Country #2

One last day in Dublin included an unexpectedly ornate church and great music at Mass as well as some beautiful street art, where I bought two small watercolors of Ireland.  Travel days are not too exciting, so I'll jump ahead to my first full day in London!

I took the tube (Please mind the gap!) to the Westminster stop and upon walking out of the Underground stairwell, I immediately had the "I'm in London!" feeling.  My first views were of Big Ben and Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Bridge, and quite a few red telephone booths!

After the initial photo burst past, I wandered around and made my way over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.  It was fun to see, but spent more time waiting around for something to happen than anything else.  What was more impressive than anything was the crowd that gathered.  It felt like every tourist in London had come to the same place all at the same time!  I think I took as many pictures of the crowd as I did the guards and musicians.  My afternoon was spent in Trafalgar Square and in the National Gallery; to be perfectly honest, I can't really remember what I saw in there, until I look back at my notebook.  However I did spend close to 4 hours there, so I must have seen something!  It was a wonderful first full day in England.

My second day in London started at the Tower of London where I met up with two now old friends, Michelle and Kristin, who I had met in my hostel in Galway.  We had a blast on the included tour and hearing about all the famous people who got sent to the Tower and then subsequently beheaded!  We walked across Tower Bridge on our way to Shakespeare's Globe for about an hour's worth of Henry IV Part 1, about which I know nothing!  (Sorry Grandma, that gene and love didn't get passed down.) 

I still enjoyed my time there, and the inside of the Globe is very cool! We got groundling tickets - you stand in the pit in front of the stage - which are fantastic, up until it starts raining and you're in a space that doesn't have a roof and umbrella's aren't allowed! We huddled in the back catching some protection from the overhang of the outside walls, but after an hour of not really understanding the story and getting wet, I moved onto the Tate Modern.  Very cool modern art.  Bob (or if someone at work reads this and can tell Bob...), I saw a Mondrian and thought of our plan for the exhibit and was glad we didn't try and execute that - it would have been very busy!

My favorites in the museum were the two Calder mobiles.  If you don't know what they are, please Google them, and then buy me one. :)  I rushed through the second half of that museum so that I could get to the photo on the right - St. Paul's Cathedral for evensong - evening choir/organ singing of a Psalm and some readings.  It was very pretty music, but the best part was that it got me into the cathedral for free!  I loved the detail and wish that photos could do these places justice.  You'll just have to see it for yourselves.

More to come about London and Bath another day.  Time to move on from this cafe.

Unplanned is the Way to Go

My next day in Dublin featured a hike through some of Ireland's prettiest landscape, following a trail around a lake.  The hike itself wasn't too difficult, but was infinitely more breathtaking!  The difference is that in VA, the mountains are tree-covered, thus allowing limited views on the trail and then breathtaking views at the top of a mountain.  However Ireland is a different green - grass, moss, and ferns - which allows for 360 degree views at all times.  I love it!

However I'm getting ahead of myself.  I figured that when I emailed this tour company about a day hike that I would be joined by 5 or so others who love the outdoors and wanted an adventure while on their vacation.  After a few emails back and forth with the owner, it turned out that I was alone, and that my guide would be none other than the current World Record holder for submitting the seven tallest mountains in the fewest days, Ian McKeever!  Holy cow!  We decided after a few more emails (yeah, we're up to 10 or 15 at this point total to plan a hike) that it would be more fun to go with a group that he is training to take up Kilimanjaro in September!  We hiked for three hours or so around this lake, up the mountain along side of it, along the ridge line, and then back down.  The unexpected part was a 3-5km run at the end, with about half of it being uphill.  I wanted to die, but made it (with some walking lest you think I'm in that good of shape!).  I was glad I did it and can look back on it with fond memories, but it was painful at the time.

I had a great time talking with everyone in that group, especially meeting a father/son team Noel and Pascal.  Pascal, 12 years old, and I hit it off, talking about sports and him having a grand old time explaining all the rules of rugby, Gaelic football and hurling, and me taking it all in.  After a while I found out that they were going to a rugby match that night, and of course I say how that's on my list of things to do while abroad.  Without fail, it works out that they are going to a match that afternoon after our hike and have two extra tickets!  So long story short, I end up jumping in their car after the hike, heading (all sweaty and partially soaked from the rain) directly to the match.  It was in their words, "the worst rugby match they'd ever seen" but I enjoyed myself immensely!  So the moral of the story is go with the flow, don't always make plans, and things will turn out way better than you can imagine.  I know I haven't been gone that long, but this was definitely my favorite day yet!
Stay tuned for the next installment...

Passage Graves and Guinness

The rain held off amazingly well for my first week in Ireland. But it was inevitable that the weather and my luck would break. I took a tour out to Newgrange, a Neolithic passage grave that is about 5,000 years old - older than Stonehenge and the pyramids in Egypt.

Their knowledge of the sun and the earth was very interesting to hear about; they built the structure to perfectly align with the sun on the winter equinox and used the ground's constant cool temperature to serve as a refrigerator. Similarly their understanding of architecture and engineering was evident in the surprisingly large space inside the grave and the fact that it has stood the test of time. We were able to walk inside, and while inside the lights were turned off, sending us into complete darkness until the winter sun was simulated to show what it would look like on the shortest day of the year. So cool! After walking around we caught another shuttle to Knowth, a group of about 27 passage graves that had taken probably close to a century to build. It was a great day of ancient history.

After returning to Dublin I met up with some (new) friends to go out for a Guinness. Because I promised so many of you that I would drink a Guinness while in Dublin I ordered a half pint. Don't be too mad, but I knew there was no way I would have been able to get a full pint down. The half was painful enough for someone who doesn't like beer! I will say that it did taste marginally better than the few sips of the bottled Guinness I tasted in NJ before I left!


I also figured that my one beer needed to be consumed in Dublin's most famous pub, Temple Bar. I'm not sure why it's so famous, but it was painted red, loud with live music, overpriced, and very busy! So I drank my beer and managed a smile after it was done! I hope you all are satisfied now that you have proof of my beer drinking story!

Coming soon in my next installment - hiking, a world record holder, and rugby.