booked bus tours for the following two days, which normally costs 20 Euro a day, and got it all for free (saving a total of 120 Euro between the three of us)! Anyway, we were all famished when we arrived and went on a quest to find an inexpensive lunch, finally settling on a delicious crepe café which happened to be right next to an outdoor market. The market was filled with aromas from various types of food- from freshly baked bread, to espresso, to fresh fish- as well local craftsmen showcasing their trade. After resisting the urge to buy everything in sight, we continued to wander around the medieval city. We walked along the beach and came across an intense soccer match with dozens and dozens of male spectators. As we walked by they stared at us like we were aliens from another planet, it was bizarre. Later that afternoon we stopped in a café for coffee and dessert, and then went back to the hostel to take both HOT and LONG showers- neither of which is possible in our bathroom at home! We went out that night for a few pints and both the pubs were really fun and lively.
The next morning we got up for our (free) tour of the Connemara region to the northwest of Galway. Our driver, Michael, was funny and informative, telling us all about the history of the region from legends of leprechauns and fairies to the potato famine. The countryside was scattered with remains of old castles, tiny houses that were abandoned and left to crumble because of the famine, and of course cows, sheep and horses. We first stopped at an old friary from the 14th century called Ross Errily Abbey, which was really interesting. We drove by many different lakes and through gorgeous mountains covered in ferns and speckled with colors of changing leaves. A highlight of the day was Kylemore Abbey, a castle from the late 19th century which currently is a Monastic home for nuns and a private school for girls. There are still a few rooms open to the public, and you can also explore the grounds to see the Neo-Gothic Church and the Victorian walled garden. The house itself, Erin noted, looks exactly like one of those 3-D puzzles, and is situated right on a lake surrounded by mountains- quite the picturesque setting. The Neo-Gothic church was pretty inside with its marble columns, and the garden was lovely with geometric shaped flowerbeds and patterned designs. That night we went hit up the town again in search of live music. First we stopped in a small pub and listened to a group of four old men play traditional Irish sounding melodies with a fiddle, recorder, and bodhran (an Irish frame drum covered with goat skin). We happily listened to the music for awhile, but unfortunately they finished playing shortly thereafter so we went to another pub across the street where two men were also playing music. They played guitars and sang traditional Irish songs that all the Irish people knew; it looked like great fun as the Irish crowd sang along and danced to the music. The three of us were highly entertained and had a great time watching the merriment, and now the song “Galway Girl” is definitely one of our new favorites.
We rose in the morning for another bus tour, this time heading to the Burren region south of Galway. Our driver was an old man named Des, who literally repeated himself all day, “We’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, we’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, in about 15 minutes we’ll be at the cliffs, the cliffs are where we’ll be in 15 minutes.” Really funny at first, but highly annoying after 7 hours. Anyhow, this area was vastly different from the day before; the changes in landscape happen so quickly it’s pretty amazing. The Burren mountains are not grassy but rather very rocky, filled with limestone bedrocks. The region is great for archaeology, one of the most famous sites being the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a megalithic tomb dating back to the Neolithic period about 5800 years ago (older than the Egyptian pyramids)!! We stopped in the village of Kilfenora- called the “city of crosses” because of its abundance of 12th century celtic crosses- before stopping at the Cliffs of Moher, the main attraction of the day. The cliffs are one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ireland and were really cool. They touch the Atlantic Ocean, making it the closest we will be to home until we actually come back next year. We were extremely lucky with the weather the entire weekend as it didn’t rain once in our three days there, but apparently had rained almost every day since June before our arrival! Because it wasn’t muddy we got to wander on parts on the cliffs that often would be too dangerous. Despite the sign that warned, “Please do not go beyond this point,” there were many people who ventured past it and we decided to follow suit. Erin was pretty nervous being so close to the cliff edge, but we made our way slowly and it was well worth it. The views were stunning and we had fun taking pictures (see our Picasa web album). It was an incredible weekend!!
