Bank Holiday (Day 3 Part II)

Our third full day, Monday, October 26th, also happened to be a Bank Holiday in Ireland. It is the title for this post because, little did we know, but this was a BIG DEAL to everyone we spoke with. Anytime we asked for directions or a place to stay, the local would usually begin their statement with "Well, ya know, it being the Bank Holiday and all . . . ". Because it was the Bank Holiday, I had no classes on Monday and was free to enjoy and extra day with the folks. After visiting the Cliffs of Moher in the morning, we spent our afternoon driving to Cashel, where we spent our third night. On the way to Cashel, we enjoyed stopping to see castles along the road and Dad was especially excited to see the Burren Rock (see photos). Our day ended at our final B&B in Cashel, located in South Tipperary, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner in the basement of our hotel.

Picture 1 - Stopping for a picture with a small castle near the road.

Picture 2 - Lunch at The Roadside Tavern. We were happy it was open, what with the Bank Holiday and everything.

Picture 3 - Signage. No confusion here.

Picture 4 - Dad on the Burren Rock.

Picture 5 - Night three in Cashel - Bailey's Hotel.

"Life's a dance

We all have to do

What does the music require?

People all moving together

Close as the flames in a fire

Feel the beat

Music and rhyme

While there is time

We all go round and round

Partners are lost and found

Looking for one more chance

All I know is

We're all in the dance"

- La Même Histoire, Feist

Cliffs of Moher . . . One More Time (Day 3 Part I)

Today, Monday October 26th, in the morning we visited the Cliffs of Moher. For me, although it was the second time, I enjoyed the experience just as much. They really are one of Ireland's prettiest landmarks and anyone who visits the country should be sure to visit them.

Picture 1 - Mom and dad enjoying the cliffs

Picture 2 - *Winner* of Best Picture of the Weekend, possibly of all of 2009 (it is certainly in the running). Dad risking his life at the cliffs.

Picture 3 - mom and me at the other side of the cliffs

Picture 4 - Mom and dad in front of the castle and lookout at the cliffs

Picture 5 - Dad taking in the view.

Please Note: This is a recreation of an earlier photo. Please see October 5th post, Picture 5 to appreciate.

"There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy." - Mark Twain

Ring of Dingle

Sunday, October 25. Today, we woke up and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at our B&B - Castlewood House. After breakfast, we set out to drive the ring of Dingle. It is a gorgeous (approx. one hour) drive along the coast. It was one of my favorite things we did over the weekend. Every few hundred feet, the road allows for you to stop the car and snap photos. After completing the drive, we stopped off in Dingle for a bite to eat, before getting back in the car and heading to our next destination for the evening, Lehinch.

Picture 1 - Mom and dad with Helen, one of the owners of our B&B, Castlewood House

Picture 2 - hanging out with a Dingle local

Picture 3 - A typical scene for the day - dad taking the picture of me snapping photos of the local wildlife, while mom avoids the winds and rain in our tiny car.

Picture 4 - Mom and dad after dinner in Lehinch at our hotel, the Vaughan Lodge - great place (they get X Factor, among other things)!

"The earth laughs in flowers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 1 with Parents - Dingle Town

Saturday morning, October 24. I met up with my parents at their hotel and then we hit the road, GPS Navigator in tow, thank goodness! Along the way we stopped in a small town for some Irish grub, almost always consisting of vegetable soup and brown bread - its famous over here, but don't let that fool you - stick to white bread if you can. Later in the afternoon, we arrived in the beautiful coastal town of Dingle. We spent the afternoon and early evening wandering the town and its local shops. We stopped for dinner at a delicious seafood restaurant (again, blanking on the name - apologies) which claims to be the oldest restaurant in the town. Then again, a handful of places claim to be, so who knows? After dinner we returned to our cosy B&B to watch the X Factor (my favorite television show over here), which it turns out our TV did pickup.

Picture 1 - Stopping for lunch on the way to Dingle at "Kerry's Vintage Inn"

Picture 2 - Dad and me stopping for a picture at the coast on the way into town (note: mom did not leave the car to snap this photo)

Picture 3 - Dad pretending to be Irish . . .

Picture 4 - . . . which, as it turns out, might not be too hard, considering Newman is an Irish name. Here dad is posing in front of the Douglas Newman Good realtor company.

"I think we're here for each other." - Carol Burnett

The Parents are here . . .

This past weekend my parents came to visit. Since we went to so many different places and there are a lot of great pictures, I decided to break up our travels into multiple posts. They arrived in Cork last Friday (October 23rd) afternoon. First, I helped them check into their hotel and then we drove to my school and I gave them a quick tour (through the rain - welcome to Ireland!) around the University College Cork Campus. After the tour, we headed back downtown and met up with some of my friends for an amazing Italian dinner (I'm blanking on the name, but I'll try to remember it later). After dinner, they went back to their hotel and I went back to my apartment to pack for the long weekend!

