We drove to County Kerry and Killarney, which is something of a gateway into the stunning Ring of Kerry and the Killarney National Park. We spent a little while walking through Killarney and listening to the thicker southern accents before driving out to Kylie House, our B&B. We chose the B&B somewhat at random from the guidebook, and we found perched high on a hill overlooking MacGillycuddy's Reeks (a mountain chain) and the Gap of Dungloe. Stunning! A perfect view, and we were in a farming area, so there were sheep and horses around. At the suggestion of our hosts (who gave us pie!) we drove down to the Gap to drive through and get some dinner. We only drove in a little way, as it was narrower than the other roads we had tried and it was getting on to evening, so we went back to the mouth of the Gap and went to a pub for dinner (fried Brie... not usual pub fare, but oh so delicious!). We found some horses on the drive back who were excellent at posing in front of the sunset (I think all animals in Ireland are trained to be photographed well), as well as some more gorse, so it was a good night.
Next day we drove into the National Park to walk around. There's a lovely manor house there overlooking the lake (I could live there, no problem) and woodland trails galore. We followed one to Torc Waterfall, an excellent sight, managed to avoid being hit by the horse-drawn carriages that were everywhere, and saw some adorable setter puppies!! Because this is Ireland and we like to continue on themes, we also walked over to an old monastery/graveyard in the park, which was very cool and had lots of dark little passageways and rooms to explore.
That generally brought our grand tour to an end, so we drove back up to Galway, stopping for a bit at Bunratty Castle for some photos and at Gort for some Supermacs (to carry on the M&T fast food tradition). We got back to Corrib Village and took a little walk down the river to see Menlo Castle and then M&T took me food shopping (so nice to have the car and not have to walk the whole way!). The next day we met up for mass and to get some brunch, and then they left me. I was sad to see them go! It was really nice to have family here, as it was when Hannah was here, and it was nice again when I went to the Netherlands. But that's another blog post...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Getting there...
We decided to break our journey south in County Roscommon in a town called Boyle. We found a wonderful B&B directly next door to Boyle Abbey - it was a huge old house with a river and things! So we got some food and spent the evening playing cards and drinking tea in the living room in front of a peat fire. Next day we continued south, stopping to check out Roscommon Castle - in ruins, obviously, but apparently a popular play place for children and picnic place for others - and passing through Athlone (our only traffic jam) before heading to Clonmacnoise Monastery, an old settlement that was once a great center of learning before it was destroyed in multiple attacks way back in the day. It's a really cool place, with all sorts of buildings, graves, a round tower, and the resting place of St. Kieran/Ciaran. You can even still walk part of the centuries-old pilgrim's path. We were all in photographic heaven, as per usual, and we also watched an informative (albeit animated) video about the place.
Next to it, on a hill, there's an old castle in ruins, so Tine and I tramped across a cow field to see it - totally cool! It was set on a hill, but between where we stood and where it stood a huge trench had been dug for extra fortification. All of this overlooks the River Shannon, and it was a really neat place. Our next (and most important) destination was the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, which is the understood ancestral homeground of the Meagher family. We got there in the evening, and as we rounded a curve on the mountain we could see it silhouetted in the fog. Awesome. We found a nice little B&B (Peggy O'Neill's) with a ruin in the backyard and settled in for the night. Mary and I set out to explore the town and pick up some food (*Helen voice* some bread and some cheese) while Tine remained behind, and we spent a pleasant evening. Next day, the Rock! And I don't mean Dwayne Johnson... had I seen him, I would have been afraid. Anyway, we went in to explore. Originally a castle, it was gifted to the church, so now all the buildings there are the ruins of the Bishop's residence, a large church (might have been a cathedral), a chapel, and a round tower. Both the church and chapel used to be beautifully decorated with murals and things, but under Cromwell they were all whitewashed over and have been lost, but within the past decade or so they've been finding more and more behind the layers of Cromwell, so there's one of the Crucifixion that you can see in the church and a few small things in the chapel. There's also an old sarcophagus and lots of cool carving in the chapel. Much exploring and photographing was done to our great satisfaction. Our final destination - Killarney!
Next to it, on a hill, there's an old castle in ruins, so Tine and I tramped across a cow field to see it - totally cool! It was set on a hill, but between where we stood and where it stood a huge trench had been dug for extra fortification. All of this overlooks the River Shannon, and it was a really neat place. Our next (and most important) destination was the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, which is the understood ancestral homeground of the Meagher family. We got there in the evening, and as we rounded a curve on the mountain we could see it silhouetted in the fog. Awesome. We found a nice little B&B (Peggy O'Neill's) with a ruin in the backyard and settled in for the night. Mary and I set out to explore the town and pick up some food (*Helen voice* some bread and some cheese) while Tine remained behind, and we spent a pleasant evening. Next day, the Rock! And I don't mean Dwayne Johnson... had I seen him, I would have been afraid. Anyway, we went in to explore. Originally a castle, it was gifted to the church, so now all the buildings there are the ruins of the Bishop's residence, a large church (might have been a cathedral), a chapel, and a round tower. Both the church and chapel used to be beautifully decorated with murals and things, but under Cromwell they were all whitewashed over and have been lost, but within the past decade or so they've been finding more and more behind the layers of Cromwell, so there's one of the Crucifixion that you can see in the church and a few small things in the chapel. There's also an old sarcophagus and lots of cool carving in the chapel. Much exploring and photographing was done to our great satisfaction. Our final destination - Killarney!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Catching up... it will never actually happen
I just got back from Morocco!!! A thrilling thrilling trip, which I will eventually write about. I think, in the interest of time (less than a week left in Ireland, which is rather depressing), I'm going to be a bit more abbreviated than usual as I finish up blogging the rest of my time, although that does not mean any of it meant any less to me! Plus it will leave me with at least a few stories to tell when I see you all face to face. So, back to the Mary and Tine extravaganza! On Tuesday of their visit we drove out through the gorgeous scenery and impressive mountains of Connemara, north of Galway. The roads were small and very windy, and windy, but Mary handled them admirably! Our destination was Kylemore Abbey, which used to be a castle but is now a school. It's set on a lake surrounded by mountains, and is gorgeous, and fabulous, and we were all excessively jealous, and you'll understand why if you look at the pictures. We toured the house and took a walk along the lake to the little church, which was decorated with cool little columns of different kinds of marble. We set off from there to Donegal, driving once again through some stunning mountain and coastal scenery. Our B&B was in the Bluestack Mountains a few minutes from the town of Donegal, so we settled in there before heading into town for some dinner and a little sightseeing, but we didn't do much that night.
The next day we went to Donegal Castle, the ancestral home of the O'Donnells (Tine and I have an O'Donnell friend from school), and it was full of fun little rooms, tiny doorways (for me, that is... Tine and Mary, being mini-people, were ok), and old fireplaces/nooks! Perfect =) Next we went to (of course) two old graveyards. One was a Famine cemetery, but there weren't any actual graves, just a cross marking a small field where the bodies are presumably buried. It was very sad to stand there and imagine what it must have been like, and even more solemn and somber for being so unadorned. We went on to Donegal Friary, which is now in ruins and full of gravestones, many old, some new. It's set right on the bay, so it's a pretty lovely place, and the Friary building itself is pretty cool, with lots of little doorways and things. Our next plan was to drive westward out along the coast, first to a mountain called Slieve League and then to a town called Glencolumbkille, named for the Saint. Our drive took us through the town of Killybegs, which smelled so much like fish you wouldn't believe it, and along some nice (tiny, hairpin-turn-filled) coastal roads.
We initially missed the turn for Slieve League, which is a random little road next to a pub in some small town, but we soon got back on track. The roads now got even smaller, and at one point two cars were expected to drive up a steep curve around the side of a mountain on what was barely wide enough for one car. Anyway, we all survived and made it up to Slieve League, where we parked the car and began our ascent, seeing plenty of sheep (and babies!) as well as other mountains, cliffs, and the sea. Glencolumbkille is in another Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area), so that was cool for me. It's a really little town, but they have a folk village and stuff. We ate some soup (vegetable... we had been overdoing the meat with all the full Irish breakfasts we'd been eating every morning) and then ran across the street to a little church (with graveyard) before driving down to the folk village... which we decided wasn't really worth paying to get into, as it was only a couple of cottages. So we explored the area a bit in the rain, finding a few more fun things, and contemplated taking a new route back out and around to go south again, but as it got smaller and smaller we elected to go back the way we had originally fun, which was fine, as it took us past more mountains, peat bogs, and sheep wandering the roads. As for the road we didn't take, we read in the guidebook later that it's one of the prettiest views in Ireland, as well as one of the smallest, turniest, dangerous roads. We feel we made the right choice, ultimately.
The next day we went to Donegal Castle, the ancestral home of the O'Donnells (Tine and I have an O'Donnell friend from school), and it was full of fun little rooms, tiny doorways (for me, that is... Tine and Mary, being mini-people, were ok), and old fireplaces/nooks! Perfect =) Next we went to (of course) two old graveyards. One was a Famine cemetery, but there weren't any actual graves, just a cross marking a small field where the bodies are presumably buried. It was very sad to stand there and imagine what it must have been like, and even more solemn and somber for being so unadorned. We went on to Donegal Friary, which is now in ruins and full of gravestones, many old, some new. It's set right on the bay, so it's a pretty lovely place, and the Friary building itself is pretty cool, with lots of little doorways and things. Our next plan was to drive westward out along the coast, first to a mountain called Slieve League and then to a town called Glencolumbkille, named for the Saint. Our drive took us through the town of Killybegs, which smelled so much like fish you wouldn't believe it, and along some nice (tiny, hairpin-turn-filled) coastal roads.
We initially missed the turn for Slieve League, which is a random little road next to a pub in some small town, but we soon got back on track. The roads now got even smaller, and at one point two cars were expected to drive up a steep curve around the side of a mountain on what was barely wide enough for one car. Anyway, we all survived and made it up to Slieve League, where we parked the car and began our ascent, seeing plenty of sheep (and babies!) as well as other mountains, cliffs, and the sea. Glencolumbkille is in another Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area), so that was cool for me. It's a really little town, but they have a folk village and stuff. We ate some soup (vegetable... we had been overdoing the meat with all the full Irish breakfasts we'd been eating every morning) and then ran across the street to a little church (with graveyard) before driving down to the folk village... which we decided wasn't really worth paying to get into, as it was only a couple of cottages. So we explored the area a bit in the rain, finding a few more fun things, and contemplated taking a new route back out and around to go south again, but as it got smaller and smaller we elected to go back the way we had originally fun, which was fine, as it took us past more mountains, peat bogs, and sheep wandering the roads. As for the road we didn't take, we read in the guidebook later that it's one of the prettiest views in Ireland, as well as one of the smallest, turniest, dangerous roads. We feel we made the right choice, ultimately.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Holy adventures!! In which Mary drives on the left side.
I did a little shopping two days ago in preparation for my trip to Morocco (I leave Sunday night!! GAH!!!) and got some nice light linen pants and a headscarf, just in case (I can always use it during the summer, while driving merrily in my convertible...). I found some sunglasses at Dunne's which, although they were bigger than sunglasses I usually go for, I quite liked, and they were 10 Euro, which is a middling price. However, while trying to decide if I really wanted them or not (wearing them, staring intensely at myself in the mirror -- I made sure no one else was around at the time), I made the mistake of smiling. The glasses lifted. My cheeks made the sunglasses rise about an inch up my face. It was weird looking. I put them back. Maybe next time.
Monday morning (this is back in April now) we feasted heartily upon the victuals provided by the B&B -- throughout the trip we waddled away from the tables of each B&B we stayed at, overcome by too much food, but it was all so delicious -- before picking up the rental car. That was quite a process, but eventually we had the car. It was very tiny. We named it "Tiny Car" because we're 5. The plan for Monday was to hit up a number of religious-themed sites (plus a Quiet Man-themed one) - Knock, Ballintubber, and Cong. Mary was a tad nervous striking out into the world of left-side driving, but we think she did a corking job - no injuries, no deaths, not even from the sheep who insist on walking down the road in more rural areas! That's what I call a victory.
We drove to Knock, which is an apparition site, and checked out the lovely little church and large basilica. They have the stones from the apparition gable set into the outside wall of the church, so that was really cool to see. We walked through the very large Basilica, then into the church for some prayer, sitting behind some adorable Indian children. The inside of the church is very pretty, and you can see it in my (or Tine's, or Mary's) Shutterfly pictures. Then we headed down towards the museum, but elected not to go in, and over to the old graveyard, our first of many on this trip. There was a really cool stone wall around it that had weird holes in it, like Swiss cheese. Next we headed to Ballintubber Abbey, which has a newer church built right next to the old site and a garden with Stations of the Cross you can walk through. Most of it was very nice, but some of the stations had weird modern sculptures of squiggly shapes and whatnot, and I don't really go for that sort of thing. Anyway, the church is very nice, with some lovely stained-glass windows, and the ruins of the old Abbey were cool to wander through. There was a series of arches around a central courtyard that we noticed at other places too, like Cong, so it must have been a popular style. We walked through the stations as well... the one for the Resurrection was really cool, because it was a little cave you could go into.
Heading away from there, we spotted a very pointy mountain in the distance, which we correctly guessed was Croagh Patrick, a pilgrimage site in honor of Ireland's patron saint. We saw it again later during our travels, but we never actually went there. Our last stop of the day was Cong in Connemara. Not only are there cool Abbey (maybe monastery?) ruins (and an old graveyard!), but it's also where fans of The Quiet Man can see the bridge and cottage from the movie or stay at Danaher's Hotel. On the way there we passed a castle that you can stay in and where, coincidentally, the boy who sat next to them on the plane was staying with his parents. We considered visiting, but ultimately decided against that plan. Cong was very very pretty. After you pass through the ruins, you walk out to a stream and then into some woods. On the stream is a fisherman's house (now roofless) built right out on the water. There are lots of stone arches and little gates, and it was all quite picturesque. My camera, unfortunately, kept dying at this point, but if I gave it some rest sometimes it would work again for single pictures. We finally came across the Quiet Man cottage (hooray!) and Tine posed for a quick picture before we set off for Galway, as it was getting close on to evening. This was our last night in this B&B, as tomorrow we were setting out first to explore Connemara and from thence on northwards to Donegal!
Monday morning (this is back in April now) we feasted heartily upon the victuals provided by the B&B -- throughout the trip we waddled away from the tables of each B&B we stayed at, overcome by too much food, but it was all so delicious -- before picking up the rental car. That was quite a process, but eventually we had the car. It was very tiny. We named it "Tiny Car" because we're 5. The plan for Monday was to hit up a number of religious-themed sites (plus a Quiet Man-themed one) - Knock, Ballintubber, and Cong. Mary was a tad nervous striking out into the world of left-side driving, but we think she did a corking job - no injuries, no deaths, not even from the sheep who insist on walking down the road in more rural areas! That's what I call a victory.
We drove to Knock, which is an apparition site, and checked out the lovely little church and large basilica. They have the stones from the apparition gable set into the outside wall of the church, so that was really cool to see. We walked through the very large Basilica, then into the church for some prayer, sitting behind some adorable Indian children. The inside of the church is very pretty, and you can see it in my (or Tine's, or Mary's) Shutterfly pictures. Then we headed down towards the museum, but elected not to go in, and over to the old graveyard, our first of many on this trip. There was a really cool stone wall around it that had weird holes in it, like Swiss cheese. Next we headed to Ballintubber Abbey, which has a newer church built right next to the old site and a garden with Stations of the Cross you can walk through. Most of it was very nice, but some of the stations had weird modern sculptures of squiggly shapes and whatnot, and I don't really go for that sort of thing. Anyway, the church is very nice, with some lovely stained-glass windows, and the ruins of the old Abbey were cool to wander through. There was a series of arches around a central courtyard that we noticed at other places too, like Cong, so it must have been a popular style. We walked through the stations as well... the one for the Resurrection was really cool, because it was a little cave you could go into.
Heading away from there, we spotted a very pointy mountain in the distance, which we correctly guessed was Croagh Patrick, a pilgrimage site in honor of Ireland's patron saint. We saw it again later during our travels, but we never actually went there. Our last stop of the day was Cong in Connemara. Not only are there cool Abbey (maybe monastery?) ruins (and an old graveyard!), but it's also where fans of The Quiet Man can see the bridge and cottage from the movie or stay at Danaher's Hotel. On the way there we passed a castle that you can stay in and where, coincidentally, the boy who sat next to them on the plane was staying with his parents. We considered visiting, but ultimately decided against that plan. Cong was very very pretty. After you pass through the ruins, you walk out to a stream and then into some woods. On the stream is a fisherman's house (now roofless) built right out on the water. There are lots of stone arches and little gates, and it was all quite picturesque. My camera, unfortunately, kept dying at this point, but if I gave it some rest sometimes it would work again for single pictures. We finally came across the Quiet Man cottage (hooray!) and Tine posed for a quick picture before we set off for Galway, as it was getting close on to evening. This was our last night in this B&B, as tomorrow we were setting out first to explore Connemara and from thence on northwards to Donegal!
