It All Comes to an End

I am once again in an airport, waiting.

The waiting to return from a vacation, or holiday, is more bittersweet than when the journey starts. There is the same anticipation of movement, and going forward. There is the desire to get back to the things you know, and the places in which you are comfortable. There is the eagerness to see the people you care about who you have been without. But there is also a sense of apprehension. You know that you will have to give up this altered reality that you have been existing in, and return to the reality of work, and bills and responsibility. But, if we didn't go home, then we would't be as appreciative of our time away. And, if we never went away, we wouldn't appreciate our home as much.

So, I will return home. I have had my journey, and all journeys must find some conclusion. I think this was a good journey. I have seen things that have amazed me, and entertained me, and educated me. I have experienced a world that is, despite a shared language, very different from my own. I have tried to immerse myself in this culture and not just skim the surface. And I think, as a result, it has made me a better person. Not "better" in the sense of being superior, but better as in more complete. I am more human because I have tried to understand what the word means to someone else.

I also hope that I have done my small part to change the way that people see us in America. We have this reputation in other parts of the world as being loud and rude and obnoxious. I have definitely come across plenty of them here- whether it was the man who could not comprehend why he would not be able to view Fox News, or the woman who was complaining about how isolated her family was feeling during their stay on a private island, in a castle, which was amazing. I have tried really hard to show the rest of the world that there really are polite, cheerful, charismatic, charming, intelligent, affable Americans. Too much?

As for Ireland itself, I found it to be a wonderful place to visit. I had the chance, in a relatively short period of time, to see a great deal of what this country has to offer. No matter what your vacationing goals are, they seem to be met here in some way. The one exception might be those who are looking for constant sun and heat, but since I am not one of those, I am not addressing that issue. There are beautiful countrysides and peaceful landscapes to enjoy. There are wonderful museums that cover a wide range of topics and appeals. There are amazing natural wonders and sites around every corner. There is more history here than you could ever hope to take in. There are small towns that can be explored in a few hours. There are sprawling cities that provide any number of possibilities. While it is a fairly pricey place to visit, there are ways to make it more manageable to your specific situation, like the earlybird meal deals and a wide range of housing options.

So, here is my soapbox moment. As I sit here in a waiting area, surrounded by screaming children, with recaps of the recent riots playing on the TV, and my own memories of rude tourists from all parts of the world, I have just one thought-we are in trouble as a planet. If we (using this term to apply broadly to all people) continue on the path that we are on, things are going to get much worse for all of us. We cannot continue to go about our lives feeling like we can behave however we please without it affecting those around us. We cannot continue to push others out of our way so that we can get ahead. We cannot continue to allow our children to act as if their actions do not have consequences. We cannot sit timidly by as a society and just watch as things fall apart. How can we expect our countries to function in a decent manner, when we are unable to function as individuals in a decent manner? All the world's problems can be solved by people just being decent to one another. Not really, but it would probably be a lot less miserable.

There you have them, my final thoughts. Thank you again for sharing this journey with me. We will see where the road takes me next. For a complete transcript of this journey please send $99.95 to me, I am waiting in the airport

Nerdfest 2011

I am really glad that I decided to end my trip with Dublin. While it is a big city, and you know how I feel about those, it has a different feel than the big cities that I have visited here so far. It has been an enjoyable few days to end my trip with.
I think that it helps to be staying outside of Dublin. My B&B is actually in the smaller town of Dun Laoghaire (dun LEERY). This is nice because I don't have to drive through all the traffic in Dublin. Dun Laoghaire is also a nice little place. It has a more modern feel than some of the small towns I have been in, so it lacks a little bit of the charm, but it is very bright and clean. There was even a very nice fireworks display tonight over the harbor. It is a nice town to walk around in, and it is just a quick train ride to Dublin.
I have done what is probably the most tourist-like thing of my whole trip, not that everything else has been non-touristy, but this is just extra touristy. I have been using the hop-on hop-off sight seeing bus service in town. I have found myself crammed on to a bus filled with strangers, listening to a pre-recorded description of the buildings that we drive by. I know. I feel as if I have sold out on my "experience the country like a local" goal. But, I found myself here on day 19 of my twenty day trip and my feet just couldn't take it any more. I have the biggest blister of my life on one foot and another starting on the other foot. I need the bus. You don't know what it's like here, man. It was also fairly rainy today, and we have already talked about rain.

