Travel Chores

Day 31

Today was a chore day. I was up pretty early, I had to be to fit everything in. I had to wash my clothes, get a box from the post office, dry the clothes, pack the box and get it back to the post office before closing time. All the while I was updating the blog, organizing pictures and watching Airplane II. This is the dirty side of travel. As opposed to the dark side.

Even though I was stuck inside I was glad that it was a sunny day. Or it was until it started to hail. I had never seen anything like it. Each piece of hail was the size of a dime. Car alarms went off all over the place. It was nuts.

By the time Michele and Rory got back from work I was just about caught up with everything. It had been a long day, but at least a productive one.

The three of us headed off to their local pub, Harry Byrns. Knowing that it was my last night in Ireland I thought that it was only appropriate for me to have a Guinness. It was not nearly as bad as I remembered, but it will never be a favorite of mine. We ended the night with pizza and Wii bowling.

I was quite sad that my time in Ireland had come to an end. I had really had a great time exploring the country and spending time with Rory and Michele. Today also marked the one month anniversary of my being on the road. This is not my first big trip, but it is the first one where I am on the move constantly. Already I can tell that this trip was worth all the hard work and everything that I sacrificed for it.

Clear as Mud

Day 30
I was up with Michele to head into Dublin's city center. I was going on a day tour of the Wicklow mountains that both Michele and Rory had highly recommended.

The tour guide, John, was pretty funny. The only problem was that he kept using the same jokes over and over. At the end of each explanation he would say that it was clear as mud.

The Wicklows aren't too far from Dublin and make a great day trip. Unfortunately it was raining a bit today making it more difficult to get out of the bus and really enjoy the scenery. The rain stopped when we pulled over to check out some sheep.

We drove past the Guinness estate. It was massive and they allowed people to explore it on several marked paths. There was one lake that was sort of shaped like a pint glass. The water in all the lakes in the area looks very dark due to the large amount of bogs that it runs through first. To make the lake look even more like a pint white sand was brought in. A commercial was later filmed here.

Due to the intermittent rain we only had about 15 minutes to explore the ruins of St. Kevin's monastery. There was a tower that the monks had used to protect themselves from the vikings, much like the one I had seen in Kilkenny. The ruins were beautiful. One of the buildings still had its stone roof and was known for its fabulous acoustics. The surrounding cemetery was still active. The older stones slanted every which way. One of the several Celtic crosses is thought to be over St. Andrews remains. All of this is located in the area known as the Glendalough Valley.

We had a quick lunch in a town called Avoca. The whole thing is only about the length of one New York City avenue. Avoca is also known as the place where I finally found a pharmacy and could pick up some allergy meds. Ok, so Avoca is basically known for nothing, however it is really cute.

The last stop of the day was at a place called the meeting of the waters. Two small streams meet here to form one slightly larger stream. It's quite beautiful. Thomas Moore wrote about it in his poem “Meeting of the Waters.”

“There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet! Oh the last rays of feeling and life must depart Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart”

The allergy meds I had taken soon knocked me out and I was fortunate to sleep though most of Dublin's rush hour traffic. That night Rory, Michele and me played Wii for a while. After they had gone to sleep I spent some time researching and planning a few more weeks of my trip. I ended up going to bed quite early.

Howth are You?

Day 29
After a slow morning of blogging and America's Next Top Model I took the DART 20 minutes to the little town of Howth.

I didn't know much about the town, just that it was a cute seaside peninsula and there is an island to check out. I guessed left coming out of the DART station and my guess was correct. After a quick lunch I walked out on the levy. From where I had my lunch it looked like I could walk to the island. The further out I walked it became apparent that this wasn't the case. I looked around for a boat to the island but didn't see one. I was a bit hesitant about going out there anyway. About 5 years ago I got stuck on an island in Oslo for about 4 hours. There wasn't any shelter and it was quite cold when I wasn't walking. Rory told me later that the island is said to be overloaded with rats. I was happy in my decision.

I wandered up to some ruins that are actually in the town and not on the harbor. The first tower looking one turned out to be a museum about the Hurley Burly. It wasn't open and I'm not sure that I would have visited if it was. The ruins of St. Mary's were quite beautiful. There was a little history explanation, but no reason why it was a ruin. I'm assuming it was because of the reformation. The surrounding cemetery appeared to still be active, or people were actively leaving flowers there. The whole thing was an interesting hodgepodge of old and new grave stones. There were some interesting crosses there.

As I wandered back down to the harbor I noticed that everyone had ice cream. I wanted some and managed to find it. I had come for the cliff walk and at first I thought that I had wandered the wrong way because I was surrounded by houses. Soon the houses gave way and the trail became apparent. A lot of it was uphill and a lot of work. Along the way I met two crazy Spanish guys. Not crazy because they were Spanish, but because they were riding bikes on the trail. The trail was a bit hairy and I felt like I had to carefully watch each step I took. The views were worth it and the reward for huffing and puffing my way around.

When I had finished I worked my way down through the town. Along the way I met two really cute and attention seeking donkeys. There was a sign up warning people to not feed them. Apparently someone did and one of the donkey's died because of it. Sad.

I was in luck and found the Dart station just as I was feeling like I couldn't walk any further. In no time I was back at the apartment. We spent the night watching a Kevin Bacon movie and eating hamburgers.

OMG They Killed Kenny

Day 28

I felt a bit odd being the only guest at the hostel. While I was having my breakfast I chatted a bit with the owner. Turns out that the hostel had been a small 15 bed place and the renovations not only modernized it, but doubled the size. For a while Ray wasn't sure what changes to make, then he spent some months backpacking around South America. It was during this trip that he kept tract of the things that worked and didn't work at the different hostels he stayed at. They even had a dishwasher at this place!

I didn't explain the rtw bit, but he asked where I was from, what I thought of Kilkenny, and where I was headed next.

Ray – What do you do now in NYC?\

Me – I was in finance, but now I'm taking some time off and don't have a job.

Ray – Would you like one? I could used some more people here.

Me – No thanks, I'm not quite at the point where I am ready to work.

I'm not actually adverse to working at some point. Now just isn't the right time and Kilkenny isn't the right place. I would need it to fall into my lap at a time when I don't have massive amounts of things booked and when I am in a place that I would like to get to know better.

After chatting with Ray and leaving my bag in the common room I headed off to see Kilkenny.

My first stop was the St. Candice Cathedral. This cathedral is how Kilkenny first got its city status and how it retains it, despite the small size of the place. The 800 year old cathedral is pretty interesting. There is a lot of graves and funerary sculpture to check out. Plus, they allow pictures inside. Many of the graves were those of the Butler family. The Butlers were an English family that bought Kilkenny Castle a long time ago.

One odd bit in the cathedral was the Kyteler slab. It was found outside of the home of Kilkenny's witch, Dame Alice Kyteler. Apparently both her and her daughter were jailed for being witches in 1324. Somehow Alice escaped, but she left her daughter behind. He daughter was the first woman in Ireland to be burned at the stake for being a witch.

Next to the cathedral is a 1000 year old tower. The monks would use this to protect themselves from the Vikings and as a lookout over the town. To get to the top it takes some effort and more dexterity than I really have. The last bit is the hardest, squeezing through the top hole. I barely made it, and had to hold back chuckling when a big German guy almost got stuck. Of course, squeezing my over sized (but getting smaller) rear down the hole probably looked just as silly. The view was worth the climb and I took a ton of pictures. Otherwise, you might not believe that I actually climbed up there.

While in the cathedral I ran into Haley, an American studying in Aberdeen for a semester. As there are only about 4 small sites in Kilkenny, and we would have run into each other at each one, we decided to see the town together.

We headed first to the Black Abbey. It's about 800 years old and the oldest abbey in Ireland that is not in ruins. Instead of being destroyed during the reformation, it was converted into a courthouse. This only protected the building for a bit. When Cromwell's troops came through the city in 1650 they desecrated the cathedral. It wasn't until 1816 that the building was once again being used as a cathedral. The abbey does not have that rebuilt feel to it. When it was being remodeled a statue of the trinity was found hidden in the wall from the 1400's. Outside of the building are empty stone coffins. That was pretty quickly.

Haley and I made a quick stop at the unimpressive St. Mary's Cathedral before wandering down to the castle. A wooden fortification had been built here in 1172. This was later replaced by a stone castle. The Butler family bought the castle in 1391 and over the next several years refurbished it to be less of a castle and more of a palace. The Butlers left Ireland and sold off most of the castle's contents, leaving the building vacant in the 1930's. The building sat empty and deteriorated greatly. In 1967 the Butlers, now living in America, sold the castle to the people of Kilkenny for about $100. It was decided that the castle should be restored to its 1830's glory. Quite a bit has been done, however much is left to be refurbished.

During the restoration an attempt was made to reunite as many of the original objects and paintings to the castle. This was only mildly successful. About 15 years ago an American recognized a print of one of the original paintings that had not been found. Turns out that the painting was hanging in a bar in Manhattan. The castle was able to buy back the painting and hung it in its original spot.

The castle was quite lovely, however Haley and I were in agreement that the people with kids should have been thrown out. They were letting the kids scream and run wild during the entire tour. The kids were touching everything and making it hard to hear the guide. I did manage to learn a few interesting things. People used to sleep upright because they felt that it was healthier than lying down. Women used to pluck their hair to create larger foreheads because they thought it made them look smarter. Also, slopped steps make you look more graceful. Well, anyone but me. I almost fell down them.

A small cemetery behind the castle held the remains of a few members of the Butler's family. Their dog Sandy was also buried beside them.

Haley and I grabbed lunch at a cute place called Blaa Blaa Blaa. Then we wandered down the river Nore. There was still time before my bus, but not really enough time to do any of the day trips I had planned.

Kilkenny is adorable, but you really only need one day to see it, even less if the brewery is closed as it was when I was there. What you need time for is all the interesting sites just out of the city. I really wish that I had gotten my act together sooner so that I could have done one.

I said goodbye to Haley and headed off to the bus station. The driver was a bit mad and I was happy when we finally reached Dublin. I spent that evening talking with Rory and Michele before going to sleep.

Just Right

Day 27
I had thought that I was waking up early because I am a morning person. It turns out that I was just up because the other people at the hostel were waking me up. Because there wasn't anyone around to wake me up, I stayed in bed longer than I had expected.