As Time Goes By (or, Mary and Tine Visit! Part 1)
First, ruminations: Isn't it strange how many different ways there are to greet someone passing you on the street? I mean, when they're someone you know. So many varieties: if you spot someone you vaguely know you know, or someone you know but don't feel chatting with, you look fiercely down at the ground until you are about a pace apart, then you both glance up for a quick smile and "hey" before looking somewhere else, quickly. Next level... you glance up a few paces apart, allowing for the old "how're you?" "oh good, thanks, you?" "good, see ya!" The latter half is often spoken over one's shoulder, or walking backwards. Then, of course, for good friends, there is much more exuberance. But once you introduce the element of the ipod, the dynamics get even more complicated: do you leave the headphones on? Do you reach for them like you might take them off, but then, ooh, sorry, too late, we've passed each other? There's the old taking-one-side-out tactic, for medium friends, or the person who likes a soundtrack for their life; finally, the full-remove, total commitment. It's an intense world out there people.
Yeah. So, I returned from Bath very tired, but in an Austen mood, so I watched "Becoming Jane" (thanks Mommy!) which was pretty good, especially as James McAvoy's just so darn good-looking. The next few days were pretty calm - it was Holy Week, so I went to mass and got ready for Easter. Mary and Tine (my aunt and cousin) left on Good Friday to come to Ireland (woot!) and were due to arrive in Galway on Saturday morning, I believe around 9:30. I would, of course, meet them at the bus station and personally escort them to the destination of their choice. Theoretically. In truth, I overslept, and woke up about ten minutes before their bus was due to arrive, and it takes about 23 minutes to get there walking at a brisk pace. Clothes were thrown on, hair was not brushed, and I set off, taking it in turns to speedwalk and sprint (very bad for my poor body, which didn't understand why I seemed to be punishing it with physical exertion). Anyway, the poor dears were waiting patiently as I arrived, damp from my labors and from the rain that had started during my run. It was so good to see them!! I'm used to seeing them much more frequently, especially Tine, so this was a lovely visit =) We started trekking to my apartment, but the rain, their fatigue, and their luggage led us to take a cab instead with a wonderfully friendly cabby who talked to us about rock music.
They took in the sights, sounds, and smells of Corrib Village, and we had some tea and toast while filling each other in on our respective lives (well, them as a unit and me... they know about each other's lives pretty well, being mother and daughter). The sun came out and it turned into quite a nice day, so we decided to walk to their B&B, which is on the other side of town near the bay. Although it seemed to them to take forever, the walk is nice and easy and follows a little canal. They settled in at the Prague House (very nice, and the owner is lovely), and then we set off into town to see the sights and eat at Mister Waffle, which Tine had been eagerly anticipating. It did not disappoint. We did some more wandering and sightseeing, heading down to the bay and strolling down the Salthill Prom, as you do. We saw some adorable children ("Sand in me eye! Sand in me eye!"), and Mary and Tine got their first eyeful of Irish men's athletic shorts (they're very, very, very short. You see a lot of hairy, beefy thighs in this country). I had originally planned to cook them dinner, but they were too tired to go all the way back to my apartment and then have to walk back to their B&B, so they just went back, and I went home.
Easter Sunday was a beautiful day, if a little windy, and we met for mass, Mary and Tine having successfully navigated their way from their B&B to the Cathedral. Afterwards we came back to Corrib for some Easter Tacos. The rest of the day we hung out, walked through town a different way to show them more stuff, and went to Monroe's and got some pizza... and Mary and Tine had their first Ireland beers! Well, Tine's first - Mary's first in 11 years. Our pizza was tasty, but Monroe's was very loud and crowded, which was a bit much for my still-tired travelers, so we didn't linger overlong before heading back to the B&B, and we had a sleepover! We started reading their Ireland diary from 11 years ago and watched City Slickers. Score.
Yeah. So, I returned from Bath very tired, but in an Austen mood, so I watched "Becoming Jane" (thanks Mommy!) which was pretty good, especially as James McAvoy's just so darn good-looking. The next few days were pretty calm - it was Holy Week, so I went to mass and got ready for Easter. Mary and Tine (my aunt and cousin) left on Good Friday to come to Ireland (woot!) and were due to arrive in Galway on Saturday morning, I believe around 9:30. I would, of course, meet them at the bus station and personally escort them to the destination of their choice. Theoretically. In truth, I overslept, and woke up about ten minutes before their bus was due to arrive, and it takes about 23 minutes to get there walking at a brisk pace. Clothes were thrown on, hair was not brushed, and I set off, taking it in turns to speedwalk and sprint (very bad for my poor body, which didn't understand why I seemed to be punishing it with physical exertion). Anyway, the poor dears were waiting patiently as I arrived, damp from my labors and from the rain that had started during my run. It was so good to see them!! I'm used to seeing them much more frequently, especially Tine, so this was a lovely visit =) We started trekking to my apartment, but the rain, their fatigue, and their luggage led us to take a cab instead with a wonderfully friendly cabby who talked to us about rock music.
They took in the sights, sounds, and smells of Corrib Village, and we had some tea and toast while filling each other in on our respective lives (well, them as a unit and me... they know about each other's lives pretty well, being mother and daughter). The sun came out and it turned into quite a nice day, so we decided to walk to their B&B, which is on the other side of town near the bay. Although it seemed to them to take forever, the walk is nice and easy and follows a little canal. They settled in at the Prague House (very nice, and the owner is lovely), and then we set off into town to see the sights and eat at Mister Waffle, which Tine had been eagerly anticipating. It did not disappoint. We did some more wandering and sightseeing, heading down to the bay and strolling down the Salthill Prom, as you do. We saw some adorable children ("Sand in me eye! Sand in me eye!"), and Mary and Tine got their first eyeful of Irish men's athletic shorts (they're very, very, very short. You see a lot of hairy, beefy thighs in this country). I had originally planned to cook them dinner, but they were too tired to go all the way back to my apartment and then have to walk back to their B&B, so they just went back, and I went home.
Easter Sunday was a beautiful day, if a little windy, and we met for mass, Mary and Tine having successfully navigated their way from their B&B to the Cathedral. Afterwards we came back to Corrib for some Easter Tacos. The rest of the day we hung out, walked through town a different way to show them more stuff, and went to Monroe's and got some pizza... and Mary and Tine had their first Ireland beers! Well, Tine's first - Mary's first in 11 years. Our pizza was tasty, but Monroe's was very loud and crowded, which was a bit much for my still-tired travelers, so we didn't linger overlong before heading back to the B&B, and we had a sleepover! We started reading their Ireland diary from 11 years ago and watched City Slickers. Score.
Monday, May 4, 2009
I had chocoladevlokken for breakfast!
Yesterday we celebrated Jaye's birthday!! 21 wooo!! Some fun and games at Menlo and then drinks and dancing at Quays... the band was great, and great time was had by all. Here's a post I wrote a couple of days ago about a day several weeks ago...
It’s only just Saturday (12:12) on the 2nd of May. I have recently survived an attack by a crippled spider, but don’t let his condition (“I think they prefer ‘visually challenged’ fiend’) fool you into thinking it was any less of a life and death struggle. Anyway, I am now tucked safely in bed and am ready to type. I’m in Franeker in the province of Fryslan in the Netherlands in the house of my aunt and uncle, Gerry and Margreet Meagher. They graciously allowed me to come and stay with them from Monday to Saturday, which means that I’m leaving later today. Sad! But before I can tell you about my week with them, I have some serious catching up to do. A few weeks ago I was in England. On the 7th of April, I woke up in Oxford. Yes, that trip. Think back now…
We left Oxford for Bath via train, a pretty short drive and a nice enough ride. We had to change trains at Didcot Station, so we waited there for a bit before our next train got there. When it did, we all separated – they assign seating, and we were spread out and in different compartments. We rode along fine for about a half hour, give or take, until we approached the Swindon stop (Thursday Next, anyone?), and I got a text from Julie, saying she had left her bag back at Didcot and so was getting off to get it. Luckily, the Swindon people were all very pleasant (“I left my bag” – “Well that wasn’t very clever, was it?”) and called back to check that her bag was still at Didcot before letting her ride back without having to buy a new ticket. In any case, the other four of us carried on to Bath. Since we had to wait for Julie, we decided to get lunch before seeing any of the sites, which we did, and then checked out some of the comedy festival that was going on. We were texting Julie throughout this time to see what was up, and she said we could start doing things, since she wasn’t desperate to see them, so we first checked out the very lovely Bath Abbey before heading into the Roman Baths themselves.
Bath is on top of a hot spring, which made it ideal for the ancient Romans to set up a spa. The water is green now from algae and full of lead from the piping, but the (rather lame, I’ll admit) self-guided audio-tour told us all about how the Romans used to splash about it the hot water having a merry old time (before, of course, the lead got to them). They have lots of artifacts from the original structure (much of it is more modern, relatively – people in Jane Austen’s time and novels used to go there and hang out in the Pump Room of the Baths), including a whole collection of coin-like things people would toss into the water with their prayers on it. The Baths were built not only as a spa but also to honor Minerva Sulis, a goddess, so these bits of metal were inscribed with prayers to her. Actually, most of them are curses, running something like, “So and so stole my cloak… let his eyes boil out next Friday” or “Whoever stole my gloves, may his hands fall off” or other similarly touching sentiments. I liked them.
At the end of the Baths is the Pump Room, where Austen-era people used to assemble to hang out, gossip, and “take the waters,” which were supposed to be good for you (this is not the lead water). You got a free glass with admission, so we went to get our glass… of warm, mineral-y, somehow heavy water. I took two sips and gave it back. The waters have been taken. We went out into the streets again to watch a very funny comedian in a tutu ride a unicycle and juggle while he had audience volunteers run around with knives and stuff. Next we walked around before settling on some grass to rest and wait for Julie, who came pretty quickly after that. Jess and I wanted to go to the Jane Austen Centre and the Royal Crescent, so we headed there, depositing the others in a small park nearby. The J.A. Centre was cool (we only went into the gift shop) because it was full of fun paraphernalia, much of it Darcy themed!! I was getting “the look” (Colin Firth fans, you understand) from all angles!! *Hoo* Ok, sorry, give me a minute. Jess got a journal for her collection, and we headed to the Royal Crescent, a famous stretch of houses. It was really cool looking, although I did not find Rupert Penry-Jones, which was something of a letdown. There is a huge lawn in front of it which connects to a park, and it was now sunny, so we stretched out for a little while. We started back down the hill to collect the others (the whole town works its way up a hill, to where the fancy people live(d)), but I suddenly remembered that the Assembly Rooms were back up there, so Jess indulged me, and we went back to see them. The Assembly Rooms were where balls, concerts, and entertainments were held back in the day, and, like the Pump Room and Royal Crescent, I’ve seen them in movies before, so it was great to be there, and know that Jane Austen was there, and all of that geeky greatness.
We finally met up with the others for some Starbucks, and we decided to see a movie because we still had a long time before our train to Heathrow and all the shops were closing already. We saw “The Boat that Rocked,” a very very funny British comedy, so it was well worth it. The train ride to Heathrow was uneventful, and we got there at about 11pm for our 6:40am flight. We found a nook near a row of rentable computers where we all sprawled out, although only Jaye slept. Throughout the night we chatted, baring our souls and all of that fun girl-sleepover stuff (we magically pulled feather pillows and silk pajamas from somewhere, and a pillow fight ensued, obviously). There was a 24 hour café near us, so around 1:15 we went to get some snacks and spent the rest of our time there in their comfy leather chairs. We all fell asleep around 3:30 but had to wake up again at 4:30 to go check in. Finally we got through, walking practically back to Ireland already just to get to our gate, and slept again on benches, but eventually lots of other people showed up, so we decided to be nice and not hog ALL the seats. Moral of the story: we all got home to Galway, albeit exhausted, and Jess got a tattoo.
It’s only just Saturday (12:12) on the 2nd of May. I have recently survived an attack by a crippled spider, but don’t let his condition (“I think they prefer ‘visually challenged’ fiend’) fool you into thinking it was any less of a life and death struggle. Anyway, I am now tucked safely in bed and am ready to type. I’m in Franeker in the province of Fryslan in the Netherlands in the house of my aunt and uncle, Gerry and Margreet Meagher. They graciously allowed me to come and stay with them from Monday to Saturday, which means that I’m leaving later today. Sad! But before I can tell you about my week with them, I have some serious catching up to do. A few weeks ago I was in England. On the 7th of April, I woke up in Oxford. Yes, that trip. Think back now…
We left Oxford for Bath via train, a pretty short drive and a nice enough ride. We had to change trains at Didcot Station, so we waited there for a bit before our next train got there. When it did, we all separated – they assign seating, and we were spread out and in different compartments. We rode along fine for about a half hour, give or take, until we approached the Swindon stop (Thursday Next, anyone?), and I got a text from Julie, saying she had left her bag back at Didcot and so was getting off to get it. Luckily, the Swindon people were all very pleasant (“I left my bag” – “Well that wasn’t very clever, was it?”) and called back to check that her bag was still at Didcot before letting her ride back without having to buy a new ticket. In any case, the other four of us carried on to Bath. Since we had to wait for Julie, we decided to get lunch before seeing any of the sites, which we did, and then checked out some of the comedy festival that was going on. We were texting Julie throughout this time to see what was up, and she said we could start doing things, since she wasn’t desperate to see them, so we first checked out the very lovely Bath Abbey before heading into the Roman Baths themselves.
Bath is on top of a hot spring, which made it ideal for the ancient Romans to set up a spa. The water is green now from algae and full of lead from the piping, but the (rather lame, I’ll admit) self-guided audio-tour told us all about how the Romans used to splash about it the hot water having a merry old time (before, of course, the lead got to them). They have lots of artifacts from the original structure (much of it is more modern, relatively – people in Jane Austen’s time and novels used to go there and hang out in the Pump Room of the Baths), including a whole collection of coin-like things people would toss into the water with their prayers on it. The Baths were built not only as a spa but also to honor Minerva Sulis, a goddess, so these bits of metal were inscribed with prayers to her. Actually, most of them are curses, running something like, “So and so stole my cloak… let his eyes boil out next Friday” or “Whoever stole my gloves, may his hands fall off” or other similarly touching sentiments. I liked them.
At the end of the Baths is the Pump Room, where Austen-era people used to assemble to hang out, gossip, and “take the waters,” which were supposed to be good for you (this is not the lead water). You got a free glass with admission, so we went to get our glass… of warm, mineral-y, somehow heavy water. I took two sips and gave it back. The waters have been taken. We went out into the streets again to watch a very funny comedian in a tutu ride a unicycle and juggle while he had audience volunteers run around with knives and stuff. Next we walked around before settling on some grass to rest and wait for Julie, who came pretty quickly after that. Jess and I wanted to go to the Jane Austen Centre and the Royal Crescent, so we headed there, depositing the others in a small park nearby. The J.A. Centre was cool (we only went into the gift shop) because it was full of fun paraphernalia, much of it Darcy themed!! I was getting “the look” (Colin Firth fans, you understand) from all angles!! *Hoo* Ok, sorry, give me a minute. Jess got a journal for her collection, and we headed to the Royal Crescent, a famous stretch of houses. It was really cool looking, although I did not find Rupert Penry-Jones, which was something of a letdown. There is a huge lawn in front of it which connects to a park, and it was now sunny, so we stretched out for a little while. We started back down the hill to collect the others (the whole town works its way up a hill, to where the fancy people live(d)), but I suddenly remembered that the Assembly Rooms were back up there, so Jess indulged me, and we went back to see them. The Assembly Rooms were where balls, concerts, and entertainments were held back in the day, and, like the Pump Room and Royal Crescent, I’ve seen them in movies before, so it was great to be there, and know that Jane Austen was there, and all of that geeky greatness.
We finally met up with the others for some Starbucks, and we decided to see a movie because we still had a long time before our train to Heathrow and all the shops were closing already. We saw “The Boat that Rocked,” a very very funny British comedy, so it was well worth it. The train ride to Heathrow was uneventful, and we got there at about 11pm for our 6:40am flight. We found a nook near a row of rentable computers where we all sprawled out, although only Jaye slept. Throughout the night we chatted, baring our souls and all of that fun girl-sleepover stuff (we magically pulled feather pillows and silk pajamas from somewhere, and a pillow fight ensued, obviously). There was a 24 hour café near us, so around 1:15 we went to get some snacks and spent the rest of our time there in their comfy leather chairs. We all fell asleep around 3:30 but had to wake up again at 4:30 to go check in. Finally we got through, walking practically back to Ireland already just to get to our gate, and slept again on benches, but eventually lots of other people showed up, so we decided to be nice and not hog ALL the seats. Moral of the story: we all got home to Galway, albeit exhausted, and Jess got a tattoo.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Filler
I'm in the Netherlands!! My uncle Gerry, his wife Margreet, and their kids Colin, Andrea, and Emily (and their dog Sparky) were kind enough to allow me to stay for a week. We're taking a driving tour of fun things in North Holland today, so I'm not actually going to do a real blog, but I thought I'd give a quick heads-up. I'm also watching Spongebob in Dutch, which is totally weird. I promise I will really blog soon!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Just a few things
First of all, congratulations to Gail and Joe and Rich and Cass!! New babies for everyone!! Both James and Tristan are beautiful, beautiful babies =)
Faithful readers, I apologize for falling so behind. Not only have I not yet chronicled my day in Bath or put up those pictures (London and Oxford are there), but I have yet to document the week following Easter, which I spent traveling up and down Ireland with Mary and Tine (my aunt and cousin)! On Monday I am flying to the Netherlands to visit my uncle Gerry and his family for a week, so I really may never catch up. I'll try though, really.
