Well...I seem to have gotten a week behind in this thing. I blame it on Ireland. Ireland being so amazing it has distracted me from my faithful blogging....sounds good right?Anyway...here's the update.
I was here a week ago and then I decided to head out to the vast world that is the country of Ireland...via Train and Ferry. The sad part is that in the amount of time I spent in said train and ferry plus an hour I could have been back in the states....almost. Anyway, it was a really cool way to see a lot of the country side. On my way to the train station I was walking behind a gentleman I can only refer to as 'Disco Stu' this man was straight out of the 1970s. He was wearing jean bell bottoms, an open collared shirt and a leather jacket, his hair was immaculate: permed and sprayed to perfection. The kicker to his whole existence: HE WAS STRUTTING!! yes thats right, he was strutting!!! I was hoping that the Bee Gees would jump out of nowhere and start singing. It was hilarious. But I digress. So...I get on the train and take it all the way to Holyhead Wales, right on the coast where I then walk to the ferry terminal which resembles a low security airport. I have no idea what to expect from this boat ride at all. Then they put us all on a bus and drive us into the ferry, where we all got off and made our way up to the passenger deck. It was pretty nice, there was a little cinema area, a shop and some restaurants. It was dark, so I opted to stay inside, rather than face the cold on deck. I had some lovely irish stew to acclimate myself to the country and had fun watching the other passengers try to maneuver around the ship whilst we were in rough water, swaying back and forth. I almost got sea sick. Apparently, they cancelled the run after mine because the seas were too rough.
I finally arrived in Dublin where I was then again put on a bus and driven to a different terminal, where I was the only non-EU national to go through the passport line. Anyway, the bottom line is that I got a nice little stamp saying I was in Ireland...whoo hooo!!!
I had a little trouble getting onto the city centre bus because all I was Euro notes, no change (for crying out loud...i'm fresh off the boat!!) Luckily the driver finally got changed (some guy from slightly north of london was about to pay for me!) Anyway, I got to connolly station in the centre of town and then embarked to find my hostel. I decided that rather than wander around the city trying to find it, I hopped in a taxi and had them bring be to the door....which was literally right around the corner....oh well. I checked into my hostel and decided to go check out the local craic down at the pub two doors down. I went to O'Sheas hotel pub and there was live music and some old ladies set dancing. I sat and watched for a bit, talking to a few people and then I decided to call it a night. I walked back to my hostel, only to get sucked into a long conversation with some of the regulars at the hostel who hailed from Italy, Spain, Argentina and France. Definately a good lesson in hostel culture. We talked until 2 AM and I decided to go to bed. I woke up in the morning to go to breakfast which sort of made me feel like i was in prison. No joke. I grabbed a tray on which they threw (literally) a loaf of bread and some butter and jam, and a really bad cup of tea. No worries, it was very filling. I checked out and hit up the town.
I really didn't have any plans, so I wandered around the Temple Bar area a little bit and just took in the town. After that I decided to go to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery to take a tour. On this tour there were like fifty people and i got picked to be on of the whiskey tasters at the end. The tour ended in a bar where all of us that got picked (there were six of us) sat around a table and were given a placemat with five different shots of whiskey/scotch/bourbon. It was then explained to us the subtle differences in each kind....kind of like a wine tasting....we then tried all five and were asked to put down our favorites....obviously it was the jameson (thats where we were!!) afterwards I got a certificate stating that I am an official whiskey taste tester now....watch out! Across the table from me were some American college boys and they asked me to go to the Guiness Brewery with them, so that was our next stop. We learned all about the history of Guiness and advertisement and then had our free pint atop the Gravity Bar where we could see all of Dublin...pretty snazzy if you ask me. After that I went back to my hostel and grabbed my stuff to hop on a train to Killarney.
I picked up something to read (the DaVinci Code) and settled in for a long train ride. Luckily I sat next to some young Killarney locals who informed me that there wasn't much to do there (yay!) but they did help my find my hostel when I wouldn't have been able to at all on my own. I settled in to this hostel (I was staying in an 8 bed room, but only had one roommate...that worked out quite nicely!) I realized that I hadn't eaten anything and all the pubs and quit serving food, so I ended up eating some chicken nuggets from a fast food restaurant...mmm. I went to a few pubs and sat around and listened to some irish music and had a little sing along which was interesting because I knew most of the songs. After that I made my way back to my hostel where I called it a night. That morning I woke up and walked 3 miles out of town to go to the Killarney National Park. Here I trekked another 4 miles to go and see the Torc waterfall. It was simply amazing!!! I took a couple of pictures...but they really don't do it justice. Along the way I also explored Muckross Abbey, and old abandoned abbey that was free to roam around in...slightly spooky, but lots of fun. I also walked all along the lakes and to Muckross House...quite a nice little estate. I then had to walk that whole seven miles back...just to run to miss my bus....for shame. No worries, there was train in another hour. Sooo...I went to this really nice pub and had hands down the best irish stew of my life....delicious. I also watched the kickoff of the big Ireland vs New Zealand All Blacks rugby game...hoorah.
Anyway, I finally got on my train (just in time!) and headed up to Galway. I got to Galway (by the way, finishing the DaVinci code on the way) and met up with my friend Natalie, who I really hadn't seen since graduating from high school. We dropped my stuff off back at her house and made our way to down town Galway for the night. It was quite a hopping place. We went to three pub/club things: The Quays, which was beautiful inside (like a church/cave thing going on), then Bazaar which had a very middle Eastern/Aladdin's Cave thing going on (and very interestingly dressed patrons: one was dressed Gothic to the max and a Kilt wearer...theywere a couple!) finally, Natalie and I followed the couple to a pub called the Kings Head (named so because Charles I's executioner was given the house as thanks for his service) its now a pub. They had a cover band who wasn't half bad and then a DJ so we danced to our little hearts content. After that the entire town and I mean it, headed to this fast food giant of a restaurant called SuperMacs. I got some fries and a milkshake and we sat and caught up...until some very over served young boy came over and started throwing our fries at people...we decided to leave.
When we woke up the next morning we went to Galway bay and it was simply beautiful...i very much enjoyed it. We went back to Natalies House, only to discover that I had to wait another hour for my train. No worries...we sat and talked about how many people from high school were getting hitched...it was kind of depressing and fun at the same time.
After that, I got on a train to Dublin and hopped in a taxi that took me to my new hostel for the night. It was probably the nicest of all of the places I had stayed. After settling, I went out for some delicious Indian food with some people from the hostel and then walked along the river, but decided to call it a night because I had quite an early trip tomorrow.
The next day, I woke up at 5:30 (quite a feat if you ask me!!) to catch a taxi back to the Ferry Port. On the Ferry I got to watch the sunrise over the Irish Sea....that was quite possibly one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. A note on the Ferry though. I forgot to mention the movie they decided to show on both legs of the journey. Now usually you would play a somewhat current or at least relevent movie right? Well our trip decided to play "Hocus Pocus" twice..... nice choice. I waited/had breakfast in Holyhead while talking to a Kiwi (new zealander) who now lives in San Diego, but was in Ireland/England following Rugby (obviously an All Blacks fan). Very nice guy. Back on the train I talked with this absolutely marvelous lady who restores historic Gardens, she was the stereotypical old british women and I loved it!!!!
Once back in London, I rested a spell and met up with Alison and Stefanie to go to the Royal Albert Hall to see Jamie Cullum in concert. It was amazing. It was jazz with rock like energy. Luckily we upgraded our restricted view seats to get closer and it was well worth it. AMAZING show.
Well that would take me to Tuesday. Which I'm going to make a new entry of.