tours & cute boys... HAHA!
So you've lucked out and this blog really should be a rush (comparatively speaking) -- #1, I haven't been writing details down because I've been so exhausted - and #2, I'm currently too exhausted to make a huge effort on the blogging scene! :)
So.
2nd and last day in Killarney was a day tour to Dingle Peninsula. It was an all-day event, starting at 10:30am and getting back to town around 5-5:30. Here's the gist:
- really great tour guide: lots of stopping to take pics, lots of info on the places we saw, lots of silence for us to soak in the information and sights.
- I wish I could say more about the tour itself, but that's what I get for waiting 3 days to post! *sigh* Hopefully I will be able to recal more with more sleep and once I've gone through my pics... ?
Yesterday was a whirlwind:
We left Killarney at 6am in order to take a pitstop in Limerick to settle my financial stuff and set up a bank account before continuing on to Galway.
Got to Galway around 4pm and found our hostel after only one wrong turn.
I LOVE OUR HOSTEL!!!!
This place is PHENOMENAL! :)
It really is like a relatively nice motel - with balconies off our rooms and a reading lamp for every bed! I am sooooo impressed! It didn't hurt that a beautiful frenchman with black hair & blue eyes checked us in... *sigh*
We got settled and turned around to do our usual 1st night in a new city wandering. We visited the Spanish Arch in Galway last night - it was by a shore with ton(ne)s of seagulls & swans... beautiful. And we also found a bagel place where the guy actually SMILED as he served us! It was quite a shock, let me tell you! You'll have to read Ky's blog to hear about her adventure with bagels -- I will remind her to post that story :)
Early night. On the way back to the hostel, we were approached by a cute american (Chicago) looking for the same place, so we escorted him. It turns out that his name is Mike (a pretty popular name in my world) and that he works in film. We only found that out after running into him on accident about 10 times around the hostel and then this morning as we were heading off on tours... keep in mind that when I say "hostel," I don't mean 50 ppl... we're talking by the hundreds, I'm sure. Just in case you thought it wouldn't be a huge thing to run into a guy 10 times in as many hours. In this hostel, Ky & I have separate rooms for the 1st 2 nights, so we're meeting several new people. In my room, I have met a Canadian from Ottawa who is going to the University of Galway for a history exchange - her name is Roxanne - and an australian whose name I have completely blanked on who has moved here on a work visa and is a paralegal... both great girls!
Today was another tour day. Now, you'd think a person wouldn't get so tired out from sitting in a bus for 8 hrs, but you would be mistaken! We went on a Cliffs of Moher/Burren tour today. The Burren is a huge limestone world that involves 320 million years of evolution and hundreds of plant species that are only native to Ireland, the mediterranean and, like, one other place... (I really wish I wasn't so tired - sorry for being a slacker!)
The cliffs of Moher are almost 700 ft high and are strata of rock formations (I am sure I didn't state that correctly!) - the tour guide described it as cake layers, if that helps? Today was the sunniest day in years and the 1st time since the tour guide can remember when one was able to actually SEE the cliffs - the last several years have been so rainy & foggy that tourists were unable to see them - but what an amazing view we got today!
The tour was definitely a memorable event in the guy department for me, too! We sat in the back with a guy from Argentinian who is working in Dublin until December. Two words: beauty - full. Oh, I do have a pic! :) We had a blast talking when our driver wasn't interrupting us with useful information! And he offered to let me try his mate (mah-tay) tea, but it was cold, so I declined. Again - for those of you who know the "hot danish guy" story from my travels on a bus from NC to NB - I managed to spend an entire day with a guy and not get his name... MAN, I am bad at that!!!
This tour guide was terribly funny and informative - we learned the entire irish history in cliff notes format - but he talked more than the last guy and I had really enjoyed the moments of silence at Dingle...
Tour over, cute argentinian gone forever, haven't seen the chicagoan yet, supper and back to the hostel - hope I don't pass out before I call my mom at 6 her time! yeah, right.
Next: Galway city self-guided tour & a trip out to Inis Mor (Aran Islands) on Thursday.
Hopefully, the next post won't be as B-O-R-I-N-G.
I LOVE YOU ALL!
28 August 2007
25 August 2007
adventure is...
...discomfort recollected in tranquility. [Desmond Bagley, Windfall]
This isn't really an "adventurous" post. It's just a quote I found last night in the book I'm reading and I thought it appropriate for traveling in general. When I asked Ky what she hoped to get out of this trip on the plane here, she specifically stated, "adventure."
I wonder if this definition will fit when the time for recollection begins?
~~~~~~~~~~
Today, we arrived in Killarney safe & sound - after a 2nd late bus so far - but with a much better reception that we had in Kilkenny! Well, sort of... :)
While waiting to get on the bus, a french teacher from central France started talking to us. I mentioned that I was hoping to get to France where I will be forced to practice my french and she offered for me to stay at her place! How cool is that? I don't know if I really will make it out there, but if so, we exchanged email addresses and hopefully she's not a murderer. :)
Once we got to Killarney, we realized that our directions to the hostel were a little "vague," so we spent a good while wandering the city centre until we figured it out - with the help of a few well-meaning "you can't miss it" irishmen. :) We got to Paddy's Palace (what a touristy name, eh?) and had lunch while we waited for the really attractive aussie to tell us about checking-in.
We learned that instead of the 6-bed room we booked, we were given a 2-bed ensuite at no extra charge because of a tour group that showed up last night. Woot! After dropping off our luggage, we decided to wander the city. We weren't allowed into the room until 4 and it was only noon.
We went 1st to the tourist office and booked a tour to the Dingle Peninsula and realized that we wouldn't be able to fit in a visit to Killarney National Park. But not to worry! In our wandering, we left the city centre and headed to quieter, less tourist-filled areas, we found a sign for Ross castle.
"Ross castle," we thought. "That could be fun... let's check it out!"
So we followed the signs & turned right. And we walked.
And walked.
And walked.
