Ireland trip

Ireland was the first overseas trip I made and the first one that I planned on my own (i.e. I didn't go with a group). These entries are from my written journal. I've since realized that my journal entries are probably as boring as all get out to anyone except myself. I tried to spruce them up a bit but my apologies if they bore you to tears. Check out the pictures. Those will be a bit more exciting. :)

Ireland pictures

Coming to an end

Our trip is almost to an end as we are on a bus to Dublin and fly out tomorrow. The last two days in Kilkee were great! I really like Kilkee...the views were fantastic there and I loved hiking around the cliffs. It did rain for most of the day yesterday but it wasn't a torrential downpour. It stopped by the late afternoon and we even got a peak at the sun as it was setting. I wore my legs out hiking all over the place.
We spent the morning exploring the tidal pools. I could've spent all day doing that if the tide hadn't been coming in. As we hiked back up the shoreline, we ran into a couple of guys that were working on a house near the head of the cliff trail. A marine rescue guy was hanging out with them. Turns out he was worried that Jennie and I were not paying attention to the rising tide and was checking to make sure we didn't get stranded out there. They were all so kind and showed us the house they were working on. The marine rescue guy walked with us back towards town and told us about some of the history of the area and the storms that had come through there in the past.
We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking along the cliffs. I must have taken a billion pictures of the waves & the rocks...I'm probably going to regret that later. :)
So off to Cinci tomorrow. I'm ready to go home, I think...it's been lovely and beautiful here but I'm ready to sleep in my own bed and cook my own food.

Kilkee

On Wednesday, we went on a coach tour of the Connemara region and Kylemore Abby. The scenery was prettier than the Burren (which is mostly miles & miles of rock fields) but the tour was a bit more boring. We didn't get a ton of time at the Abby (which was beautiful) and the longest chunk of time was spent at an expensive tourist shop which was not exciting.
So today is Thursday and I am getting ready to fall asleep. We spent a good part of the day today traveling by bus to Kilkee. It took us forever to get here but it's beautiful here! Kilkee is one of those seaside summer resort towns that is probably packed during the travel season. Since it is March though, the town is pretty much deserted. Jennie & I have the B&B practically to ourselves. We are about two blocks from the beach which we went walking on this afternoon. It's rocky and there are these large boulder along the shores with holes in them and the waves come in and crash up through the gaps. It looks like there are geysers shooting up from the shore. The cove that Kilkee sits on is small...there are some tidal pools but the tide was up today so we'll have to wait to explore those tomorrow. Along either side of the bay, there are cliffs that rise up. We along a path that led to one side and along the cliff top. The view was absolutely breath-taking. The mist here makes everything look ethereal and it's exactly like every imagined picture you've ever had of Ireland. Hopefully we'll have a chance to explore more tomorrow.

Aran Islands

Today we jumped on a bus that took us to the ferry at Rossveal. We boarded and took off for the Aran Islands. We rented bikes when we got there and spent the day riding all over the island. It was great! The sun was shining, there weren't too many hills, and it was a great rise through the countryside. We stopped for lunch at a tiny little restaurant on the edge of a cove. They didn't have much available since it was the off-season but the owner made us toasted tomato & cheese sandwiches and Jennie & I wolfed down 2 each. We sat on the beach for a little while and just basked in the sun. It's so strange...we expected it to rain or at least be cloudy the whole time and yet it has been sunny every day. There's been haze on a few days but I'm actually getting a little sunburned on my face.
Biking back to the ferry was a whole different story that our morning bike ride. Basically my butt muscles went into full protest over being forced to sit on a bicycle seat that had very little padding for another two hours. I ended up swallowing my pride and taking my fleece off, bundling it around the seat, and spent the rest of the day riding on my makeshift cushion. Ouch! I'm pretty sure I have bruises.
We had dinner at a place in Galway were there was supposed to be pizza & set-dancing...we found the pizza but the set-dancing had been canceled in favor of the football game between Chelsea & Arsenal. It's amazing watching some of those guys play! In addition, the tv commercials in Ireland are hysterical...I'm not sure if they're always that way or if it was because I'm so tired. Well, more news to report on next time. We're off to the Connemara region tomorrow.