Picture 1 - Mom and me on the UCC campus (note: giant white circles are rain)

Picture 2 - Dad with my friends and me after our dinner together

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart." - Marcus Aurelius

Kinsale Take 2 + Bikes

Today, Suzi and I decided to head back to Kinsale - if you remember from the last post, the gourmet capital of Ireland. Kinsale is a beautiful forty-five mintue bus ride from Cork. We left Cork at 9:45AM this morning and arrived in Kinsale a little bit after ten. We briefly stopped in the tourist information center to pick up a few more postcards and then we headed over to a bicycle rental shop. Once there, we both rented a bike for the day. We took our bikes through the town and rode them to James' Fort. Last time we were in Kinsale, we saw Charles' Fort, so we wanted to check out the other fort. James' Fort was much smaller, but I personally think that it had a better view of Kinsale and the surrounding water. After biking back to town, we stopped for lunch at a local eatery that was delicious. I had a wonderful cheese pizza. After lunch we biked around town some more and also spent some time shopping in a handful of the many boutiques that Kinsale has to offer. After our shopping, we returned the bikes and shared a chocolate cookie from a local bakery in town. Then, it was back on the bus and home to Cork in time to watch X Factor tonight. Quick Sidebar: X Factor is the UK's version of American Idol. Simon Cowell is even a judge. The show is huge over here and all of us have quickly become fascinated with it as well!

Picture 1 - the sign outside our bicycle rental store, which also happens to provide fish tackle. handy.

Picture 2 - we stopped to ask an old Irish man to take our picture with our bikes - his friend demanded that he make it into the photo

Picture 3 - right next to James' Fort, we found a really pretty beach nestled between rocks

Picture 4 - standing on the rocks next to the beach looking out at Kinsale

Picture 5 - biking through town

"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." - Gilda Radner

Cobh, better known as Cove

This past Saturday, my friend Lindsay and I spent part of the day in Cobh (pronounced Cove). It was a beautiful 25 minute train ride from Cork. We left at ten o'clock. As you can see in the pictures, something that we both loved about Cobh was how colorful all of the buildings were - like a rainbow painted down the street. After wandering the main street in town, we stopped for lunch at a local spot. I got a burger and fries, which I will admit was nothing like burgers back in the states, so I also got some tastier vegetable soup. After lunch, we continued to explore the town by walking around. We really wanted to go out on a boat, but the one boat tour vendor that we found had a sign telling us that they are only open in the summer months. Nevertheless, it was a gorgeous day and a lovely town!

Picture 1 - deep in thought, looking out into Cobh's waters

Picture 2 - the painted rainbow of buildings

Picture 3 - some local boats docked in one of the town's harbors

Picture 4 - speaking of boats, I found one for sale that I really liked, but it needed a little bit too much work

Picture 5 - a new favorite Irish pastime - posing with statues - can you find me amidst the bronze children?

This statue shows Annie Moore with her two younger brothers. It honors the young girl for being the first citizen accounted for entering the United States through the new immigration center at Ellis Island, New York on January 1, 1892.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! cries she with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send those, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door." - Emma Lazarus

Cliffs of Moher

On Saturday, after an early breakfast at our hostel, our group boarded yet another bus - this time it was a two hour ride to see the Cliffs of Moher. The view was well worth the trip. We snapped lots of photos and held onto each other so that we wouldn't be blown away atop the windy cliffs. After visiting the cliffs, we grabbed a quick lunch in the visiting center and then boarded another bus back to Galway. After a delicious early dinner in Galway, it was back on yet another three and half hour bus and home to Cork!

Picture 1 - the cliffs

Picture 2 - with Sharlett & Suzi

Picture 3 - a different view of the cliffs

Picture 4 - enjoying the view

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill

Galway Girls

This past weekend our group did even more traveling outside of Cork. We woke up early Friday morning and boarded a three and a half hour bus to Galway. Once there, we met up with a young girl, Jennifer, studying through IFSA-Butler in Galway for the semester (far right in second picture). Jennifer gave us a lengthy tour around the city and showed us the school that she studies at, National University of Ireland, Galway. After our tour of Galway, we grabbed an early dinner of warm soup and rice at a local restaurant. After dinner we decided to explore the city some more and check out some pubs. The first pub we went to had a band of about five playing classical Irish music, which was really neat. The second pub had two guys playing more contemporary Irish music. In this pub, we requested that they play "Galway Girl", made famous by the movie "P.S. I Love You", starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. We were all thrilled when they obliged and played the song for us!

After a full day, we headed back to our hostel - The Kinlay House, which is supposedly one of the best hostels in all of Ireland. Five of us stayed in one room, with two other people. One girl was an Australian who was backpacking part of Ireland and the other girl we never met because she got in after we were asleep and was up and gone before we woke up. Overall, the hostel experience was much nicer than I had anticipated. It felt like freshman year again, except for more people to a room.

Picture 1 - all of the girls who went in front of one of Galway's rivers (from left: myself, Jenna Schwab, Lindsay Gunderson, Suzi Hamby, Sharlett Mena, & Sharlett's roommate from Germany, Raina)

Picture 2 - all of us plus our tour guide in front of a cool sculpture on the NUI Galway campus

Picture 3 - outside of our hostel, the Kinlay house

Picture 4 - our bedroom in the hostel - four bunk beds in all

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain