Thursday, September 25, 2003
The Aran Islands
What an incredible, barren, rugged place! We arrived via the Queen of Aran II (the only ferry run by the islanders) at around noon on Saturday. It was sunny and bright so we stayed on the deck for the 40 minute ride over. As we disembarked on the other side, you could see the tour buses (read: minivans) and horse and buggies lining up. Of course, most of us were backpackers so we couldn't afford the luxury of riding behind a pony.
Deanna and I decided to walk up to our hostel which was about 20 minutes out of the 'town' (small collection of sweater shops, a convenience store and two or three pubs). The hostel itself was quite basic but cozy and had a lovely view of the Atlantic, a few houses and the ever-present rock walls.
Rock walls, or fences I suppose, crisscross the island in every direction. They're all dry too, meaning there is no mortar holding the stones together. The workmanship on most of them is incredible as they fit together so well and look incredibly sturdy. Others didn't look quite so strong but the sun shining through the large cracks created a nice effect.
We decided to flag down a tour bus (well, Dea flagged it down and she did a great job) to get to Dun Aunghus, the main fort / tourist attraction on Inis Mor. For only 2.50 a lovely islander gave us a ride up and some of the local information as well. For example, there are three elementary schools on the island and they're all taught in gaelic. Fishing is the main industry with tourism now coming in a close second.
Anyway, we got to the fort and it was incredible. Its walls enclose approximately 14 acres and parts of it are dated back to 1500 BC. The main part of the fort is situated 83m up a sheer cliff from the ocean. Unlike back home, there were no fences keeping us back from the edge so we inched forward on our bellies and hung our heads over the side. Crazy feeling! As the sun was shining and the grass lovely and soft, we then found a somewhat secluded spot and had a nap.
A hour and a half walk along the ocean and we were back at our hostel. That evening we ventured out with Shane, the American we met in Galway, to a local pub and then called it (okay, I called it) an early night. Sunday morning we caught another ferry back to the mainland and this time enjoyed a pod of dolphins playing in the ferry's wake. We made it back to Limerick by 5pm and were welcomed with a downpour.
What an incredible, barren, rugged place! We arrived via the Queen of Aran II (the only ferry run by the islanders) at around noon on Saturday. It was sunny and bright so we stayed on the deck for the 40 minute ride over. As we disembarked on the other side, you could see the tour buses (read: minivans) and horse and buggies lining up. Of course, most of us were backpackers so we couldn't afford the luxury of riding behind a pony.
Deanna and I decided to walk up to our hostel which was about 20 minutes out of the 'town' (small collection of sweater shops, a convenience store and two or three pubs). The hostel itself was quite basic but cozy and had a lovely view of the Atlantic, a few houses and the ever-present rock walls.
Rock walls, or fences I suppose, crisscross the island in every direction. They're all dry too, meaning there is no mortar holding the stones together. The workmanship on most of them is incredible as they fit together so well and look incredibly sturdy. Others didn't look quite so strong but the sun shining through the large cracks created a nice effect.
We decided to flag down a tour bus (well, Dea flagged it down and she did a great job) to get to Dun Aunghus, the main fort / tourist attraction on Inis Mor. For only 2.50 a lovely islander gave us a ride up and some of the local information as well. For example, there are three elementary schools on the island and they're all taught in gaelic. Fishing is the main industry with tourism now coming in a close second.
Anyway, we got to the fort and it was incredible. Its walls enclose approximately 14 acres and parts of it are dated back to 1500 BC. The main part of the fort is situated 83m up a sheer cliff from the ocean. Unlike back home, there were no fences keeping us back from the edge so we inched forward on our bellies and hung our heads over the side. Crazy feeling! As the sun was shining and the grass lovely and soft, we then found a somewhat secluded spot and had a nap.
A hour and a half walk along the ocean and we were back at our hostel. That evening we ventured out with Shane, the American we met in Galway, to a local pub and then called it (okay, I called it) an early night. Sunday morning we caught another ferry back to the mainland and this time enjoyed a pod of dolphins playing in the ferry's wake. We made it back to Limerick by 5pm and were welcomed with a downpour.
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Galway and The King's Head
Deanna and I have to come Galway/ the Aran Islands for the weekend. Galway is a lovely city - if the rest of Ireland looks like this then no wonder people think Limerick is a dive. Galway has lots of little pedestrian streets, brightly coloured buildings, a lovely waterfront and a very odd looking 1960's Cathedral. We spent the afternoon wandering around, ogling the shops and enjoying the canals.
