It has been a busy week, and I have not been by a computer much. In fact, I am not by a computer now. I am on a bus from Galway to Dublin on kevin's iPhone (thanks Kevin). I just wanted to post a little summary of the last week for anyone reading.
In Kilkenny we had the best brewery tour I have ever been on (smithwicks). Our guide, Ronan, was passionate and intelligent and he Poured a pint with more care than some mother nursing their babies. We also saw a great castle and met Clare hyland, a guide there. After Kilkenny we spent a few days in cork walking around, doing daytrips to blarney and midleton, where I kissed the blarney stone and went on the Jameson tour (including a tasting of 3 whiskeys). After cork came Killarney where we did a lot of walking and hiking, and where we climbed the highest mountain in Ireland. We then made our way to Galway via the cliffs of Moher (magnificent). Galway is an a
Amazing town with great music and pubs and very friendly people. We went on some more crazy hikes; yesterday was one of the more intense experiences I've ever had. We met great people and had great Craic and now we are on our way to Dublin for the last leg of the trip..
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Fiery Politics, Brilliant Trad, and One Less Camera... Oh yeah, and Guinness!
On Wednesday the group finally all got together. One of the fellows' flight was delayed a full day, so instead of arriving on Tuesday he arrived on Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning also saw a departure. I woke up early and went to walk around Dublin on my own; I like to walk through a city by myself before having it colored by a tour guide. I stopped in St. Stephen's Green to check the map and take a break, I saw St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Literary Grottoes, and most of the rest of the city as well, including some nice residential areas. At 11 we all met up by City Hall to start our free walking tour. Our guide, Dave, was very energetic ("when he talks it looks like he is doing capoiera" - it really did). He was also very political. Very very political. And he was not afraid to show it. As he started the tour by Dublin Castle, I went to take out my camera to snap a photo and... it was gone. I figured it must have fallen out of my bag when I stopped at St. Stephen's Green. i ran back, but it was not there. Oh well.
We continued on the tour with Dave, learning lots about Irish history and politics and about the city itself. We had a liquid lunch, a nice microbrewed Irish Red, which was quite good. Afterwards we walked through parts of the city not covered by the tour and ended at the Guinness Storehouse, where we met the girls from the previous day. the tour there was self-guided, well-organized, and interesting enough, though it felt more like walking through a museum than a brewery tour. The Guinness at the 360 bar at the top was excellent though, and the full circle view of Dublin was magnificent (the weather has been amazing so far).
When we arrived in Kilkenny, a small quaint town, was off the hook (at 10:00pm) with young people all dressed out and going out to the pubs and clubs, and as we shlepped down our hostel with our huge bags we got many an invite to join the party. Two of us, after dropping off our bags, decided to take up the invitation, and we went out looking for some happenings. What we found was better than we could have expected. Instead of going into one of the big loud clubs along the main drag, we peeked our head into a small, quaint looking pub, and lo and behold, there was a group of musicians playing a trad session. We sat, had a few pints (Smithwicks, and more on it later), and basked in the music. And then, as if it couldn't get any better, one of the players started a sean nos! Look it up. It is something I was dying to hear here, and I was successful.
Oh, and i forgot to mention that our roommates at the hostels were, in a small town in Ireland, Israeli. Amazing.
We went to bed at 1:30, preparing for a day full of castles and breweries and more pubs and music (cheoil).
We continued on the tour with Dave, learning lots about Irish history and politics and about the city itself. We had a liquid lunch, a nice microbrewed Irish Red, which was quite good. Afterwards we walked through parts of the city not covered by the tour and ended at the Guinness Storehouse, where we met the girls from the previous day. the tour there was self-guided, well-organized, and interesting enough, though it felt more like walking through a museum than a brewery tour. The Guinness at the 360 bar at the top was excellent though, and the full circle view of Dublin was magnificent (the weather has been amazing so far).
When we arrived in Kilkenny, a small quaint town, was off the hook (at 10:00pm) with young people all dressed out and going out to the pubs and clubs, and as we shlepped down our hostel with our huge bags we got many an invite to join the party. Two of us, after dropping off our bags, decided to take up the invitation, and we went out looking for some happenings. What we found was better than we could have expected. Instead of going into one of the big loud clubs along the main drag, we peeked our head into a small, quaint looking pub, and lo and behold, there was a group of musicians playing a trad session. We sat, had a few pints (Smithwicks, and more on it later), and basked in the music. And then, as if it couldn't get any better, one of the players started a sean nos! Look it up. It is something I was dying to hear here, and I was successful.
Oh, and i forgot to mention that our roommates at the hostels were, in a small town in Ireland, Israeli. Amazing.
We went to bed at 1:30, preparing for a day full of castles and breweries and more pubs and music (cheoil).
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Flight & Days 1 and 2
The first flight, from Newark to Charlotte, was pretty uneventful. We were delayed, but thanks to the pilot's "shortcuts", we got there only three minutes behind schedule ("your welcome", he tells us over the intercom as we land; the man had a sense of humor). With about 40 minutes until boarding the connecting flight I walked to the next terminal, and, as I walked into the gate from which the flight to Dublin will depart, lo and behold, there are two girls standing there that are quite obviously (very) orthodox jews!. Of course, I engaged them in conversation, and it turned out they were on the same flight to Dublin and would be traveling through Ireland and Scotland. We exchanged emails and phone numbers (European of course) and boarded the plane, though it was not the last I would see of them.
On the plane I sat next to a wonderful Irish couple, who, when they heard this was my first time in Ireland, wrote an entire page of recommendations for the best Craic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic) in each of the cities I would be visiting. We chatted for a few hours throughout the flight, and they were, perhaps, the most pleasant flight companions I've ever had.
The sleeping situation was a bit less... pleasant, and I may have slept for half an hour, despite purposely not sleeping much the night before (in an attempt to make myself exhausted enough to sleep on the plane. Fail).
Security was uneventful, though I got my second dose of Irish friendliness when the passport control fellow started giving me recommendations for where to visit. Baggage claim was also quick and painless, and I spent it talking to those girls I mentioned before. I told them my plans (about how on Tuesday I would be going to the Fleadh Cheoil, a huge Irish music festival) and they seemed quite keen on going. We then took the bus into town together; they went to their hotel and I to mine. I dropped my stuff of, took a shower, and debated taking a nap before I quickly decided that I am here for two weeks and sleeping is at the bottom of my list. So, I went instead to Howth.
Howth was gorgeous. The first thing that went through my mind when I got there is that Howth is the Palisades of Dublin. Like the Palisades, Howth has beautiful hiking trails along a line of cliffs that are adjacent to some very nice neighborhoods and is easily accessible by public transportation from Dublin. Just that association alone made it a wonderful place in my mind, but the views out to sea, the islands, Salman Rushide's lighthouse (he stayed there for a bit during the fatwah) and Yeats' house (for a few years) made it even cooler. I hung out by the pier until one of my travel buddies, Yehoshua, made it in from the airport (his flight was delayed).
When he arrived we did the longest hiking loop there, a stunning six-mile circuit along the cliff edge. The weather was beautiful and clear up to 4, when we got some classic Irish...wetness? I am really not sure what to call it. It was like mist, but a little heavier, but it waslighter than drizzle. There was wetness falling from the sky, but if you put out your hand supine and spread out for 30 seconds it would barely be wet at all. We walked for another hour in this without putting on out raincoats and yet barely got wet. And yet it was wet. Somehow.
That night, between the hike and the lack of sleeping, I crashed. On the way back into town I fell asleep whenever we sat down, and finally, once I lay down at 930, I was out like a light.
The next morning we met the two girls on the bus to Cavan-town, where the Fleadh was being held. When we got there I think the first thing we noticed was that the more rural you go, the harder you need to work to understand peoples' accents. Some of these folks were practically unintelligible. However, music has no language barriers, and we spent all day going from recital to busker to trad session. It was a non-stop music fest and it was great. People weere playing the street, dancing in the street, every pub had impromptu sessions, the streets were packed with festival-goers...and it was a nice small Irish village as well, which was nice in itself. We heard a poetry reading outside the library where we stopped to eat lunch, we were attacked by bold bees in the parking lot where stopped to eat dinner, we met these two Americans there to compete, one of whom had a major gaffe (email me for details), we saw some pretty phenomenal musicians, including two harpists who had the fastest and most magical fingers I have ever seen. one of the girls and I kept making friends in the various pubs we went to... All in all by the time we got on the 10pm bus to go home we were pretty darn satisfied with our day. Ah! And I cannot forget! I had my first "real" Guinness in one of the pubs. The locals seemed a bit amused that I was taking the experience so seriously, but they also seemed a bit impressed and proud that I was taking it that seriously as well, and they wereglad I knew the proper Guinness-drinking rules (yes there are some rules). It was a brilliant first two days of the trip. I am now sitting in the hostel in Dublin, about to check out. Today we will meet Kevin, the other travel buddy, tour Dublin itself, go to the Guinness Brewery tour, and go to Kilkenny for the evening.
