The storm that should have hit yesterday came into Dublin this morning. It’s gray, dark, windy, and rainy-a true winter storm. I slept in till 10am (to recover from yesterday). I went to a local mall to look around all the shops. This isn’t really a great day to do anything but prepare for my trip home tomorrow. I did buy a new book and I’ve been reading it (All the President’s Men). The reading’s going slowly, but at least I have time to figure out who’s who. I started packing as I got dressed. The more I do earlier, the less I have to do later. I’m about halfway done (at 5pm). I have to pack my carry on stuff, eat dinner, take a shower, and get to bed no later than 10pm. The taxi’s coming at 6:15am.
Epilogue:
As much as I’ve enjoyed my time in the UK, I can’t wait to get home. I’ve been reasonably isolated and I miss hanging out with people in the evenings. I also miss school and work. Being away from home has made me appreciate my life and what I have. I would consider doing something like this again. While it’s good to get away for a while, Judy Garland as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, said it best: “there’s no place like home!”
Thursday, December 25, 2008
7/8/08 Tuesday
Today, I took the Limmerick/Galway tour. It was conducted by the same company who did the Cork tour.
I was at the train station by 6:30am for the 7am departure. I slept during most of the train ride; we got to Limmerick by 9:20am. A coach met the group and Frank (the driver and tour guide) took us to our first destination: Bunratty Castle. According to Frank, Bunratty Castle was named after the river that runs along side it. The river, called the Ratty, is linked to the Bun, which is a part of the river next to the mouth. Frank took us into the castle, and there, we went into 2 rooms (meeting and dining I think) to listen to a 20-minute presentation by a curator. Afterwards, we were free to take a self-guided tour of the castle’s interior.
In order to get up into the dining room, I had to climb a circular and narrow staircase, which contained the wedge shaped steps. The staircase was not unlike the one in Blarney Castle. As I climbed the 35 steps, I started to feel the way I did climbing Blarney Castle. I wandered around the room for a few minutes, shot some video, but decided not to complete the self guided tour (which involved climbing those circular staircases).
When I was outside the castle, I shot some more video. A couple stopped me and asked me to take their picture and I obliged. I composed the picture and took it for them; I think it looked visually interesting. The woman offered to record me in front of the castle and I accepted her offer. She couldn’t understand how to use the zoom mechanism on my camcorder, so she “manually” zoomed in by walking towards me. I have yet to find this video clip, but I’m sure it’s quite shaky.
Bunratty Castle is coupled with the folk park/town. It was a village with buildings that showed how the residents lived in the 19c. I toured many of the buildings including: the blacksmith’s shop, a non-landowner’s living quarters, and a landowner’s house. Inside the house, a woman was making scones as a demonstration of how women did it in the 19c. As I walked further away from the castle and the living facilities, I came upon the town area.
In the town there was a grocery store, textile store (selling woven clothing to the visitors), a post office, a pub, a “hotel,” and so on. I was given 1.2 hours to look around the castle and the folk park; I really wish I had at least 2 hours because there was so much to see. I spent so much time in the castle and residential area of the folk park that I really didn’t get to visit the town part of the park. Such a shame-I’ll have to visit here again if I come back!
The next stop on the tour was a pub in Doolin. It must have taken 40-50 minutes to get to Doolin, but we were moving closer and closer to the coast, so much so that the Atlantic was getting bigger and bigger! Doolin is a small village with a sparse number of homes, and a main street with a few businesses. As we drove up the hills, the view of the Atlantic was spectacular! So there I was, in the coach, listening to Irish music, looking at wonderful views of the ocean with little puff ball clouds in the sky…can you picture it?
At the pub, I ordered and paid for my food first, and then it was brought to my table. I swear, after 2 minutes, my salad and fries were served; it was really, really quick-I was impressed! It was a highly substantial salad: lettuce, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, pineapple wedges, and honey mustard dressing. The bowl must have been 8” in diameter filled with all that good food. It was a great value for the money I spent. It was absolutely fabulous!
After lunch, we loaded up into the coach and off to the Cliffs of Mohr. When we got there, Frank advised us to stay behind the guardrails and not walk out to the edge of the cliff-well duh! He said that 8 people fell to their deaths-some were unintentional (they were blown off) others were intentional (suicides).