At our hostel we met a lovely American fellow named Shane who will be doing a Master's in Peace Studies at Trinity College in Dublin starting next week. We had a great time explaining our respective 'cultures' and asking silly questions like " do you guys REALLY like Bush?" The answer was: not really. We went out to a pub called the King's Head(finally!) for some pints (or half-pints in my case) and listened to a surprisingly good cover band . The costume of choice for the men at the bar was a checked shirt and blue jeans - almost every man was in some form of plaid. Amazing. They were very good for the ego however, very few women and whenever we made an attempt at getting to the bar to order, the guys were very accommodating about letting us through. Of course, we had to put up with their chatter at the same time but that's a small sacrifice :-) The night ended with chips and vinegar at a rather dodgy place called "Abrakebabra".
This morning we're up early to take advantage of the free internet (free before 10!) and to catch a ferry over to Inishmor. The weather has been fantastic so far, hopefully it will hold for the weekend.
Deanna and I have to come Galway/ the Aran Islands for the weekend. Galway is a lovely city - if the rest of Ireland looks like this then no wonder people think Limerick is a dive. Galway has lots of little pedestrian streets, brightly coloured buildings, a lovely waterfront and a very odd looking 1960's Cathedral. We spent the afternoon wandering around, ogling the shops and enjoying the canals.
At our hostel we met a lovely American fellow named Shane who will be doing a Master's in Peace Studies at Trinity College in Dublin starting next week. We had a great time explaining our respective 'cultures' and asking silly questions like " do you guys REALLY like Bush?" The answer was: not really. We went out to a pub called the King's Head(finally!) for some pints (or half-pints in my case) and listened to a surprisingly good cover band . The costume of choice for the men at the bar was a checked shirt and blue jeans - almost every man was in some form of plaid. Amazing. They were very good for the ego however, very few women and whenever we made an attempt at getting to the bar to order, the guys were very accommodating about letting us through. Of course, we had to put up with their chatter at the same time but that's a small sacrifice :-) The night ended with chips and vinegar at a rather dodgy place called "Abrakebabra".
This morning we're up early to take advantage of the free internet (free before 10!) and to catch a ferry over to Inishmor. The weather has been fantastic so far, hopefully it will hold for the weekend.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
The Limerick Italians
Worked my first (and last?) shift at La Piccola Italia last night - a wee but very posh Italian restaurant. The evening went well despite a complete lack of training and rather snooty female customers and leery male ones. However, I didn't get out of there until after midnight. That means I would miss the last bus back to my house and would end up taking taxi every night.
Luckily, the Italian couple that owns the restaurant, Alfredo and Anna, have two children - Bruno and Claudia, who, with their spouses Lorraine and Gareth, own a wee restaurant next door and an Italian deli/takeaway in Castletroy (my neighbourhood). So, after speaking with Lorraine, I'm now going to work 30 hours/week at the Italian deli near my house. It will be less money but that's fine - it will be during the day and I can walk to it.
And it's an Italian deli! The perfect place for me to work in my opinion.
Deanna and i moved in this morning and we had a bit of an adventure with the washing machine but soon I should have lots of clean clothes. Today we're going to figure where we're going to travel to this weekend. Belgium anyone?
Worked my first (and last?) shift at La Piccola Italia last night - a wee but very posh Italian restaurant. The evening went well despite a complete lack of training and rather snooty female customers and leery male ones. However, I didn't get out of there until after midnight. That means I would miss the last bus back to my house and would end up taking taxi every night.
Luckily, the Italian couple that owns the restaurant, Alfredo and Anna, have two children - Bruno and Claudia, who, with their spouses Lorraine and Gareth, own a wee restaurant next door and an Italian deli/takeaway in Castletroy (my neighbourhood). So, after speaking with Lorraine, I'm now going to work 30 hours/week at the Italian deli near my house. It will be less money but that's fine - it will be during the day and I can walk to it.
And it's an Italian deli! The perfect place for me to work in my opinion.
Deanna and i moved in this morning and we had a bit of an adventure with the washing machine but soon I should have lots of clean clothes. Today we're going to figure where we're going to travel to this weekend. Belgium anyone?
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Deanna has arrived :-)
yes, deanna got in late yesterday afternoon to the shannon airport. it is so nice to have a companion again, and somebody to speak with and send ahead of me into the road to check for cars. we're now staying at another bed and breakfast, courtesy of the Limerick Faculty of Law, and just this morning we hooked up a lovely place to live.
Our new landlord is a chap named Eric with a funny hat and bad teeth. But he's really nice, and the apartment is quite close to U of L and some grocery stores. We move in tomorrow morning. We'll be sharing the place with three others and it's fully furnished, complete with laundry and a phone. My room is miniscule but since all of my possessions here fit into two bags, it will do just fine.
I start working tonight at 5:30 ... wish me luck!
yes, deanna got in late yesterday afternoon to the shannon airport. it is so nice to have a companion again, and somebody to speak with and send ahead of me into the road to check for cars. we're now staying at another bed and breakfast, courtesy of the Limerick Faculty of Law, and just this morning we hooked up a lovely place to live.
Our new landlord is a chap named Eric with a funny hat and bad teeth. But he's really nice, and the apartment is quite close to U of L and some grocery stores. We move in tomorrow morning. We'll be sharing the place with three others and it's fully furnished, complete with laundry and a phone. My room is miniscule but since all of my possessions here fit into two bags, it will do just fine.
I start working tonight at 5:30 ... wish me luck!
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Some observations
1. Irish signs tell it like it is - one near the Limerick Institute of Technology says "You Know Better Boys - Slow Down!"
2. Limerick drivers are similar to Victoria drivers - this morning I observed a wee old man toddering down the middle of a lane in rush hour, and all the cars just slowed down to a crawl and went around him. Not one person honked. FYI, he ended up crossing safely.
3. My sweet tooth fits in well here - I've counted over 13 varieties of Cadbury chocolate bars alone.
4. Babies, babies everywhere.
5. Hurling here is a national sport and involves sticks and a ball. They call it the fastest game on earth and when I explained ice hockey to one guy, he shrugged and said "that's different". He also couldn't believe my interpretation of the word 'hurl'. Evidently he hadn't seen Wayne's World.
6. There is no such thing as a map of all of Limerick.
1. Irish signs tell it like it is - one near the Limerick Institute of Technology says "You Know Better Boys - Slow Down!"
2. Limerick drivers are similar to Victoria drivers - this morning I observed a wee old man toddering down the middle of a lane in rush hour, and all the cars just slowed down to a crawl and went around him. Not one person honked. FYI, he ended up crossing safely.
3. My sweet tooth fits in well here - I've counted over 13 varieties of Cadbury chocolate bars alone.
4. Babies, babies everywhere.
5. Hurling here is a national sport and involves sticks and a ball. They call it the fastest game on earth and when I explained ice hockey to one guy, he shrugged and said "that's different". He also couldn't believe my interpretation of the word 'hurl'. Evidently he hadn't seen Wayne's World.
6. There is no such thing as a map of all of Limerick.
Chocolate Yogourt
Ireland truly is a magical place. The grocery stores sell chocolate flavoured yogourt (tastes yummy but looks questionable), the bus drivers give change, wee old irish people are adorable and i think i may have found a job already.
I got to Limerick two days ago and I've been staying at a rather posh (for my budget) bed and breakfast called Ashgrove House. My hosts were lovely and once they heard I would be looking for a job and a place to live, they fetched me newspapers and started calling their friends. And, they're fabulous cooks! I had a full irish breakfast yesterday morning but didn't dare repeat the stunt today. Eggs, sausages, bacon, toast (2 kinds), cereal, tomatoes, juice and tea - all for me!
Limerick itself looks to be quite a lovely city. It's grown quite rapidly in the past few years and has many new buildings and streets. There are numerous help wanted signs posted around and lots of young people. Along with this of course are lots of babies. They're everywhere! At least two buggies on every bus i've taken. The buses so far are quite good, as I said before the drivers give change and have been very good about hollering out stops to me so I get off at the right place.
My stay in Killarney was quite nice. I ended up meeting an (overly?) friendly old irish guy who knew Blake and Robin from Victoria. We had a nice chat and a lovely walk (I was on my way to see Ross Castle) but when he called for me at my hostel that evening I grew a bit suspicious. I'm glad that I was out at a movie (InterMission with Colin Farrel - very very good) and leaving the next morning on an early bus. Killarney is the leaving point for tours around the Ring of Kerry so hopefully Deanna and I will go back at some point to do that.
Ireland truly is a magical place. The grocery stores sell chocolate flavoured yogourt (tastes yummy but looks questionable), the bus drivers give change, wee old irish people are adorable and i think i may have found a job already.
I got to Limerick two days ago and I've been staying at a rather posh (for my budget) bed and breakfast called Ashgrove House. My hosts were lovely and once they heard I would be looking for a job and a place to live, they fetched me newspapers and started calling their friends. And, they're fabulous cooks! I had a full irish breakfast yesterday morning but didn't dare repeat the stunt today. Eggs, sausages, bacon, toast (2 kinds), cereal, tomatoes, juice and tea - all for me!
Limerick itself looks to be quite a lovely city. It's grown quite rapidly in the past few years and has many new buildings and streets. There are numerous help wanted signs posted around and lots of young people. Along with this of course are lots of babies. They're everywhere! At least two buggies on every bus i've taken. The buses so far are quite good, as I said before the drivers give change and have been very good about hollering out stops to me so I get off at the right place.
My stay in Killarney was quite nice. I ended up meeting an (overly?) friendly old irish guy who knew Blake and Robin from Victoria. We had a nice chat and a lovely walk (I was on my way to see Ross Castle) but when he called for me at my hostel that evening I grew a bit suspicious. I'm glad that I was out at a movie (InterMission with Colin Farrel - very very good) and leaving the next morning on an early bus. Killarney is the leaving point for tours around the Ring of Kerry so hopefully Deanna and I will go back at some point to do that.
Friday, September 12, 2003
Just arrived in Killarney today, took a six hour 'express' (read: stopped at every wee town along the way) bus here, scenery was beautiful. my new hostel is much nicer than the one in dublin and my roommates even speak english (bonus!)
Dublin was wonderful, went on a fabulous literary/georgian walking tour of the city with a bunch of geriatrics and had a great tour guide. I seem to be attracting the older generation, not sure if I should be worried about this or not. I went on another tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells and again I was the only one with natural pigment left in my hair. And finally, attended a great one man production of "An Evening with Irish Writers" and sat with an elderly English chap where we compared walking tours in between performances.
I'm not complaining though, old English people are really cute and love to show off their knowledge of Canadiana by naming all the cities they can think of: Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto ... Prince George (?!?!).
Anyway, the solo adventure is going much better than I could have thought and I'm having a wonderful time. That's not to say that I'm not totally looking forward to Deanna's arrival on Tuesday - can't wait!
Dublin was wonderful, went on a fabulous literary/georgian walking tour of the city with a bunch of geriatrics and had a great tour guide. I seem to be attracting the older generation, not sure if I should be worried about this or not. I went on another tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells and again I was the only one with natural pigment left in my hair. And finally, attended a great one man production of "An Evening with Irish Writers" and sat with an elderly English chap where we compared walking tours in between performances.
I'm not complaining though, old English people are really cute and love to show off their knowledge of Canadiana by naming all the cities they can think of: Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto ... Prince George (?!?!).
Anyway, the solo adventure is going much better than I could have thought and I'm having a wonderful time. That's not to say that I'm not totally looking forward to Deanna's arrival on Tuesday - can't wait!
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
after much planning and more practicing a la patio drinking ... i've finally arrived in dublin. my two days in london with my friend trevor and his girlfriend marni were fabulous, the weather was great, i saw lots of old things and the people were really friendly. one little old 94 year old man even wheeled my suitcase into liverpool station for me this morning.
note to anyone flying ryanair at any point in the future - they have a 15kg baggage limit and if you go over they gouge you for it. my ticket cost 13£ and my overweight baggae was an extra £60. incredible! but, what can you do? bite your tongue and slap down the visa.
now i'm all checked into kinlay hostel in downtown dublin for the next two nights and then after that i'll be making my way over to limerick via kilkenny and killarney i think. so far no major disasters or humiliations have occurred (knock on wood), i'll be doing my best to keep it that way at least until deanna arrives in a week.
note to anyone flying ryanair at any point in the future - they have a 15kg baggage limit and if you go over they gouge you for it. my ticket cost 13£ and my overweight baggae was an extra £60. incredible! but, what can you do? bite your tongue and slap down the visa.
now i'm all checked into kinlay hostel in downtown dublin for the next two nights and then after that i'll be making my way over to limerick via kilkenny and killarney i think. so far no major disasters or humiliations have occurred (knock on wood), i'll be doing my best to keep it that way at least until deanna arrives in a week.
