Monday, April 18, 2011

9-day, whirlwind spring break--Part I in Ireland

What a trip! Jenna and I left a day early for spring break (we skipped a teacher work day Friday, April 8th). We took the two-hour-long train ride to Frankfurt on Thursday after school. We had a 9:40 p.m. flight to Dublin, Ireland. The flight was two hours, but because of the time zones, we landed in Dublin at 10:40 p.m. We flew Lufthansa... it is SO nice. Lots of room, nice service, good snacks. From Dublin airport, we took the Aircoach bus into Central Dublin and got off at the Trinity College stop. Our hostel was up the hill a good ways from Trinity College (and with suitcases and a backpack, it seems much farther!).

We arrived at our hostel thinking it would be very nice, at least from everything we found online about it.... It wasn't. It was a huge, old, dingy building with a winding staircase. For me this wasn't a problem because my suitcase wasn't too big or too heavy. And luckily we were on the first floor--aka one floor up from the ground floor. Ground floor here is considered 0. Jenna, however, decided to take a HUGE suitcase on spring break. Not a good idea. And it was a heavy one too. Everywhere we went, someone had to help her. If we were in a hostel, I could take my bag upstairs and then come down to help her. When we were in public, though, I couldn't help her, so she was lucky that strangers offered to come to her aid. Though who wants random people carrying your bag up a flight of stairs in the metro station?? Whatever.

So back to this hostel... it was gross. The rooms were dingy and the linens seems pretty clean (I found out later they for sure wash the bedding after every use, thank goodness). We stayed in a room with six beds... so three bunks. There was no bathroom for each room... my first hostel experience with a shared bathroom for an entire floor or entire hostel. There were separate showers for men and women, but they were NASTY. Just icky.... thank goodness I found some men's flipflops to buy at the PX last month. Men and women had to share toilets, though... two stalls. Gross.

Anyway, it was midnight or later before we got checked in and got to bed. We were each assigned a specific bed in the room. Mine happened to be on the top above a stranger. Jenna was in a bottom bunk next to the bed under me (if that makes sense). This next bit is a little graphic, so if you don't want to read, skip ahead to the next paragraph. I woke up in the middle of the night to the bed rocking. I realized the person under me was totally have sex with someone. I was pissed and so grossed out. Afterward, the dude got out of bed and went to the bathroom. When he came back in I made sure to give him the evil eye. I was so mad. The next morning I said something to Jenna about it.... She informed me that there was no other person in the bed with him! Yes. He was masturbating, but apparently thrusting so hard like he was having sex with someone, that it was rocking the whole bunk. SICK! Jenna had the bed next to his.... lucky her.

We got up early the next morning for a breakfast of bread and water (haha... okay, maybe there was a toaster, some jam, and some orange juice and instant coffee) before we departed on our Shamrocker Southern Tour. The tour departed from our hostel, which was another reason we chose to stay in Kinlay House. We left around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, April 8th.

We first stopped in the town of Abbeyleix to go into a SuperValu grocery store to get some food to hold us over through the lunching hours. Our first "stop" was in Cashel to see Cashel Rock. It is an old, old structure that has been a castle, a Christian church, a monastery, a stronghold, and where the High Kings of Munster once lived. How interesting, eh?

That was a quick stop because we were on our way to kiss the Blarney Stone! And yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone and I now have the "gift of the gab!" Blarney Castle is very pretty and well-preserved. The castle grounds are very pretty too. Not only is there a castle, but other stuff to explore there as well, such as the Druid's Cave, the Poison Garden, the Rock Close, and the Dungeon. So cool. Once you've climbed up the narrow, winding staircase to the top of the castle, you must lay on the ground, grab the two bars on the wall, bend backwards while some worker holds on to you, shimmy down as far as you can to kiss the Blarney Stone. The stone is just a stone on the outer wall of the castle... clear at the bottom.



Needless to say, that was a bit of an adventure! So I of course bought a magnet that is a bright red pair of lips that says "I kissed the Blarney Stone."