Frank told us the west coast was supposed to be hit by a significant storm today. Happily, that didn’t happen. It was a wonderfully bright, sunny, and breezy day with puffball clouds in the sky. None of the pesky misty ocean fog was hovering around the cliffs; it was brilliantly crystal clear today. I couldn’t ask for a better day.
After parking in the car park, I walked over to the observation point for the Cliffs. The stair climb was 150 steps-I actually counted! The climb was definitely worth it! I wandered around shooting video for about an hour and then the tour was back on the road again.
We were on our way to the Burren. The Burren looks like either scabby or scaly skin or like rocky warts on the green fields of grass. It is an all-natural occurring phenomenon. It made for some interesting landscapes, which I recorded.
Half an hour came and went before we hit the road again. Now were on our way to Galway. Frank stopped for about 15 minutes so we could take pictures of Galway Bay; he even pointed out where Connemara was (home to Stephen Walsh’s Connemara marble quarry) because it was so clear and the hills were visible. He “advertised” the Connemara tour; damn, if I had known about it, I would have taken that tour as well. Well, it’s on the list for thing to do next time (and the Waterford tour as well).
The Cliffs of Mohr were so amazing! The sun was warm and the wind was strong enough to keep me cool. The landscape was exactly like it was in Stephen Walsh’s Ireland DVD tour. It was so peaceful there; so relaxing. I’ve never seen the Atlantic Ocean from the eastern side before. “Just think,” I thought, “just 2800 miles to swim and I’ll get to North America!” The Cliffs is the perfect place to take a blanket, a picnic basket, a kite, and a book so I can just take a day off. Just to read, eat, and sleep a little; it would be perfection (sigh).
We got to Galway by 5pm. We were given 45 minutes to look around the local mall. I needed to use the bathroom, and when I found them, I was stunned that it cost .30 euros to use it. This is something that I won’t miss: having to pay to use a toilet in a public area like a mall. Fortunately, a woman held the door to the bathroom open to let in as many women as she could. About eight of us made it in without paying (which is just fine with me because you shouldn’t have to pay to pee!)
I looked around the mall for about 20 minutes, but there wasn’t anything of interest. I decided to head to the train station. By 6pm, I was on the train back to Dublin. I sat with a woman named Kay and her grandson Jordan. It was nice to have someone to talk to; it made time go by much quicker. We talked about everything: cars (she’s getting a new one), school (I talked about SJSU and Jordan talked about his school in NY-he’s a hotel/restaurant management major), politics, Florida (their family lives there), and so on. Jordan showed some of the pictures he took from today’s adventure and wow, they were great. He has an excellent camera. I showed them some of the video I shot from Cork and Cobh, because that was somewhere they wanted to visit. I also showed them the video clip of the storm that rolled into Cobh on the 5th. At 8:30pm, I was feeling restless and was glad that the trip was almost over. By 9:30, I was in my room, ordering room service, grateful the day was finally over.
I was at the train station by 6:30am for the 7am departure. I slept during most of the train ride; we got to Limmerick by 9:20am. A coach met the group and Frank (the driver and tour guide) took us to our first destination: Bunratty Castle. According to Frank, Bunratty Castle was named after the river that runs along side it. The river, called the Ratty, is linked to the Bun, which is a part of the river next to the mouth. Frank took us into the castle, and there, we went into 2 rooms (meeting and dining I think) to listen to a 20-minute presentation by a curator. Afterwards, we were free to take a self-guided tour of the castle’s interior.
In order to get up into the dining room, I had to climb a circular and narrow staircase, which contained the wedge shaped steps. The staircase was not unlike the one in Blarney Castle. As I climbed the 35 steps, I started to feel the way I did climbing Blarney Castle. I wandered around the room for a few minutes, shot some video, but decided not to complete the self guided tour (which involved climbing those circular staircases).
When I was outside the castle, I shot some more video. A couple stopped me and asked me to take their picture and I obliged. I composed the picture and took it for them; I think it looked visually interesting. The woman offered to record me in front of the castle and I accepted her offer. She couldn’t understand how to use the zoom mechanism on my camcorder, so she “manually” zoomed in by walking towards me. I have yet to find this video clip, but I’m sure it’s quite shaky.
Bunratty Castle is coupled with the folk park/town. It was a village with buildings that showed how the residents lived in the 19c. I toured many of the buildings including: the blacksmith’s shop, a non-landowner’s living quarters, and a landowner’s house. Inside the house, a woman was making scones as a demonstration of how women did it in the 19c. As I walked further away from the castle and the living facilities, I came upon the town area.