The next morning we got up for our (free) tour of the Connemara region to the northwest of Galway. Our driver, Michael, was funny and informative, telling us all about the history of the region from legends of leprechauns and fairies to the potato famine. The countryside was scattered with remains of old castles, tiny houses that were abandoned and left to crumble because of the famine, and of course cows, sheep and horses. We first stopped at an old friary from the 14th century called Ross Errily Abbey, which was really interesting. We drove by many different lakes and through gorgeous mountains covered in ferns and speckled with colors of changing leaves. A highlight of the day was Kylemore Abbey, a castle from the late 19th century which currently is a Monastic home for nuns and a private school for girls. There are still a few rooms open to the public, and you can also explore the grounds to see the Neo-Gothic Church and the Victorian walled garden. The house itself, Erin noted, looks exactly like one of those 3-D puzzles, and is situated right on a lake surrounded by mountains- quite the picturesque setting. The Neo-Gothic church was pretty inside with its marble columns, and the garden was lovely with geometric shaped flowerbeds and patterned designs. That night we went hit up the town again in search of live music. First we stopped in a small pub and listened to a group of four old men play traditional Irish sounding melodies with a fiddle, recorder, and bodhran (an Irish frame drum covered with goat skin). We happily listened to the music for awhile, but unfortunately they finished playing shortly thereafter so we went to another pub across the street where two men were also playing music. They played guitars and sang traditional Irish songs that all the Irish people knew; it looked like great fun as the Irish crowd sang along and danced to the music. The three of us were highly entertained and had a great time watching the merriment, and now the song “Galway Girl” is definitely one of our new favorites.
We rose in the morning for another bus tour, this time heading to the Burren region south of Galway. Our driver was an old man named Des, who literally repeated himself all day, “We’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, we’re heading to the cliffs- be there in about 15 minutes, in about 15 minutes we’ll be at the cliffs, the cliffs are where we’ll be in 15 minutes.” Really funny at first, but highly annoying after 7 hours. Anyhow, this area was vastly different from the day before; the changes in landscape happen so quickly it’s pretty amazing. The Burren mountains are not grassy but rather very rocky, filled with limestone bedrocks. The region is great for archaeology, one of the most famous sites being the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a megalithic tomb dating back to the Neolithic period about 5800 years ago (older than the Egyptian pyramids)!! We stopped in the village of Kilfenora- called the “city of crosses” because of its abundance of 12th century celtic crosses- before stopping at the Cliffs of Moher, the main attraction of the day. The cliffs are one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ireland and were really cool. They touch the Atlantic Ocean, making it the closest we will be to home until we actually come back next year. We were extremely lucky with the weather the entire weekend as it didn’t rain once in our three days there, but apparently had rained almost every day since June before our arrival! Because it wasn’t muddy we got to wander on parts on the cliffs that often would be too dangerous. Despite the sign that warned, “Please do not go beyond this point,” there were many people who ventured past it and we decided to follow suit. Erin was pretty nervous being so close to the cliff edge, but we made our way slowly and it was well worth it. The views were stunning and we had fun taking pictures (see our Picasa web album). It was an incredible weekend!!
Friday, October 10, 2008
"Hey, it's a potato!"
Erica’s sister Natalie and her husband Jesse came to visit last week to celebrate their 1 year anniversary, and to see 3 of their favorite people, of course. They spent a couple days with us here in Dublin, where all 5 of us were cramped in our tiny bedroom and, to their chagrin, realized that we weren’t kidding about our lack of hot water. Luckily the 3 of us had the weekend off and tagged along to their trip to Northern Ireland. We left early Saturday morning to pick up the rental car, and Jesse actually works for Enterprise so he got an amazing deal on the car. It was pretty funny seeing Jesse drive on the left side of road for the first time; at first he seemed a bit nervous but then quickly adjusted to it. The GPS really helped at first as the voice told us specifically where to turn, and it became such an integral part to our drive that we endearingly named her “Siobhan” (a typical Irish name pronounced Sha-von).
Siobhan led us to the outskirts of Dublin where we stopped briefly for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Where did we stop, you ask? A modern, clean and cheap café called McDonalds. Yes, dear friends, we stopped at a McDonalds that was really lovely and actually looked like a decent restaurant. After this we drove out of Dublin and through lovely country roads, and just past the town of Virginia (no lie!) we found a little place where we decided to take a scenic detour. Our detour took us to Lough Rammer, a lovely lake in the heart of the Irish countryside. Well, to be clear, the lake itself was lovely, but the shore where we stopped to look was anything but—it was littered with the remnants of many a day spent fishing: beer cans, empty bags of crisps and the like. However, the tranquility of the fishermen and the nice surrounding wooded area (not so littered with trash as the shore) made the lake a worthwhile detour.