More from Ireland

On Sunday, we packed our bags, left Dublin, and got on a bus bound for Galway, on the western coast of Ireland. It only took us four hours to cross the country...it's amazing how distances seem longer when you know you're crossing an entire country as opposed to knowing that it takes me only four hours to drive from Toledo to Chicago. When we got to our bed & breakfast there, I could have kissed our host, I was so happy to see beds and a bathroom all to ourselves. The hostel was ok, but it was not fun sleeping in a room crowded with 12 bunks, 1 bathroom to share with everyone, and people coming in and out at all hours of the night. Now we had big beds with big fluffy pillows! I couldn't wait to go to sleep that night. The owners, Mary & Tom, were absolutely lovely. They directed us to the main drag in Salthill (the seaside suburb of Galway that we were in) for dinner. Falling asleep that night in those beds was one of the most heavenly feelings I have ever had.
The next day, we had french toast for breakfast and then we took a bus tour (yes, one of those huge tourist bus tours...what could we do...it would have cost us a fortune to rent a car there) to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. The day had started off cloudy but by the time we got to the cliffs, the sun peeked out and they were fantastic! My uncle had warned me that they weren't worth the trip since they're usually shrouded in fog, but they were magnificent. I'm glad we took the risk and went. Even better than that, was our tour guide...he was hysterical! He was an older gentleman, short in stature, and an actual twinkle in his eyes...Being in Ireland I began to wonder if he was related to the leprechauns with all the joking and teasing he did. :)
Later that night, we ran into a couple at the B&B who were headed to pub in Galway and we went along for the ride. We went to An Pucan where they happened to have a group playing traditional pub songs...turns out I knew a lot of them from my Gaelic Storm CDs...it never occurred to me that I would end up knowing some of those old songs. And real Guinness on top of that...I'm not sure I'll ever be able to drink Guinness in the states again...it's not even close to the real thing here.

Ireland days

I have finally recovered from jet lag (thank goodness...that had to be the worst experience of crabbiness that I've ever had). But I'm getting ahead of myself here! Last time I wrote we hadn't even gotten through Paris yet.
Charles de Gaulle airport was a mess! We got off the plane and there were no signs telling us where we needed to go. We just sort of wandered until we found our next terminal. I thought we would go through customs in Paris since that's where we enter the EU but turns out we don't get stamped till Dublin.
Once we made it to Dublin, I was a wreck. I hadn't slept in almost 48 hours (b/c I was up packing all night before we left of course). I wanted to just take a cab to our hostel but Jennie talked me into taking the bus. The problem was that I wasn't really sure where we were supposed to get off at and I was exhausted so everything was a blur to me. Finally we get off the bus and it turns out that we're still a mile from our hostel. So we walk...dragging our suitcases. Next time I'm just going to shell out the bucks and take a cab. I was pretty much out of it for the rest of the day. I do remember falling asleep in my clothes and Jennie shaking me awake later so that I could change and brush my teeth.
I woke up to Saturday in Dublin and it was beautiful. Jennie and I spent the day walking around and looking at all the shops. We picked up breakfast at an in&out-type place and then walked over to St Stephen's green. We checked out the shops on Dame St. and had lunch at The Winding Stair, a very hip and cook used bookstore/cafe. I've been looking for books by John B. Keane, author of The Bodhran Makers. It's next to impossible to find his books in the States so my aunt gave me a mission to find pick up one of his books here. No luck finding any of his books yet.
During the afternoon we caught a rowing race on the Liffey. UCD and Trinity were racing against each other...the men's teams of course. ;) Who can resist a rower with an irish accent? Eventually we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner and our James Taylor concert. Just our luck, we end up running behind, the dinner takes too long, and we end up in a cab that is crawling it's way through the traffic around the concert venue. Not only did we end up paying 16 euros for the cab but we were 20 minutes late for the concert! But the concert! It was awesome! We had good seats and the show was great. JT never disappoints...of course, I have been in love with him since I was a child. :) I still remember listening to him when I was a kid...that and my dad playing his songs on the guitar. James Taylor is like comfort food for my music soul. :)

Insanity!

What an insane day! I am almost across the Atlantic and have discovered that I cannot sleep on planes. It's impossible. Jennie's out cold but I just drift in and out every 15 minutes. I've given up trying so now I am listening to Dar Williams and doing some journaling.
Of course getting ready for this trip was crazy. I packed, and repacked, and repacked again. Trying to pack for a week into a just a carry-on is not an easy task. Thank goodness I got rid of some of the stuff because my backpack just barely met the carry-on weight limit that AirFrance has (boo to that). But of course, when I went through security, the metal detectors were super sensitive and I set it off. So they had to do a wand search and then they had to pat me down. Turns out it was the underwire in my bra. Lovely. The joys of being a woman and going through airport security. It definitely does not to my anxiety over flying. No worries, I don't worry about crashing...I do worry about us missing our plane in Paris since we only have a 45 minute layover and I'm not certain whether we have to go through customs there or not (which could make us miss our connecting flight to Dublin).
I'm excited for our plans in Dublin...we're going to see James Taylor in concert! Well, more later once we get there.