After exploring the grounds for a while, putting a euro penny in the witches stone (it's a rock that looks like a witches face.. and I don't know why you leave coins on her), and standing in the middle of the Druid's Circle so no evil spirits could harm me, we were off to Killarney until the next morning. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel, called Neptune's Hostel. We were in a 6-bed room with a girl from Tazmania on holiday, two girls studying in London from California and Pennsylvania, and a Canadian girl working and living in Dublin. It was a pretty fun group. Our room was nice, had a decent amount of space, and we had our own bathroom.

Jenna and I chilled out for a little bit, checked our email, used some weird pay phone to call home, and then set out for dinner. We ate at Murphy's pub. I had the shepherd's pie. It was SO good... I was hoping it would be made with lamb, but instead this one was beef. But it's beef, some peas, some carrots, and some green beans in this mush kind of thing with a layer of smashed potatoes on top. Very filling. Had a cider to wash it down. Also very good.

After dinner, we went to a place called Courtney's for a pint. The guy at our hostel recommended it to us. There was a live band playing. Afterward, we met the people on our tour at a place called O'Connor's. That place was crowded! I was in such a bad mood there, I just wanted to go back to the room and go to bed. After that, though, we all went to this discotheque at the Grand Hotel. It was really cool. The room you walk into has a live band playing and then the room back through the doors is the discotheque. Both were really cool. Killarney is a big party town if you couldn't tell. In fact, all of Ireland is a party town.

So I spent most of my time in the room with the live band. Which, by the way, this band was so weird. It was a bunch of old dudes and one younger guy in suits.. the young one was the lead singer. They only played covers.... and ALL sorts of covers. The one that sticks out most in my mind is "Oh Baby, Baby" by Britney Spears. haha. But I spent most of my time chatting it up with the Australian, Toboggan Tom. Tom was some guy who also seemed slightly socially awkward like me (not into being social butterflies, dancing to weird cover bands, and perhaps a little "smarter than the average bear"---quote from the young Kevin Cox), so we ended up talking for a lot of the night. Oh, and he wore a toboggan... one of those hipsters. He is living in Dublin currently and decided to go on a tour with Paddywagon (that is the competing company to Shamrocker). Anyhow, he was nice and cute. And that was my evening: listening to a weird cover band and Toboggan Tom talk.

Side note: There are sheep everywhere and I love them.

The next day was a beautiful coastal day along the Dingle Peninsula. We stopped at Inch Beach, which is actually three miles long, where I got to see a car stuck in the sand and the driver trying to dig it out.. made for some good amusement. We stopped at some old lady's house to see ancient bee huts. These bee huts are mostly all out on the very harsh islands off the coast where people aren't allowed to live anymore, but a few on are on the mainland. These bee huts were manned by monks and were built without mortar. How interesting.

Inch beach:

Ancient bee huts:

Okay, so after the bee huts we went to Coumenoule Beach, which is the most westerly point in Ireland. Parts of the movie Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were filmed here. It was really pretty. I was going to dip my feet in the water so I could let Ireland steal part of my soul (which I can only get back if I visit Ireland within the next 10 years.. or 20 years... I can't remember), but I decided against it because I didn't want to get my feet all dirty with sand and then have dirty, wet socks the rest of the day.




Finally it was time for lunch! We went to a fishing village, Dingle an Daigean en Cuis ("Dingle Dingle by the sea" in Irish). This is a part of the country where they still speak Irish rather than English. All signs in Ireland, such as street signs, are in Irish and then in English. People in this part of the country speak English, but Irish is the main language. I ate some fresh fish and chips from a place called Harrington's, and it was delightful. Did a little shopping and bought a really cute purple, wool, capey ponchoey sweatery thing. Got some ice cream from Murphy's.... caramel and sea salt. Sea salt ice cream... it is SO good. And paired with the caramel...mmmmm. Best ice cream I think I've ever had. Honest.

Also in Dingle, it is said this one dolphin has been hanging around the harbors since the 1980s. His name in Fungi (Fun-jee). It is said he likes people better than dolphins. Anyway, there's a bitchin statue of Fungi right by the harbor! So our tour group had a contest to see who could get the funniest picture with Fungi. However, I think Carol, the tourguide, forgot about the contest because we never compared pictures. haha. But here's mine:

and a couple other pictures of Dingle's harbor:


After Dingle, we left Kerry County and drove into County Clare. We made a stop in the town of Adare, where there are hundreds of years old thatched-roof cottages. So cute and so cool. Just killed a bit of time and had a rest break.