Our detour to Lough Rammer didn’t really put us off schedule, and we made it to our first destination, Enniskillan, right around when we wanted to, approximately 2pm. Our destination in tiny Enniskillan was the castle. And what an underwhelming castle it is at first! There is only on old “castle looking” building. However, there is a really cool and interesting museum on the premises about the local regiment of soldiers through time, from medieval times through the world wars and even as recently as Korea and the Falkland Islands. The museum had an overwhelming number of artifacts, especially medals, which Erin found out when she tried to pull a drawer of medals out and it kept coming and coming and coming... so much so that she had to take many steps back to pull the drawer all the way out.
We grabbed lunch at a cute little café called the Jolly Sandwich in Enniskillan before hitting the road onto our destination for the night, Ballycastle, the town near the Giant's Causeway. We managed to make it there by about dinner time, and we had to find accommodation. It seemed like it was going to be a problem, but we talked to a woman in a bed and breakfast who called one of her friends who had a room free, and she gave us a good rate since the five of us crammed into a room meant for three people. It was actually quite humorous because we had 4 twin beds that we literally had to have right next to each other in order to fit, without an inch to spare; we felt like we were sleeping in one giant bed.
Anyway, we went out for a quick bite to eat and met a fellow Dubliner in the restaurant named Gino (who met up with us again in Dublin for Jesse’s birthday later in the week). He was travelling on his own, so we invited him out to the pub with us. That was just the beginning of our meeting of Irish people for the night! The locals at the pub were so nice, they just came up and began talking to us right away, and we had some interesting conversations about the changes in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years, the economy, the election in the states and what life is like in a little town like Ballycastle. We also inquired as to why all of the girls thought it was appropriate to wear little sundresses when it was easily in the lower 40's, plus wind chill, to which we got the hilarious reply, "oh, I just noticed that you all are all bundled up! This is warm for us," and a shrug and a laugh. We made our way back to the B&B for a few hours of sleep and had an early breakfast- a traditional Irish fully fry! It was quite good: sausages, ham, eggs, fresh soda bread, baked beans, a potato pancake, and lovely coffee and tea. It was enough calories in one meal for a full day, but the hiking/walking that we did later on certainly helped to burn it off!
After breakfast, we piled into the car and drove the 20 or so kilometres to the Giant's Causeway, stopping along the way to take photos of the cliffs jutting out into the sea, and, for a lucky minute, a rainbow right over the ocean. The weather was so perfect—blustery but clear and completely sunny. The kind of day where a bracing walk outside makes the wind feel wonderful on your face, but you still need a scarf and gloves... and sunglasses!
The Giant's Causeway was an amazing attraction. It is a formation of thousands upon thousands of hexagonal basalt rock columns formed by some ancient volcanic activity. There is only one other place like it in the world, and that is the counterpart across the sea in Scotland! So anyway, when we got there we set off for a few kilometre long cliff walk above the actual rock formation. The walk was so beautiful, and took forever, considering the numbers of photographs we were taking (posted on Snapfish). So we walked along the cliffs for a bit, then down a narrow staircase to the end of the formation to see something called the Smoke Stacks and the Amphitheatre, and then we made our way back along the cliff bases towards the main rock formations. It was so cool! You could clamor all over the columns, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Anyone who is thinking about coming to Ireland should definitely add this to the list….right at the top!
After we finished, it began to rain (of course) but we made our way back up to the car and by the time we were halfway there, the rain had ceased. So that worked out fine, because the sun came right out again. We drove down the scenic seaside road to the ruins of a castle right on the cliffs where we walked around for a short bit, and then we drove into a seaside tourist town for a late, delicious lunch in a pub. Then it was back in the car for the more direct route home straight down the East Coast of the country to Dublin. It was an extremely fun weekend!
Siobhan led us to the outskirts of Dublin where we stopped briefly for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Where did we stop, you ask? A modern, clean and cheap café called McDonalds. Yes, dear friends, we stopped at a McDonalds that was really lovely and actually looked like a decent restaurant. After this we drove out of Dublin and through lovely country roads, and just past the town of Virginia (no lie!) we found a little place where we decided to take a scenic detour. Our detour took us to Lough Rammer, a lovely lake in the heart of the Irish countryside. Well, to be clear, the lake itself was lovely, but the shore where we stopped to look was anything but—it was littered with the remnants of many a day spent fishing: beer cans, empty bags of crisps and the like. However, the tranquility of the fishermen and the nice surrounding wooded area (not so littered with trash as the shore) made the lake a worthwhile detour.
Our detour to Lough Rammer didn’t really put us off schedule, and we made it to our first destination, Enniskillan, right around when we wanted to, approximately 2pm. Our destination in tiny Enniskillan was the castle. And what an underwhelming castle it is at first! There is only on old “castle looking” building. However, there is a really cool and interesting museum on the premises about the local regiment of soldiers through time, from medieval times through the world wars and even as recently as Korea and the Falkland Islands. The museum had an overwhelming number of artifacts, especially medals, which Erin found out when she tried to pull a drawer of medals out and it kept coming and coming and coming... so much so that she had to take many steps back to pull the drawer all the way out.
We grabbed lunch at a cute little café called the Jolly Sandwich in Enniskillan before hitting the road onto our destination for the night, Ballycastle, the town near the Giant's Causeway. We managed to make it there by about dinner time, and we had to find accommodation. It seemed like it was going to be a problem, but we talked to a woman in a bed and breakfast who called one of her friends who had a room free, and she gave us a good rate since the five of us crammed into a room meant for three people. It was actually quite humorous because we had 4 twin beds that we literally had to have right next to each other in order to fit, without an inch to spare; we felt like we were sleeping in one giant bed.
Anyway, we went out for a quick bite to eat and met a fellow Dubliner in the restaurant named Gino (who met up with us again in Dublin for Jesse’s birthday later in the week). He was travelling on his own, so we invited him out to the pub with us. That was just the beginning of our meeting of Irish people for the night! The locals at the pub were so nice, they just came up and began talking to us right away, and we had some interesting conversations about the changes in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years, the economy, the election in the states and what life is like in a little town like Ballycastle. We also inquired as to why all of the girls thought it was appropriate to wear little sundresses when it was easily in the lower 40's, plus wind chill, to which we got the hilarious reply, "oh, I just noticed that you all are all bundled up! This is warm for us," and a shrug and a laugh. We made our way back to the B&B for a few hours of sleep and had an early breakfast- a traditional Irish fully fry! It was quite good: sausages, ham, eggs, fresh soda bread, baked beans, a potato pancake, and lovely coffee and tea. It was enough calories in one meal for a full day, but the hiking/walking that we did later on certainly helped to burn it off!
After breakfast, we piled into the car and drove the 20 or so kilometres to the Giant's Causeway, stopping along the way to take photos of the cliffs jutting out into the sea, and, for a lucky minute, a rainbow right over the ocean. The weather was so perfect—blustery but clear and completely sunny. The kind of day where a bracing walk outside makes the wind feel wonderful on your face, but you still need a scarf and gloves... and sunglasses!
The Giant's Causeway was an amazing attraction. It is a formation of thousands upon thousands of hexagonal basalt rock columns formed by some ancient volcanic activity. There is only one other place like it in the world, and that is the counterpart across the sea in Scotland! So anyway, when we got there we set off for a few kilometre long cliff walk above the actual rock formation. The walk was so beautiful, and took forever, considering the numbers of photographs we were taking (posted on Snapfish). So we walked along the cliffs for a bit, then down a narrow staircase to the end of the formation to see something called the Smoke Stacks and the Amphitheatre, and then we made our way back along the cliff bases towards the main rock formations. It was so cool! You could clamor all over the columns, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Anyone who is thinking about coming to Ireland should definitely add this to the list….right at the top!
After we finished, it began to rain (of course) but we made our way back up to the car and by the time we were halfway there, the rain had ceased. So that worked out fine, because the sun came right out again. We drove down the scenic seaside road to the ruins of a castle right on the cliffs where we walked around for a short bit, and then we drove into a seaside tourist town for a late, delicious lunch in a pub. Then it was back in the car for the more direct route home straight down the East Coast of the country to Dublin. It was an extremely fun weekend!
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