On Thursday I had my one final, so I am now done with classes!! I would just like to recount to you the saga of NUIG finals, because it's really something a sane school would never think of. I think I mentioned in an earlier post how silly the class schedules are, never in the same room or at the same time during the week (are they trying to hide our movements from enemy intelligence?). Now, when they have to arrange finals, we see again some stellar ingenuity. Lots of the classrooms are theatre-style, with rising levels of long tables with chairs attached to the floor. They are apparently very worried about cheating, because for the exams they put everyone in rooms big enough to hold rows of separate desks so everyone has so many feet of free space around them. This fear is ironic, I feel, because of the preparation given for these exams: many classes have tests from previous years on the library's website for you to peruse at your leisure; teachers often give out the exact questions they plan on asking or use the same test that's posted online; and one of my professors (and from what I hear this happened in other classes too) talked us through one of the questions, telling us exactly what we needed to write to fully answer it.
So, the only problem is, where to fit everyone? There are only so many large rooms on campus, so where can we find additional space? The answer: the racecourse. Yes, the racecourse. There are large rooms there (with their own taps... apparently they're party rooms on raceday) in which rows of desks have been set up and numbered, corresponding to an alphabetical list of your particular class (I was 139). Of course, the racetrack is a bit of a distance to walk for a 9:30 exam, although only about 10 minutes driving, so they provide buses leaving from the Quad on campus. BUT they charge 3 Euro! Not an astronomical sum, but they make us pay for a bus that we need to take only because they lack sufficient space! Gah. The buses for the 9:30 exams left at 8am (ugh), leaving us an hour to sit around in the general lobby of the racetrack and stew. Luckily I have a bunch of friends in that class, so we were able to pass the time well enough.
Then of course it was the easiest exam ever (did I mention I was walked through the answer?). I just thought I'd share. You may now be wondering why I didn't just take this time to finish off my England trip. To you I say -- I've been at NUIG for a long time now. The logic switch is not always turned on. Goodnight!
Faithful readers, I apologize for falling so behind. Not only have I not yet chronicled my day in Bath or put up those pictures (London and Oxford are there), but I have yet to document the week following Easter, which I spent traveling up and down Ireland with Mary and Tine (my aunt and cousin)! On Monday I am flying to the Netherlands to visit my uncle Gerry and his family for a week, so I really may never catch up. I'll try though, really.
On Thursday I had my one final, so I am now done with classes!! I would just like to recount to you the saga of NUIG finals, because it's really something a sane school would never think of. I think I mentioned in an earlier post how silly the class schedules are, never in the same room or at the same time during the week (are they trying to hide our movements from enemy intelligence?). Now, when they have to arrange finals, we see again some stellar ingenuity. Lots of the classrooms are theatre-style, with rising levels of long tables with chairs attached to the floor. They are apparently very worried about cheating, because for the exams they put everyone in rooms big enough to hold rows of separate desks so everyone has so many feet of free space around them. This fear is ironic, I feel, because of the preparation given for these exams: many classes have tests from previous years on the library's website for you to peruse at your leisure; teachers often give out the exact questions they plan on asking or use the same test that's posted online; and one of my professors (and from what I hear this happened in other classes too) talked us through one of the questions, telling us exactly what we needed to write to fully answer it.
So, the only problem is, where to fit everyone? There are only so many large rooms on campus, so where can we find additional space? The answer: the racecourse. Yes, the racecourse. There are large rooms there (with their own taps... apparently they're party rooms on raceday) in which rows of desks have been set up and numbered, corresponding to an alphabetical list of your particular class (I was 139). Of course, the racetrack is a bit of a distance to walk for a 9:30 exam, although only about 10 minutes driving, so they provide buses leaving from the Quad on campus. BUT they charge 3 Euro! Not an astronomical sum, but they make us pay for a bus that we need to take only because they lack sufficient space! Gah. The buses for the 9:30 exams left at 8am (ugh), leaving us an hour to sit around in the general lobby of the racetrack and stew. Luckily I have a bunch of friends in that class, so we were able to pass the time well enough.
Then of course it was the easiest exam ever (did I mention I was walked through the answer?). I just thought I'd share. You may now be wondering why I didn't just take this time to finish off my England trip. To you I say -- I've been at NUIG for a long time now. The logic switch is not always turned on. Goodnight!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
England, Day 3: Oxford
Next morning we went to Victoria Station to catch the bus to Oxford. We were waiting at the stop the website had told us to wait at, and a bus to Oxford was there, but it wasn’t the company we had booked with, so we figured ours was coming soon, because we saw a number of their buses driving around the coach station. Still, we were getting a little worried, so I asked a policeman nearby, who got a bit shirty with me, really (if I can quote Harry Potter… a theme for the trip) -- “Didn’t you read the internet when you bought your tickets?” “Well, yeah…” “No you didn’t, what time is your bus supposed to be? If you read your internet you would have seen that for that time (the other company) is covering that route. You would have missed your bus.” Yeah, thanks. You really needed to hear the tone to appreciate this. Bah. Anyway, we got onto our bus, which was double-decker! So we rode up top and all got our own seats, so we could stretch out. The ride was lovely, and we passed some other fun things that we hadn’t had a chance to see earlier in London, like Grosvenor Square, the excessively attractive part of Hyde Park, and the royal fishmongers. That one was a surprise. There was a man being interviewed outside of it for the news, and I thought it was funny that this little shop was the royal fishmongers. Anyway, we journeyed through the countryside into Oxfordshire. Oxford town is GORGEOUS, especially if you have any appreciation for architecture at all. Oxford University takes up most of the city, with each of the colleges occupying its own space throughout.
We got off the bus and immediately found a Pizza Hut with a buffet… bonus! We walked to our hostel – too early to check in, but we wanted to stow our bags. We buzzed at the front door, where we were told: “You have to really kick the door….” We tried. “No, really, just kick it…” We tried again, harder, combining our efforts. “Are you in yet?.... really, really kick it!” Finally I did give it a good solid kick, and we were in. After stowing our bags, we headed out to explore (in the wrong direction at first… oops!), found Oxford Castle and mound thing, which we, being castle snobs, decided not to go into, and made our way through the shopping district into town. We went first to Christ Church college, where they filmed parts of the first two Harry Potter movies. It’s very pretty, but you could only see a very small portion of the school itself, because there are actual students there. Angela got REALLY excited when she found out about the HP connection. After going through the hall and chapel, we all had to use the toilet, so we were directed to a bathroom that, as it turned out, was broken. This is where the spy movie comes in. The man working on the toilets told us to “go into the Quad there… look for the man with the bowler hat, and ask him…” We did as he instructed, and lo! A bowler hatted man!
Now, in the Quad you can only walk along one side as tourists, and the rest is for real college people. We told him about our dilemma, and he thought we could use a bathroom a little ways into the forbidden zone, but he would have to take us there one at a time while the rest waited behind the invisible barrier. Suddenly, another be-bowlered man arrived! The two held council: “well, it’s a bit embarrassing really, not having working toilets… I was just going to take them in here” – “Oh, well we could use the one in the JCR.” – “Yes, then they could go en masse...” – “Yeah, I think it’ll be ok, if I go with them.” You can’t make this up, people. So, the second one took us THROUGH THE QUAD!! We got to be special, leaving all the other tourists behind us as we walked through the forbidden zone! We entered a room, and hat man, unsure where the ladies’ toilets were, left us to go find out, and someone yelled “quick, take pictures!”, and we all whipped out our cameras and complied - because, of course, we were in uncharted tourist territory. We all quickly put them away however, and when he came in we were all the “picture” (ugh) of innocence. He led us up the stairs to the, pretty ordinary, bathroom of the JCR (which he told us means the Junior Common Room, where the students hang out). Still, it was fun. He then gave us a mini-personal tour on our way out, which was lovely.
We next wandered through town. I wanted to go to Magdalen college (pronounced “maudlin”), where Tolkien and Lewis had both taught, but the others didn’t want to spend the money, so I went in and they went to the Botanical Gardens. Magdalen was quiet and picturesque, and I honestly enjoyed exploring it alone. They have lovely grounds, including the river and a deer park. After going through the buildings that are open to tourists, I walked along the river for a bit (and over a bridge to nowhere!) and admired the general splendor. The windows in the chapel there were odd… black-and-white and sepia toned. They also have an impressive copy of “The Last Supper.” After Magdalen, I spent some time walking through town and checking out bits of the other colleges and a church. I eventually met up with the others who had been relaxing in the large lawn at Christ Church. We went back to our hostel to check in, passing the ice rink on the way, which was exciting for Jaye, who plays hockey at home and hasn't seen an ice rink in months. The hostel was very nice (we now had the knack of flinging ourselves against the front door to open it), and Jess, Julie, Jaye and I had a room to ourselves. We met Angela on the hostel's top deck and enjoyed some tea in the late afternoon. Eventually we went to the grocery store for dinner, which we ate on the floor of our room, followed by a small singalong. Later, we went out to see the Eagle and Child pub, where Tolkien and Lewis used to gather with other literary friends and discuss their works, and then went to Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub down the street from our hostel for a drink. The bartender was from Dublin, and we were the only ones there for a while, so we were telling him all about how we were in Galway studying and such. We said how nice it was to hear Irish accents again after being in England. He asked how long we’d been away… “three days!!” we wailed. He rolled his eyes. It was a lovely day.
We got off the bus and immediately found a Pizza Hut with a buffet… bonus! We walked to our hostel – too early to check in, but we wanted to stow our bags. We buzzed at the front door, where we were told: “You have to really kick the door….” We tried. “No, really, just kick it…” We tried again, harder, combining our efforts. “Are you in yet?.... really, really kick it!” Finally I did give it a good solid kick, and we were in. After stowing our bags, we headed out to explore (in the wrong direction at first… oops!), found Oxford Castle and mound thing, which we, being castle snobs, decided not to go into, and made our way through the shopping district into town. We went first to Christ Church college, where they filmed parts of the first two Harry Potter movies. It’s very pretty, but you could only see a very small portion of the school itself, because there are actual students there. Angela got REALLY excited when she found out about the HP connection. After going through the hall and chapel, we all had to use the toilet, so we were directed to a bathroom that, as it turned out, was broken. This is where the spy movie comes in. The man working on the toilets told us to “go into the Quad there… look for the man with the bowler hat, and ask him…” We did as he instructed, and lo! A bowler hatted man!
Now, in the Quad you can only walk along one side as tourists, and the rest is for real college people. We told him about our dilemma, and he thought we could use a bathroom a little ways into the forbidden zone, but he would have to take us there one at a time while the rest waited behind the invisible barrier. Suddenly, another be-bowlered man arrived! The two held council: “well, it’s a bit embarrassing really, not having working toilets… I was just going to take them in here” – “Oh, well we could use the one in the JCR.” – “Yes, then they could go en masse...” – “Yeah, I think it’ll be ok, if I go with them.” You can’t make this up, people. So, the second one took us THROUGH THE QUAD!! We got to be special, leaving all the other tourists behind us as we walked through the forbidden zone! We entered a room, and hat man, unsure where the ladies’ toilets were, left us to go find out, and someone yelled “quick, take pictures!”, and we all whipped out our cameras and complied - because, of course, we were in uncharted tourist territory. We all quickly put them away however, and when he came in we were all the “picture” (ugh) of innocence. He led us up the stairs to the, pretty ordinary, bathroom of the JCR (which he told us means the Junior Common Room, where the students hang out). Still, it was fun. He then gave us a mini-personal tour on our way out, which was lovely.
We next wandered through town. I wanted to go to Magdalen college (pronounced “maudlin”), where Tolkien and Lewis had both taught, but the others didn’t want to spend the money, so I went in and they went to the Botanical Gardens. Magdalen was quiet and picturesque, and I honestly enjoyed exploring it alone. They have lovely grounds, including the river and a deer park. After going through the buildings that are open to tourists, I walked along the river for a bit (and over a bridge to nowhere!) and admired the general splendor. The windows in the chapel there were odd… black-and-white and sepia toned. They also have an impressive copy of “The Last Supper.” After Magdalen, I spent some time walking through town and checking out bits of the other colleges and a church. I eventually met up with the others who had been relaxing in the large lawn at Christ Church. We went back to our hostel to check in, passing the ice rink on the way, which was exciting for Jaye, who plays hockey at home and hasn't seen an ice rink in months. The hostel was very nice (we now had the knack of flinging ourselves against the front door to open it), and Jess, Julie, Jaye and I had a room to ourselves. We met Angela on the hostel's top deck and enjoyed some tea in the late afternoon. Eventually we went to the grocery store for dinner, which we ate on the floor of our room, followed by a small singalong. Later, we went out to see the Eagle and Child pub, where Tolkien and Lewis used to gather with other literary friends and discuss their works, and then went to Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub down the street from our hostel for a drink. The bartender was from Dublin, and we were the only ones there for a while, so we were telling him all about how we were in Galway studying and such. We said how nice it was to hear Irish accents again after being in England. He asked how long we’d been away… “three days!!” we wailed. He rolled his eyes. It was a lovely day.
England: London, Day 2
After another night at the Hootananny, I got up on Sunday for mass, where, I discovered, it was actually Palm Sunday! Oh how the time flies when you’re jet-setting (wistful look…). Anyway, I got some palms, which I fashioned into a little cross for traveling ease (it was my first one ever, and it wasn’t too bad… you could at least see that it was supposed to be a cross, which is something, I suppose). We planned to go to the British Museum next, but we were meeting Angela there after she went to do some personal exploring, so we wandered from Tottenham Court Road to Oxford Circus, a big shopping district (where, apparently, stores don’t open until the afternoon on Sundays, so we didn’t actually go in any), before meeting up with her. The British Museum is so cool! One part of your mind is thinking that it was, of course, wrong for the British Empire to steal all these things from their native places, but another part is so excited to be able to see artifacts from everywhere concentrated in one place! The first thing we saw was the Rosetta Stone – sweet! – and then lots of Egyptian artifacts. I was particularly interested in the pieces from the Ancient Near East (because I took a Myth in the Ancient Near East class last semester and had seen pictures of some of the pieces in my books) and in the Asian Art (because I also took an Asian Art course and got to see live and in person art I had studied, like the Shiva Nataraja!). I’m ALWAYS interested in Egyptian and Greek artifacts, and there were plenty to be seen. All in all, an excellent excursion, and free as well!!
Jess and I wanted to see the British Library, home to the Magna Carta and manuscripts of Jane Austen’s novels, among other things, so we went that way while the others set off to relax in Hyde Park. The library was indeed open, but, after running excitedly up the stairs to the manuscript room, we discovered that THIS particular room was open every day EXCEPT Sunday. A similar discovery met us downstairs in the Rare Books room, so we wandered a bit through the library, which is cool looking, and into the “Restoration” exhibit type thing, which was pretty lame. We finished off our trip by reading some children’s poetry (part of another exhibit) before heading off to meet the others at Hyde Park. On Sundays, Hyde Park is the home to Speaker’s Corner, where people get up on stepladders and tell everyone their opinions and feelings on subjects of their choice – when we got there, one man was discussing Islam, and when we left he was talking about how “there’s a difference between employment and work.” There were also some ladders with placards on them, for the usuals, I gathered, like the “Socialism” stepladder. We walked around the park, in what we realized later was the unattractive bit (we drove by the pretty part on our way to Oxford… curses!!), and got some ice cream (tiramisu for me, delicious!!!). The others let us know that they had gone elsewhere, so we decided to go to St. Paul’s, since everyone else didn’t particularly care about seeing it.
It’s so pretty! Even with scaffolding… the large white dome with the birds flying around it (feed the birds… tuppence a bag…), the impressive stairway in front, the lovely inside... We went in (for free, because it was Sunday and there was a service) and saw Wellington’s grave, which was cool. There were no pictures allowed, but I took a few stealthy hip shots of the gorgeous ceilings and arches (yes, yes I am a rebel, thanks for asking). We chilled on the steps for a minute, then saw a cup of fruit sitting on a pillar by some pigeons, so we took some “feed the birds” shots with that. Next we found a great statue of a man with goats! Finally we met up with the others, around dinner time, and spent the rest of the evening eating our traditional baguettes and brie. I had a nice heart-to-heart with the Denmark boys in my room, as well as with an American boy who had gone to Carnegie Mellon and had spent time in Galway. The next morning... Oxford!!
Jess and I wanted to see the British Library, home to the Magna Carta and manuscripts of Jane Austen’s novels, among other things, so we went that way while the others set off to relax in Hyde Park. The library was indeed open, but, after running excitedly up the stairs to the manuscript room, we discovered that THIS particular room was open every day EXCEPT Sunday. A similar discovery met us downstairs in the Rare Books room, so we wandered a bit through the library, which is cool looking, and into the “Restoration” exhibit type thing, which was pretty lame. We finished off our trip by reading some children’s poetry (part of another exhibit) before heading off to meet the others at Hyde Park. On Sundays, Hyde Park is the home to Speaker’s Corner, where people get up on stepladders and tell everyone their opinions and feelings on subjects of their choice – when we got there, one man was discussing Islam, and when we left he was talking about how “there’s a difference between employment and work.” There were also some ladders with placards on them, for the usuals, I gathered, like the “Socialism” stepladder. We walked around the park, in what we realized later was the unattractive bit (we drove by the pretty part on our way to Oxford… curses!!), and got some ice cream (tiramisu for me, delicious!!!). The others let us know that they had gone elsewhere, so we decided to go to St. Paul’s, since everyone else didn’t particularly care about seeing it.