Still, I followed my plan and headed to Kilkenny. I had meant to arrive no later than 2 pm, but didn't get there until almost 5 pm. It turned out that the hostel I had booked had been closed for renovations for several months. I was the first guest, and as I found out later that night, that I was the only guest. It was a bit humorous though when I asked the guy checking me in if I was the only one in my room. He flipped through a few pages in a book before telling me that I had the place to myself.

This was both great, and kinda sucked. Nice to have a quite room and my own shower, not good to not have anyone to hang out with that night. Kilkenny has a lot of really interesting pubs to check out and I would feel a bit odd doing it with out another person.

Despite my late arrival, I still had about 5 hours worth of daylight left. I walked slowly down the medieval streets. There isn't much to Kilkenny, just 6 or 7 main streets. I think I walked them all. Kilkenny is Ireland's best preserved medieval town and is absolutely adorable.

I decided at this point that just because I was alone didn't mean that I couldn't do a bit of a pub crawl. The first bar I found was called the Pump House. It was decorated in old adverts and beer posters. It was really pretty cool and came recommended by Let's Go. Still, it was empty and I decided to move on.

The second place I checked out came recommended by the guy at the hostel. I'm not really sure why. Marble City (the region around Kilkenny produces a rock that can be polished to look like marble), was sort of posh and more of a restaurant. I wasn't sure why he had recommended it. I grabbed a soda though and wrote a bit in my journal. While I was there a local couple, upon hearing my accent, recommended a third place to me. I finished up my soda and walked over.

Clears was a small place, I had walked right by and didn't notice it. What they had that the other pubs didn't have was live Irish music. This pub was just right. I stayed a bit here chatting with the locals and enjoying the music.

When I got back to the hostel it was very quite, except for the guy who had checked me in fooling around on You Tube. I ended up joining him and we spent some time showing each other our favorite You Tube bits.

I Vant to Svck Your Blvvd

Day 26
The luxury of my own room and a comfortable bed combined with my exhaustive 3 day tour kept me in bed far later than I am normally there.

Rory and Michele had some errands to run so they set me up on their computer and I got to work on catching up with the blog. I love the blog and I like that I have something that I am accountable for, there just isn't always a place to upload pictures for a while. It's very easy to get very behind. I did keep journals on my previous trips, however they were not day by day and I feel that I lost a lot of memories because of that. The blog keeps me writing every day so that 50 years from now I will be able to remember every minute of this trip. So please forgive me if I am behind or if I'm boring for a day on occasion while I update the blog.

I wasn't boring all day. When Rory and Michele returned we headed across the street to the Dracula Experience. The experience started with some scary music and facts about Bram Stroker. He was bedridden until he was 7 and no one thought that he would survive. Part of his weakness was due to his doctors continual bloodletting. When he did regain his health he became a great sportsman and grew to over 6 feet tall.

He briefly worked at Dublin Castle where he wrote a book to standardize clerk office rules throughout Ireland. The woman he married, I forgot her name, also dated Oscar Wilde for a bit.

Eventually Stroker moved to London to run the Lyceum Theater. He also published books at this time. Dracula was one of his later books and really the only on that people recognize.

The actual experience took you through the book Dracula. It was pretty corny, but still made me jump a few times when things popped out at me. None of the movies or interactive bits were working. Still, it was a good laugh.

The three of us then headed to a local place called The Yacht for a Sunday roast. For a small price we each had a huge and fabulous dinner.

It was deceivingly late (it stays light for quite a while here) when we got back to their apartment. To stay in the Dracula mood we watched the 1983 movie with Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. I would definitely recommend it!

Dingle Dangle

Day 24

The group had to be up early and leave the Randy Leprechaun at 9:30 am. I did manage to squeeze in a few pictures of sheep before it was time to go.

We were headed to the Dingle Peninsula, one of the most beautiful areas of Ireland. Even having been there now I am at a lack for words to describe the whole thing. The water, the cliffs, the beaches, it was just all so stunning. Dave (Aussie we met last night), Deborah, Catherine and I took turns taking pictures of one another as we walked along the path. We took walking pictures, jumping pictures, and just plan portrait like pictures. At one of the stops we took turns rubbing our butts on an ancient fertility stone.

Anther stop was at the 800 year old Kilmalkedor Church. This used to be a big pilgrimage stop. There were ancient stones with unknown writing and Celtic crosses dating back hundreds of years.

About 2 years ago bones began washing up on the nearby beach. No one could figure out where they were coming from. Then it was discovered that the British massacred a group of Spanish navel officers that had survived a shipwreck. The bodies were buried in shallow graves and recent soil erosion had disturbed them.

After the Dingle Peninsula we had some time to spend in Dingle the town. About 25 years ago a dolphin swam into the harbor and he hasn't left. His name is Fungi, after the fungus that grew in the beard of the old man who first befriended him. I didn't get to see Fungi, but the four of us did have some good lunches and great Baily's flavored ice cream. We had some time to walk around and I spotted a bar that is also a hardware store that Rick Steves put on his show. There was a shop with a naked mermaid on the sign called Simple Pleasures, dirty. We also checked out the quaint harbor.

After some more out the window pictures we arrived in Kilarny. The big thing to do here is check out the adjacent national park. We had a few choices with our tour. I could go straight to the hostel, take a horse and carriage ride, or go horseback riding.

My horse was Dingle and he had his own pace. He walked slower and ran slower than all of the other horses. I was constantly falling behind. I felt bad kicking him, but the guide kept telling me to do it harder and harder, eventually I thought that I had it all worked out with him. Then we came to the puddles. He could be walking or running but when he saw a puddle he would stop short. Everyone thought that it was me, but it wasn't, I swear. It was the horse. I kept trying to make him go, I kicked and I asked nicely and I pleaded. He would only tentatively walk through the puddles and then run again. Still, Dingle was a good horse and riding through the part was magical.

After freshening up Deborah and I wandered around the cute little town that was Dingle. We took pictures of cute streets and monuments. We didn't have much time though as we were meant the meet the group, gappies and all, for dinner and Irish music. Dinner was good, and the music was fun, however the bar was very hot. We also had to wake up even earlier than the day before and I didn't want to miss out on the next day so I left early.

When I got into the room another girl, I never got her name, told me that we were in the same room with two people who met on the tour and had been sleeping together in the rooms. How incredibly rude. I stuck in my ear plugs and crossed my fingers that there would be no dirty interruptions during the night.

A Day Full of Blarney

Day 25
The group had to be ready to go at 8 am and I was shocked that some of the people were able to get themselves together. Apparently last night was pretty wild and crazy. I'm glad that I'm not one of the hungover ones.

While enroute to our first stop Connor gave us a little Irish history lesson about how Ireland became free from the British Commonwealth. In 1916 demonstrations were planned country wide, only one in Dublin actually happened. The rebels took over the post office building. After a week of brutal fighting the British won. The Irish fighters were either executed or sent to a prison in Wales.

Even though the protest was unsuccessful, it did bring the idea of an Irish republic to the masses. In 1919 the War of Independence officially began. The Irish started by attacking British run institutions, even killing the Irish people working at them and running them. This violence forced the British to bring troops to Ireland, this is when the battle really began. In 1948 Ireland finally severed all ties with Britain when they left the commonwealth. The fields in Cork, where we were driving through, was where the majority of the fighting had taken place.

It was still early when we pulled into Blarney Castle. The Blarney Stone, located on a ledge at the top of the castle, is said to be a fight from Robert the Bruce of Scotland after Irish troops helped defeat the British at Bannockburn. The stone was said to originally come from the Holy Land. Somehow the MacCarthy family got a hold of it and used in when they built Castle Blarney in 1210. The other claim to fame that the castle has involves Queen Elizabeth I. The Earl of Leicester was commanded by Queen Elizabeth I to take possession of the castle. Whenever he endeavored to negotiate the matter McCarthy always suggested a banquet or some other form of delay, so that when the queen asked for progress reports a long missive was sent, at the end of which the castle remained untaken. The queen was said to be so irritated that she remarked that the earl's reports were all 'Blarney'.

For some reason about 300 years ago people started to kiss the Blarney Stone. To do this you have to lay down, let some old man hold you up, and lean way back. It's a bit daunting, but there are metal bars to prevent people from falling. I bet way back when it wasn't odd for a bunch of people to come up there drunk and try to kiss the stone only to fall to theirs deaths. I leaned back, tried to smile and kissed the stone. I didn't feel anything as some people suggested I would. Has my writing become more eloquent, or perhaps the stone only pertains to speech. Or perhaps I just picked up something from the millions of other people who have kissed the stone. At least I guess I got some action!

The four of us wandered the grounds taking in the stunning views. Each time we turned a corner there seemed to be a better picture to be taken. We tried to check out the caves a bit as well. It would have been really nice to have several more hours there to check out the gardens and all of the outbuildings on the grounds. As it was, Catherine and I were hungry and we ended up getting to the bus a minute or two late.

We did a driving tour through Cork, but there wasn't a chance to explore on our own. Apparently Cork thinks that it is the real capital. An advert for Budwieser even played on that.

Our next stop was a quick one at Cashel for lunch. Once again, there was a huge castle here, called the Rock of Cashel. There wasn't any time to check it out. We couldn't make up our minds and ended up bringing takeout on the bus. After that it was a straight shot to Dublin and, for me, a real bed.

I found it odd that once everyone had gathered up their things from beneath the bus they just stood around. Most of these people have been stuck together for 6 days in a cramped bus. I couldn't understand how they didn't want to just get away. I made sure to exchange information with David, Catherine and Deborah and was then on my way.

Three days is about the most I think I could handle a tour for, unless it was like a safari or something. I did get to see things that would be hard or just very expensive for me to do on my own. I was not going to be renting a car and driving over here. I just felt like everything was rushed, I would have liked to spend more time in each town, but I guess they would have each been a day trip and I would have needed more than the two weeks I have in Ireland. Next time I come here, I'm bringing a friend who can drive on the wrong side of the road and doing it that way. Still, I had fun, got to ride a horse and made some really great friends.

I was ecstatic to see Michele and Rory again and to spend time with people who I don't have to introduce myself to! After a pizza dinner we headed a short way to their local pub for a few pints. After so much time in tourist land it was nice to be in a place that tourists would never find.

Randy Limericks

Day 23
I was up unbelievably early so that I could head to the city center and a 3 day Ring of Kerry tour. It turned out that Paddywagon tours was a guide short. Our group was combined with a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher and would then pick up the tail end of a 6 day all Ireland tour. The Cliffs were not on the original itinerary, but still something that I wanted to see.

