More Ireland--Kilkenny and the Rest

We left Dublin Easter Sunday, after going to mass at the church next to our hostel. The mass was an interesting experience because Tanya and I lowered the average age of the attendee about 30 years, and it was more like a funeral service than an Easter service. We didn't even sing! Tanya and I were both like, "He's risen! Hallelujer! Did you miss the memo?!" It was kind of funny in a sad, sad way.

So we bid farewell to Dublin, and headed off to Kilkenny with Shannon, our GPS, and Judy Rose, our car. Driving to Kilkenny was our first real glimpse of the Irish countryside and it did not disappoint. The further south we went, the greener it got. It was magical.

We arrived in Kilkenny after a few stops along the way to frolic, probably illegally, in people's greenery and taking every tiny, off the map road our GPS wanted us to take. Shannon was a little bit... special. We got to our B & B, Berkley House, and I ran in to ask about parking. Once we parked and checked in, we asked the very nice lady at the desk about a place to eat and how far away the Rock of Cashel, our reason for visiting Kilkenny, was. She gave us directions in relation to the castle. "What castle?" both Tanya and I replied.

"The huge castle you saw on the way into town," she said.

We looked at her, puzzled, until we went outside and saw this:

The huge castle that we did, in fact, miss on the way into town. Our only excuse is that we were very focused on trying to park at the time.

Our first order of business was to eat, and we chose a place recommended by Rick Steves' guide, Kyteler's Inn. It was also recommended by the lady at the desk. This place was built in 1324, and was an inn at that time. Now it's a restaurant and pub. The history of the place is pretty cool, because the woman who owned it was accused of being a witch. There's a lovely homage to her on the second floor, complete with ugly, hairy moles and a cauldron.


And because I love irony, this was in the bathroom. Twenty-first century vanity and tools, chillin' in a 12th century building's bathroom.

After lunch, we went to the Rock of Cashel, which is, well, a rock that rises above the ground as like, a hill. The Rock has been used by several different entities, royalty to begin with, and then the king gave it to the church because he didn't want it to pass from his hands.

On the cite, there are buldings from the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 15th centuries. Pretty amazing. There's also St. Peter's Cross, which, legend has it, if you can wrap your arms around you'll never get a toothache again. Legend also has it that if you hop around it three times on one foot, you'll be married within the year. I tried to hug it (well, a replica, not the actual one) and was unsuccessful. I didn't want to try the hopping...


Later that night we went back to Kytler's for dinner and walked a bit around Kilkenny. The next morning, we had a full Irish breakfast, complete with black pudding, which is made of, well, blood. I kind of liked it and even ate Tanya's portion. I didn't REALLY know what it was as I was eating it, but I knew it had blood in it. Anyway, it was a new experience so that was cool.

Next on our agenda was seeing the Cliffs of Moher and spending the night in Doolin. The day started off okay, and as we drove through the countryside, we were inspired to stop and take pictures.

But by the time we made it to the Cliffs of Moher... the weather was another story. It was probably 45 or so degrees and raining pretty hard, plus there were literally gale-force winds blowing. It was... unpleasant. But... the Cliffs were still beautiful and totally worth being soaked and freezing. Observe...

In this one, you can get a picture of the weather we were dealing with. Fun times.

After our wet trip, we checked into our room for the night, another B & B, and it was really a cute place. The lady who ran it was so nice, and upgrading from hostel to B & B was the right choice--our room was huge and totally brought Tanya and I peace. We took all our wet stuff off to dry, hoping it would be by the time we had to pack up and leave the next day.

Doolin itself is a very cute little "town"--but it's really more of a long, sprawling, little community of houses and businesses than a "town." I'm pretty much in love with it, and it's also really known for traditional music, which we got a taste of that evening. We went to a place called McGann's, THE place for traditional music in Doolin, and heard some great tunes and had a nice meal. I ate the Irish stew and it was probably the best meal I had in Ireland (the food's not amazing there, be warned.). I also saw an amazingly beautiful boy that I fell madly in love with. I'm sure that even though we didn't talk, he felt it too. :)

After our dinner, we met this lovely couple from New York (or New Jersey) who told us about another place where the music was rockin', and so we headed there. The coolest thing about the second place, was that there was this whole circle of musicians just jamming, and two of them were kids. I think it's great that there's a desire to keep up traditions in the younger generation. As we were leaving the second place, an old Irish man put on my hat. He was awesome.

After our breakfast the next morning, we did an unplanned drive through a region known as The Burren, which is basically just scenery. On one side of the road is rocks and blue, blue, ocean, and on the other are these limestone mountains. It's extremely dynamic and fascinating and beautiful.

This is me on some rocks...notice the footwear. I couldn't wear my sneakers because they were still wet from the Cliffs of Moher.

This is the ocean side.
The land side.After our beautiful drive, we boarded the ferry across the Shannon to save us about 80 km of driving. On the ferry, I met three people from Lansing--one lady even knew the zip code of Holt. What a small world indeed.

I snapped a picture during the crossing because it was so pretty.

Once we got to the Dingle peninsula (yes, it's called "Dingle" lol), we checked into our hostel and set about exploring the area. It's a really cool little place--touristy but not kitschy. It's a Gaelic-speaking region as well, which is awesome, and it's another place known for its traditional music. Our first night there was just relaxing and heading to the pub to recover from driving all day. We went to a place called An Droighead Beag (Don't ask me how to say it!) both of our nights in Dingle. It was a great place and both of the bartenders we met were awesome. There was Bob the first night, a Scottish guy, and Michael the second night, a 20 year old Ginger. We also met a lovely couple from Seattle who taught Tanya and I the magic of a drink called hot whiskey. It's like tea... but with alcohol. Great for those cold nights... like EVERY night we were in Ireland! It was a great pub, and the Guinness there was magical.

Our main purpose in Dingle was to do the Slea Head drive, which is a scenic drive. It's basically the same type of scenery as the Ring of Kerry, but less of it and better night life, which is why we chose it. So our first full day in Dingle, we took the Slea Head drive and it was spectacular.

Along the path there are various stops you can make, and the first one was at the beehive huts. The beehive huts are these, well, huts built only of stones piled on top of each other. Nothing holds them together--no tar or mortar or anything like that. And they've stood the test of time for hundreds of years--I think they go back to, like, the year 800 or something like that. Pretty amazing!

The panoramic feature on my camera was key on this drive, and I took one panoramic after another. This one might be my favorite. OUT of control beautiful, and the trek down there yielded some nice pictures too. Tanya and I dubbed it, THE picture spot.

Our first night at the pub we found out that there was a Celtic music festival in town, and so there were all sorts of events happening all over town. This was a traditional music session we went to, where the musicians just showed up with their instruments and... played. The guy playing the bones is my favorite. He came and talked with us a little bit after, and he was super sweet and I'm obsessed with him. Any man whose had matches his coat and who plays the bones is okay by me!

Our second night at An Droighead Beag, we talked most of the night to the bartender who gave us quite a lot of information. We talked about "The Troubles," Gaelic football, the potato famine, all sorts of stuff. He seemed pretty intelligent for a 20 year old kid, and he told us that we should drive the Conor Pass on our way back to Dublin, and that ON the Pass, there was a little turn off and a waterfall that was worth climbing.

The Conor Pass was just brilliant and beautiful. There were shadows on the mountains and the day was crystal clear and perfect. It was a great way to bid farewell to western Ireland. I mean, look at this...


OUT of control. And the little turn off and waterfall Michael told us about? Yeah, we found it. And we climbed it. And I took that picture from there. Here I am, after a bit of a climb.

The rest of the day was spent with Judy Rose, Shannon our GPS, and Lady Gaga and Beyonce on the radio because we drove back to Dublin. We stayed near the airport in an effort to ease ourselves back into American life.

I can tell you what--the power of prayer got us back to Atlanta first class. I sat next to an Irish guy who was "in the pub" business and found out why American Guinness is not as delicious (unclean taps, different system to deliver the beer, glasses at the wrong temperature). He has a pub in Colorado that has real Guinness, so next time I'm in Denver I'm looking it up. The power of prayer also got us back to Miami from Atlanta, because if we hadn't made the plane we did (which was by the skin of our teeth), we would've had to spend the night in ATL. Thank God, literally.

Ireland was the trip of a life time--a dream come true for me. Every moment of it was just beautiful, and it was so perfect. I have to go back to Doolin soon and actually talk to my husband. :) I highly recommend taking a trip there, and to the rest of Ireland, soon.

If you want to see more pictures, I have two albums on Facebook. The first is here and the second, here.

Much love.

A Song for Ireland: Dublin Days

Wow, this is post 201 in this blog. It seems fitting that it's about Ireland.

The word that comes to mind when I think about my trip is "amazing" but that word is so cheap nowadays. Everything is "amazing." I'm no exception--that word is WAY too big a part of my day to day speech. Perhaps "awesome" is better, but it raises the same issue. Awesome the way it's meant to be--something that makes one feel in awe, in admiration, in love, is awesome. That's what Ireland was.