It’s so pretty! Even with scaffolding… the large white dome with the birds flying around it (feed the birds… tuppence a bag…), the impressive stairway in front, the lovely inside... We went in (for free, because it was Sunday and there was a service) and saw Wellington’s grave, which was cool. There were no pictures allowed, but I took a few stealthy hip shots of the gorgeous ceilings and arches (yes, yes I am a rebel, thanks for asking). We chilled on the steps for a minute, then saw a cup of fruit sitting on a pillar by some pigeons, so we took some “feed the birds” shots with that. Next we found a great statue of a man with goats! Finally we met up with the others, around dinner time, and spent the rest of the evening eating our traditional baguettes and brie. I had a nice heart-to-heart with the Denmark boys in my room, as well as with an American boy who had gone to Carnegie Mellon and had spent time in Galway. The next morning... Oxford!!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
England: London, Day 1
Cheerio, pip-pip, and all that! I think if I ever actually heard a British person say one of those phrases for real, I might just combust. Some emotion would cause it. I don't know which one. So, Friday night, having handed in all five of my final essays, I set off with Jess, Jaye, and Julie to Shannon Airport, where we met Julie's friend Angela, who was joining us on our sojourn to Merry Old England. The flight was generally uneventful, although we all got a row to ourselves, which was quite exciting, meaning we could all stretch out and take our leisure. After what seemed like the never-ending taxi, our plane finally got us to our gate, and a series of soothing British voices led us to where we could take the Heathrow Express train into Paddington Station. Angela had decided to come in the eleventh hour, so she had booked a different hostel, so we split up at Paddington and took separate Tubes to our respective hostels. As we got used to it over the weekend, I grew to like the Tube more and more - very convenient, generally clean enough, and excessively easy to use. We bought day passes Saturday and Sunday at 5 pounds 60 each, which is actually an excellent price, since a single ticket runs about 4 pounds.
Anyway, we Tubed to Brixton and walked from the station to our hostel (get ready for it...) the Hootananny. Have you finished laughing? Good. So yes, the description on the website said it was a family-run hostel, and we were a little worried because we were getting there a bit later than planned, so would they be asleep? Would they be annoyed? We could see lights in the distance... a thumping bass beat hit our ears (and feet)... and there it was! The hostel sits atop a connected and very lively bar, which was that night, I believe, holding some sort of ska event. The lead singer of the band had a mohawk at least a foot and a half high. We approached the hostel, where two legit bouncers confronted us, but they sent us in to the bar when I showed them our reservations. We were checked in by the friendly, young, be-dreadlocked staff at the bar, then led up a door behind the bar into the hostel proper, where the noise was considerably less. Jaye and I were in a room together with 6 other people, and Jess and Julie were in another with two others. We eventually got to know a few of them - the two boys in the bunkbeds opposite ours were from Denmark and had come to London to stay for two months, get jobs, and improve their English. Another boy was American and had attended Carnegie Mellon University (in Pittsburgh) for awhile. He had also recently been in Galway, so we gushed (that is, I gushed... he talked normally) about the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands for a bit one night.
The next morning after breakfast we headed to Notting Hill for the famous Portobello Market (secretly hoping to see Hugh Grant...), which was full of people! The area is really pretty, and I'd like to live there except I think I would hate having the market there every weekend just because there would be so many tourists and things. Still, it was really cool, with an antque section, a food section, lots of vintage clothes, and plenty of odd little things. It was sunny and beautiful out, so after the market we decided to go to Buckingham Palace. Between the Tube stop and the palace is Green Park, which is all in flower, so we came back to it later, but first we went to see Buckingham. Now, I'll be honest, it was really cool to see Buckingham, and it's impressive, but it was, visually, something of a letdown after seeing Versailles. Buckingham is definitely very British, while Versailles is DEFINITELY a product of opulent France. We didn't go in... actually, I never even though about it... I don't know if you can. The flag was up, so I think that means the queen was home, but I might be making that connection up. Julie really likes to climb on statues, so we hung out at the Victoria memorial in front of the palace for a bit before heading back into the park, where we took of our shoes and sprawled on the grass under the trees in and amongst the flowers. Bliss!
After that respite, we moved on up the street to where we could see some red-coated beaver-hatted guards (who looked about 13) carrying their rifles with Rambo knives attached as bayonets. We walked through St. James's Park, where ice cream was acquired, and through to Westminster and Big Ben. We took the opportunity to take photos inside the red phone boxes before walking to Trafalgar Square, on the way meeting another pubescent guard of the realm, this time astride a large horse outside of a museum, I think it was. Trafalgar was fun! We tried to climb the lions, but they were REALLY slippery, so we didn't quite make it... then we headed back to Westminster to go to Evensong, which was STUNNING. Usually you have to pay to get into Westminster, but not if you're going for a service (thank you, Brittany, for this fun fact!), so we thought this would be an excellent way to go. Unfortunately we were only just in time (we were let through like rockstars!) for the service, so we didn't get to linger through the church. We were chivvied along to seats farther in, sitting looking at a gorgeous stained glass window (which I photographed before seeing the "No Photography" sign). The singing was incredible... I love choir music, and they were, of course, excessively talented. The bass soloist gave me chills.
Afterwards we sat in the grass of the roundabout/minipark thing outside of Westminster to relax and decide our next move. We ended up strolling along the Thames for a bit past Westminster vaguely toward the London Eye (which we did NOT go on... 15 pounds to sit in a glass bubble for half an hour! Sure you get a view, but really...). We were hungry, and Indian food was required, but, sadly, "Delicious Indian Food" was not starred on my map (a failing, I feel). We decided to take the tube to King's Cross, take pictures at Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter geekiness for everyone!), and go from there. We found the platform, although they had actually moved it (the attraction, that is) because of some construction they were doing, and took the requisite photos, having a marvelous time and not caring a whit what others thought of a group of college girls pushing part of a trolley into a solid barrier. We left the station in search of food and immediately found an Indian restaurant, which had delicious food (and dessert!) and fun Bollywood playing on the television. We stopped off at a little store to get towels for me and Jaye, who hadn't packed any, and they were super tiny dishtowels, ultimately useless, but they did their best, I'm sure. We spent the night in the lounge of our hostel, chatting with a Canadian girl named Kate who was very fun and had spent a few months as an au pair in Italy. Sorry, more later.
Anyway, we Tubed to Brixton and walked from the station to our hostel (get ready for it...) the Hootananny. Have you finished laughing? Good. So yes, the description on the website said it was a family-run hostel, and we were a little worried because we were getting there a bit later than planned, so would they be asleep? Would they be annoyed? We could see lights in the distance... a thumping bass beat hit our ears (and feet)... and there it was! The hostel sits atop a connected and very lively bar, which was that night, I believe, holding some sort of ska event. The lead singer of the band had a mohawk at least a foot and a half high. We approached the hostel, where two legit bouncers confronted us, but they sent us in to the bar when I showed them our reservations. We were checked in by the friendly, young, be-dreadlocked staff at the bar, then led up a door behind the bar into the hostel proper, where the noise was considerably less. Jaye and I were in a room together with 6 other people, and Jess and Julie were in another with two others. We eventually got to know a few of them - the two boys in the bunkbeds opposite ours were from Denmark and had come to London to stay for two months, get jobs, and improve their English. Another boy was American and had attended Carnegie Mellon University (in Pittsburgh) for awhile. He had also recently been in Galway, so we gushed (that is, I gushed... he talked normally) about the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands for a bit one night.
The next morning after breakfast we headed to Notting Hill for the famous Portobello Market (secretly hoping to see Hugh Grant...), which was full of people! The area is really pretty, and I'd like to live there except I think I would hate having the market there every weekend just because there would be so many tourists and things. Still, it was really cool, with an antque section, a food section, lots of vintage clothes, and plenty of odd little things. It was sunny and beautiful out, so after the market we decided to go to Buckingham Palace. Between the Tube stop and the palace is Green Park, which is all in flower, so we came back to it later, but first we went to see Buckingham. Now, I'll be honest, it was really cool to see Buckingham, and it's impressive, but it was, visually, something of a letdown after seeing Versailles. Buckingham is definitely very British, while Versailles is DEFINITELY a product of opulent France. We didn't go in... actually, I never even though about it... I don't know if you can. The flag was up, so I think that means the queen was home, but I might be making that connection up. Julie really likes to climb on statues, so we hung out at the Victoria memorial in front of the palace for a bit before heading back into the park, where we took of our shoes and sprawled on the grass under the trees in and amongst the flowers. Bliss!
After that respite, we moved on up the street to where we could see some red-coated beaver-hatted guards (who looked about 13) carrying their rifles with Rambo knives attached as bayonets. We walked through St. James's Park, where ice cream was acquired, and through to Westminster and Big Ben. We took the opportunity to take photos inside the red phone boxes before walking to Trafalgar Square, on the way meeting another pubescent guard of the realm, this time astride a large horse outside of a museum, I think it was. Trafalgar was fun! We tried to climb the lions, but they were REALLY slippery, so we didn't quite make it... then we headed back to Westminster to go to Evensong, which was STUNNING. Usually you have to pay to get into Westminster, but not if you're going for a service (thank you, Brittany, for this fun fact!), so we thought this would be an excellent way to go. Unfortunately we were only just in time (we were let through like rockstars!) for the service, so we didn't get to linger through the church. We were chivvied along to seats farther in, sitting looking at a gorgeous stained glass window (which I photographed before seeing the "No Photography" sign). The singing was incredible... I love choir music, and they were, of course, excessively talented. The bass soloist gave me chills.
Afterwards we sat in the grass of the roundabout/minipark thing outside of Westminster to relax and decide our next move. We ended up strolling along the Thames for a bit past Westminster vaguely toward the London Eye (which we did NOT go on... 15 pounds to sit in a glass bubble for half an hour! Sure you get a view, but really...). We were hungry, and Indian food was required, but, sadly, "Delicious Indian Food" was not starred on my map (a failing, I feel). We decided to take the tube to King's Cross, take pictures at Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter geekiness for everyone!), and go from there. We found the platform, although they had actually moved it (the attraction, that is) because of some construction they were doing, and took the requisite photos, having a marvelous time and not caring a whit what others thought of a group of college girls pushing part of a trolley into a solid barrier. We left the station in search of food and immediately found an Indian restaurant, which had delicious food (and dessert!) and fun Bollywood playing on the television. We stopped off at a little store to get towels for me and Jaye, who hadn't packed any, and they were super tiny dishtowels, ultimately useless, but they did their best, I'm sure. We spent the night in the lounge of our hostel, chatting with a Canadian girl named Kate who was very fun and had spent a few months as an au pair in Italy. Sorry, more later.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Catching up
Sorry for my recent lack of communication, but this is the last week of classes, and I have five papers due on Friday. However, the good news is that Friday night I'm leaving for England!! I'm going with Jess, Jaye, Julie, and Julie's friend Angela, and we're spending two days in London and a day each in Oxford and Bath. Woohoo! I finally put up the Dublin pictures (I thought I had already done that. Oops.), so you can check those out if you like.
Otherwise not too much has been going on in my life... just taking it in turns to work on my papers and procrastinate to an intense degree. Thursday night Stefania's boyfriend Davide (Dah-vee-day) came for a surprise visit! He came on a trip with three other friends, and on Friday Davide cooked, and the friends came, and Irena and Elise from across the hall, and another friend of theirs, Wendy from South Korea, and we had quite a night of it! Davide cooked fish and tomatoes with garlic and olive oil (and some hash browns on the side), and we had a cheesecake because it had been Irena, Elise, and Wendy's birthdays within the past week. Irena was having an Erasmus party in her apartment, so we all went over to hang out and dance, and it was really fun! I forgot how much I enjoy dancing, even though I'm not very good at it. I was one of two Americans there, and everyone else was either Italian or French, with an exuberant German boy thrown in and a couple other oddballs. All in all an excellent night. Saturday I took a break to go exploring with Jess and Jaye to try and get into Menlo Castle (which I now know that you can do, and lots of people do it). We didn't actually find it, due to not knowing how far it was, so we turned back too early, but we still had fun. We also found a sweet but idiotic dog, who we named Kevin, and later Caomhan, the Irish version (pronounced "kwee-vahn"). His real name was Charlie, but he didn't seem to mind being called by all different names. He continued to trot cheerily into the road and eat garbage and such.
Otherwise not too much has been going on in my life... just taking it in turns to work on my papers and procrastinate to an intense degree. Thursday night Stefania's boyfriend Davide (Dah-vee-day) came for a surprise visit! He came on a trip with three other friends, and on Friday Davide cooked, and the friends came, and Irena and Elise from across the hall, and another friend of theirs, Wendy from South Korea, and we had quite a night of it! Davide cooked fish and tomatoes with garlic and olive oil (and some hash browns on the side), and we had a cheesecake because it had been Irena, Elise, and Wendy's birthdays within the past week. Irena was having an Erasmus party in her apartment, so we all went over to hang out and dance, and it was really fun! I forgot how much I enjoy dancing, even though I'm not very good at it. I was one of two Americans there, and everyone else was either Italian or French, with an exuberant German boy thrown in and a couple other oddballs. All in all an excellent night. Saturday I took a break to go exploring with Jess and Jaye to try and get into Menlo Castle (which I now know that you can do, and lots of people do it). We didn't actually find it, due to not knowing how far it was, so we turned back too early, but we still had fun. We also found a sweet but idiotic dog, who we named Kevin, and later Caomhan, the Irish version (pronounced "kwee-vahn"). His real name was Charlie, but he didn't seem to mind being called by all different names. He continued to trot cheerily into the road and eat garbage and such.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Dublin: Rugby fun, lame tours, and history!
First of all, imagine a tiny tiny bus. Now shrink it a bit more, give it some ugly upholstery and a tobacco smell paired with windows that drip, and you have some idea of what our API bus is like. I wish now that I had taken a picture of it. The seats are actually too narrow for a real person, so Jess and I had to sort of arm-cuddle so we could stay somewhat in place. The backs of the seats are curved oddly and pitched slightly forward, and you really need to detach your legs and put them away, because there is no leg room. You can stick them into the aisle, but that's where everyone else's legs and bags are. Anyway, we all piled in at 6:30 on Saturday morning for our API Dublin trip. It takes a little over three hours to get there (shorter than the time it takes to cross Pennsylvania!), and we were all in something of a stupor induced by the early hour, lack of food, and the mist which was all we could see out of the windows.
We got to Jury's Inn along the Liffey, which was very nice, but they didn't have our rooms ready yet, so we stowed our bags in a small room and trekked down to O'Connell Street for some quick food (Supermacs and Burger King) before heading back to Jury's to meet up with the Limerick and Cork groups (still without personalities) and go on a boat tour of Dublin. Now, we were all excited for this: boating up and down the Liffey, seeing all the sights, learning some history. LAMEST TOUR EVER. The best part of it was when we had to back up for a bit before we could turn around and the driver and another guy had to sit on the roof, and all we could see were their legs. The reason it was lame is that we got about to O'Connell Street (a few blocks away), hearing some fun facts, and then turned around! We wanted to see more! So we backed up for a bit (with many mysterious loud scraping noises coming from below our feet) before turning around (hearing many of the same facts again) and heading toward the docks. We saw a reconstruction of the only Famine passenger ship that never had any fatalities, which was cool, but then got down to the ugly area, where we turned around before getting to the other interesting bit (which included Bono's house!). So really, a waste of time.
Next we walked to Trinity College, which is very pretty, to see the Book of Kells. Sadly, no photography allowed, but it was really cool to see anyway, and from there you can go into the Long Room of the library, which reminded us all of the Beauty and the Beast library ("I'd marry the Beast for this..." --Jess). Then, lunch time. API gave us vouchers for a really nice restaurant in Temple Bar, and afterwards we stood outside to hear a very funny street comedian, who told us that we all had lovely straight white teeth. The groups split off from there, and Jess, Jaye, and I went over through the shopping district, where we all bought rugby shirts for the big match that night. There's a big tournament called the Six Nations (Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, and Italy), and this was the last game: Ireland vs. Wales. If Ireland won they would be undefeated and so win not only 6 Nations but also the Grand Slam. More on that later. We went into the famous St. Stephen's Green, which was very lovely, and took some pictures of the memorials for the Countess Markievicz and Wolfe Tone, two famous Irish patriots, before basking on the grass in the sunlight. We headed back toward the Liffey to try and meet up with people for the match and ended up at Messrs. Maguire's, a pub right across the bridge from O'Connell Street. We found Kevin (Finn's husband and our other API director who was leading this trip), who felt that the pub with all its staircases and hidden passageways was "like Narnia!" We love Kevin. We finally found a place to stand with our pints where we had an excellent view of the tv and an enthusiastic group around us. The game was so good!! Really intense, and the win came down to a last second kick (which Wales missed!!!), but Ireland won!!! Now, I know I've never been interested in rugby before, but it's actually pretty easy to pick up, and it was just cool to be around such excited sports fans! It's been awhile, but I always like an exciting game.
We bought some celebratory baguettes and cheese for dinner before heading back to the hotel to get our rooms. Mine was huge!! It had a nook! With a couch! Jess and Jaye came in to eat, and then Julie joined us and stole my blanket because the room was cold (it had crazy windows), and we just hung out for awhile. Later we split up (Julie had a little trouble putting the blanket back on the bed) to settle in for an early night, and I think most of us ended up just sitting in bed watching Notting Hill, which was an excellent way to end the night, I felt. The next morning we ate the delicious continental breakfast before heading out for a 9am bus tour of Dublin. Now, I like to take pictures, as you know, so this tour was a bit frustrating for me. He SPED through Dublin, casually saying things like, "Oh, and that building we just passed on the left are the Prime Minister's apartments" and such. He stopped for very odd things, like to see if we wanted to take pictures of one of the famous "Doors of Dublin" that Queen Victoria might possibly have used one time back in the day. We didn't.