In the town there was a grocery store, textile store (selling woven clothing to the visitors), a post office, a pub, a “hotel,” and so on. I was given 1.2 hours to look around the castle and the folk park; I really wish I had at least 2 hours because there was so much to see. I spent so much time in the castle and residential area of the folk park that I really didn’t get to visit the town part of the park. Such a shame-I’ll have to visit here again if I come back!
The next stop on the tour was a pub in Doolin. It must have taken 40-50 minutes to get to Doolin, but we were moving closer and closer to the coast, so much so that the Atlantic was getting bigger and bigger! Doolin is a small village with a sparse number of homes, and a main street with a few businesses. As we drove up the hills, the view of the Atlantic was spectacular! So there I was, in the coach, listening to Irish music, looking at wonderful views of the ocean with little puff ball clouds in the sky…can you picture it?
At the pub, I ordered and paid for my food first, and then it was brought to my table. I swear, after 2 minutes, my salad and fries were served; it was really, really quick-I was impressed! It was a highly substantial salad: lettuce, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, pineapple wedges, and honey mustard dressing. The bowl must have been 8” in diameter filled with all that good food. It was a great value for the money I spent. It was absolutely fabulous!
After lunch, we loaded up into the coach and off to the Cliffs of Mohr. When we got there, Frank advised us to stay behind the guardrails and not walk out to the edge of the cliff-well duh! He said that 8 people fell to their deaths-some were unintentional (they were blown off) others were intentional (suicides).
Frank told us the west coast was supposed to be hit by a significant storm today. Happily, that didn’t happen. It was a wonderfully bright, sunny, and breezy day with puffball clouds in the sky. None of the pesky misty ocean fog was hovering around the cliffs; it was brilliantly crystal clear today. I couldn’t ask for a better day.
After parking in the car park, I walked over to the observation point for the Cliffs. The stair climb was 150 steps-I actually counted! The climb was definitely worth it! I wandered around shooting video for about an hour and then the tour was back on the road again.
We were on our way to the Burren. The Burren looks like either scabby or scaly skin or like rocky warts on the green fields of grass. It is an all-natural occurring phenomenon. It made for some interesting landscapes, which I recorded.
Half an hour came and went before we hit the road again. Now were on our way to Galway. Frank stopped for about 15 minutes so we could take pictures of Galway Bay; he even pointed out where Connemara was (home to Stephen Walsh’s Connemara marble quarry) because it was so clear and the hills were visible. He “advertised” the Connemara tour; damn, if I had known about it, I would have taken that tour as well. Well, it’s on the list for thing to do next time (and the Waterford tour as well).
The Cliffs of Mohr were so amazing! The sun was warm and the wind was strong enough to keep me cool. The landscape was exactly like it was in Stephen Walsh’s Ireland DVD tour. It was so peaceful there; so relaxing. I’ve never seen the Atlantic Ocean from the eastern side before. “Just think,” I thought, “just 2800 miles to swim and I’ll get to North America!” The Cliffs is the perfect place to take a blanket, a picnic basket, a kite, and a book so I can just take a day off. Just to read, eat, and sleep a little; it would be perfection (sigh).
We got to Galway by 5pm. We were given 45 minutes to look around the local mall. I needed to use the bathroom, and when I found them, I was stunned that it cost .30 euros to use it. This is something that I won’t miss: having to pay to use a toilet in a public area like a mall. Fortunately, a woman held the door to the bathroom open to let in as many women as she could. About eight of us made it in without paying (which is just fine with me because you shouldn’t have to pay to pee!)
I looked around the mall for about 20 minutes, but there wasn’t anything of interest. I decided to head to the train station. By 6pm, I was on the train back to Dublin. I sat with a woman named Kay and her grandson Jordan. It was nice to have someone to talk to; it made time go by much quicker. We talked about everything: cars (she’s getting a new one), school (I talked about SJSU and Jordan talked about his school in NY-he’s a hotel/restaurant management major), politics, Florida (their family lives there), and so on. Jordan showed some of the pictures he took from today’s adventure and wow, they were great. He has an excellent camera. I showed them some of the video I shot from Cork and Cobh, because that was somewhere they wanted to visit. I also showed them the video clip of the storm that rolled into Cobh on the 5th. At 8:30pm, I was feeling restless and was glad that the trip was almost over. By 9:30, I was in my room, ordering room service, grateful the day was finally over.
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