Slainte!
On the plane I sat next to a wonderful Irish couple, who, when they heard this was my first time in Ireland, wrote an entire page of recommendations for the best Craic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic) in each of the cities I would be visiting. We chatted for a few hours throughout the flight, and they were, perhaps, the most pleasant flight companions I've ever had.
The sleeping situation was a bit less... pleasant, and I may have slept for half an hour, despite purposely not sleeping much the night before (in an attempt to make myself exhausted enough to sleep on the plane. Fail).
Security was uneventful, though I got my second dose of Irish friendliness when the passport control fellow started giving me recommendations for where to visit. Baggage claim was also quick and painless, and I spent it talking to those girls I mentioned before. I told them my plans (about how on Tuesday I would be going to the Fleadh Cheoil, a huge Irish music festival) and they seemed quite keen on going. We then took the bus into town together; they went to their hotel and I to mine. I dropped my stuff of, took a shower, and debated taking a nap before I quickly decided that I am here for two weeks and sleeping is at the bottom of my list. So, I went instead to Howth.
Howth was gorgeous. The first thing that went through my mind when I got there is that Howth is the Palisades of Dublin. Like the Palisades, Howth has beautiful hiking trails along a line of cliffs that are adjacent to some very nice neighborhoods and is easily accessible by public transportation from Dublin. Just that association alone made it a wonderful place in my mind, but the views out to sea, the islands, Salman Rushide's lighthouse (he stayed there for a bit during the fatwah) and Yeats' house (for a few years) made it even cooler. I hung out by the pier until one of my travel buddies, Yehoshua, made it in from the airport (his flight was delayed).
When he arrived we did the longest hiking loop there, a stunning six-mile circuit along the cliff edge. The weather was beautiful and clear up to 4, when we got some classic Irish...wetness? I am really not sure what to call it. It was like mist, but a little heavier, but it waslighter than drizzle. There was wetness falling from the sky, but if you put out your hand supine and spread out for 30 seconds it would barely be wet at all. We walked for another hour in this without putting on out raincoats and yet barely got wet. And yet it was wet. Somehow.
That night, between the hike and the lack of sleeping, I crashed. On the way back into town I fell asleep whenever we sat down, and finally, once I lay down at 930, I was out like a light.
The next morning we met the two girls on the bus to Cavan-town, where the Fleadh was being held. When we got there I think the first thing we noticed was that the more rural you go, the harder you need to work to understand peoples' accents. Some of these folks were practically unintelligible. However, music has no language barriers, and we spent all day going from recital to busker to trad session. It was a non-stop music fest and it was great. People weere playing the street, dancing in the street, every pub had impromptu sessions, the streets were packed with festival-goers...and it was a nice small Irish village as well, which was nice in itself. We heard a poetry reading outside the library where we stopped to eat lunch, we were attacked by bold bees in the parking lot where stopped to eat dinner, we met these two Americans there to compete, one of whom had a major gaffe (email me for details), we saw some pretty phenomenal musicians, including two harpists who had the fastest and most magical fingers I have ever seen. one of the girls and I kept making friends in the various pubs we went to... All in all by the time we got on the 10pm bus to go home we were pretty darn satisfied with our day. Ah! And I cannot forget! I had my first "real" Guinness in one of the pubs. The locals seemed a bit amused that I was taking the experience so seriously, but they also seemed a bit impressed and proud that I was taking it that seriously as well, and they wereglad I knew the proper Guinness-drinking rules (yes there are some rules). It was a brilliant first two days of the trip. I am now sitting in the hostel in Dublin, about to check out. Today we will meet Kevin, the other travel buddy, tour Dublin itself, go to the Guinness Brewery tour, and go to Kilkenny for the evening.
Slainte!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Traveling Again, Finally
For those of you who do not know, and who may still be reading, I have been in medical school all of this past year and now, with two weeks to go until year 2, I am taking a trip to Ireland. It was all very exciting, buying the ticket and planning the trip (this time I will not be alone), but as I check in to my flight online, it feels as though all of the last year melted away. It as if no time has passed between when I got home from Europe last summer (around a year and two weeks ago) and now. I feel like I wasn't even in school, that nothing happened, that I am just continuing my trip. It is really very exciting. Stay tuned, I may get the opportunity to post a bit about our adventures while I am there.
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