On the bus there was a Canadian with purple hair. She was beyond loud and trying to talk to everyone. I could hear her loud and clear even with my ipod on high. I took her for Canadian. I was right, she would tell anyone who would listen. I was keeping my fingers crossed that she would not be on my tour and was just a day tripper. It's not just the tour company that makes the tour, but also the people on it.

Our first stop was Limerick. This is apparently a pretty rough town on the Shannon River. The area has been a gypsy base for a long time. Ireland has considered bringing in the National Guard to help and keep the violence under control. Homes, or base places have been built for the gypsies. They have a bathroom and a kitchen and electricity. These tend to get robbed and are not very safe. Therefore, most people will set up shanty towns at the city limit.

Limerick is also known for King John's Castle, built in the 13^th century. We didn't have time to go inside. The other major site is the Treaty Stone. In 1691 a treaty was signed here . The Brits reneged on the treaty not much later.

The whole thing was really just a bathroom stop. It would have been nice to explore a bit more, in the daylight of course. This is really the problem with group trips, people tell you where to go and when to go there.

Soon we were at the Cliffs of Moher. You used to be able to walk right up next to the cliffs. The area became a popular place for suicides. The odd tourist would also get blown off on occasion, or just lean over a bit too much for that perfect picture. About two years ago a mother and her 7 year old daughter went over the cliff. That was when a barrier was built. Most of the time it was chest high, but it was over my head at some points. There was one point where people were jumping over the barrier to get a better view. I declined to do so. What I did see of the cliffs was stunning.

At the cliffs I met Deborah, a student from Wyoming doing a semester abroad in Rotterdam and Catherine a doctor from South Africa doing an exchange year in Ireland. They were both really nice, and luckily on the same three day tour I was on. It turns out that purple Canada was not on the 3 day tour. When we joined the new bus we waited until everyone else was on so that we wouldn't steal anyone's seats. There were 50 people on the tour, most of them were Kiwi's and Aussies on a gap year and only about 18 years old. Damn gappies.

We were running a bit late and our guide, Connor, drove like mad through winding country roads in order to make it to the ferry across the Shannon. We made it and I bought some pringles to calm down my upset stomach at the on board store. The ferry ride lasted only about 20 minutes and soon we were driving through the Kingdom of Kerry.

I passed the next hour or so taking pictures of the stunning countryside. I've never seen anything like it. I was happy to finally get to Annascaul, the 600 person town that our hostel, the Randy Leprechaun was in.

Deborah, Catherine and I wandered down the main street. Eventually a local dog joined us. He seemed to want us to follow him. We did for a while, but seemed to be getting no where. I guess that is what you get when you follow random dogs around.

We made it back to the pub in time for dinner and karaoke. Just what a group of backpackers wants. I did sing a few songs, but none by myself. Deborah and I did Lady Marmalade, it was bad, the 5 Americans did Friends in Low places, and then another group of us did I want to Dance with Somebody. The Kiwi's did Land Down Under and Barbie Girl. I really don't know why they did the later.

I was exhausted and very happy that the pub closed at midnight, I had been up way too late at this point. Some people moved the party to the common room but I just went to sleep. It was my first day on a group tour in a long time. It wasn't that bad, maybe I need to give these things a second chance.

Bog People and Friendly People

Day 22
My plan for the day was to walk clear across town to the Dracula Experience. This only half worked. I walked there just fine, but it wasn't opened. While I was in a coffee shop trying to figure out the way back without having to walk it all I realized that I was right next to where I needed to go that evening, I was moving out of the hostel and into a friends apartment. I figured out just where I would need to go later in the day and hoped on the DART back to the center of Dublin.

I headed to the National Archeology Museum of Ireland. It was easy to spend the afternoon here. There was just so much to see. The prehistoric display was quite fascinating, everything was organized chronologically. It was really easy to see how weapons and jewelry manufacturing progressed over time.

The bog people were the most interesting. These were the remains of prehistoric people that had been found in bogs around Ireland. Let me tell you, this was seriously creepy. The bodies were leather-like and seemed more sculpture than human. Bones, organs and hair were visible. One guy was only a torso, it looked like it was right out of a horror movie. It was clear that another man had had bright red hair. The nipples had been cut off of another showing that he had been of noble rank.

Other things besides bodies have been found in the bogs. There were clothes and shoes and weapons and all sorts of odd things. It was like an ancient dump.

I guess that I hadn't had enough of dead bodies yet because I headed up the stairs to the Egyptian section. It was small, but very well done.

The best known piece in the museum is the Tara Broach. Famous for its beauty and for being found in the area that is known as the Tara Hill. It was pretty magnificent.

When I had finished with the museum I parked myself in a pub and nursed a pint while I caught up on writing my journal. I was woefully behind and determined to not let that continue. I then headed off to an Internet cafe to try and get at least a few of the entries typed up. Enroute I waked by Trinity College and the Molly Malone statue.

After a long walk and a quick cab ride I was at Michele and Rory's apartment. Michele is a close friend of my friend Rose. I had met her a few times, but had never gotten the opportunity to know her well. Michele had a fairy tale for me.

About three years ago Michele and Rose made a pilgrimage to Dublin to see U2. At a pub Michele spotted a boy that she knew that she had to meet. He felt the same. Michele and Rory talked all night and parted regretfully, determined to stay in touch. After a transcontinental relationship they were married and Michele moved to Dublin.

Because of this fairytale I had a place to crash and wonderful people to stay with for the rest of my time in Dublin. Michele also made me the best dinner that I had since leaving my parents house.

I think that we may have spent a few hours too many chatting because we were all destined to be tired in the morning.

April Fool's

Day 21
I was up pretty early and headed out to one of the most touristy things I could do, the Dvblinia exhibit. This was about Viking and medieval Dublin and was more interesting than I would have thought. I learned that eye glasses were invented in 1290. I had always wondered about that.

A medieval fair had been recreated. You could touch, small and play with everything. The apothecary was interesting, garlic was used to cure ear infections! I visited the scribe and threw plastic tomatoes at the guy in the stocks. The black death was next, it wasn't so fragrant.

Upstairs a merchants house had been recreated. The servants ate their meals off of square plates, this is where the saying 3 squares a day came from.

The viking display was also quite a lot of fun. There was one point that I found to be rather disturbing. The viking often took slaves. The display on this asked you to try on the shackles. There was a group of students fighting over them and laughing. It was really kinda creepy.

The vikings believed that three old sisters wove the tapestry of life and controlled every thing. They had many gods and would often incorporate local gods of occupied people. Christianity and the realization that it was more lucrative to become traders than it was to plunder towns and monasteries that were only able to slowly replace their riches.

Dvblinia was actually a pretty interesting way to spend the day. Thankfully it was not too crowded. I was looking for something different though, something that I couldn't really do in any other place.

I ended up at the Jameson Distillery. I had about 30 minutes to kill before the tour so I had a quick Jameson and coke, much better than Jack and coke. While I was waiting and ended up talking to John, a Kiwi in Ireland to explore his roots. We end up sticking together throughout the tour. It worked out really well because we took turns taking pictures of one another.

Jameson's family was Scottish and became wealthy due to their ability to capture pirates. Jameson was interested in Irish whiskey and wanted to perfect his own brand. The distillery was established in 1780 and has been flourishing since.

Irish whiskey is different than Scotch or American whiskey because it is distilled three times. Scotch is distilled twice and American once. Jameson whiskey is also aged in barrels that had previously been used to age port in Portugal. Scotch is aged in older oak barrels and American whiskey in brand new barrels.

Who would have guessed so much that I would have retained so much about whiskey? I not only became an expert but also a certified whiskey taster. I volunteered early in the tour to taste 5 different kinds of whiskey. There were 3 Irish kinds, 1 Scotch and 1 American. I could hardly even taste the American and Scotch ones, but the Irish whiskeys were quite good. All 6 volunteers picked Irish whiskey's as their favorite. Luckily I had John to take pictures of the entire event. The other perk of the tour is the free Jameson everyone gets at the end. This might have been just a bit too much though.

I still hadn't quite found the 'never before' experience that I was looking for. This lead me to a church. Not just any church, but St. Michan's which was founded in 1096. The building above ground wasn't much, just a typical 1850's rebuild. I didn't come for what was above ground though, I came for what was beneath the ground. The crypts beneath the church were original and had been in constant use since the church's original founding date.

I, along with a couple from Maryland, was lead by a creepy guide into the church's crypts. Due to the natural preservatives in the crypts there are four incredibly well preserved bodies of varying ages. The mummy on the far right was most likely a nun, but was the most deteriorated. Next to her laid the most confusing mummy. It was of a man that was about 300 years old. He had no feet and was missing his right arm. The feet are easy to explain, he was simply too tall for the coffin. The hand is more difficult. It it was for a punishment the only way he would have been buried in a church was if he had reformed and become a priest. The hand could have also been lost through accident or disease. The mummy on the left was a much better preserved nun. Her toenails and feet were still completely intact. Our guide made us all lean over the edge of the barrier to take a look at them.

The fourth mummy was an 800 year old crusader. His legs had been broken because his 6'6 frame couldn't fit into the small coffin. Our guide explained that it was common in the past for people to 'shake' the crusaders hand. It brought luck or a blessing or something. He explained that by shaking he meant touch the finger lightly. He then pulled back the barrier and motioned us in one at a time. I wasn't sure if I could really touch an 800 year old mummy. As I walked up to it I was sure that it would sit up and I almost laughed at myself for being so silly. After hesitating for a minute the Jameson gave me extra bravery and I reached out and 'shook' the crusaders hand. He didn't sit up, and I don't think that he is chasing me, but it was still seriously creepy.

I asked why these coffins had been opened. It turns out that it is illegal to open coffins, but these must have accidentally been opened at some point in the last couple hundred years. He also mentioned that Bram Stroker may have been inspired by these to write Dracula.

The rest of the tour was much more tame. We looked into darkened rooms and could just make out the outlines of dozens of coffins. The crypt is still active so many of the chambers can not be lit up in respect for the families that may bury their relatives there.

One entire vault was dedicated to 3 men who were hung in 1798 for trying to start a rebellion against the British. They were hung, drawn and quartered on Bastille Day. In one stuffed vault the bottom coffin had broken under the weight of all the coffins stacked on top of it.