Once we realized that the castle was not as nearby as originally thought, we decided to make a plan. It went like this:
"okay. let's walk to that triangle and see what that is - and if it's not the castle, then we'll figure out what to do next."
arrive at the triangle. which happens to be a well of some sort and a sign nearby announcing that we have arrived at the Water treatment plant - YAY!
"well then... let's walk for 5 more mins and we'll decide if we should turn around."
5 mins...
7 mins...
and then a big brown sign:
Killarney National Park!
How cool is that??? So we take pics of Ky wandering in the muck of Killarney National Park. It really was beautiful, but I was wearing flipflops. :)
And as we turn the next corner, we see Ross Castle! FINALLY!
It turns out that we ended up in this amazingly scenic portion of Killarney Lake on a beautiful sunshiny day with a perfect breeze where families were feeding ducks and people were fishing nearby... so picturesque... *sigh*
And then we realize that we have to walk the 2.6km back to town. haha!
The rest of the day consisted of stopping in touristy shops, buying really REALLY cheap clothes at Dunne's (my new fave store) - 2 skirts and a pr of shorts for 8euro.
In the evening, I wore one of my new skirts - 'cause I wanted to feel pretty after 9 days of hosteling and cold showers for 3 days (hot shower today, though!) - and went to a free concert of traditional Irish music by young artists. (where I found aNOTHER cute guy - surprise!)
Sort of skipped my way back to the hostel with an Irish reel playing in my head...
What a fantastic day! :)
PS
I found a Hannigan's Pub & Restaurant today - we plan to have supper there tomorrow night... and there's also a Hannigan's supply store of some kind around here (I saw a van) - maybe county Kerry is the place the pirate Hannigans decided to hang their hats? :)
This isn't really an "adventurous" post. It's just a quote I found last night in the book I'm reading and I thought it appropriate for traveling in general. When I asked Ky what she hoped to get out of this trip on the plane here, she specifically stated, "adventure."
I wonder if this definition will fit when the time for recollection begins?
~~~~~~~~~~
Today, we arrived in Killarney safe & sound - after a 2nd late bus so far - but with a much better reception that we had in Kilkenny! Well, sort of... :)
While waiting to get on the bus, a french teacher from central France started talking to us. I mentioned that I was hoping to get to France where I will be forced to practice my french and she offered for me to stay at her place! How cool is that? I don't know if I really will make it out there, but if so, we exchanged email addresses and hopefully she's not a murderer. :)
Once we got to Killarney, we realized that our directions to the hostel were a little "vague," so we spent a good while wandering the city centre until we figured it out - with the help of a few well-meaning "you can't miss it" irishmen. :) We got to Paddy's Palace (what a touristy name, eh?) and had lunch while we waited for the really attractive aussie to tell us about checking-in.
We learned that instead of the 6-bed room we booked, we were given a 2-bed ensuite at no extra charge because of a tour group that showed up last night. Woot! After dropping off our luggage, we decided to wander the city. We weren't allowed into the room until 4 and it was only noon.
We went 1st to the tourist office and booked a tour to the Dingle Peninsula and realized that we wouldn't be able to fit in a visit to Killarney National Park. But not to worry! In our wandering, we left the city centre and headed to quieter, less tourist-filled areas, we found a sign for Ross castle.
"Ross castle," we thought. "That could be fun... let's check it out!"
So we followed the signs & turned right. And we walked.
And walked.
And walked.
Once we realized that the castle was not as nearby as originally thought, we decided to make a plan. It went like this:
"okay. let's walk to that triangle and see what that is - and if it's not the castle, then we'll figure out what to do next."
arrive at the triangle. which happens to be a well of some sort and a sign nearby announcing that we have arrived at the Water treatment plant - YAY!
"well then... let's walk for 5 more mins and we'll decide if we should turn around."
5 mins...
7 mins...
and then a big brown sign:
Killarney National Park!
How cool is that??? So we take pics of Ky wandering in the muck of Killarney National Park. It really was beautiful, but I was wearing flipflops. :)
And as we turn the next corner, we see Ross Castle! FINALLY!
It turns out that we ended up in this amazingly scenic portion of Killarney Lake on a beautiful sunshiny day with a perfect breeze where families were feeding ducks and people were fishing nearby... so picturesque... *sigh*
And then we realize that we have to walk the 2.6km back to town. haha!
The rest of the day consisted of stopping in touristy shops, buying really REALLY cheap clothes at Dunne's (my new fave store) - 2 skirts and a pr of shorts for 8euro.
In the evening, I wore one of my new skirts - 'cause I wanted to feel pretty after 9 days of hosteling and cold showers for 3 days (hot shower today, though!) - and went to a free concert of traditional Irish music by young artists. (where I found aNOTHER cute guy - surprise!)
Sort of skipped my way back to the hostel with an Irish reel playing in my head...
What a fantastic day! :)
PS
I found a Hannigan's Pub & Restaurant today - we plan to have supper there tomorrow night... and there's also a Hannigan's supply store of some kind around here (I saw a van) - maybe county Kerry is the place the pirate Hannigans decided to hang their hats? :)
random pics
Hi guys - I am dedicating the title of this post to my traveling buddy, Kylee-Anne! (you'll have to ask/complain to her...)
So.
What to say about our last day in Cork? It was pretty uneventful, so this should (hopefully) be a short post! HAH. I will mention here that when I left off the last blog, I was heading out to my very 1st Irish pub with our roomie, Chiara. [I think I called her Chiana before - I apologize] It was so nice! There was this tiny group of musicians (2 guys on ebony flutes, a girl on the fiddle, and some guy showed up halfway through with a crazy irish drum) who had a microphone hanging above their table as they entertained a pub full of people - all ages, all nationalities - it was great fun and I was not disappointed! :)
After a relatively late night (and much political talk between the 3 of us - Canadian, American and Italian - it was... interesting? LOL! Actually, we were all quite civil and discussed things like the adults we are!), Ky & I slept in and left the hostel to go searching for a hop-on-hop-off tour like the one we had in Dublin.