So, where has the sell-out bus taken me? Good question. There are a lot of places to visit in Dublin, which is nice. I visited the Kilmainham Gaol (jail). This place was in operation for some of the most important events in Irish history. People were brought here during the famine, some who were arrested for being homeless, a crime then, and others who committed crimes in front of police just so they could be in a place where they were guaranteed one meal a day. The gaol also housed many of the leaders of the early rebellion against the British. We saw the place in the yard where many of them were executed, including one man who was so injured that he had to be tied to a chair for his execution.

I also visited the Dublin zoo. It might seem odd that I would spend my time this way. A zoo is a zoo really. I like to see how other countries go about their zoological enterprises. And, this is the second oldest zoo in Europe, which is pretty cool.

Dublin has provided me the chance to unleash my inner nerd, and he is loving it. I started with the National Museum of Archeaology. The museum, which is free for all visitors, like the Smithsonian, had sections devoted to prehistoric Ireland, Vikings, some wonderfully preserved ancinet people,medieval Ireland and even small sections of Roman and Egyptian artifacts that were on loan. The highlight was a section called the treasury. It was filled with some amazing pieces that spanned the history of the Island. I, again, have found myself underestimating ancient people and their skills. I assumed that most of the jewelry from prehistoric man would be shiny rocks, but there were some gold pieces that were so intricate that it looked like they were made yesterday. Sorry again ancient man. Of course, there were also some pretty impressive pieces as well. I found myself wandering through these treasures muttering to myself that, "this belongs in a museum.". Luckily, they all were. If you don't get that reference, then stop reading now and go wath Indiana Jones. I will understand.

My nerd continued to thrive when I went to a museum dedicated to books. They call it the Chester Beatty Library, after the man who collected all of the books, but it is definitely more museum than library. They had books from all stages of history and from around the world. There were scrolls from China that stretched across an entire room, and books carved into jade tablets. There was a whole section of ancient religious texts, from the world's top religions. This place was really cool.

To continue my book fest, I stood in line for thirty minutes to spend 5 minutes to look at an illuminated text from the middle ages. This book was hidden away from raiding Vikings for centuries and now survives in the safety of Trinity College. This beautifully decorated text was created during a time when most of Europe was just trying to stay alive, and couldn't be bothered by things like reading and writing. Part of the tour here also included a trip through the college's old library. This might have been the coolest room that I have ever been in in my life. There were shelves and shelves filled with old books from the floor to the thirty foot ceiling. Think Harry Potter without the flying books. I think they actually have those here, but they have to put them away during tours.

I also had the chance to see a beautiful play about the role that language plays in determining who we are. The play raised some very difficult questions about how we name things, including ourselves, and how these names can change us, or trap us. It was very thought provoking, and it was set in a barn in pre-famine Ireland. It really made me miss doing and seeing really good, well-funded theatre. As the National theatre, it was obvious that there was plenty of support here.

I have very few pictures for most of these specific events, because I, unlike many other people I have been touring with, having the overriding obligation to follow the no photography rules. You will see some pictures from the gaol, the zoo and some random shots from the bus. I am also including a picture of the mighty chariot that has taken me on my journey.

To close up my tour of Irish drinks, I decided to finish where I started, with a Guinness. While I am still not completely sold on it, or any of the other drinks that I have tried, I think that I am better able to appreciate some of them. We'll see.

I am off to try to figure out how to pack all my stuff for the journey home. I feel like a Viking loading up his plunder. Except, I had to pay for all of this plunder. And, if there is too much plunder, I will have to pay extra to get it home. I might be the worst Viking ever. Or, at least the most courteous.

I am putting together some closing thoughts on my trip, but I think that I will wait until I am actually on the way home. Feel free to start holding your breath now

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down

Today was wet. As I have mentioned before, I have been very lucky with the weather. The few times that it has actually rained while I have been here, I have been in the car between locations. A few times, there has been a light mist while I was out exploring some ruin, but it usually only lasted a few minutes, and it seemed to add a sense of magic and charm. There was nothing charming about the rain today. I decided to brave the weather, expecting it to settle down. It did not. I don't really mind the rain. I can dry. The problem is, I have been carrying around a backpack around with my camera and important papers in it. As the rain increased, I found myself struggling to hide my bag inside my jacket. The backpack will not fit with the jacket zipped, so I had to leave the jacket open and cover the bag with half of the jacket. By the end of the day I found myself soaked, but my stuff was still relatively dry, and I managed to enjoy myself.

I have returned to the Republic of Ireland, which, for those who don't know, is a different country than Northern Ireland. I had a nice time wandering the streets of Belfast. As the capitol of Northern Ireland, it is another large city. In some ways it is very similar to New York city, which is not the Capitol, I know. I stayed in an area that is very similar the The Village. The city centre, however, lacked some of the structure and continuity of Time Square's streets. There were some very nice buildings to look at though, and I saw some of them a few times.

Back in the south, I visited the oldest site on my trip through Ireland's history. I visited two Neolithic burial mounds, Newgrange and Knowth. These sites are believed to date back to 5000 years ago, which seems like an incredible statement to me. That's 500 years before the pyramids. Now, when I think about Neolithic people, I don't necessarily think about their architectural prowess. I have to completely rethink that stance. These people were able to find, quarry and transport huge stones from completely different areas of the island, some as far away as 70 miles. That might not seem like it is too far, but they had to figure out how to transport these stones, weighing more than a ton, through heavily wooded areas.

Once they got the stones there, they actually planned out and designed the structures they were building. The structures contain large granite basins that had to be in place before any of the bios ing could be put up around them. The mound that you can still walk into has a winding passage that opens up into a central chamber. Because of the way they built the ceiling, this structure has remained free from leaks for 5000 years. What's more, this structure was constructed so that on the winter solstice the rising sun penetrates into the chamber and provides natural lighting for 5 days every year. As if that wasn't ridiculous enough, they built the passageway with a specific bend so that the earliest rays are shaped into a point leading to a central alcove in the chamber. 5000 years ago. That is crazy!

I also got to tour another castle. This one, in the city of Trim, has a keep that has been restored enough that you can tour through the different levels. It was an interesting combination of ruin and remaining structure. It is actually one of the best remaining examples of a Norman castle. While this one is too much of a fixer upper for my taste, I am definitely in the market for a castle, so if anyone is aware of one that is on the market, let me know. This particular castle was used for many of the castle scenes from the movie Braveheart. I guess they couldn't find a castle in Scotland that was cool enough. Take that Scotland.

I am back to the small towns that I have come to enjoy before ending my tour in Dublin. I had the pleasure of eating a steak on a stone, which was really cool. The chef seared the steak on two sides, and then it was brought to the table on a ridiculously hot stone, thing. I think it is something like a pizza stone. I then got to slice the steak and leave it on the stone until it was done to the exact state that I wanted it. I am going to have to try and figure out how to do this without burning myself or the house down. Just as a side note, I meant to mention this before, if you are ever in Ireland, or possibly anywhere in Europe, be careful ordering cheesecake for dessert. You might find yourself terribly disappointed. It is not the thick, and delicious treat that we get at home. It is more of a foamy tasteless thing.

While I sat cooking my steak, I realized that dinner time is really kind of bittersweet for me. I have been very pleased with the meals I have had here. There has not really been anything that I have regretted ordering. So, the food part of dinner is just fine. I realized though, that dinner is really the time that I miss having someone to travel with. During the day I stay busy and on the move, so it doesn't really matter that there is no one there. Even in the car, I have the radio to listen to, and the constant need to get my focus back on the road. But at dinner, I am just sitting there. This has been the only real negative aspect of the trip, but I still don't regret my decision to come on my own. And, I usually spend my meal time going over what I am going to talk about in my blog. I don't sit there and type it out in the middle of the restaurant, that would be really sad. I do, however, go over the events that have taken place, and remember the important moments that I want to share, and try and come up with some way to structure all of this information. So, in a way, you all have become my travel companions. You are the ones who I spend my time with. Thank you for providing me with a chance to share this wonderful time with someone else. And, if everyone has stopped reading the blog, then thank you imaginary people who keep me company. That doesn't make me crazy right?
Off to Dublin and then home soon. I will keep you posted

Why did I Open my Mouth?

Just when I start talking about how much I enjoy small towns I am reminded of some of the limitations that they have.

I have found myself in the town of Portrush. This city serves as a weekend and holiday escape from the larger cities of Belfast and Derry. It is similar in a lot of ways to some of the boardwalk towns on the East Coast. There are beaches on both sides of the peninsula, a few casinos, and a small amusement park. It seems like a nice place to come and relax, so, that is exactly what I did. After my initial walk through town, I decided to take the afternoon off from moving all over the place and just went down to the beach and read for a few hours. It was nice to be out by the water without feeling like I was in a slow cooker. It was also nice to just kick back and do nothing. While I have really enjoyed my trip, I have been going and going since I got here. I have included a picture of the same beach 24 hours later to show just how much the weather can change here.

It wasn't until after my time on the beach, and dinner that I realized that I had a problem. On the beach I noticed that my camera battery was running low. This should not have been a problem. I had prepared for all of my electronic needs. So, I plugged in my adapter and currency convertor, and the battery charger. Within a few seconds, the convertor started to smoke. I unplugged it and made sure that nothing was still burning and then realizes that this was not good. When I packed everything for my trip, I made sure that the adapter was in the bag. All outlets in Ireland are three pronged and have a very different configuration than ours. There is no way to plug in any appliance without the adapter. The adapter I have, borrowed from my grandma, has one piece that plugs into the wall, and a variety of other pieces that vary based on where you are coming from. The problem is, I decided not to bring these other pieces with me. I knew that I would probably need a convertor, to adjust the voltage down from the higher European voltage, and that would take the place of the middle piece of the whole setup. So, here I found myself, with no way to charge my camera, and a full days worth visits to document. This would not be a big problem in Belfast or Dublin, but in Portrush everything closes at 5 or 6, and nothing opens until after I needed to be on my way for the day's adventure. I decided to go on and hope for the best.

My day started at the one site that I knew I wanted to see before I started reading anything about Ireland. The Giant's Causeway it is a very unique geological formation. In this spot, very geometrical columns of basalt jut straight up along the coast. They form little hills of steps that disappear out into the water. There is a corresponding site directly east on the coast of Scotland. According to myth, an Irish giant built the bridge to go and fight a Scottish giant. When he got there, he saw that the giant was much bigger than he was, and so he came back to Ireland. The Scottish giant came across the bridge, looking for a fight. The Irish giant was frightened, but his wife saved him. She dressed him like a baby and sent him to bed. When the Scottish giant showed up, she said her husband was out hunting, and it was just her and the baby. When he looked in and saw the disguised giant, he was afraid of how big the father must be and ran all the way back to Scotland, destroying the bridge as he went.

I visited another distillery as well. This was the Bushmills distillery. I decided to do this again because this is actually a functioning plant, not just a museum. Unfortunately, they were doing maintenance on some of the machines, so I didn't get to see the whole process. It was interesting to see what I did though. Their bottling is almost entirely automated. It amazes how advanced some of this machinery is. There were belts that would stack boxes on pallets in an alternating pattern, and then wrap the whole thing in shrink wrap. It might not sound too impressive, but it amazed me. My free whiskey sample was a little more tolerable this time.

My final two stops for the day were the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Dunluce Castle. The rope bridge was initially used by fisherman to get out to a little island where they could work. It was constructed out of planks lashed together and suspended over ropes. It had quite a bit of sway to it, especially on a windy day like today. The castle, or the remains of the castle, sit out on the edge of a cliff. Some of the castle was actually lost when part of the cliff fell away many years ago. I am still amazed at how accomplished these builders were. The manor house portion of this castle had bay windows with stone frames. I need to find a castle to live in, but not this one, too sunny.

When I made it back to Portrush, I set out to find a replacement for my missing adapter piece. In the sixth and final stop I found one remaining adapter. I literally found the only one in town. So everyone can breathe easy again.

I realized today that I only have four nights left on my trip. It seems like it has just flown by, but my first days here feel like a long time ago.

I am finding some of the lighter beers to be more palatable. I can't say that I like them yet, but I keep trying new ones. We'll see

Big city ups and downs

I have decided that I prefer smaller Irish towns to larger ones. I have had the chance to experience two larger cities now, Galway and Derry. Derry also marks my first few days in Northern Irealnd, which is a completely separate country with a different currency than the rest of the island. These cities, just like larger cities anywhere, have more traffic, more litter, more people and more signs of the economic struggles that are taking place here. Now, my experience in both of these cities has been limited to the city centers of both, so there are probably very nice parts of town. And, although they are not quite as quaint and charming as the smaller towns, these bigger cities do offer things that the smaller ones don't.

St. Nicholas square, not at all Christmas related, in Galway could have been transplanted into any large city in the US. There were lots of people walking around, plenty of shops to go to, and people performing out on the street. There were more restaurants than you could possibly consider trying, which caused me some stress in trying to decide where to eat. The thing that I most enjoyed about Galway was that it was large enough to have it's own cathedral.

Now, I have been to a couple of cathedrals on this trip, but they have all been abandoned and are just ruins. But, St. Nicholas' cathedral is still in operation. This is not some little church on the hill. This is a massive stone building that could hold thousands of people. There is something that I really like about cathedrals of this size. They just amaze me. There seems to be too much stone, too high being supported by too little. It is even more amazing when you realize how long some of them have been standing like this, and how different the understanding of architecture was when they were built. This cathedral was very nice, complete with beautiful stain-glass windows and a man somewhere speaking Latin.
Derry also offered something that the smaller cities didn't- some night- time options. There was plenty to do here in the day. You could tour the walls that completely surround the city centre. It is quite a site to see. There is a lot of shopping, three different malls within a few blocks, which is not where I spent my time. There are also several museums in the area. There are some really nicely designed museums in Ireland, just as a general observation. But most of the small towns have plenty to do during the day. The problems is, around 5 everything except the pubs and restaurants shuts down. The pubs have their nightly music, but that is about the extent of an evening's entertainment options. Derry, and Galway too, offered more options because of their size. Within just a few blocks here in Derry you can find a cinema, a couple theaters and even a few night clubs.

I just happened to stumble upon a flyer for violin and piano concert that was taking place as apart of a larger music festival, so that's how I spent my evening. The two musicians have both toured the world performing on their own and in larger symphonies. They were incredible. The concert was set in the old Guildhall, which is a beautiful building. The windows in this this place are incredible. A man who works there snuck me in to see a few that were closed off for the concert, and gave me a bit of a history of the building while I was waiting. Most of the windows had to be replaced after two bombs devastated the building during the Troubles. There is something almost magical about hearing Brahms and Tchaikovsky performed in a space that actually existed while they were composing. Especially a space that was designed for music. The 3000 pipe organ that loomed over one half of the room is open for the use of the public, which I found really cool. It is also pretty amazing to hear Beethoven performed on an instrument that could have played at the piece's debut. The woman was playing on a violin from 1710.

The pictures that you see here are from the cathedral, the dome and the stain glass. There are also some pictures from the gardens that surround a very interesting museum on the famine, and the lead up to it. I haved learned alot about the history here that I was really unaware of. There are also some pictures from Glenveah castle. The last private owner here was an American professor. He loved The Sound of Music so much that he made his staff dress in Austrian uniforms, just like the staff in the movie. I will try and add some pictures from Derry later, I didn't have my camera with me for the concert.

I am off again to small towns, with the exceptions of Dublin and Belfast. The capitol cities shouldn't be too big, right?
I found another Irish cider that didn't make me want to hurt myself rather than keep drinking it. I just wish that they didn't serve the half pints in such girly looking glasses

My First...

The past few days have provided me with several firsts. Here they are.

I saw my first movie in Ireland. It may seem odd that I would spend my time here in a movie theatre, but I think that it is a really interesting way to immerse yourself in another culture. There are different protocols and processes that take place in movie theaters in different countries. I also wanted to see the movie, which is set in Ireland, with an Irish audience. It was a really enjoyable movie. It was The Guard with Bredan Gleeson (Madeye Moody) and Don Cheadle. It was a bit dark, but it was really enjoyable to hear the audience laugh at things that an American audience just wouldn't get. I also got to see a few places in the movie that I had seen on my trip.

I had my first up close experience with a bird of prey. After a trip to the Cliffs of Moher, and impressive cliff ace, and a drive through the Burren, a unique area of protruding rocks and extensive flora, I came to the Aillwee Cave and Bird of Prey Center. I was there for my hawk walk. I sat through a flight demonstration with an owl, an eagle and a hawk. Following the demo, I got to get up close with a Harris hawk named Eric. I spent an hour walking through the woods with Eric and James, an employee of the centre. He talked to me about Eric and kept my glove covered with pieces of chicken that would bring Eric soaring back to us. He was amazing. It was really a really cool experience.

I took my first plane ride in a small Cessna airplane. I opted for the flight out to one of the Aran Islands, Inis Mor. I knew that I would have already taken a few ferries, so I arranged for a different transportation option. It was only a 7 minute flight, but it was pleasant enough. This also provided me with my first experience with the negative side of Ireland's weather. My flint back to the mainland was delayed by an hour because of weather. It was not a terrible delay, and it could have been a lot worse if I would have had to wait for the ferry and then get a shuttle back to airport and my waiting car. I have been very fortunate when it comes to the weather. Several of my excursions, especially those out on smaller islands, are heavily dependent on good weather.

On the island, I took my first bike ride in probably 15 years. The bike is the primary means of getting around the island for all of the tourists. While I really enjoyed the island and the ancient ring fort, Dun Aenghus which is the primary attraction, I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed the bike ride. Since I don't ride often, I had no concept of how to use the gears effectively. I am sure that I ended up working twice as hard as I should have. This lead to my first blister on this trip. Considering how much walking I have done, I guess I can't be too surprised that it happened. The other drawback from the bike occurred on my way back to the airport. There was a little bit of rain for most of the morning, which meant that there was water on the roads. There wasn't enough to cause me to lose control, but there was enough to provide a small spray for most of the trip. This wouldn't have been a big deal, because I would have eventually dried out. The problem is, the second most used form transportation on this island is horse and cart. There is an unavoidable amount of horse, and I imagine some cattle, droppings all over the road. By the time I dropped off my bike, my khaki shorts had become speckled shorts. They are now safely stowed away, separate from the rest of my clothes, with the hope that they do not cause an agricultural incident when I go through customs on the way home.

My final first occurred when I was hiking back from a secluded fort, way out on a cliff on the island. I passed a family who were heading in opposite direction, back towards the fort, and they stopped to ask how far it was. For the first time since I got here, I responded to this person, who was Irish, in an Irish accent. I couldn't help it. It all happened so quickly. I had been able to fight it up to that point. Luckily, it was a very quick conversation. I don't know what it is, but I have a very strong urge to pick up whatever accent I am around. It doesn't matter if I am in the south, on the east coast, or in Ireland, my natural impulse is to sound like the people around me.

I also saw Kylemore Abbey. I hate it when something doesn't fit my theme.

Irish cider might be ok

I Can See Russia from Here

Hello from the end of the world. I have been to the western-most reaches of Ireland, which, for the better part of recorded time, was the edge of the known world. Once early people got to the end of chain of islands that I visited on Monday, they were faced with empty ocean. It has been a pretty interesting experience to look and imagine what people must have thought about their world

I find myself in the little town of Dingle. Dingle is unique because it is in a region that has made concerted effort to retain the Irish culture. Everyone still speaks English, and all of the signs are still labeled in English, but the Irish language is much more prevalent here. I have heard more people speaking it, and it is the first language on all of the signs. There are a lot of places to buy traditional goods, as well as traditional Irish music in just about every pub in town. I spent some time just wandering from pub to pub listening to the small groups playing on their fiddles, guitars, accordions and drums. It is much more enjoyable than any bar music I have heard back home, especially that of the karaoke nature.

I went out to an island called Great Blasket. This place is like a time capsule into Ireland's past. Up until 1953, there were people living out on the island. It was a place where scholars from all over the would come to learn to read and write in Irish. Nearly every inhabitant of the island seems to have written at least one book, or dictated it to someone else. This is pretty impressive since they had no indoor plumbing, or electricity. They lived like this until 1953! They managed to survive for generations on this island with fish, rabbits, sheep and some small fields of crops. I also saw a donkey that was pretending to be a llama, but I don't know if he has been there long, I won't assume. Ironically, their extreme isolation helped them to ride through the potato famine with very little consequence.

Speaking about famine, let's talk about food. That might have been culturally insensitive, but it seemed like a nice segue to me. This was an area that I was slightly concerned about before my trip. Everyone told me that the food was pretty mediocre here. I have not found that to be true at all. I have yet to have a meal that was disappointing. I have had lamb, and several different types of fish, some wonderful soups, a very tasty steak, duck, and even had the chance to try foies gras, sorry animal lovers. There seems to be a big push here to change their culinary image. Even the pubs that I have eaten in seem to be trying their hands at more interesting dishes. That's not to say that I am being snooty in my food choices. I had a wonderful dinner of fish and chips served in brown paper from a little shop on the corner. This is how you should eat fish and chips.