We left on Wednesday and were flying standby. We missed the first connecting flight to Atlanta, but an Easter miracle (one of many travel-related miracles on our trip) we made it on the second flight. Once we got to Atlanta, it was easy sailing all the way to Dublin. And I mean easy sailing--we got seats in first class, which is now called, simply, Business class. It. Was. OUTstanding. They give you champagne when you sit down! They give you all the drinks you want--including alcoholic ones--for free! They put a napkin on your tray before they set down your meal, which you choose from a menu! The best part was the tiny little salt and pepper shakers they give you. I was kind of obsessed with them! I even took a picture it was so lovely:

Ahh, and a beautiful, if not that delicious, Bloody Mary, several of which helped me sleep most of the way to Dublin. I tell you what--it's THE way to travel.

So Tanya and I arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning-ish. We made it to our hostel and had "the longest check-in in the world" with my new BFF, J.P., the ADORABLE Irish guy working at the desk. He was hobbity and probably a little magical. We told him we were "nature and pub girls" to which he replied, "That's the best kind of girl!" He clearly loved us (too bad he's married) and he also helped us out with a map and the major sights of Dublin, plus he set up a Good Friday trip to Northern Ireland and the Giant's Causeway.

We arrived early enough to still see some things our first day, so we decided the Guinness brewery was a good place to start. We hoofed it there (it was a quest, let me tell you) and toured the brewery at St. James' Gate for a while. Here's us outside...

I learned quite a bit on the tour. Namely, Alec Guinness was so confident in his business endeavor that he signed a 9,000 year lease on the property. Also, hops is a lot lovelier than I thought it was (it's a flower) and it's that bitter flavor at the end of the beer. I also learned how to properly pour a pint of Guinness and that few places (none that I've found) pour it correctly. It should also be served at six degrees centigrade. These two factors combined make Irish Gunniess a magical, magical substance that brings joy to my heart. I don't like Guinness here but over there? It hits the spot, let me tell you.

The coolest bit of information I gained was about the origin of the Book of World Records, which IS the same Guinness. Apparently, one night in a pub some guys were arguing about which animal was the fastest animal on land (or something to that effect) and so they were inspired to not only find out, but to create a reference manual with all sorts of information of that type. Thus, The Guinness Book of World Records was born.

At the brewery, you can head up to the roof and get a good look at all of Dublin, which is kind of cheesy but appeals to me in every city I'm in. So we climbed up after our pint and looked at Dublin, sprawled out before us. It looked something like this:

That was the major story of Day One. Day Two of the trip we headed to Northern Ireland to see Belfast, Giant's Causeway, and Derry. Tanya had been to the Causeway before and really wanted to see it again, and neither of us had been to Derry. It was kind of perfect that we did it on our first full day in Ireland, because the long bus ride allowed us to sleep off our jet lag for most of the day.

We got up eeeeearly and went to another hostel to pick up our bus, and then we headed to the Carrik-a-Rede rope bridge which I have yet to figure out the importance or significance of. Tanya and I ended up not actually seeing it because we stopped in the shop to buy a bit of food since we hadn't had breakfast. We did manage to get in a lovely scenic walk, though, and this was one of the stops on the way.

The walk was a lovely one along the water and we heard a few tales about the place as we wandered. This next picture is of "Sheep Island" where a farmer once decided to keep 500 sheep. Six months later, that 500 sheep had dwindled down to a mere ten... Sheep are not smart, and apparently, neither was this particular farmer.

Our next stop was Giant's Causeway, named after Fill McCool, the giant who, well, caused the causeway--at least, that's what legend says. Whatever you believe, the Giant's Causeway is absolutely beautiful. The pictures, like so many others I took, don't even scratch the surface of how amazingly beautiful this place really is. It's truly just magical.

We had lunch at the causeway (steak and Guinness pie, yum!) and then headed to Derry, a major site of "the troubles" as they are called. We took the historic tour, given by a guy our age or a little older who had been born and raised in Derry. The tour was fascinating and eye-opening. The tour guide said something on our tour that really just blew me away; he said, "A life of war is just as hard to live as a life of peace." And this was coming from a man who'd known war for the first eighteen years of his life. That moment stopped me in my tracks. I'd never thought about it before in that way, but this man had been in war, AT war, for the formative years of his life. I can't even imagine it...

The scenery in Derry was pretty intense too. There were murals on some of the buildings, speaking to the tradition of telling the town what was going on through pictures rather than the British-controlled media. This is the wall erected when a part of Derry, the Catholic part, decided they were free. It still stands proudly.