It was a bust... we had been spoiled by Dublin's 24-hr tickets, so when they told us it was only good until 5pm and the tour times were not very convenient at that, we decided to walk around the city and find a couple places ourselves.
And walk we did!
We went 1st to St Finbarre's Cathedral (at Chiara's suggestion). It was amazing! The outdoor sculpting was phenomenal and the interior windows told ton(ne)s of bible stories in order beginning to end... the architect/artist was brilliant!
Our last in-city visit was the Cork Butter Museum!!! You know, when you hear the words "Butter" & "Museum," you think, "WHAT?" But it really was interesting (in a GOOD way) and we learned a lot about the history of making butter and how it eventually became Ireland's biggest export... and one of my favourite things was the fact that I knew what they were talking about when they discussed the machines/manner of milking - thanks to my latest Park Valley visit! ;)
Our original intention was to try and take a train out to Cobh since we were unable to find it by car the day before, but the train station was forever away and we weren't able to catch a train that would get us to Cobh in time for the museums we wanted to get to to be open. Apparently, Ireland closes at 6pm - except for pubs (and they don't serve food after 6...*sigh*).
So after our trek to the train station, we bused back to city-centre and I took a nap at 6pm that lasted until 10:30. whoops. My night was shot!
Next stop: Killarney!
PS
There are no random pics to show. I keep telling you I can't post them yet! (blame Ky) :)
So.
What to say about our last day in Cork? It was pretty uneventful, so this should (hopefully) be a short post! HAH. I will mention here that when I left off the last blog, I was heading out to my very 1st Irish pub with our roomie, Chiara. [I think I called her Chiana before - I apologize] It was so nice! There was this tiny group of musicians (2 guys on ebony flutes, a girl on the fiddle, and some guy showed up halfway through with a crazy irish drum) who had a microphone hanging above their table as they entertained a pub full of people - all ages, all nationalities - it was great fun and I was not disappointed! :)
After a relatively late night (and much political talk between the 3 of us - Canadian, American and Italian - it was... interesting? LOL! Actually, we were all quite civil and discussed things like the adults we are!), Ky & I slept in and left the hostel to go searching for a hop-on-hop-off tour like the one we had in Dublin.
It was a bust... we had been spoiled by Dublin's 24-hr tickets, so when they told us it was only good until 5pm and the tour times were not very convenient at that, we decided to walk around the city and find a couple places ourselves.
And walk we did!
We went 1st to St Finbarre's Cathedral (at Chiara's suggestion). It was amazing! The outdoor sculpting was phenomenal and the interior windows told ton(ne)s of bible stories in order beginning to end... the architect/artist was brilliant!
Our last in-city visit was the Cork Butter Museum!!! You know, when you hear the words "Butter" & "Museum," you think, "WHAT?" But it really was interesting (in a GOOD way) and we learned a lot about the history of making butter and how it eventually became Ireland's biggest export... and one of my favourite things was the fact that I knew what they were talking about when they discussed the machines/manner of milking - thanks to my latest Park Valley visit! ;)
Our original intention was to try and take a train out to Cobh since we were unable to find it by car the day before, but the train station was forever away and we weren't able to catch a train that would get us to Cobh in time for the museums we wanted to get to to be open. Apparently, Ireland closes at 6pm - except for pubs (and they don't serve food after 6...*sigh*).
So after our trek to the train station, we bused back to city-centre and I took a nap at 6pm that lasted until 10:30. whoops. My night was shot!
Next stop: Killarney!
PS
There are no random pics to show. I keep telling you I can't post them yet! (blame Ky) :)
23 August 2007
Concentrated Maneur?
[This is me at the end of this day... heehee!]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER! (my sis!) ☺
WOOT!
So today was our ADVENTUROUS day!!!
We rented a car and Ky drove on the left side of the road! ☺ Today was designated to finding Castlefreke…
I am so proud of her – even though I am not sure who has more stress: the person driving or the person giving up control/possibly her life to the driver!!!
There are NO shoulders on this Island. And for those of you willing to take the risk: GOOD LUCK! Signs are seldom and you always get “you can’t miss it” when you ask for directions! Haha!!
The navigator wasn’t doing her job appropriately, so many detours were made – including one that led us to beautiful sandy beach with surfers and smooth stones and great shells. We did find Castlefreke, only to learn that the castle itself had been bought in 2005 by a descendent of the Frekes, Stephen and Valerie Evans-Freke of NYC. We were told that we couldn’t see the castle, but we stopped in the nearby school and took photos of newspaper articles re the recent sale and the lineage of the Barons?Dukes?Earls? of Carbery. Then we went on a mission.
I was determined to find this castle! Even if we couldn’t get into it, I wanted to see IT. So I navigated us around and around – I think Ky may have been a little worried about my judgment after she climbed onto a gatepost to see if there was a view of the castle from the main road – but we actually FOUND IT! Don’t ask me how. I just knew the general direction it was in, based on a postcard I bought of a map of the area. I have some really neat photos!!! (considering we were probably over a kilometer from the actual building…)
We found another great beach and took more pics and then hopped in the car. We were on a roll by now and Ky had gotten the hang of left-side driving, so we decided to follow the coast a little further and made it into Skibbereen (sp?). Once we’d seen it driving through, we thought – what about trying to see if we can make it to Cobh on our own??? HAH! We did take a nice detour into a great little seaside town and had a snack before returning the car.
The day was filled with reminders of NC. The trees are so much like home, it smelled and looked so much like the Appalachians every time we went through tree groves... Ky says West Cork reminds her of a cross between PEI and BC.
I think I will remember this day my entire life. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but that’s what made it special, you know?
You have officially been caught up in my travels! I will try to be more consistent with my blogging, but it wasn’t my fault this time! The Kilkenny hostel didn’t even offer internet! (what?)
One more day in Cork and then it’s off to Killarney ~
PS
The title is a result of one of Ky's remarks about the smell as we passed the cattle fields. If you're from/have been to NC, you will recognize the smell as "home," but we're pretty sure the cow-scent in SK isn't nearly as strong!