I take a pretty simple stand when it comes to eating on trips, I never eat at a place that I can find in Pueblo. So far, that has not been a big challenge. There is a subway here in Dingle, and I have seen a few signs for KFC along the road, but I know that Mcdonalds and Burger King are lurking out there. I rely heavily on the help of others to find places to eat. My Rick Steve guide has been very helpful, as have the B&B owners I have stayed with. There is a nice option at most of the restaurants that I have eaten out. They offer a two or three course early bird dinner. Their early bird is usually sometime between 5 and 8, which is what I usually just call dinner time, so it works out well for me.

Stay tuned for more adventures

Ooo, Look at that Random Castle

I have mentioned before that I really like having the car. That is true, with two small caveats.
Caveat 1) it might be the death of me. One of the nice things about the car is that I get to see the countryside as I travel. One of the bad things about the car is that I keep looking at the countryside or a random castle. I keep having to remind myself to look forward, so that I don't miss a turn in the road, which happens frequently. I have driven close to 900 kilometers (560 miles) and I think that two of them have been straight. Wish me luck.

Caveat 2). I am pretty sure that the little woman who lives in my GPS hates me. Any time that I try to enter a destination, it takes almost as long as the drive itself. The display is really small, and I have ogre fingers, so some mistakes are understandable. But sometimes I will push a letter, let's say S, and it will register an L, or maybe even a 6. And the second letter always takes at least ten seconds to appear. She also likes to play funny tricks on me. My first day, she decided to move the icon of the car off of the road, a major non-new looking highway, and show me driving in blank space. And yesterday, she took me through Kilarney, which isn't bad. It looked like a nice town. The only problem is, the Irish Open is taking place in Kilarney, so half of the country is there. And my little guide took me right down the same road as all of the golf traffic. Again, I could forgive her, I am sure she is not up on all of the latest golf news, but when I looked at the map to try and find a way around all of the traffic, I realized that I should have never gone to Kilarney in the first place. I bought an atlas today, don't tell her.

On to the exciting things that I have done and seen. I am going to try to be more specific in my posts about names of places. I will also be adding an interactive map so you can follow along and click on important links and images from my trip. Only one of those things is really going to happen. I will give you a hint to help you decide which one it is: I can't even upload my own pictures at this point.

I have seen some of the extremes in Ireland's history over the last two days. I had a wonderful tour in Kinsale that showed the events leading up to the end of the clan system in Ireland. There were only three of us on the tour, so the guide took us for an extended trip in his car. It was really cool. From Kinsale I started my trip around the Ring of Kerry, a scenic route around a peninsula. I got to drive through a flock of sheep, while nervously trying not to drive over a flock of sheep.

One stop on the ring was called the Muckross house. This was a restored Victorian mansion that was just amazing. The size and the expense of this place was staggering. The family was a typical Victorian family, servants should not be seen, and children should not be heard, and the house was designed to accommodate both of these beliefs. They had a special wing just for Queen Victoria who visited them. Her two day stay, for which she gave a six year heads up, lead to the families eventual bankruptcy. Take that snooty Victorians.

On the same property they had recreations of traditional farms. You could walk down a country lane and visit farms of varying sizes to see what they would have been like. They ranged from a small single room farm all the way up to an expansive farmhouse for a more successful farmer. Each house had people inside who were working and answering questions. Some of the women were even making traditional breads to sample. They were also burning peat in the fires, which has a very distinct, and comforting smell to it. So, if any of you get a large brick of mud in the mail, just know it is from me. Because I care.

My final extreme was a glimpse into the monastic history of Ireland. While the rest of Europe was taking a break from learning and thinking, Irish monks were working away to read and copy and write as much as they could. I went to the remains of the monastery on an island called Skellig Michael. All I can say is that these monks were nuts. First, it was a nine mile trip out into the ocean just to get there. I was soaked and slightly cranky when I got there, and I didn't have to row at all. Second, they built their monastery way up at the top of this mountain. They had to carve out over 600 steps to get, "just the right spot."And then they did two more times, in case they wanted to come up the back steps. And once they finally got up there, they had to construct these little huts out of rock, plus a system to catch water because there is none, and try to figure out how to grow food on a rock. It was amazing. Now it houses about a billion puffins. That might be a slight exaggeration. This was one of the places that I was really looking forward to, and it did not disappoint at all.

I also went to the beach, which is right across the street from my b&b, and I found a jellyfish. Those don't fit the extremes motif, but I thought that you should know.

Well, that's all that I have to say about the last couple of days. I have not heard any complaints about rambling, so I will assume that everyone is ok with the length of these posts, or has stopped reading