As I was heading back to the hostel I pasted the Brazen Head Inn and decided to pop in. It was founded in 1198 and is Ireland's oldest pub. I ended up taking to some retired Americans from south Jersey. Oddly, they were soccer coaches from EHT and Absigami. One of them claimed to recognize me from when I played soccer at Oakcrest High School.

All in one day I visited a medieval market, sat on a viking ship, became a whiskey taster, and shook hands with an 800 year old crusader. That is no April Fools!

Giants Causeway Take Two

Day 20

Once again I was up at 6:45 am. This time I had to get all of my stuff together and there was no way that I was going to miss the bus, or paddywagon as it were.

The tour started by driving to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. I had seen this on Rick Steves and it looked really daunting. In reality it only takes about 20 seconds to cross and isn't that bad. The reward was a fabulous view of the coastline. On the tour I met Pablo, a Polish guy living in Ennis. We took turns taking pictures of one another. The walk back across the bridge was a bit more frightening as there were several people on it and it shook like crazy.

Just about 15 minutes away is the Giant's Causeway. Legend has it that an Irish Giant (IG) built a causeway to Scotland. When he got there he realized that the Scottish Giant (SG) was a lot bigger than him and that he shouldn't mess with him. It was too late, the SG was mad and he headed over to Ireland to deal with the IG. The IG was prepared and dressed up as a baby. When the SG saw the massive baby he decided that if the baby was that big then the IG must be massive. SG headed back to Scotland and destroyed the causeway as he went.

Apparently there is a scientific explanation about lava and ice and time, but I think that it must be a bunch of crap.

The causeway is made up of thousands of octagon shaped stones of varying heights. We spent some time climbing around and taking pictures from different angels. Unfortunately there was not enough time to take the longer, more scenic path.

After a quick photo op at Dunluce castle we headed to London Derry. We had the choice of hanging out or taking a walking tour about the Troubles, and I choose the later. This time the guide was clearly an Unionist, there were several Loyalist tour guides from Belfast in the group and they had some rather loud complaints.

Even though a lot of the violence took place in Belfast, it began in London Derry. The name of the city used to be Derry, but when the British brought settlers over in the 1600's the name was changed to London Derry.

At some point the English were afraid that Spain might use Northern Ireland as a staging ground to invade England. To counter act this threat the British stationed soldiers here. This did not make the Native Irish happy. Eventually the British decided that a permanent settlement would be best and kicked the Irish out of the walled city and forced them to live in a ghetto like area. At this time only people who owned buildings or lands were able to vote, they had one vote per building or land area. The Catholics were too poor to own anything and had basically no votes, while many of the Protestants had several. This policy continued until the 1960's. It was in the 60's that the violence begun.

At one point the riots were happening almost daily. The violence came from both sides. it wasn't until the 1990's when the Clinton administration put pressure on the UK government to come to an agreement was a cease fire signed. Neither side is completely happy, but both feel that this is the best option for the time being.

I forgot to take notes and wrote that from memory. I hope that I didn't forget anything or remembered something incorrectly.

The murals here were very pro-Unionist. One showed a 10 year old boy wearing a gas mask and holding a Molotov cocktail. Another was of a woman who started a march from the local college. On the back of a house that had been burned out was a sign that stated that you are entering Free Derry.

Pablo and I had some trouble finding the tour bus, but did eventually manage to stumble upon it. I spent the bus ride back staring out at the wonderful countryside and admiring the hundreds of really cute sheep and lambs.

At the bus station I spent my last few £'s on candy and then got on the bus for Dublin. In under three hours I was in Dublin and at my hostel. It had been a long day, and I collapsed into my bed.

A Day of Possibilities

Day 19

I was up at 6:45 am so that I would go on a day trip to Giants Causeway. I had my act together before 8. The common areas were still closed and I decided to sit on my bed until it was time to go. Two hours later I woke up. I had missed the tour.

I had the option of taking the tour the next day, but if i did that then I wouldn't be able to go to Galway. There just wouldn't be time before my Ring of Kerry Tour departing from Dublin on Thursday. I canceled my Galway hostel and found a new place instead in Dublin. It sucked to miss out on Galway, but there was actually time for me to go later on in my itinerary.

I then decided that I would go out to Katebridge, the small town that my family came from way back when. After some time doing research at the train and bus stations it became clear that there was no way to get there on a Sunday, and even getting to the town over would be expensive. That idea went out the window.

My third idea was to see a movie and then read about. This turned out to be the winner. I was a bit sniffly from spending 2 days walking around in the rain and felt that taking it easy was the best way to do it.

It wasn't the most interesting day, but it was very relaxing.

Monkey Mania

Day 18

I was up early and decided for reasons unknown to myself to head to to the zoo. I don't usually care for the zoo, I think that they are animal prisons, but I decided to go there anyway.

I also decided that I would walk there. The girl at reception said that it was about an hours walk. After two hours walking in the rain I got a bus. I was cold and wet by the time I arrived. The zoo was practically empty due to the rain. This is the best time to come to the zoo, not because of the rain, but because of the small number of people there.

The zoo itself was pretty cool. The animal habitats were large and nice. The paths wound slowly up a mountain, eventually leading to a lookout over the surrounding area.

Due to the rain most of the animals were inside. This made them very easy to find. Whenever it would pour I would just hang out in which ever house was closest.