Smelly Cork
Woke @ 6am to catch the 7am bus. Found a wonderful “cool dork” for Ang on the ride in. Sorry, Ang – I tried to get a pic, but he was always in front of me! Sigh I will try harder next time! ☺
I LOVE CORK!
Okay – I am not a fan of the humidity. Or the random scent of urine as I pass empty doorways… but other than that…
It has all of the culture and shopping of Dublin with sidewalks that are about 3 times wider and gardai that look older than 10! ☺
The city centre is entirely surrounded by canals or rivers, which makes it pretty cool (humid, but interesting), and a lot of the architecture/heat/humidity reminded me of a more-spread-out Charleston. There were great shops – some of which I recognized, like Body Shop and HMV!
Stopped in at the Cork Vision Centre. No – it’s not an eyecare place… it’s an old cathedral (suprisesurprise!) that houses art/photo/sculpture shows. The current show is the 2007 photography awards. I SO enjoyed myself!
Today, Ky & I also learned that Cobh *the place where Moores and Hingstons emigrated to North America from* is pronounced “cove” – with good reason: that’s exactly what it is! Our hope is to take a bus to Cobh tomorrow (24th) if there’s time after our hop-on-hop-off tour and check out the heritage museum to see if we can find any record of these travels… we’ll see!
Met our roomies Chiana (an Italian international studies student) and 3 California girls. We have plans to head out to a pub (our 1st one yet) for a while this evening (23rd).
I LOVE CORK!
Okay – I am not a fan of the humidity. Or the random scent of urine as I pass empty doorways… but other than that…
It has all of the culture and shopping of Dublin with sidewalks that are about 3 times wider and gardai that look older than 10! ☺
The city centre is entirely surrounded by canals or rivers, which makes it pretty cool (humid, but interesting), and a lot of the architecture/heat/humidity reminded me of a more-spread-out Charleston. There were great shops – some of which I recognized, like Body Shop and HMV!
Stopped in at the Cork Vision Centre. No – it’s not an eyecare place… it’s an old cathedral (suprisesurprise!) that houses art/photo/sculpture shows. The current show is the 2007 photography awards. I SO enjoyed myself!
Today, Ky & I also learned that Cobh *the place where Moores and Hingstons emigrated to North America from* is pronounced “cove” – with good reason: that’s exactly what it is! Our hope is to take a bus to Cobh tomorrow (24th) if there’s time after our hop-on-hop-off tour and check out the heritage museum to see if we can find any record of these travels… we’ll see!
Met our roomies Chiana (an Italian international studies student) and 3 California girls. We have plans to head out to a pub (our 1st one yet) for a while this evening (23rd).
from peace to taco-beds
This morning began on such a peaceful note…
We were out in the town before all the stores opened and just wandered around watching the city wake up. It was such a nice experience!
Kilkenny is a totally different world from Dublin. The streets are ALL cobblestoned and there are Abbeys, Cathedrals or Castles everywhere you turn… we attempted to take a bus out to Dunmore caves, but that never happened. Instead, our morning took us into an area filled with local crafts and artisans’ shops. We wandered around there for a while and found Butler House & Gardens behind it, so we wandered around the gardens for a while. It was not a nice as the disappearing hostel manager told us, so I was incredibly underdressed for the morning, but our goal was to avoid the sketchy hostel as much as possible, so we suffered the low temperatures & wind.
We eventually made our way across the street to Kilkenny Castle. Took lots of pics of the outside and the HUMONGOUS lawn-turned-park and decided to fork out the couple euros for a tour. What a great decision! The tour guide was phenomenal – we learned all about the history of the castle, it’s owners, how the styles of the time affected the changes of its design… Ky & I were both very impressed. We also found out that Butler House & Gardens, as well as the crafts & artisans’ shops had once been parts of the original castle property (the shops = the stables). We also learned that mid-20th century, the last Duke of Ormonde sold the ruins of the castle to Ireland for 50 british pounds – pretty nice, eh?
Lunchtime was spent in this fancy 2-wineglass-setting Chinese restaurant with me and my crazy hair wearing plaid boys’ shorts and an “I HEART MOM” t-shirt. Talk about embarrassing! The one server couldn’t stop laughing to himself! UGH. Oh well! I’m sure Ky can tell the story much better that I can! ☺
Our afternoon was spent sitting in the Castle park people watching and taking pictures… a pretty-near-perfect day!
The day finished after a really nice conversation with 2 new germans in our hostel by sleeping in a taco-bed. It kinda reminded me of the days in NB camp when the original 1948 mattresses were still in style… ahh… the memories… and the backaches! Haha.
We were out in the town before all the stores opened and just wandered around watching the city wake up. It was such a nice experience!
Kilkenny is a totally different world from Dublin. The streets are ALL cobblestoned and there are Abbeys, Cathedrals or Castles everywhere you turn… we attempted to take a bus out to Dunmore caves, but that never happened. Instead, our morning took us into an area filled with local crafts and artisans’ shops. We wandered around there for a while and found Butler House & Gardens behind it, so we wandered around the gardens for a while. It was not a nice as the disappearing hostel manager told us, so I was incredibly underdressed for the morning, but our goal was to avoid the sketchy hostel as much as possible, so we suffered the low temperatures & wind.
We eventually made our way across the street to Kilkenny Castle. Took lots of pics of the outside and the HUMONGOUS lawn-turned-park and decided to fork out the couple euros for a tour. What a great decision! The tour guide was phenomenal – we learned all about the history of the castle, it’s owners, how the styles of the time affected the changes of its design… Ky & I were both very impressed. We also found out that Butler House & Gardens, as well as the crafts & artisans’ shops had once been parts of the original castle property (the shops = the stables). We also learned that mid-20th century, the last Duke of Ormonde sold the ruins of the castle to Ireland for 50 british pounds – pretty nice, eh?