Derry was a complete learning experience for both Tanya and I, and it was sort of appropriate that we were there together--Catholic and Protestant--on Good Friday.

We got back pretty late from the trip and stopped at McDonald's because I was on a mission to find the single greatest food-like item on the earth: the Cadberry Egg McFlurry. Let me tell you, folks: it does exist, and it's just as glorious and you would imagine it to be. Dreams do come true.

The next day we explored Dublin and saw more of the sights there. Our first stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was beautiful from the outside:

And slightly heathen on the inside. There were leprechaun shot glasses for sale inside... which was so weird. But, Jonathan Swift was also buried in there, so that was cool to see, and there were some beautiful crosses inside as well, so it wasn't a completely pagan experience.

Next we headed to Grafton Street via St. Stephen's Green, a lovely little park. Although it was cold, the daffodils were in bloom (still don't know how!) and the park was lovely.

Then we headed to Grafton Street for a little walk up and down (it's a famous shopping street, I guess) and ate lunch at a place called The Duke, where James Joyce and my boy Oscar Wilde used to hang out back in the day. The food was kind of ew but the place was cool, and outside there was this older man wearing a TON of makeup (I'm not lying) who was drunk and encouraged us to come in. How could we resist?

That evening, we went to the Temple Bar district (yeah, it's what it sounds like) and went to a place called The Porter House, where I fell in love with this guy:

Let's just say he played a mean tin whistle and an even meaner set of elbow pipes, and when he sang this Irish folk song acapella, I basically melted. He was amazing. And in the back corner of the bar, we met this group of guys who turned out to be drunk and possibly insane, but really, really nice and fun. And I had two chocolate beers. So it was a good night.

The next day, we went to Easter Sunday mass (which was more like a funeral mass) and hit the road in our car that we'd picked up from the airport the day before. She came to be known as Judy Rose, and she was a true Irish beauty.

So... more on the trip soon! Kilkenny to The Cliffs of Moher, perhaps?

Until then, much love.

Trip to Tampa!

I know, I know. You all want to hear about Ireland. But all things in due time. First, I want to talk about the Junior class trip to Busch Gardens. I arrived at school at 4:25 a.m. That's in the morning. I was AT SCHOOL at 4:25 in the cotton pickin' morning! I clearly made a bad choice by going! But we pretty much have to do that, so we can maximize park time. You see, Busch Gardens is in Tampa, which is anywhere from 4-5 hours away. It took us about 5 to get there, with one breakfast stop somewhere along the way.

We stopped for breakfast at a Chick-Fil-A/Burger King and I chose the Chick. It was my second Chick-Fil-A experience, and everyone raves about it, but I've never found it that impressive. Ahh well, fast food breakfast is fast food breakfast, and there was a biscuit involved, so it wasn't so bad.

We got to the park around 11 or so, and had until 6 to explore. I'd never been before, and it was free since I was a chaperon, so it was basically all good. When I first entered the park, I was greated by this guy, one of many, many topiary throughout the place.

Now, Busch Gardens has nothing on Disney as far as story is concerned--I didn't really "get" the park. The three roller coasters all had these weird names, and there were all sorts of motifs happening as far as landscaping. This is probably my favorite. :)

We didn't get to ride much because we had to eat lunch and check in with the kids. Eating lunch wasn't so bad, but the kids take forever to show up and we have to wait for all of them, and call the ones who don't show, and give detentions to the ones who are late. Plus, the group of teachers I was hanging with was a bit too large to be conducive to productive decision-making, so we wasted time just deciding what the heck to do. I rode two roller coasters, one called Montu and the other called SheiKra (which I secretly called "Shakira"). They were both pretty intense, but SheiKra was the "new" one and it has, basically, a 90 degree drop, at the top of which they let you sit for a few seconds to ponder your life and make yourself right with God. But it was super fun. I've only recently gotten back into riding roller coasters; I was scared of them for a long time. But now I realize they're actually kinda great. Even so, the anticipation of the fear is always the worst... As you can see!

It turned out to be beautiful weather as well, so that was a blessing. I had a great time, even though I was exhausted and leaving for Ireland the next day and my life was not my own for about four days. I wanted to go on the trip last year but couldn't for some reason so I'm glad I finally made it.

Here's me on my way out of the park, by one last topiary. There are tons of them!


Okay, so I've been admittedly horrible about updating both this blog and my pictures lately, but I just made an album on Facebook with pictures from January-March of this year. If you're not on Facebook, you can view it here.

I'll update about my amazing Ireland trip soon!

Much love.