The giraffes and zebra's blinked at me. The elephants looked annoyed and walked away. A kangaroo checked me out as it stood still. One monkey had cabin fever and kept checking outside to see if it was still raining. Other monkey's pasted the time by throwing strawberries at each other.

In one house about 6 monkey's were waiting out the rain. A baby monkey climbed adorably around as its mother watched and occasionally lent a helping hand. Not to be out done a teenage monkey tried to steal the baby's play space. The baby monkey bit the older monkey in a very inappropriate place. The older monkey screeched and then ran off to tend to his wounds.

The chimpanzee's were the best. I watched as the one brought his lunch, including a milk carton, and some straw to the corner. He gingerly opened the milk and then dipped all of his food in it before eating it. When he finished he gathered his straw and made a nice bed for himself. He then laid back and rolled around in it. When it got messy he repeated the process, this happened about 4 times. Eventually two other chimps came over and started to hit and poke him. He tried to fight back, but I like to think he was a pacifist. The mean chips hit him on the butt and over the head. Eventually he gave up and left his spot. One of the other chimps took over the straw and rolled in it.

I took the bus back to the hostel. I was soaking wet and definitly in the need of some dry clothes!

Before going to bed in my upgraded room I grabbed a few drinks with the Leipzigers and a guy who worked at the hostel. It was good fun.

To Ireland

Day 17
I started the morning by waking up at stupid o'clock for my flight from Glasgow to Belfast. I was incredibly excited about the idea of being in Ireland again. I was also very ready to be out of my travel wading pool.

The flight was about 25 minutes and quite painless. In almost no time I was checking into the hostel. Apparently a large group of French students booked half of the hostel. The powers that be at the hostel decided to keep the kids on one side and the adults on another. This just meant that I was upgraded from a 12 bed room to one with just 4 people. So far Ireland is good.

One of the main things that I wanted to do was to take a black taxi tour of the murals. It was too expensive to do alone, but the girl at reception promised me that she would find me some people to go with.

My first stop was to figure out a way to Galway. Turns out that its quite expensive and takes an entire day. I still plan on going, but wasn't happy about the experience for such a short time in the city.

I then basically took myself on a walking tour. It wasn't hard, there were signs all over the place about this building and that dent in the sidewalk. I checked out the City Hall, it was pretty impressive and surrounded by monuments, however, it was closed to the public for refurbishment. I went to the harbor that Titanic had departed from. They are revamping the entire former shipbuilding area and calling the the Titanic area. Kinda weird. I popped into Belfast Cathedral, it was built in the 1930's and had a seriously ugly metal spire. The inside was really nice though. The Belfast Telegraph building had a memorial on the side of it that still showed the damage from a WWII bomb. The paper remained open despite the damage to the building.

I headed back to the hostel at the appointed time, just hoping that someone would want to take the tour with me. I was prepared to check out the murals alone, however, this was not exactly the safest thing to do. As luck would have it two Leipziger's, Christian and Markus wanted to go on the tour. One of my closest German friends is also from Leipzig and I was happy to meet the father and son pair from there. Markus had even spent a year going to high school in Nebraska and spoke practically perfect English.

We started the tour in the Loyalist (Protestant) Shankill area. There were a lot of murals to check out. One commemorated William of Oranges 1690 victory over James II. Another was of Stevie McKeag, a top assassin who died under mysterious circumstances. There was a mural to commemorate the Catholic burning of Protestant homes in 1969. Apparently all the murals have been painted within the last few years, there was even one that was not quite finished yet. There was a collage of Loyalist militant groups holding the orange flag. A creepy mural of a guy holding a gun followed you around as you looked at all of the murals. There were several others that we didn't discuss as well.

We then proceeded to the freedom wall. This wall divides the Protestant and Catholic areas. It was begun in the 1970's and has been added to as recently as 6 months ago. It is three miles long. The thing to do is to write a message of peace and sign your name. I'm not creative and simply wrote peace.

At this point we crossed over to the Unionist or Catholic side. There was a small park called Clonord Martyrs Park. The names of those killed were listed on the wall. There were several young children on the list. The houses that backed up to the Peace Wall had cages to protect from bombs protruding from them. The wall itself showed evidence of attacks.

Nearby was a memorial to Bobby Sands. He died in 1983 during a hunger protest while in prison. Unionist prisoners were originally allowed to wear their own clothing and were not required to work. This was changed and the prisoners went on strike. Bobby Sands was the first to die. He had also been elected as an MP, but was never able to take the seat as he would not swear allegiance to England.

The last stop on the tour was a wall of murals about other causes. Many of them were very anti-Bush. There was one in support of Palestine, and another of the Basque Region.

At the end of the tour at Markus' request our guide told us that he was Protestant and a Loyalist. None of us had guessed because he gave such a non-objective tour. He then told us that he could give us both sides, but that there was only one right side.

This is still a very touchy subject and I asked if it was the desire of both sides for people to get a better understanding of the situation of the troubles. He said that was basically it. However, when the idea of tours first came up it was needed to negotiate with both sides to guarantee everyone's safety. A cease fire was signed in the 1990's and there has been very limited violence since then.

I was exhausted from the early day and spent the rest of the eventing watching tv in the hostel before going to sleep.