Lunchtime was spent in this fancy 2-wineglass-setting Chinese restaurant with me and my crazy hair wearing plaid boys’ shorts and an “I HEART MOM” t-shirt. Talk about embarrassing! The one server couldn’t stop laughing to himself! UGH. Oh well! I’m sure Ky can tell the story much better that I can! ☺
Our afternoon was spent sitting in the Castle park people watching and taking pictures… a pretty-near-perfect day!
The day finished after a really nice conversation with 2 new germans in our hostel by sleeping in a taco-bed. It kinda reminded me of the days in NB camp when the original 1948 mattresses were still in style… ahh… the memories… and the backaches! Haha.
The day the whining began:
Last morning in Dublin – all traveling. Woke up at 7:30 to catch the 9am bus only to find out that the bus luggage compartment would not open, so we were delayed. Not by much, but if I am going to have a whiney day, I may as well be consistent, right?
So got on the road to Kilkenny at 9:20am and slept most of the way. Our directions to the hostel from the bus station began “see O’Gorman’s pub. Follow road until Greensbridge.” What? Which road do we follow? And as we worriedly wandered a potential road, we did find a bridge – without a sign! Sigh Ky trusted me (for some unknown reason) and everything did work out!! We were on the correct road – mostly because I’m a good guesser? ☺
We were supposed to check-in at 11am, but were late (obviously) – but the website had said checki-in from 11a-1p and 5-11p, so I figured we were okay. WRONG. The website lied. No one was around to help us check-in, but another guest let us leave our luggage in the bathroom. lol! Then we began our 5.5 hr wanderfest of Kilkenny, Ireland:
The first place we came across (by randomly following people who looked like tourists) was St Canice’s cathedral. The cemetery was beautiful and it had a HUGE round tower. We paid a couple euros to climb the tower… now I am okay with climbing (heights don’t usually scare me), but this was unbelievably tight! Ky encouraged me to confront my fears… keep in mind that this tower barely fit two people within it’s diameter & it had a winding staircase that narrowed it further and it was at least 5 stories tall! I made it to the very last staircase, which was not winding, but was the original stone staircase built by monks centuries ago for people with size 5 feet and teeny little bodies. I absolutely froze! It took me a good 5 mins to gather the courage to make it those last 8 steps, but Ky is a great friend and coaxed me.
What a sight! The wind was so wild that several of my moments at the top were spent on my knees grasping at the safety fence… and I had to take some of my pics with my eyes closed (please don’t expect the pics to do the views justice)… but it was an experience totally worth the 2 euros! ☺
Spent the next 3-4 hrs wandering a new city. Kilkenny is MUCH smaller than Dublin, Praise the Lord! I was suffocating in Dublin. We were hungry and found a tourist map that showed a mall, but I kept getting us lost, so I finally sucked it up and asked some 14 yr old kid for directions. He and his cousin (from England) walked with us right up to the entrance and we all talked like we’d known each other forever – I love Irish folk!
When I packed, Angela had mentioned that the top-loading backpack I borrowed from her might be annoying, and I figure what is a whiny blog without complaining about the luggage, right? It was so annoying that I sucked it up and bought a rolling suitcase (on sale) on day FIVE of our travels! Sigh I am such a baby!
We enjoyed the beautiful non-rainy weather & to continue in the theme of complaining – since we were unable to check-in earlier, we were still wearing the jeans and jackets we’d worn in cold, rainy Dublin that morning! Will it never end??? ☺
Here is when I posted my one pic for 2 euros while trying to waste time before check-in….
Bright moment: I found a wonderful store called Dunne’s Stores that will more than likely supply my Wal-mart fixes while in Limerick – I got flipflops for 50cents! Woot!
FINALLY checked-in. Into a hostel that fit 6 beds into a room that should have maxed out at 4 with 2 sleeping germans, that only had hot water from 7pm-10am, whose manager-dude disappeared as soon as he had our money… and the whining is complete!
It was at this moment that I met “Danielle-uh” (okay – that was phonetically spelled): this really cute Italian. We had a nice chat about Ireland and what we’d noticed so far and the next morning, he said that he hoped we’d see each other again in our travels! (but no information was exchanged, so DOUBTFUL! Oops!)
So got on the road to Kilkenny at 9:20am and slept most of the way. Our directions to the hostel from the bus station began “see O’Gorman’s pub. Follow road until Greensbridge.” What? Which road do we follow? And as we worriedly wandered a potential road, we did find a bridge – without a sign! Sigh Ky trusted me (for some unknown reason) and everything did work out!! We were on the correct road – mostly because I’m a good guesser? ☺
We were supposed to check-in at 11am, but were late (obviously) – but the website had said checki-in from 11a-1p and 5-11p, so I figured we were okay. WRONG. The website lied. No one was around to help us check-in, but another guest let us leave our luggage in the bathroom. lol! Then we began our 5.5 hr wanderfest of Kilkenny, Ireland:
The first place we came across (by randomly following people who looked like tourists) was St Canice’s cathedral. The cemetery was beautiful and it had a HUGE round tower. We paid a couple euros to climb the tower… now I am okay with climbing (heights don’t usually scare me), but this was unbelievably tight! Ky encouraged me to confront my fears… keep in mind that this tower barely fit two people within it’s diameter & it had a winding staircase that narrowed it further and it was at least 5 stories tall! I made it to the very last staircase, which was not winding, but was the original stone staircase built by monks centuries ago for people with size 5 feet and teeny little bodies. I absolutely froze! It took me a good 5 mins to gather the courage to make it those last 8 steps, but Ky is a great friend and coaxed me.
What a sight! The wind was so wild that several of my moments at the top were spent on my knees grasping at the safety fence… and I had to take some of my pics with my eyes closed (please don’t expect the pics to do the views justice)… but it was an experience totally worth the 2 euros! ☺
Spent the next 3-4 hrs wandering a new city. Kilkenny is MUCH smaller than Dublin, Praise the Lord! I was suffocating in Dublin. We were hungry and found a tourist map that showed a mall, but I kept getting us lost, so I finally sucked it up and asked some 14 yr old kid for directions. He and his cousin (from England) walked with us right up to the entrance and we all talked like we’d known each other forever – I love Irish folk!