Next we went for a tour of Kilmainham (spell check suggests "Kilimanjaro" as well as "kilogram," "mainsail," and "chamberlain." Wharves.) Gaol, which was really great. It's the prison that held the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion and where they were executed. Our tour guide here was really good, and we watched a short video on the Gaol inside the chapel where Joseph and Grace Plunkett were married. We saw all the famous cells where the leaders were held and where other people, like Eamonn DeValera and Grace Plunkett, were held during the Irish Civil War. We went out to the yard where the 1916 leaders were executed, and it was so unbelievable to imagine that all of this terrible history happened RIGHT HERE under 100 years ago! The Gaol was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We got back to our bus to go to Dvblinia, which is all about Viking Dublin, and it was super lame. The whole thing is really more appropriate for grade-school audiences, but parts of it were fun... like laughing at how lame it was... and playing dramatic drum music while Julie and Jaye had a medieval ring toss game showdown. We didn't get to go into the attached Christchurch Cathedral because there was a service going on, and a testy Vicar in a cape pretty much chased us away.
The bus tour continued through Phoenix Park, where the President lives at Aras an Uachtarain, and where the American Ambassador has a house. It's a pretty park, and it was cool to see the "mini White House" (the same architect designed the two buildings). We drove slowly through a parking lot in the Park to see a large memorial cross from when Pope JPII was there in the 70s, I think, giving us ample time to photograph it, but he wanted to stop there too for a photo op. We declined. We saw lots of other famous Dublin things at a breakneck pace, and then we had a couple hours of free time before heading back to Galway. A bunch of us got some Subway and ate at the base of the O'Connell monument. Jaye, Sarah, and I went to see the GPO, another cool historical moment for me, and saw the memorial statue of Cu Chulainn and the bullet holes from the Easter Rising. Next we went to the Old Jameson Distillery, where we had a lovely tour (given by, disappointingly, an American) and learned all about whiskey making. Jaye and Sarah volunteered for a whiskey tasting, where they compared Jameson, Scotch, and Jim Daniels. They all chose Jameson as the best... influenced by their locale, mayhaps? We all got a "free" whiskey, and then a quick run to the gift shop before hailing a taxi (knocking aside an old lady in the process... hey, he stopped for us, not her, ok?), who obligingly sped us back to the hotel in time to get the (small, cramped, smelly) bus home. I enjoyed my weekend, even though I had many lame tours, but the great parts: the rugby match and Kilmainham especially, made it sooooo worth it.
We got to Jury's Inn along the Liffey, which was very nice, but they didn't have our rooms ready yet, so we stowed our bags in a small room and trekked down to O'Connell Street for some quick food (Supermacs and Burger King) before heading back to Jury's to meet up with the Limerick and Cork groups (still without personalities) and go on a boat tour of Dublin. Now, we were all excited for this: boating up and down the Liffey, seeing all the sights, learning some history. LAMEST TOUR EVER. The best part of it was when we had to back up for a bit before we could turn around and the driver and another guy had to sit on the roof, and all we could see were their legs. The reason it was lame is that we got about to O'Connell Street (a few blocks away), hearing some fun facts, and then turned around! We wanted to see more! So we backed up for a bit (with many mysterious loud scraping noises coming from below our feet) before turning around (hearing many of the same facts again) and heading toward the docks. We saw a reconstruction of the only Famine passenger ship that never had any fatalities, which was cool, but then got down to the ugly area, where we turned around before getting to the other interesting bit (which included Bono's house!). So really, a waste of time.
Next we walked to Trinity College, which is very pretty, to see the Book of Kells. Sadly, no photography allowed, but it was really cool to see anyway, and from there you can go into the Long Room of the library, which reminded us all of the Beauty and the Beast library ("I'd marry the Beast for this..." --Jess). Then, lunch time. API gave us vouchers for a really nice restaurant in Temple Bar, and afterwards we stood outside to hear a very funny street comedian, who told us that we all had lovely straight white teeth. The groups split off from there, and Jess, Jaye, and I went over through the shopping district, where we all bought rugby shirts for the big match that night. There's a big tournament called the Six Nations (Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, and Italy), and this was the last game: Ireland vs. Wales. If Ireland won they would be undefeated and so win not only 6 Nations but also the Grand Slam. More on that later. We went into the famous St. Stephen's Green, which was very lovely, and took some pictures of the memorials for the Countess Markievicz and Wolfe Tone, two famous Irish patriots, before basking on the grass in the sunlight. We headed back toward the Liffey to try and meet up with people for the match and ended up at Messrs. Maguire's, a pub right across the bridge from O'Connell Street. We found Kevin (Finn's husband and our other API director who was leading this trip), who felt that the pub with all its staircases and hidden passageways was "like Narnia!" We love Kevin. We finally found a place to stand with our pints where we had an excellent view of the tv and an enthusiastic group around us. The game was so good!! Really intense, and the win came down to a last second kick (which Wales missed!!!), but Ireland won!!! Now, I know I've never been interested in rugby before, but it's actually pretty easy to pick up, and it was just cool to be around such excited sports fans! It's been awhile, but I always like an exciting game.
We bought some celebratory baguettes and cheese for dinner before heading back to the hotel to get our rooms. Mine was huge!! It had a nook! With a couch! Jess and Jaye came in to eat, and then Julie joined us and stole my blanket because the room was cold (it had crazy windows), and we just hung out for awhile. Later we split up (Julie had a little trouble putting the blanket back on the bed) to settle in for an early night, and I think most of us ended up just sitting in bed watching Notting Hill, which was an excellent way to end the night, I felt. The next morning we ate the delicious continental breakfast before heading out for a 9am bus tour of Dublin. Now, I like to take pictures, as you know, so this tour was a bit frustrating for me. He SPED through Dublin, casually saying things like, "Oh, and that building we just passed on the left are the Prime Minister's apartments" and such. He stopped for very odd things, like to see if we wanted to take pictures of one of the famous "Doors of Dublin" that Queen Victoria might possibly have used one time back in the day. We didn't.
Next we went for a tour of Kilmainham (spell check suggests "Kilimanjaro" as well as "kilogram," "mainsail," and "chamberlain." Wharves.) Gaol, which was really great. It's the prison that held the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion and where they were executed. Our tour guide here was really good, and we watched a short video on the Gaol inside the chapel where Joseph and Grace Plunkett were married. We saw all the famous cells where the leaders were held and where other people, like Eamonn DeValera and Grace Plunkett, were held during the Irish Civil War. We went out to the yard where the 1916 leaders were executed, and it was so unbelievable to imagine that all of this terrible history happened RIGHT HERE under 100 years ago! The Gaol was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We got back to our bus to go to Dvblinia, which is all about Viking Dublin, and it was super lame. The whole thing is really more appropriate for grade-school audiences, but parts of it were fun... like laughing at how lame it was... and playing dramatic drum music while Julie and Jaye had a medieval ring toss game showdown. We didn't get to go into the attached Christchurch Cathedral because there was a service going on, and a testy Vicar in a cape pretty much chased us away.
The bus tour continued through Phoenix Park, where the President lives at Aras an Uachtarain, and where the American Ambassador has a house. It's a pretty park, and it was cool to see the "mini White House" (the same architect designed the two buildings). We drove slowly through a parking lot in the Park to see a large memorial cross from when Pope JPII was there in the 70s, I think, giving us ample time to photograph it, but he wanted to stop there too for a photo op. We declined. We saw lots of other famous Dublin things at a breakneck pace, and then we had a couple hours of free time before heading back to Galway. A bunch of us got some Subway and ate at the base of the O'Connell monument. Jaye, Sarah, and I went to see the GPO, another cool historical moment for me, and saw the memorial statue of Cu Chulainn and the bullet holes from the Easter Rising. Next we went to the Old Jameson Distillery, where we had a lovely tour (given by, disappointingly, an American) and learned all about whiskey making. Jaye and Sarah volunteered for a whiskey tasting, where they compared Jameson, Scotch, and Jim Daniels. They all chose Jameson as the best... influenced by their locale, mayhaps? We all got a "free" whiskey, and then a quick run to the gift shop before hailing a taxi (knocking aside an old lady in the process... hey, he stopped for us, not her, ok?), who obligingly sped us back to the hotel in time to get the (small, cramped, smelly) bus home. I enjoyed my weekend, even though I had many lame tours, but the great parts: the rugby match and Kilmainham especially, made it sooooo worth it.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Some laugh, some cry, some scream and run away
Alright, if you hearken back to my earlier posts about the strange ads we have here, you'll remember that they get pretty outrageous. The most horrifying ad I've seen so far is for Cadbury chocolates, although the ad itself (in what I've come to understand is something they do a lot) has nothing whatsoever to do with chocolate. I give you... the eyebrow kids! It's pretty terrifying, but it only gets worse when the little girl pulls out the balloon... *shudder* Try to sit through the whole thing. It's only a minute long. Good luck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVblWq3tDwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVblWq3tDwY
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Laura in Galway!
If you're not sick of me after all those videos... Laura came to visit me last weekend!! She got here Friday evening, so we had a quiet night in with some pasta and some Robin Hood =) Saturday we planned to go to the Aran Islands, so we got up early and walked downtown to pick up the bus, which took us into Connemara to pick up the ferry. There are three Aran Islands: Inis Mor, Inis Meain, and Inis Oirr. Inis Mor (which means "Big Island") is, of course, the biggest, as well as the most touristy, as far as they go, and that's the one we went to. It has several forts and other historical buildings, as well as just tons of gorgeous scenery and a seal colony! It takes something like 40 minutes to get there by ferry, and it was a bit rough, so, sadly, I got sick on the way there (I was certainly not the ony one), but we got there soon enough and the rest of the day went well! We rented bikes (very shiny silver things they were too... basically shouted "tourist" to anyone within 10 yards of us) and set out along the left side of the island toward Arkin Castle, which was not all that impressive once we got there, but it was a nice short ride with very nice scenery. We also made a dog friend, who kept offering me a piece of plastic he had found on the beach, and who ran along back with us for almost a mile until we met another biking group coming towards us, and he ran off with them instead. We got some lunch at a hotel near the pier before setting off again in the opposite direction, stopping in at Spar for a drink and a snack for later, and a fellow biking tourist (an Irish one) suggested we take a certain road, which turned out to be an excellent suggestion! It took us right down the island along the coast, through lovely fields and past beaches, and we found the seal colony! Mike was there with a friend of his too (they had gone Friday and stayed over), and we ran into them a few times, which was fun!
A few miles of biking took us to the base of a hill, where we abandoned the bikes to walk up to Dun Aonghasa (Dun Angus, Angus's Fort) - the best Euro I've ever spent! Although the walk up nearly killed me after all that biking (I'm no Olympian, as you know), we finally reached the top, where a great breeze was blowing. It's a ring fort built right on the cliff, so when you go in through the walls to the inner circle you find yourself in an open space where you can walk right up to the cliff and sit yourself down to look over the edge (see the pictures). I could have stayed there all day... it was oddly soothing to lie on the edge of that cliff, with the waves crashing far below, and that wonderful breeze blowing. But, no rest for the bikers: we had to head back to make sure we made it to the ferry on time. As it turns out, there were many slight inclines on the way that we hadn't noticed, but they turned into excellent downhill slopes on the ride back! Consequently it took us much less time to get back, leaving us some time to pick up some postcards at the visitors' center and to walk on the beach. I did not got sick on the ferry back, you'll be glad to hear, and our bus back to Galway was a double-decker, and we sat on the top level! Hoorah! We got home, made tacos, and crashed with some more Robin Hood after a full and exhausting day.
Sunday we slept in (yay!) before heading out for brunch at Mister Waffle, followed by a stroll down the Salthill Promenade along the beach to go to the aquarium. We were obviously the oldest ones there not accompanied by small children, but we had a grand time with the fishes and marine life! We got there just in time for a tour of the touch-pools, and (after a terrified looking boy had given it back) Laura held a big spider crab! Our favorite place was the tank with the rays and the dogfish. They kept popping their heads out at us! We petted them, and the dogfish was sandpapery (because, Laura knew, they're members of the shark family). The wings of the rays were very smooth. I was slightly mesmerized by the big slowmoving conger eels, although they freak Laura out. They're apparently pretty common in the waters around Galway, and it would DEFINITELY freak me out to see one while swimming! We went out to hear some music that night, wrapping up a lovely weekend, and she left Monday morning to spend a couple hours in Dublin (she was there all last semester) before heading up to Belfast. Yay visiting! API is going to Dublin this weekend, so more fun to come!
A few miles of biking took us to the base of a hill, where we abandoned the bikes to walk up to Dun Aonghasa (Dun Angus, Angus's Fort) - the best Euro I've ever spent! Although the walk up nearly killed me after all that biking (I'm no Olympian, as you know), we finally reached the top, where a great breeze was blowing. It's a ring fort built right on the cliff, so when you go in through the walls to the inner circle you find yourself in an open space where you can walk right up to the cliff and sit yourself down to look over the edge (see the pictures). I could have stayed there all day... it was oddly soothing to lie on the edge of that cliff, with the waves crashing far below, and that wonderful breeze blowing. But, no rest for the bikers: we had to head back to make sure we made it to the ferry on time. As it turns out, there were many slight inclines on the way that we hadn't noticed, but they turned into excellent downhill slopes on the ride back! Consequently it took us much less time to get back, leaving us some time to pick up some postcards at the visitors' center and to walk on the beach. I did not got sick on the ferry back, you'll be glad to hear, and our bus back to Galway was a double-decker, and we sat on the top level! Hoorah! We got home, made tacos, and crashed with some more Robin Hood after a full and exhausting day.
Sunday we slept in (yay!) before heading out for brunch at Mister Waffle, followed by a stroll down the Salthill Promenade along the beach to go to the aquarium. We were obviously the oldest ones there not accompanied by small children, but we had a grand time with the fishes and marine life! We got there just in time for a tour of the touch-pools, and (after a terrified looking boy had given it back) Laura held a big spider crab! Our favorite place was the tank with the rays and the dogfish. They kept popping their heads out at us! We petted them, and the dogfish was sandpapery (because, Laura knew, they're members of the shark family). The wings of the rays were very smooth. I was slightly mesmerized by the big slowmoving conger eels, although they freak Laura out. They're apparently pretty common in the waters around Galway, and it would DEFINITELY freak me out to see one while swimming! We went out to hear some music that night, wrapping up a lovely weekend, and she left Monday morning to spend a couple hours in Dublin (she was there all last semester) before heading up to Belfast. Yay visiting! API is going to Dublin this weekend, so more fun to come!
Some St. Patrick's Day fun!
I still have more to fill in between last post and this - Laura's weekend here and our trip to the Aran Islands - but in the interest of trying to keep up with Julie (I fail), here are some videos from St. Patrick's Day, which was gorgeously sunny and warm! Downtown was packed, and everyone wore tacky green accessories just like at home! I met up with Julie, Jaye, Jess, and Heather downtown, where we basked in the warmth and enjoyed the parade. The others felt it went on for too long, but it was WAY shorter than Scranton's parade... only a little over an hour! There was also a distict "ocean" theme, which sort of overshadowed any type of St. Patrick theme there might have been. There were also TWO groups from Canada in the parade (why?).
Some things missing included: the first hour of the parade being taken up by the Irem Temple guys; pipe bands (there was only one!); the Pixie Chicks (thank God); the Grump (replaced by the Easter Bunny, a penguin, and some sort of fish thing); everyone I know in some section of the parade or another; the medieval combat people (sort of replaced by little kids dressed up as Order of Malta knights... but they had no horses or billowy cloaks).
New experiences included: dancing jellyfish; hundreds of children playing the tin whistle; a meditating guy on a float flanked by women doing tai-chi-esque movements; many hurling teams made up of small chanting children; the float for the lifeboat people with one of their people "saving" a victim, who spurted realistic blood!; Pink Floyd.
Here's a hurling team (followed by a giant sliotar, or hurling ball). Sorry for all of the pitching about on my part... it was very crowded. I essentially had a small boy sitting on my face the entire parade instead of on his father's shoulders as was the original plan.
Had I known there would only be one pipe band, I would have taken a video of it, but as it is here is some other type of music. The one thing is sort of like a bagpipe:
Leprechauns!
Afterwards we stopped at Supermacs (a fast food chain) for some lunch, which we brought down to the Spanish Arch - ABSOLUTELY FULL of people milling about, eating, drinking... the side across the river was full too, and every now and then one of the sides would start yelling, and then the other would start to see who could be louder.
Jess and Jaye's roommate Fergus came to meet us, and we headed for Eyre Square. We picked up their other roommate Mark on the way. Shop Street was full too, and Eyre Square was full of teenagers (lame) - where did all these people come from?! To escape the teenagers, we went into the Skeff to hang out, and the barman made a shamrock in my Guinness! We went back down to the Spanish Arch after that, which had gotten even fuller since we had been there last, to meet up with some of the other Menlo girls.
In all that fine weather I got a little bit of sunburn!! Very exciting stuff. All in all an excellent day, even though I did miss Fergus singing the Rattlin' Bog song (see Julie's blog for a video).