Then we were on to Ennis for the night after crossing the Shannon River. In Ennis we stayed at the nicest hostel in Ireland, Rowan Tree Hostel.. for real, it won the award this past year. And it was very nice. It's haunted too. We stayed in the newer part of the hostel, though, not the old house part. So we had no hauntings. But it was very nice and roomy and had a nice bathroom. Stayed with the same girls again.

The six of us ate dinner at a place that was slightly expensive and served small portions. We went out to a couple of pubs, but they sucked.. Ennis is full of creepy, old men. I couldn't stand to be around them, so I hung out with the California girl and the Tazmanian girl. This was a better choice, but not by much. The two of them had some weird dudes from Ohio who were following them around on our whole tour. These dudes were just visiting Ireland, had rented a car, met these girls in Killarney, and followed our tour ever since that first night in Killarney. So. Weird. We saw them every single place we went. But the four of them were being all coupley... my night sucked! haha.

Although.. we were having a contest on our tour to see who could get the best "souvenir." The souvenir had to be given to you. You could not buy it. You could not steal it. In one of the pubs was a band made up of twentysomething, cute guys. From them, I got a guitar string in the paper envelop still and a guitar pick. I did not win, but oh well! Some Stephen dude won the contest... he got actual stuff from stores.. a keychain, a deck of cards, and something else too. Ha!

So the final day of our tour was Sunday, April 10. We went to the Cliffs of Moher, which was absolutely so freakin stinkin cool. Huge. These cliffs are also known as the Cliffs of Insanity on the Princess Bride. But it was very neat. Spent some time hiking up there to see the great views.


After the Cliffs, we stopped in Galway for lunch. Jenna and I ate at a neat place called the King's Head. There was a weird king's head mannequin-looking thing along the stairs... I guess that was it. But I was in major need for some vegetables, so I got a chicken caesar salad. It was good. After that, we drove back to Dublin and arrived around 5 p.m.

Jenna and I stayed at the Kinlay House again that night... oh joy. We got there to find out we were put in separate rooms.. Great! So I got into my room and put my pajamas out on my bed and got my shower stuff out so I could just be organized for later. Jenna and I went out to see a few sights in Dublin, like Christ Church Cathedral (which was right beside our hostel), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and other buildings. We decided to eat at a local place where I got the Beef and Guinness stew/pie. It was so good. It's just like a vegetable and beef kind of stew where they use Guinness as broth. It's very good. After dinner we walked around and went into a pub called the Mercantile. It was really neat. They had a lot of different bands playing small sets. They were all really good. We chatted it up with a couple cute boys. One was Galeo (unfortunately he's gay... aren't all the cute ones gay, it seems??), but the other I can't tell you his name because I couldn't understand him with his Irish accent! haha!

When I got back to the hostel there was some older man in my bed. I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on and where he'd put my stuff(!), so I turned the light on. He was a total jerk and was telling me to turn the light out. I was calmly telling him he was in my bed and I couldn't find where he'd moved all my stuff. He just kept telling me that that was his bed and he'd slept there the night before and "will you just turn the light off?!!" I was so pissed. I was trying to quickly locate and gather all my crap up while he was yelling at me so I could just shower, put pjs on, and go to bed. I went downstairs to the front desk just to make sure I wasn't crazy and that that bed was actually my bed. It was. The man at the desk was very nice and asked if I wanted him to go talk to the guy. I said no because it'd only make the situation worse and thanked him anyway. Jenna and I showered in the icky stalls next to each other and went off to our separate rooms. When I got back, the man was much nicer and apologized. He said he didn't realize they assigned beds. That was nice, I guess.

We slept in the next morning and set off for the airport around noon or so. We took the Airlink bus to the airport. We had no problems getting checked in and made our flight well in advance. We got there early enough they tried to get us to take an earlier flight, but we declined so we could eat McDonalds. :)

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