When I packed, Angela had mentioned that the top-loading backpack I borrowed from her might be annoying, and I figure what is a whiny blog without complaining about the luggage, right? It was so annoying that I sucked it up and bought a rolling suitcase (on sale) on day FIVE of our travels! Sigh I am such a baby!
We enjoyed the beautiful non-rainy weather & to continue in the theme of complaining – since we were unable to check-in earlier, we were still wearing the jeans and jackets we’d worn in cold, rainy Dublin that morning! Will it never end??? ☺
Here is when I posted my one pic for 2 euros while trying to waste time before check-in….
Bright moment: I found a wonderful store called Dunne’s Stores that will more than likely supply my Wal-mart fixes while in Limerick – I got flipflops for 50cents! Woot!
FINALLY checked-in. Into a hostel that fit 6 beds into a room that should have maxed out at 4 with 2 sleeping germans, that only had hot water from 7pm-10am, whose manager-dude disappeared as soon as he had our money… and the whining is complete!
It was at this moment that I met “Danielle-uh” (okay – that was phonetically spelled): this really cute Italian. We had a nice chat about Ireland and what we’d noticed so far and the next morning, he said that he hoped we’d see each other again in our travels! (but no information was exchanged, so DOUBTFUL! Oops!)
20 August 2007
19 August 2007
Anybody want a postcard?
DAY 4:
I do apologize for such a horribly long 3 posts at once… and it’s only been a day and a half! Oops!
Today was pretty relaxing by the readers’ standards.
Ky and I didn’t have time to go to the National Gallery on the tour yesterday, so we decided to get up and catch the 1st bus out on our 24 hr ticket. The problem was that we’d be on the tour for over an hour before we got there. The bus runs for 23 stops and then starts over and buses run every 10 mins. So we figured, “our ticket doesn’t run out until 11am, so if we catch the bus at stop 13 (closest to our hostel) and ride until stop 5 (the gallery), we’ll be fine.” But no… not the case…
When you cycle back around to stop 1, you have to change buses! Oops! Ky and I both realized it in the same second at about stop 21. LOL! So we got off at stop 1 and walked to the gallery from there.
The National Gallery was phenomenal! We were there for over 4 hrs. ☺ Such nerds, we know. There were 3 floors containing tens of thousands of paintings and sculptures from around the world. We saw every single one. YAY!
By the time we were done at the gallery, we wandered around the city for another couple hours taking pics and looking in shops. I have some postcards bought – but if I don’t have your mailing address, I can’t send you one!!! Please, please, please send me your mailing address (preferably in an email and not on a comment to this post…) and I promise that I will get a postcard in the mail to you at some point in the next couple weeks! ☺
Okay! I think that is all for this evening… last night in this hostel! We get up at 7:30am and head to Kilkenny from here! For those of you with families from Cork, Hingstons are also from there (small world, eh?) and we already have a rental car reserved for special traveling around County Cork (after Kilkenny) – will take LOTS of pics, Kris, no worries!
Just a warning, this is the last post I make from the big city, so I can’t guarantee major interesting stories – but if there IS something story-worthy, you can bet I will be looking for it!
I do apologize for such a horribly long 3 posts at once… and it’s only been a day and a half! Oops!
Today was pretty relaxing by the readers’ standards.
Ky and I didn’t have time to go to the National Gallery on the tour yesterday, so we decided to get up and catch the 1st bus out on our 24 hr ticket. The problem was that we’d be on the tour for over an hour before we got there. The bus runs for 23 stops and then starts over and buses run every 10 mins. So we figured, “our ticket doesn’t run out until 11am, so if we catch the bus at stop 13 (closest to our hostel) and ride until stop 5 (the gallery), we’ll be fine.” But no… not the case…
When you cycle back around to stop 1, you have to change buses! Oops! Ky and I both realized it in the same second at about stop 21. LOL! So we got off at stop 1 and walked to the gallery from there.
The National Gallery was phenomenal! We were there for over 4 hrs. ☺ Such nerds, we know. There were 3 floors containing tens of thousands of paintings and sculptures from around the world. We saw every single one. YAY!
By the time we were done at the gallery, we wandered around the city for another couple hours taking pics and looking in shops. I have some postcards bought – but if I don’t have your mailing address, I can’t send you one!!! Please, please, please send me your mailing address (preferably in an email and not on a comment to this post…) and I promise that I will get a postcard in the mail to you at some point in the next couple weeks! ☺
Okay! I think that is all for this evening… last night in this hostel! We get up at 7:30am and head to Kilkenny from here! For those of you with families from Cork, Hingstons are also from there (small world, eh?) and we already have a rental car reserved for special traveling around County Cork (after Kilkenny) – will take LOTS of pics, Kris, no worries!
Just a warning, this is the last post I make from the big city, so I can’t guarantee major interesting stories – but if there IS something story-worthy, you can bet I will be looking for it!
Bono, Guiness, Yeats, Pearse and... Phil Collins?
DAY 3
Yesterday was full, but most of it was spent touring around, so I will put that in list form as well. Feel free to ask questions about anything in here and I will try my best to reply quickly!
Our tour was a “hop on hop off” 24 ticket around the city. We saw:
- Christchurch: one of 2 huge cathedrals in the city (this one was built originally
within the city walls) and it is actually built on both sides of a street with an arch
over the road.
- St. Patrick’s Cathedral: the other cathedral (originally outside the city limits)
- Irish Writer’s Museum: apparently all Irish writers are/were controversial & got
censored; maybe you can’t be good without a censor or two?
- GPO (General Post Office): where the Easter Uprising of 1916 was let by Patrick
Pearse
- Trinity College: which was a bust because the charged $$ to see the book of Kells
and I refused… sigh
Other things we learned on this tour include:
- “craic” = “fun”
- a cop is called a “garda”
- more than one cop = “gardai”
- a female cop was called “ban garda” (‘ban’ = woman) until the feminist movement
removed the word “ban” because (according to the tour guide), the female cops
didn’t want to be seen as women – hah!
- which hotel Bono owns and where U2 stays when they visit
- that the Guinness founder and his wife had 21 kids
- that there is a St named Vincent de Paul ☺
Keep in mind that the entire day was distorted by having a Phil Collins song running over & over in my head! SO wrong.
LATER THAT DAY:
Ky & I met Dana again and she brought her friend from college, Laura, with her. We all went to a pub for supper (my creepy bone issue nearly caused a scene, but Dana is AWESOME and cut the meat off the bone for me – how cool is that??? – I’ll know to ask next time) and then we went to the Abbey theatre. This theatre was founded by W B Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory (things I learned in the Writers’ Museum) and we watched a play called “The Big House” about an English family whose kids were born & raised in Ireland and have a bit of an identity crisis because they are accepted by neither the Irish nor the English. I laughed; I cried. Very moving! Caucasian Chalk Circle plays next month – I don’t know if I will get here for that or not, but I sure hope so!
Yesterday was full, but most of it was spent touring around, so I will put that in list form as well. Feel free to ask questions about anything in here and I will try my best to reply quickly!
Our tour was a “hop on hop off” 24 ticket around the city. We saw:
- Christchurch: one of 2 huge cathedrals in the city (this one was built originally
within the city walls) and it is actually built on both sides of a street with an arch
over the road.
- St. Patrick’s Cathedral: the other cathedral (originally outside the city limits)
- Irish Writer’s Museum: apparently all Irish writers are/were controversial & got
censored; maybe you can’t be good without a censor or two?
- GPO (General Post Office): where the Easter Uprising of 1916 was let by Patrick
Pearse
- Trinity College: which was a bust because the charged $$ to see the book of Kells
and I refused… sigh
Other things we learned on this tour include:
- “craic” = “fun”
- a cop is called a “garda”
- more than one cop = “gardai”
- a female cop was called “ban garda” (‘ban’ = woman) until the feminist movement
removed the word “ban” because (according to the tour guide), the female cops
didn’t want to be seen as women – hah!
- which hotel Bono owns and where U2 stays when they visit
- that the Guinness founder and his wife had 21 kids
- that there is a St named Vincent de Paul ☺
Keep in mind that the entire day was distorted by having a Phil Collins song running over & over in my head! SO wrong.
LATER THAT DAY:
Ky & I met Dana again and she brought her friend from college, Laura, with her. We all went to a pub for supper (my creepy bone issue nearly caused a scene, but Dana is AWESOME and cut the meat off the bone for me – how cool is that??? – I’ll know to ask next time) and then we went to the Abbey theatre. This theatre was founded by W B Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory (things I learned in the Writers’ Museum) and we watched a play called “The Big House” about an English family whose kids were born & raised in Ireland and have a bit of an identity crisis because they are accepted by neither the Irish nor the English. I laughed; I cried. Very moving! Caucasian Chalk Circle plays next month – I don’t know if I will get here for that or not, but I sure hope so!
"eh?"
[NOTE: this post will be broken into 3 pieces to make all the words easier to swallow... take your time!]
So, I will start off by saying, "I am a big nerd." I have entitled this post "eh" in memory of my wonderful Canadian adventures and to provide a segue into the wonderful world of spelling/pronouncing in Ireland. I have learned 3 ways to spell "eh" here: "aa" as in a town called "Naas," "ea" like "Steacy Ford" (for you fellow NB people) and "ai" with an accent ague over the 'a' as in "failte" - this is the nerd in me. Continue reading for less intellectual fun! :)
I have began listing my memories in a journal so that I don't forget things during the hosteling portion of the trip, so here are some highlights of the last 2.5 days:
While busing to Limerick, Ky & I encountered a group of psycho drug-dealing foul-mouthed boys. I had pretty much decided that Irish boys can be categorized into 2 major categories: gorgeous and serial-killer when Ky comments about how terrible that experience was. They were actually making a drug deal on the bus as we rode into Limerick. Sigh At one point in the day, Ky pulled a “wouldn’t it be crazy if…” on me and brought up the possibility of us being on the same bus as those guys on the way back – and SURE ENOUGH! I mean, the buses run every hour and we left at a relatively odd hour (3:30pm)… I decided that Ky should start a fortune-telling business with the slogan, “Come see me for all the negative options in your future” haha!
Other minor experiences during that bus ride included MUCH rain (insert sarcastic “yay!” here), actually enjoying a cab ride that didn’t involve an intense desire to call 911 for fear of being kidnapped/stabbed/mugged, really being excited to see farms once we were outside of the city (Dublin has over a million people), struggling with learning the rule of the road over here (any ideas?? Ev?), learning how to tell tourists from Dubliners and noticing a few fields with randomly spray-painted sheep. ☺
So, I will start off by saying, "I am a big nerd." I have entitled this post "eh" in memory of my wonderful Canadian adventures and to provide a segue into the wonderful world of spelling/pronouncing in Ireland. I have learned 3 ways to spell "eh" here: "aa" as in a town called "Naas," "ea" like "Steacy Ford" (for you fellow NB people) and "ai" with an accent ague over the 'a' as in "failte" - this is the nerd in me. Continue reading for less intellectual fun! :)
I have began listing my memories in a journal so that I don't forget things during the hosteling portion of the trip, so here are some highlights of the last 2.5 days:
While busing to Limerick, Ky & I encountered a group of psycho drug-dealing foul-mouthed boys. I had pretty much decided that Irish boys can be categorized into 2 major categories: gorgeous and serial-killer when Ky comments about how terrible that experience was. They were actually making a drug deal on the bus as we rode into Limerick. Sigh At one point in the day, Ky pulled a “wouldn’t it be crazy if…” on me and brought up the possibility of us being on the same bus as those guys on the way back – and SURE ENOUGH! I mean, the buses run every hour and we left at a relatively odd hour (3:30pm)… I decided that Ky should start a fortune-telling business with the slogan, “Come see me for all the negative options in your future” haha!