One final crowd shot:
Some things missing included: the first hour of the parade being taken up by the Irem Temple guys; pipe bands (there was only one!); the Pixie Chicks (thank God); the Grump (replaced by the Easter Bunny, a penguin, and some sort of fish thing); everyone I know in some section of the parade or another; the medieval combat people (sort of replaced by little kids dressed up as Order of Malta knights... but they had no horses or billowy cloaks).
New experiences included: dancing jellyfish; hundreds of children playing the tin whistle; a meditating guy on a float flanked by women doing tai-chi-esque movements; many hurling teams made up of small chanting children; the float for the lifeboat people with one of their people "saving" a victim, who spurted realistic blood!; Pink Floyd.
Here's a hurling team (followed by a giant sliotar, or hurling ball). Sorry for all of the pitching about on my part... it was very crowded. I essentially had a small boy sitting on my face the entire parade instead of on his father's shoulders as was the original plan.
Had I known there would only be one pipe band, I would have taken a video of it, but as it is here is some other type of music. The one thing is sort of like a bagpipe:
Leprechauns!
Afterwards we stopped at Supermacs (a fast food chain) for some lunch, which we brought down to the Spanish Arch - ABSOLUTELY FULL of people milling about, eating, drinking... the side across the river was full too, and every now and then one of the sides would start yelling, and then the other would start to see who could be louder.
Jess and Jaye's roommate Fergus came to meet us, and we headed for Eyre Square. We picked up their other roommate Mark on the way. Shop Street was full too, and Eyre Square was full of teenagers (lame) - where did all these people come from?! To escape the teenagers, we went into the Skeff to hang out, and the barman made a shamrock in my Guinness! We went back down to the Spanish Arch after that, which had gotten even fuller since we had been there last, to meet up with some of the other Menlo girls.
In all that fine weather I got a little bit of sunburn!! Very exciting stuff. All in all an excellent day, even though I did miss Fergus singing the Rattlin' Bog song (see Julie's blog for a video).
One final crowd shot:
Monday, March 16, 2009
Visitors!
Before I went to Belfast, Hannah (my cousin, for those of you not related to me) sent me a message to say that she was going to be in Ireland that weekend for a funeral (some of her mom's family still live down in County Cork), and would I mind a visit? Pssh, of course not, says I! So, on Monday evening Hannah and I met up, and she stayed with me until Thursday morning! That night we stayed in to catch up, and she went to bed early after all her travels, and I finished a paper (crazy times here, let me tell you). The next day I had classes, and she wanted to explore, so she did. We went to McDonagh's for dinner, which means delicious fish and chips, then headed to Tigh Taaffe's for some music, where Ethan met up with us for some craic. We swapped over to Quays and heard another excellent band before heading home.
Last year, I took the best class ever, Tolkien and Lewis, and met a girl named Brittany, who, like the rest of the class, shares my geekish love for all things Tolkien and Lewis. We never really saw each other after the class, but this semester she is studying abroad/interning in London, so I've been following her blog on here. She was coming to Ireland for her spring break, so we agreed to meet up when she came to Galway. As you can read if you choose to stalk her blog, she had a generally lovely time on this fair isle, as I knew she would =) So, she got into Galway late on Tuesday, and Hannah and I wanted to spend Wednesday on a day trip to Connemara, so we invited Brittany along. However, we woke up to a heavy snowfall, so we decided to cancel that plan. The weather was pretty gross all day, so it was a good call. Brittany ended up going to the Cliffs of Moher for the day, and Hannah and I did some Galway wandering, which included a blissful hour browsing through Kenny's Bookstore, the best place ever. We went for dinner with Brittany, but it was too early to hit the pubs, so we all went back to Corrib Village for some tea, which, sadly, Brittany spilled on her sweater. BUT the good news is that Heather sent me some Oxy Clean spray, which worked like a charm (go Heather!). We went downtown to the Spanish Arch Hotel to meet up with Jess and Jaye to hear another band, who were a cool mix of Spanish and Irish members, and I bought their CD.
Hannah left the next morning to spend a couple days in Dublin before heading home. It was so good to see her!! I haven't really been homesick, but I miss my family... there are so many of them, I'm used to having at least some of them around! And I hadn't seen Hannah in a really really long time, so that was a bonus. I met Brittany for dinner that night (McDonagh's! Score!) but, due to a cold of doom, I was forced to be lame and head home instead of joining her for some music and a pint. I can't always be winning, you know. But it was really nice to see Brittany again! The rest of that week and the weekend were spent recuperating from my cold (so many tissues... even the mansize! And yes, they have a classification of large tissues here called "Man size") and not writing my papers, so that was all very quiet and restful... getting me ready for this weekend, when Laura came to visit!!
Last year, I took the best class ever, Tolkien and Lewis, and met a girl named Brittany, who, like the rest of the class, shares my geekish love for all things Tolkien and Lewis. We never really saw each other after the class, but this semester she is studying abroad/interning in London, so I've been following her blog on here. She was coming to Ireland for her spring break, so we agreed to meet up when she came to Galway. As you can read if you choose to stalk her blog, she had a generally lovely time on this fair isle, as I knew she would =) So, she got into Galway late on Tuesday, and Hannah and I wanted to spend Wednesday on a day trip to Connemara, so we invited Brittany along. However, we woke up to a heavy snowfall, so we decided to cancel that plan. The weather was pretty gross all day, so it was a good call. Brittany ended up going to the Cliffs of Moher for the day, and Hannah and I did some Galway wandering, which included a blissful hour browsing through Kenny's Bookstore, the best place ever. We went for dinner with Brittany, but it was too early to hit the pubs, so we all went back to Corrib Village for some tea, which, sadly, Brittany spilled on her sweater. BUT the good news is that Heather sent me some Oxy Clean spray, which worked like a charm (go Heather!). We went downtown to the Spanish Arch Hotel to meet up with Jess and Jaye to hear another band, who were a cool mix of Spanish and Irish members, and I bought their CD.
Hannah left the next morning to spend a couple days in Dublin before heading home. It was so good to see her!! I haven't really been homesick, but I miss my family... there are so many of them, I'm used to having at least some of them around! And I hadn't seen Hannah in a really really long time, so that was a bonus. I met Brittany for dinner that night (McDonagh's! Score!) but, due to a cold of doom, I was forced to be lame and head home instead of joining her for some music and a pint. I can't always be winning, you know. But it was really nice to see Brittany again! The rest of that week and the weekend were spent recuperating from my cold (so many tissues... even the mansize! And yes, they have a classification of large tissues here called "Man size") and not writing my papers, so that was all very quiet and restful... getting me ready for this weekend, when Laura came to visit!!
Belfast, continued: Exploring the city
We slept in on Sunday, tired after a day of sightseeing (and sprinting up hills) and a late night watching episodes of a great BBC show called Merlin (pretty amazing). When we eventually got up, we decided to stroll through the Botanical Gardens next to Queens before heading downtown to explore. The gardens were lovely, although it was still too early for some of the parts, but daffodils and other early spring flowers were all over. We went into the tropical building and saw fishes and Spanish moss and other cool plants and things that made us think of Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. You walk around the upper level, and there's a path running down that takes you into the lower section, but it was closed off, and we were sad. Next, to the greenhouse to see lovely flowers all in bloom. A mother and her little boy came through, and she was in raptures, "Aren't they lovely, just lovely." The boy, however, had screwed up his face, "It's a horrible smell, ugh..." This exchange repeated itself several times, all in their charming accents. The accents of the North are closer to Scottish accents, which was interesting to hear after getting used to the accents here. Sidenote: yesterday, at mass, we had a visiting priest who is from Ireland but is currently in the Diocese of Atlanta, so his accent was SO Americanized, and it was very strange to hear. Not, of course, that I never hear American accents, but every now and then his Irish accent would slip back in, and the combo was strange.
So, after seeing the plantlife we went downtown, which is very large and full of a mix of shopping and historical buildings. During our explorations, we came across an alley-thing with a statue mounted on the side of one of the buildings in it, so we went through the muralled (as in, covered in paintings) tunnel to explore and found it was of Jim Larkin, who we had never heard of, but who I found out later is pretty famous for his work in the labor movement. Fun stuff. We also saw Prince Albert on the clock tower, which leans a bit due to the river running underneath it, and lots and lots of rainbows! We pondered the Salmon of Knowledge, whose scales are covered in pictures of historical people and events, and then it started to rain, but we found ground chimes!! A square on the ground of nine metal squares that each produced a different tone when you stepped on them!! It was great!! We made some lovely songs, but then it really started to rain, so we sprinted to a nearby courtyard to hunker under something for a while. We headed to Victoria Square, which is a semi-indoor, semi-outdoor shopping mall with a huge dome that you can go up into and see all around the city, which we did. We also went into the swanky department store and picked out furnishings for our apartment next year before heading to the really great toy section, where we were entranced by a jet-propelled penguin that can magnetically catch baby penguins on its back through the cunning use of magnets that they had in a small pool of water. I still rather regret not buying it. We also saw a beautiful building that, inside, had a beautifully painted dome - and it was a Tesco's supermarket. Ah Belfast.
We went to mass at 5, and after that we went to wander a bit more and find some dinner. The catch: downtown Belfast pretty much shuts down around 6 or 6:30. No one is around. Stores are no longer open. There are no restaurants except for a couple expensive ones. What to do? Well, we headed back to Victoria Square for some good ol' Irish Chilis. Yep, you heard me. It was really good. We wound our way home after that, passing one store in particular that had really stellar mannequins (see shutterfly), and stopped in to the Crown Pub for a pint, which is a cool, cozy little place with little booths that have doors. The next morning I was catching an uber-early bus, so we woke up at some obscene darkish hour of the morning and I headed off for my long, long bus ride back to Galway. It's always nice to get back, even though I had a really great time exploring Belfast and especially at the Giants Causeway. Whenever the bus passes the Oranmore stop, I know we're almost there! I'm so lame.
So, after seeing the plantlife we went downtown, which is very large and full of a mix of shopping and historical buildings. During our explorations, we came across an alley-thing with a statue mounted on the side of one of the buildings in it, so we went through the muralled (as in, covered in paintings) tunnel to explore and found it was of Jim Larkin, who we had never heard of, but who I found out later is pretty famous for his work in the labor movement. Fun stuff. We also saw Prince Albert on the clock tower, which leans a bit due to the river running underneath it, and lots and lots of rainbows! We pondered the Salmon of Knowledge, whose scales are covered in pictures of historical people and events, and then it started to rain, but we found ground chimes!! A square on the ground of nine metal squares that each produced a different tone when you stepped on them!! It was great!! We made some lovely songs, but then it really started to rain, so we sprinted to a nearby courtyard to hunker under something for a while. We headed to Victoria Square, which is a semi-indoor, semi-outdoor shopping mall with a huge dome that you can go up into and see all around the city, which we did. We also went into the swanky department store and picked out furnishings for our apartment next year before heading to the really great toy section, where we were entranced by a jet-propelled penguin that can magnetically catch baby penguins on its back through the cunning use of magnets that they had in a small pool of water. I still rather regret not buying it. We also saw a beautiful building that, inside, had a beautifully painted dome - and it was a Tesco's supermarket. Ah Belfast.
We went to mass at 5, and after that we went to wander a bit more and find some dinner. The catch: downtown Belfast pretty much shuts down around 6 or 6:30. No one is around. Stores are no longer open. There are no restaurants except for a couple expensive ones. What to do? Well, we headed back to Victoria Square for some good ol' Irish Chilis. Yep, you heard me. It was really good. We wound our way home after that, passing one store in particular that had really stellar mannequins (see shutterfly), and stopped in to the Crown Pub for a pint, which is a cool, cozy little place with little booths that have doors. The next morning I was catching an uber-early bus, so we woke up at some obscene darkish hour of the morning and I headed off for my long, long bus ride back to Galway. It's always nice to get back, even though I had a really great time exploring Belfast and especially at the Giants Causeway. Whenever the bus passes the Oranmore stop, I know we're almost there! I'm so lame.
In which I go to Belfast to visit Laura
Alright, I'm going to not be quite as longwinded as I usually am (or try not to be, anyway) in the interest of getting caught up with my blog, which has fallen sadly out of date. My friend Laura from Pitt, with whom I will be living next year, is studying at Queen's in Belfast this semester after having spent last semester in Dublin, so I haven't seen her in forever, so when we both had a free weekend I decided to head up and crash at her place for a few days. I left on Friday (27 Feb.) later than I probably should have (it's a 7 or 8 hour trip), but I wanted to go to my classes (lame, I know). The trip involves changing buses in Dublin, and I got to the station literally 3 minutes after my other bus left, so I hung out for an hour at the Dublin station before catching the next one. I got into Belfast at 12:30, and the bus let us out in a dark alley, no lie. So I called Laura, who was waiting in the nearby hotel, and she came to get me, but she had a new haircut that I was unaware of, so this small, short-haired, bespectacled person is coming towards me down the dark alley... but it was her, so that was lovely. Her housing is dorm-style, and her floor was having a pirate party, which was enthusiastically attended by what looked like the whole building and then some. We retired to her room to chat and relax until about 2 am, when the fire alarm went off, so we went for a walk and got food.
The next day we took a bus tour to the Giants Causeway, which is an incredible section of the Antrim coast formed by volcanos 60 million years ago (or by dueling giants... hence the name. Long story.). On the way we saw lots of stunning coast and countryside. Taking a bus tour in the North had distinct differences from tours in the Republic: as we drove through Belfast on our way out, our guide pointed out which buildings had been damaged by bombs during the Troubles, and as we drove along he pointed out the highly fortified police stations and gave us a short history of the military movements in the area during the Troubles up to the present day. It was surreal the following week, when those soldiers, pizza boys, and policemen were shot, to know that I had seen similar fortifications only a week earlier, had heard the guide talking about how much better it was now that the violence had stopped after the Good Friday agreement. Crazy.
Our first stop was the castle at Carrickfergus, and yes, I sang the song. It's very pretty and right on the water. There's a statue of William of Orange (I shook a righteous fist) next to the car park and a statue of a guard along the battlements, which made me laugh a little. Laura and I scaled the wall a little way up and had general climbing merriment (the guard continued to point his gun in the opposite direction... he had no idea...). When we walked over to the water, there were tourist children in little grated openings in the walls, looking like they were imprisoned, and that was sort of funny too (don't worry, they were eventually released after a short spell in the stocks). The countryside continued to be gorgeous as we traveled along, seeing more of the coast and mountains, driving inland a bit through the glens, and through villages. According to our driver, the smaller villages are pretty much either exclusively Catholic or Protestant, and you can tell by the presence of the Union Jack (or lack thereof). Also, we saw some murals, which I was really interested in, in one of the Protestant villages, which was cool. They also paint the stones along the sidewalks red, white, and blue.
We stopped off at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which was so cool. It's really for fishermen crossing over to the little connecting islands, but it's also a stellar tourist spot (come pay to walk across our bridge!). Anyway, we had a good time, touristy or not. It's sort of cliffy, and there were cool little caves at the bases that you could see while on the bridge. We went from there to Giants Causeway, and the rocks there are just incredible: perfect hexagons, and pillars, and piles of them to climb around on, and crashing waves. We took pictures standing in the Giant's Boot (a rock that looks like a boot) and climbed the paths up the mountain to more cool pillared stones amid the grass and plantlife. We did much exploring and scrambling on rocks and being queen of the elements and/or mountain, and just soaking in how incredible of a place it was. Such an unpicturesque island I chose to come to... The visitor's center and car park are at the top of a pretty steep hill that you walk down to get to the Causeway, and there's a shuttle bus that runs up and down regularly, so we decided to catch it on the way up. We waited. And waited. And waited. Our own tour bus was going to be leaving soon, so we headed off at a quick pace and ultimately sprinted up the hill (I hate physical exertion. So much.) to get back to the bus, which was starting to leave without us. We had to endure the walk of shame as we walked down the aisle to our seats, red and sweaty and windblown from our trek up the cliff. We stopped again to see a huge sprawling castle ruin on the edge of the sea, which was really lovely. A little way out from the castle you can see something pointing up out of the water, which is the spire of a church. There was a town there on an island that is now submerged. This happened relatively recently, our driver told us. It was so weird! Knowing there was a village out there. It's terribly sad, but I really want to take a little boat out and see it, you know? Our final stop was the Bushmills Distillery to pick up some whiskey and observe the making-process. We were cutting it close to closing time, but we had just enough time to get in and get out, but as we started to go in we were shunted back by a security guard... apparently THAT day they were closing a little early. Lame. Our fault? I think not. The driver told some lame jokes on our drive back into Belfast while we alternately dozed and appreciated the lovely scenery. We went out for pizza that night (delicious!) and got some snacks to settle in to her room for an evening in. Turns out I was still longwinded, so I'll continue the Belfast tale soon.
The next day we took a bus tour to the Giants Causeway, which is an incredible section of the Antrim coast formed by volcanos 60 million years ago (or by dueling giants... hence the name. Long story.). On the way we saw lots of stunning coast and countryside. Taking a bus tour in the North had distinct differences from tours in the Republic: as we drove through Belfast on our way out, our guide pointed out which buildings had been damaged by bombs during the Troubles, and as we drove along he pointed out the highly fortified police stations and gave us a short history of the military movements in the area during the Troubles up to the present day. It was surreal the following week, when those soldiers, pizza boys, and policemen were shot, to know that I had seen similar fortifications only a week earlier, had heard the guide talking about how much better it was now that the violence had stopped after the Good Friday agreement. Crazy.
Our first stop was the castle at Carrickfergus, and yes, I sang the song. It's very pretty and right on the water. There's a statue of William of Orange (I shook a righteous fist) next to the car park and a statue of a guard along the battlements, which made me laugh a little. Laura and I scaled the wall a little way up and had general climbing merriment (the guard continued to point his gun in the opposite direction... he had no idea...). When we walked over to the water, there were tourist children in little grated openings in the walls, looking like they were imprisoned, and that was sort of funny too (don't worry, they were eventually released after a short spell in the stocks). The countryside continued to be gorgeous as we traveled along, seeing more of the coast and mountains, driving inland a bit through the glens, and through villages. According to our driver, the smaller villages are pretty much either exclusively Catholic or Protestant, and you can tell by the presence of the Union Jack (or lack thereof). Also, we saw some murals, which I was really interested in, in one of the Protestant villages, which was cool. They also paint the stones along the sidewalks red, white, and blue.
We stopped off at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which was so cool. It's really for fishermen crossing over to the little connecting islands, but it's also a stellar tourist spot (come pay to walk across our bridge!). Anyway, we had a good time, touristy or not. It's sort of cliffy, and there were cool little caves at the bases that you could see while on the bridge. We went from there to Giants Causeway, and the rocks there are just incredible: perfect hexagons, and pillars, and piles of them to climb around on, and crashing waves. We took pictures standing in the Giant's Boot (a rock that looks like a boot) and climbed the paths up the mountain to more cool pillared stones amid the grass and plantlife. We did much exploring and scrambling on rocks and being queen of the elements and/or mountain, and just soaking in how incredible of a place it was. Such an unpicturesque island I chose to come to... The visitor's center and car park are at the top of a pretty steep hill that you walk down to get to the Causeway, and there's a shuttle bus that runs up and down regularly, so we decided to catch it on the way up. We waited. And waited. And waited. Our own tour bus was going to be leaving soon, so we headed off at a quick pace and ultimately sprinted up the hill (I hate physical exertion. So much.) to get back to the bus, which was starting to leave without us. We had to endure the walk of shame as we walked down the aisle to our seats, red and sweaty and windblown from our trek up the cliff. We stopped again to see a huge sprawling castle ruin on the edge of the sea, which was really lovely. A little way out from the castle you can see something pointing up out of the water, which is the spire of a church. There was a town there on an island that is now submerged. This happened relatively recently, our driver told us. It was so weird! Knowing there was a village out there. It's terribly sad, but I really want to take a little boat out and see it, you know? Our final stop was the Bushmills Distillery to pick up some whiskey and observe the making-process. We were cutting it close to closing time, but we had just enough time to get in and get out, but as we started to go in we were shunted back by a security guard... apparently THAT day they were closing a little early. Lame. Our fault? I think not. The driver told some lame jokes on our drive back into Belfast while we alternately dozed and appreciated the lovely scenery. We went out for pizza that night (delicious!) and got some snacks to settle in to her room for an evening in. Turns out I was still longwinded, so I'll continue the Belfast tale soon.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Paris!! Day 3
I was GETTING to this point, Julie, but since you insist, I will mention it first. One of the biggest parts of our trip to Paris was a man named Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Technically, it was a large ad of his for a clothing line, I believe. If you don't recognize the name, he's an actor, so go imdb him, and he's also the one true love of Julie. There are many large multi-sided signboards throughout the city with advertisements and posters on them, and basically, wherever we were in Paris, Jonathan would lead us down the right way: "Um, I'm not really sure which road it is... oh look, there's Jonathan!" and that would be the correct way. "I'm really hungry, I could really use... oh look, Jonathan!" and there would be the perfect restaurant. It was really uncanny, but I tell you the complete truth. Anytime we needed something, he was there, smirking down at us with those lovely eyes (and, frankly, an unfortunate goatee as well), leading us on.
So, Sunday came, and Finn (my program leader) was taking whoever wanted to go to mass up to Sacre Coeur, the beautiful church on the top of Montmartre. There are many, many, many stairs up to the church, giving the Rufus Wainwright song "Complaint de la Butte" from Moulin Rouge a whole new meaning: "the stairways up to the butte can make the wretched sigh, while windmill wings of the Moulin shelter you and I." Anyway, ponder that as you will, and I refer you to my pictures for a visual. At the base of the staircases is a carousel, which is fun, and as you go up there are people selling things for tourists and things. Now, if you look back at my pictures of the Eiffel Tower, there is one that shows a line of men holding large metal rings, which held Eiffel Tower keychains and things to sell to you. Here, on the stairs of Montmartre, there are "string salesmen," or so I have termed them. They form a line across the stairs, and if you pass too close to them and they can grab your arm, they wrap a type of string around your wrist and apply heat to it to make it into a bracelet of sorts, then insist that you pay for it. I didn't know this at the time, but as we approached where the men were, Finn hissed "keep your hands at your sides, keep them down, don't make eye contact." We all made it through un-stringed, you'll be glad to hear.
When you finally reach the top (Julie and I took the last flight Rocky-style), you are treated to the dueling gorgeous views of the church in front of you and a panoramic of the city behind you. Mass was in French of course, but we could follow along in the programs (written, French and Spanish are similar enough that I could pick out some things). The singing was breathtaking... I'm really running out of adjectives here, people, I'm sorry. Anyway, they were Benedictine nuns, and they sang in multi-part harmony sometimes and other times it was just the one, but it was beautiful, especially in combo with the super-intense organ music going on. We also joined in the singing, since it was printed for us, and I think we did pretty well.
Julie and I met up with Jaye, Jess, and Shaina after mass for our first foray onto the transportation systems of Paris and from thence on to Versailles! Finn had given us day passes for the Metro, so we took that to Notre Dame, where we would pick up the train. We stopped off for some lunch (paninis and crepes from an outdoor shop) and then headed out. After some initial difficulties trying to buy tickets (yes Julie, you were right) our train came conveniently quickly, so we hopped on and headed out of the city. Versailles is a whole new kind of insane: I've seen my share of castles at this point, but I'd never seen a PALACE. Certainly not one with gold everywhere, and statues, and incredible ceilings and paintings and fabric-covered walls and decorative pillars inside of rooms and huge long halls of paintings and busts of war heroes and battles and of course the Hall of Mirrors. Go look at my pictures please. We stood in a long long line to get in, but totally worth it: not only did we get to go in, of course, but we also got to be treated to "Monsieur le Desk," the very cute French man working at a desk in the ticket office (he gives out information, we had to pass him to buy tickets), who very charmingly talked to us in French until I said we didn't understand, so then he swapped over and gave us English maps of the palace. Such a nice boy... I liked his hair so much (name the quote!). After making our way through the many sections of the palace we went out to the famed gardens, which, despite the fact that it was not quite prime viewing season, were nonetheless great. We met up with Ethan, Mike, and some of the others while we were out, which was nice, and they wandered with us for a bit before heading in, since they hadn't seen the inside yet. The shrubbery (with a path! a path!) was in lots of fun shapes, including "umbrella" and "pointy cone shape," the former of which Jess and Jaye crouched under, and the latter of which Mike said "I want to go touch that tree," and proceeded to do so, because it was so perfect. We also found thrilling statues of "Lion Crushing Scary Boar Thing" and "Lion Crushing Genitals of Large Hound."
We had just enough time when we got back to Paris to hit up a bakery for some baguettes and pain au chocolat before meeting up with the group to go to the airport. We were at the airport FOREVER waiting in a HUGE security line from hell, but we eventually got through and back to Shannon, where our driver was waiting, and we headed home. We dropped off the Menlo people first, leaving the seven of us Corrib Villagers to stretch out after a long cramped ride, and arrived at the village to find that RAG week had indeed started. We were met by the extra security, who checked the outside of our bus (for clingers-on? are we in a James Bond film?) before letting us through. The merriment had started, the "party patio" below us was getting into gear, their playlist (which would haunt us throughout the week with songs like "Who Let the Dogs Out?: Remix" and a selection of odd techno-like sounds) pounding. We made it through the week alright, it almost died out by Wednesday, but picked up for Thursday, the final hurrah. It was definitely an experience, and apparently it was so crazy this year (there was a mass arrest, I hear) that they've canceled it for next year. A pity, really, since I hear they raised a good chunk of money. Ah well. *Hums "Making Memories" from the Disney sing-a-long songs video*
"Ou est la piscine?"
So, Sunday came, and Finn (my program leader) was taking whoever wanted to go to mass up to Sacre Coeur, the beautiful church on the top of Montmartre. There are many, many, many stairs up to the church, giving the Rufus Wainwright song "Complaint de la Butte" from Moulin Rouge a whole new meaning: "the stairways up to the butte can make the wretched sigh, while windmill wings of the Moulin shelter you and I." Anyway, ponder that as you will, and I refer you to my pictures for a visual. At the base of the staircases is a carousel, which is fun, and as you go up there are people selling things for tourists and things. Now, if you look back at my pictures of the Eiffel Tower, there is one that shows a line of men holding large metal rings, which held Eiffel Tower keychains and things to sell to you. Here, on the stairs of Montmartre, there are "string salesmen," or so I have termed them. They form a line across the stairs, and if you pass too close to them and they can grab your arm, they wrap a type of string around your wrist and apply heat to it to make it into a bracelet of sorts, then insist that you pay for it. I didn't know this at the time, but as we approached where the men were, Finn hissed "keep your hands at your sides, keep them down, don't make eye contact." We all made it through un-stringed, you'll be glad to hear.
When you finally reach the top (Julie and I took the last flight Rocky-style), you are treated to the dueling gorgeous views of the church in front of you and a panoramic of the city behind you. Mass was in French of course, but we could follow along in the programs (written, French and Spanish are similar enough that I could pick out some things). The singing was breathtaking... I'm really running out of adjectives here, people, I'm sorry. Anyway, they were Benedictine nuns, and they sang in multi-part harmony sometimes and other times it was just the one, but it was beautiful, especially in combo with the super-intense organ music going on. We also joined in the singing, since it was printed for us, and I think we did pretty well.
Julie and I met up with Jaye, Jess, and Shaina after mass for our first foray onto the transportation systems of Paris and from thence on to Versailles! Finn had given us day passes for the Metro, so we took that to Notre Dame, where we would pick up the train. We stopped off for some lunch (paninis and crepes from an outdoor shop) and then headed out. After some initial difficulties trying to buy tickets (yes Julie, you were right) our train came conveniently quickly, so we hopped on and headed out of the city. Versailles is a whole new kind of insane: I've seen my share of castles at this point, but I'd never seen a PALACE. Certainly not one with gold everywhere, and statues, and incredible ceilings and paintings and fabric-covered walls and decorative pillars inside of rooms and huge long halls of paintings and busts of war heroes and battles and of course the Hall of Mirrors. Go look at my pictures please. We stood in a long long line to get in, but totally worth it: not only did we get to go in, of course, but we also got to be treated to "Monsieur le Desk," the very cute French man working at a desk in the ticket office (he gives out information, we had to pass him to buy tickets), who very charmingly talked to us in French until I said we didn't understand, so then he swapped over and gave us English maps of the palace. Such a nice boy... I liked his hair so much (name the quote!). After making our way through the many sections of the palace we went out to the famed gardens, which, despite the fact that it was not quite prime viewing season, were nonetheless great. We met up with Ethan, Mike, and some of the others while we were out, which was nice, and they wandered with us for a bit before heading in, since they hadn't seen the inside yet. The shrubbery (with a path! a path!) was in lots of fun shapes, including "umbrella" and "pointy cone shape," the former of which Jess and Jaye crouched under, and the latter of which Mike said "I want to go touch that tree," and proceeded to do so, because it was so perfect. We also found thrilling statues of "Lion Crushing Scary Boar Thing" and "Lion Crushing Genitals of Large Hound."
We had just enough time when we got back to Paris to hit up a bakery for some baguettes and pain au chocolat before meeting up with the group to go to the airport. We were at the airport FOREVER waiting in a HUGE security line from hell, but we eventually got through and back to Shannon, where our driver was waiting, and we headed home. We dropped off the Menlo people first, leaving the seven of us Corrib Villagers to stretch out after a long cramped ride, and arrived at the village to find that RAG week had indeed started. We were met by the extra security, who checked the outside of our bus (for clingers-on? are we in a James Bond film?) before letting us through. The merriment had started, the "party patio" below us was getting into gear, their playlist (which would haunt us throughout the week with songs like "Who Let the Dogs Out?: Remix" and a selection of odd techno-like sounds) pounding. We made it through the week alright, it almost died out by Wednesday, but picked up for Thursday, the final hurrah. It was definitely an experience, and apparently it was so crazy this year (there was a mass arrest, I hear) that they've canceled it for next year. A pity, really, since I hear they raised a good chunk of money. Ah well. *Hums "Making Memories" from the Disney sing-a-long songs video*
"Ou est la piscine?"
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Paris, Part 2
Sorry I fail at keeping this blog... So, Saturday morning we partook of the stellar breakfast offered by the hotel before heading out for a bus tour to hit the tourist highlights, including the Champs D'Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Trocadero (which serves as an excellent viewing place for the Eiffel Tower), and Les Invalides. The Arc was fun, because it's surrounded by the roundabout of ruination and despair (if you even think about crossing it, a car will hit you, just to save time), but there's an underground passageway that takes you right up under it, so you can see all the gigantor sculptures and things (quote: "That guy's hand is all over that guy's thigh!"). There was also a very cute policeman there as well - bonus! We finished up the tour at Notre Dame, where we were once again made paranoid about pickpockets before going inside. GORGEOUS. SO incredible (or, should I say, incroyable?). And no one was pickpocketed! We then had the rest of the day to as we liked, so we walked around outside a bit before setting out. There were a group of three immigrant women taking it in turns to dress up in shiny gold robes and Egyptian masks in the hopes of collecting money, and I took a picture because, well, she was shiny! An old homeless French man came up to me and asked why I would take a picture of that, and I said "something to look at, I don't know" (clearly I was full of wit that day), but he didn't quite understand me, so I said, "it's just sort of fun," and he shrugged but looked satisfied, "ok," and walked away. Ah Paris.
We (Jaye, Julie, Jess, Shaina, and I) went down a sidestreet to find some lunch and got gyros at an adorable restaurant. We ate in their underground cave, all nicely decorated with Greek paintings and such. We went across the road for gelato and did a little touristy shopping, then headed off along the Seine to look at the vendors and make our way to the Pere LaChaise Cemetery. We walked past the Bastille Memorial and through the hipster part of town, full of cool stores and people in lots of black leather. When we got nearer to the cemetery, we found ourselves blocked by a vibrant rally/protest thing. Our French skills (hello, the check please, I would like a baguette and cheese) were not quite sufficient to allow us to know what it was all about, but many people had identical stickers (see picture on Shutterfly) that mentioned the Antilles. Many of the people in the rally were black, so I don't know if they were all immigrants and that was what it was about or what, but there was much shouting by the rally leader, and singing, and you couldn't help feeling a little stirred up yourself. Mob mentality, I suppose. There were some fears that we might be tear-gassed if we lingered too long (we were only there for about a minute), so we found a break in the parade line and moved on.
Pere LaChaise Cemetary is the resting place of many many famous people in the arts world, as well as regular families. We went because Julie wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave, but we also wanted to see Oscar Wilde. We also saw Moliere and Proust. I looked and looked for Chopin (they give you maps to help you find the famous people) but I just couldn't find him, and sadly Georges Serault was in a different part of the cemetery that we didn't make it to. It's an incredible place, eerie and beautiful and awesome, which is why I took so many pictures. If graves skeev you out, you should avoid that section of photos. We then headed the long long way back to our hotel to rest before dinner - Jaye has a friend studying in Paris, so she was going to come out with us. We had a lovely walk, past the Place de la Republique, but it did go on for ever and ever, so it was nice to get back to the hotel. Shaina and I collapsed in my room and watched some Pink Panther. At one point later in the night, we were in the lobby, and some boys walked past us to leave the hotel, and said "bonjour!" to us, to which I replied, "bon nuit," and then one of them said "nighty-night" in his regular British accent, to which Julie replied "g'night." The boy laughed and called to his friends, "they're English, you twats!"
So we went to dinner, and had delicious food, and had some awkward conversation with the waiter, who was from Algeria, and who, through a sad combination of overhearing part of something Jess said and misinterpreting a joke, thought that we were on the prowl for men. After he gave us the check, he very very awkwardly stopped an acquaintance of his from leaving (we were sitting in the enclosed outside area) and asked us, "he's handsome, isn't he?" After he gave us the check, he hovered, not even kidding waiting for us to ask for his number. We refrained. We walked the couple blocks down to see the Moulin Rouge by night, and it's cool with the windmill all lit up and people everywhere. Crepes were purchased, and we headed back towards the hotel, and our walk was peppered with catcalls and things. Julie and I walk a little faster than the others, so we were walking in two groups, and at one point, as we came upon a group of boys around our age I guess, one of them took a swig of beer, turned to us, and spat it at us. Technically, it skimmed my scarf and the front of my coat, and Julie got the brunt of it (all on her hand-knitted-by-Grandma scarf!). We said nothing but walked on, faster, and speedwalked our way back to the hotel, where we waited and commiserated over our beer-spit smell while the others walked Jaye's friend to the Metro. Not the highlight of the trip. The others came back and we hung out a little before heading to bed, because Sunday was a big day: Sacre Coeur and Versailles!! Which I will tell you about another time. And my trip to Belfast. Eventually.
We (Jaye, Julie, Jess, Shaina, and I) went down a sidestreet to find some lunch and got gyros at an adorable restaurant. We ate in their underground cave, all nicely decorated with Greek paintings and such. We went across the road for gelato and did a little touristy shopping, then headed off along the Seine to look at the vendors and make our way to the Pere LaChaise Cemetery. We walked past the Bastille Memorial and through the hipster part of town, full of cool stores and people in lots of black leather. When we got nearer to the cemetery, we found ourselves blocked by a vibrant rally/protest thing. Our French skills (hello, the check please, I would like a baguette and cheese) were not quite sufficient to allow us to know what it was all about, but many people had identical stickers (see picture on Shutterfly) that mentioned the Antilles. Many of the people in the rally were black, so I don't know if they were all immigrants and that was what it was about or what, but there was much shouting by the rally leader, and singing, and you couldn't help feeling a little stirred up yourself. Mob mentality, I suppose. There were some fears that we might be tear-gassed if we lingered too long (we were only there for about a minute), so we found a break in the parade line and moved on.
Pere LaChaise Cemetary is the resting place of many many famous people in the arts world, as well as regular families. We went because Julie wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave, but we also wanted to see Oscar Wilde. We also saw Moliere and Proust. I looked and looked for Chopin (they give you maps to help you find the famous people) but I just couldn't find him, and sadly Georges Serault was in a different part of the cemetery that we didn't make it to. It's an incredible place, eerie and beautiful and awesome, which is why I took so many pictures. If graves skeev you out, you should avoid that section of photos. We then headed the long long way back to our hotel to rest before dinner - Jaye has a friend studying in Paris, so she was going to come out with us. We had a lovely walk, past the Place de la Republique, but it did go on for ever and ever, so it was nice to get back to the hotel. Shaina and I collapsed in my room and watched some Pink Panther. At one point later in the night, we were in the lobby, and some boys walked past us to leave the hotel, and said "bonjour!" to us, to which I replied, "bon nuit," and then one of them said "nighty-night" in his regular British accent, to which Julie replied "g'night." The boy laughed and called to his friends, "they're English, you twats!"
So we went to dinner, and had delicious food, and had some awkward conversation with the waiter, who was from Algeria, and who, through a sad combination of overhearing part of something Jess said and misinterpreting a joke, thought that we were on the prowl for men. After he gave us the check, he very very awkwardly stopped an acquaintance of his from leaving (we were sitting in the enclosed outside area) and asked us, "he's handsome, isn't he?" After he gave us the check, he hovered, not even kidding waiting for us to ask for his number. We refrained. We walked the couple blocks down to see the Moulin Rouge by night, and it's cool with the windmill all lit up and people everywhere. Crepes were purchased, and we headed back towards the hotel, and our walk was peppered with catcalls and things. Julie and I walk a little faster than the others, so we were walking in two groups, and at one point, as we came upon a group of boys around our age I guess, one of them took a swig of beer, turned to us, and spat it at us. Technically, it skimmed my scarf and the front of my coat, and Julie got the brunt of it (all on her hand-knitted-by-Grandma scarf!). We said nothing but walked on, faster, and speedwalked our way back to the hotel, where we waited and commiserated over our beer-spit smell while the others walked Jaye's friend to the Metro. Not the highlight of the trip. The others came back and we hung out a little before heading to bed, because Sunday was a big day: Sacre Coeur and Versailles!! Which I will tell you about another time. And my trip to Belfast. Eventually.
Monday, February 23, 2009
PARIS!!! Day 1
First, I'd like to start by explaining that this week is RAG week. It started in the forties as a charity week to "raise a grand," and it still is that, but it's also an occasion where everyone drinks all the time. Not just every night, but all day too. There are bands throughout the city, we saw a fire juggler/eater lasst night on Shop Street, and several f the clubs are having "foam parties," where people basically dance around in foam. We went out last night, and it was pretty crazy on the streets, but it was also a fun atmosphere. The people I was with weren't getting drunk, just having a couple drinks and listening to music - we found a really great traditional music band at the Quays - but everyone else in town seems to want to quaff as much as they can fit into their systems. Corrib Village has also stepped up security, hiring extra people and cracking down on checking CV IDs. Yesterday evening, around dinner time, Mike, Ethan, Kristen, and I were in the living room, Kristen and I on our computers, the boys watching soccer, when someone knocked violently on our door. We thought it was the boys downstairs, so Kristen went to get it. A second later, a very large man strides into our kitchen and looks around seriously at us for a minute as we stare back. "Did a boy in a brown jumper run through here?" Uh... no. He stares around again, then just walks out. It was hardcore. And weird. But anyway, Paris!
I took well over 400 pictures this weekend, because Paris is absolutely gorgeous, and because I think pictures are fun. Still, I managed to whittle them down to about 350 or so, which is what you'll eventually find on shutterfly (only Friday is up now). We were picked up Friday morning at 6am to get to Shannon airport. The beginning of our trip was rather uneventful. Once we got to France, we met up with the API groups from Limerick and Cork (who were just not as cool as us... not even kidding) and headed into the city, about an hour away by bus. The first thing we noticed: we were driving on the right again!! It was the strangest sensation, not knowing if it felt more right or wrong. We got into Paris and to our hotel, the Carlton, which is at the base of Montmartre and two blocks down from the red light district and the Moulin Rouge. Just to contextualize, my soundtrack for the weekend included "Foux De FaFa" by Flight of the Conchords, "Complaint de la Butte" by Rufus Wainwright, "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart" from Anastasia, "Via Con Me" by Paolo Conte (yes, it's Italian. Go watch French Kiss and you'll understand.), and "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast.
We settled into our hotel (I was rooming with one of the Cork girls) and had a little while to go eat before getting picked up for our trip to the Louvre. Jess, Jaye, Shaina, and I went to a nearby restaurant, "Au Rendez Vous," and got Croque Monsieur, which is grilled ham and cheese, but it's really more like a grilled hm sandwich with cheese melted on top. It was delicious, in any case. I only know a very little French, but enough to get by, so we were able to be pretty conversant once we all cobbled our French knowledge together. Well, we could order and ask for the check, ask where things were, say we don't understand or don't speak French, etc. We went to the Louvre, and it was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we only had a few hours, so we split up ino groups with tour guides and got the "highlights" version of the Louvre, which included the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo among other things. Apart from all of the incredible art, just the building itself is stunning, as you'll see from all of the ceiling pictures I took. I don't usually like to take pictures in museums, but I tried to capture as much of the feeling of it as I could so you could start to understand if you haven't been there. Trying to get to see the Mona Lisa was crazy, everyone pushing and shoving and crowding and putting their cameras in your way all while you're trying to just see it and keep from being pickpocketed.
After the Louvre, we all split off to do whatever we liked. I think it was about 9 pm at this point, so we wanted to go eat dinner. We walked through the vibrant streets of Paris, past the Opera House, past countless apartment buildings with the charming railings, and ended up at La Pharaon restaurant, where some people got dessert and I got a baguette and Brie - delicious!! We walked the rest of the way home and stopped at the grocery store (MUCH cheaper than in Ireland) for more baguettes and Brie, wine, and cookies and had an excellent night in the hotel. The next day we had a bus tour in the morning and free time for the rest of the day, so more to follow...
I took well over 400 pictures this weekend, because Paris is absolutely gorgeous, and because I think pictures are fun. Still, I managed to whittle them down to about 350 or so, which is what you'll eventually find on shutterfly (only Friday is up now). We were picked up Friday morning at 6am to get to Shannon airport. The beginning of our trip was rather uneventful. Once we got to France, we met up with the API groups from Limerick and Cork (who were just not as cool as us... not even kidding) and headed into the city, about an hour away by bus. The first thing we noticed: we were driving on the right again!! It was the strangest sensation, not knowing if it felt more right or wrong. We got into Paris and to our hotel, the Carlton, which is at the base of Montmartre and two blocks down from the red light district and the Moulin Rouge. Just to contextualize, my soundtrack for the weekend included "Foux De FaFa" by Flight of the Conchords, "Complaint de la Butte" by Rufus Wainwright, "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart" from Anastasia, "Via Con Me" by Paolo Conte (yes, it's Italian. Go watch French Kiss and you'll understand.), and "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast.
We settled into our hotel (I was rooming with one of the Cork girls) and had a little while to go eat before getting picked up for our trip to the Louvre. Jess, Jaye, Shaina, and I went to a nearby restaurant, "Au Rendez Vous," and got Croque Monsieur, which is grilled ham and cheese, but it's really more like a grilled hm sandwich with cheese melted on top. It was delicious, in any case. I only know a very little French, but enough to get by, so we were able to be pretty conversant once we all cobbled our French knowledge together. Well, we could order and ask for the check, ask where things were, say we don't understand or don't speak French, etc. We went to the Louvre, and it was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we only had a few hours, so we split up ino groups with tour guides and got the "highlights" version of the Louvre, which included the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo among other things. Apart from all of the incredible art, just the building itself is stunning, as you'll see from all of the ceiling pictures I took. I don't usually like to take pictures in museums, but I tried to capture as much of the feeling of it as I could so you could start to understand if you haven't been there. Trying to get to see the Mona Lisa was crazy, everyone pushing and shoving and crowding and putting their cameras in your way all while you're trying to just see it and keep from being pickpocketed.
After the Louvre, we all split off to do whatever we liked. I think it was about 9 pm at this point, so we wanted to go eat dinner. We walked through the vibrant streets of Paris, past the Opera House, past countless apartment buildings with the charming railings, and ended up at La Pharaon restaurant, where some people got dessert and I got a baguette and Brie - delicious!! We walked the rest of the way home and stopped at the grocery store (MUCH cheaper than in Ireland) for more baguettes and Brie, wine, and cookies and had an excellent night in the hotel. The next day we had a bus tour in the morning and free time for the rest of the day, so more to follow...
Monday, February 16, 2009
Twitter and other Geekiness/Travel
Well, as if Facebook, this blog, email, and my shutterfly site weren't enough for internet time wasting, I have recently joined the Twitter community. If you're unfamiliar, Twitter is basically a "status posting" kind of place, where you tell the world what you're up to throughout the day. It's a great way to stay connected, blah blah REALLY what it's about is following your favorite celebrities and indulging the impulse to have other people know and care about what you're doing. And I have joined! Yes, and, after finding a few friends I know on Twitter and following them (getting updates on their posts), I immediately started looking for celebs. I should insert now something about celebrity, and how it's so sad that we can't leave these people alone, and we shouldn't care so much about what they do. But I won't, because really that's just silly. I found Stephen Fry!! I get updates about what Stephen Fry does throughout his day! Also Rainn Wilson (The Office) and Greg Grunberg (Heroes). Why do I care? I dunno... maybe I'd like to be part of a larger sphere? Maybe I'm hopelessly curious about things that don't concern me? (a lifelong vice...) In any case, there we are. This all came about because I was (of course) stalking a friend of mine on facebook and read that she had been trying to get Stephen Fry to follow HER on Twitter, but had failed. So my new goal is to get Stephen Fry to follow me. Updates to follow.
Continuing on (I hope this all isn't too painful for you), Friday was the LOTR marathon on campus, and I had a great time as expected. My friend Jess met me there, and another girl I know was there, so it wasn't just me alone in a corner, fear not. There was actually a good showing, and other people (not the all-three-movies-so-we-can-get-a-t-shirt crowd) came throughout the day. As the first film started, and I began mouthing along to the opening monologue, I looked around and saw others doing the same... I was not alone! I like watching movies in a large group. The dynamics make it more enjoyable, don't you think? There was an hour break between the films, and they fed us sandwiches between 1 and 2, and pizza between 2 and 3. We watched youtube videos in between as well, which were mostly painful. Many of us were successful in remaining for the complete trilogy, and we should be getting our shirts soon - pictures will follow.
Paris is on Friday! We leave at six am, and get back around midnight on Sunday, so it's a full weekend. Our hotel is in Montmartre, pretty much down the street from the Moulin Rouge from what I could tell from the map and near Sacre Coeur Church. API has booked a bus tour for us on Saturday morning to hit the major tourist points - Champs d'Elysees, Arc de Triomph, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame - and a trip to the Louvre on Saturay evening, but otherwise we have free time to run off as we will and explore the city! I've never been to real Paris before (we won't speak of the hours in Charles de Gaulle...), and I can't wait to explore another part of Europe! Ireland is different from the US in its own ways, and I'm interested to see how things will be in Paris. I've been warned that upon entering a shop you should always greet the staff with "Bonjour!" or risk being shunned by their Parisian wrath. I am now imagining me setting off a string of "bonjour"s throughout the store, workers popping up from behind display cases and clothes rack to reply, resulting in a musical shift to the song from Beauty and the Beast.
This weekend, in a further attempt to not spend money, was spent quietly at home, reading, using the computer, hanging around the apartment. For Valentine's Day Kristen and I made Cadbury cupcakes, which were very tasty, but otherwise the holiday was, as always, not really necessary since I had no paper valentines to pass out to the class. Sunday passed in much the same way, minus the cupcakes, but I decided I needed to get out of the apartment. Next to the village, between us and the river, is a path that leads me to school in one direction and to unknown places in the other... so I went that way. I knew what was there, actually: Menlo Castle and some sports grounds, but I had never been there, so off I trekked. It's a lovely path, with some sort of marshy land at parts on either side. Menlo (or Menlough) Castle was built in 1569 and was inhabited, I believe, up until the beginning of the 20th century. It was destroyed by fire in 1910, and no one has fixed it, so there it stands in its ivy-covered half-burned glory. It's across the river, so another day's exploration will bring me across to scrabble amidst the rocks, if I can. After that I strolled through the woods and along the sports pitches until I came to neighborhoods (and a horse in a small field!) and from thence wound my way back to Corrib Village just as the rain was starting. I'm heading off downtown now to meet Jess, Julie, and Jaye (I'm considering changing my name to "Jora") at La Salsa for some Mexican food and to continue planning our England trip. Yay! We're planning to go on April 3rd, spending two full days in London, a day in Oxford, and a day in Bath before returning home (in time for Mary and Tine to visit me!). I love exploration! More details will follow on the England trip when they become available, and of course stay tuned for my trip to Paris!
Continuing on (I hope this all isn't too painful for you), Friday was the LOTR marathon on campus, and I had a great time as expected. My friend Jess met me there, and another girl I know was there, so it wasn't just me alone in a corner, fear not. There was actually a good showing, and other people (not the all-three-movies-so-we-can-get-a-t-shirt crowd) came throughout the day. As the first film started, and I began mouthing along to the opening monologue, I looked around and saw others doing the same... I was not alone! I like watching movies in a large group. The dynamics make it more enjoyable, don't you think? There was an hour break between the films, and they fed us sandwiches between 1 and 2, and pizza between 2 and 3. We watched youtube videos in between as well, which were mostly painful. Many of us were successful in remaining for the complete trilogy, and we should be getting our shirts soon - pictures will follow.
Paris is on Friday! We leave at six am, and get back around midnight on Sunday, so it's a full weekend. Our hotel is in Montmartre, pretty much down the street from the Moulin Rouge from what I could tell from the map and near Sacre Coeur Church. API has booked a bus tour for us on Saturday morning to hit the major tourist points - Champs d'Elysees, Arc de Triomph, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame - and a trip to the Louvre on Saturay evening, but otherwise we have free time to run off as we will and explore the city! I've never been to real Paris before (we won't speak of the hours in Charles de Gaulle...), and I can't wait to explore another part of Europe! Ireland is different from the US in its own ways, and I'm interested to see how things will be in Paris. I've been warned that upon entering a shop you should always greet the staff with "Bonjour!" or risk being shunned by their Parisian wrath. I am now imagining me setting off a string of "bonjour"s throughout the store, workers popping up from behind display cases and clothes rack to reply, resulting in a musical shift to the song from Beauty and the Beast.
This weekend, in a further attempt to not spend money, was spent quietly at home, reading, using the computer, hanging around the apartment. For Valentine's Day Kristen and I made Cadbury cupcakes, which were very tasty, but otherwise the holiday was, as always, not really necessary since I had no paper valentines to pass out to the class. Sunday passed in much the same way, minus the cupcakes, but I decided I needed to get out of the apartment. Next to the village, between us and the river, is a path that leads me to school in one direction and to unknown places in the other... so I went that way. I knew what was there, actually: Menlo Castle and some sports grounds, but I had never been there, so off I trekked. It's a lovely path, with some sort of marshy land at parts on either side. Menlo (or Menlough) Castle was built in 1569 and was inhabited, I believe, up until the beginning of the 20th century. It was destroyed by fire in 1910, and no one has fixed it, so there it stands in its ivy-covered half-burned glory. It's across the river, so another day's exploration will bring me across to scrabble amidst the rocks, if I can. After that I strolled through the woods and along the sports pitches until I came to neighborhoods (and a horse in a small field!) and from thence wound my way back to Corrib Village just as the rain was starting. I'm heading off downtown now to meet Jess, Julie, and Jaye (I'm considering changing my name to "Jora") at La Salsa for some Mexican food and to continue planning our England trip. Yay! We're planning to go on April 3rd, spending two full days in London, a day in Oxford, and a day in Bath before returning home (in time for Mary and Tine to visit me!). I love exploration! More details will follow on the England trip when they become available, and of course stay tuned for my trip to Paris!
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