Other minor experiences during that bus ride included MUCH rain (insert sarcastic “yay!” here), actually enjoying a cab ride that didn’t involve an intense desire to call 911 for fear of being kidnapped/stabbed/mugged, really being excited to see farms once we were outside of the city (Dublin has over a million people), struggling with learning the rule of the road over here (any ideas?? Ev?), learning how to tell tourists from Dubliners and noticing a few fields with randomly spray-painted sheep. ☺
17 August 2007
Failte - welcome!
Hello all,
Per several requests, I have decided to blog my experiences here on the Emerald Isle. Tonight will be highlights (mostly because I am still jet-lagged and am only capable of thinking in short phrases...):
Flights = really nice! Stupid movies on the cross-atlantic portion, but I can't really complain. I sat next to a cute Newfie who asked me if you spell "retired" returd. I was very entertained by her!
Arrived in Dublin at 9:15am.
The next 2-3 hrs were spent in a state of frenzy/hysterical moments as Ky & I tried - and I stress TRIED - to get my luggage for University taken care of so that we could hostel in peace. This procedure involved a really cute irishman at the tourism counter (I actually DID make it out of the airport without passing out from hearing wonderful accents on beautiful guys!), another cute irishman who worked with the busline (apparently as long as I didn't have a surfboard in my box, it was safe...haha), a great bus driver who joked about charging me 50 euro/box to transport (obviously I believed him... *sigh*) and a really cute tourist who helped Ky & I cart my 55lb box of clothing/shoes/medicines/blankets onto the bus. Everyone was in such good spirits!
When we got to the bus station to find the locker that I planned to use for storage overnight, Ky & I had to stop every other step while we struggled to carry 3 pieces of luggage, 1 box, 2 backpacks & 2 purses across the terminal. We must have been pretty scary because the next 2 cute guys in my saga were seated in a bench as we walked by and they bobbed up & down about 50 times trying to decide whether to jump up and help us -- their indecision added to our humour of the situation... and they never made it to the actual "standing up" position.
After dropping the box down 2 flights of stairs (because I really am WEAK) and scaring 3 older employees out of their mind, I managed to (with the help of 3 people) get everything stored away. :)
Later yesterday included:
Wandering around Temple Bar district, meeting Dana Reed for supper, taking pictures (which will have to be posted after I start school because my camera cord is packed), being molested/propositioned by an old man from west Cork who offered to buy us all drinks, meeting a Canadian girl & 2 Dutch boys in our hostel room, napping and eventually CRASHING.
The people in our room were soooo nice and quiet when they came in! But I think KY & I were spoiled, because we've changed rooms tonight and there will be 14 other people in the room with us.... oops!
-------------------
This morning & today was spent getting up at 6:15am to bus to Limerick and transport my stuff to my dorm! We got to see a room similar to the one I'll be in and both Ky & I were impressed :) It's quite new and the sleeping area is completely separated from the living area - and there's a balcony! woot! OH! And the fridge is camouflaged into the cabinetry - too fun!
The rest of today was 9 hrs of busing across the Island, grocery shopping and eating.
OK.
I think that's all! Ky is about to review and make sure I got my facts straight and then I will post straightaway :)
Expect regular updates on here (now that I have set it up) for the duration of my stay here in Ireland ~
Per several requests, I have decided to blog my experiences here on the Emerald Isle. Tonight will be highlights (mostly because I am still jet-lagged and am only capable of thinking in short phrases...):
Flights = really nice! Stupid movies on the cross-atlantic portion, but I can't really complain. I sat next to a cute Newfie who asked me if you spell "retired" returd. I was very entertained by her!
Arrived in Dublin at 9:15am.
The next 2-3 hrs were spent in a state of frenzy/hysterical moments as Ky & I tried - and I stress TRIED - to get my luggage for University taken care of so that we could hostel in peace. This procedure involved a really cute irishman at the tourism counter (I actually DID make it out of the airport without passing out from hearing wonderful accents on beautiful guys!), another cute irishman who worked with the busline (apparently as long as I didn't have a surfboard in my box, it was safe...haha), a great bus driver who joked about charging me 50 euro/box to transport (obviously I believed him... *sigh*) and a really cute tourist who helped Ky & I cart my 55lb box of clothing/shoes/medicines/blankets onto the bus. Everyone was in such good spirits!
When we got to the bus station to find the locker that I planned to use for storage overnight, Ky & I had to stop every other step while we struggled to carry 3 pieces of luggage, 1 box, 2 backpacks & 2 purses across the terminal. We must have been pretty scary because the next 2 cute guys in my saga were seated in a bench as we walked by and they bobbed up & down about 50 times trying to decide whether to jump up and help us -- their indecision added to our humour of the situation... and they never made it to the actual "standing up" position.
After dropping the box down 2 flights of stairs (because I really am WEAK) and scaring 3 older employees out of their mind, I managed to (with the help of 3 people) get everything stored away. :)
Later yesterday included:
Wandering around Temple Bar district, meeting Dana Reed for supper, taking pictures (which will have to be posted after I start school because my camera cord is packed), being molested/propositioned by an old man from west Cork who offered to buy us all drinks, meeting a Canadian girl & 2 Dutch boys in our hostel room, napping and eventually CRASHING.
The people in our room were soooo nice and quiet when they came in! But I think KY & I were spoiled, because we've changed rooms tonight and there will be 14 other people in the room with us.... oops!
-------------------
This morning & today was spent getting up at 6:15am to bus to Limerick and transport my stuff to my dorm! We got to see a room similar to the one I'll be in and both Ky & I were impressed :) It's quite new and the sleeping area is completely separated from the living area - and there's a balcony! woot! OH! And the fridge is camouflaged into the cabinetry - too fun!
The rest of today was 9 hrs of busing across the Island, grocery shopping and eating.
OK.
I think that's all! Ky is about to review and make sure I got my facts straight and then I will post straightaway :)
Expect regular updates on here (now that I have set it up) for the duration of my stay here in Ireland ~
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