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

The Problem with Tours

I start this update with a statement that most of you never would have expected. No, I did not find an Irish girl and run away with her, will you please focus. I now have a certificate which states that I am a qualified Irish whiskey taster. My first stop today was the old Jameson Distillery. While there is no actual distilling that still takes place there, it was really interesting to walk through the old buildings and see how the process used to work. The tour included a massive waterwheel that was used to run the machinery as well as the world's largest pot still.

We ended the tour with a taste test between Irish, Scottish and American Whiskey. None of them seemed very appealing to me. In fact, none of the drinks that I have tried so far have made me think, "Wow. I want to keep drinking this." I am having a hard time enjoying all of the subtleties that are supposed to be in these beverages, because all I really taste is the ethanol. I imagine that this is due to my inexperience with alcohol. So far, I have ended up just suffering through whatever I order. I can't justify throwing it out. We'll see how it goes.

I took a few other tours today. One was at a stone-walled fort from the 17th century. It never ceases to amaze me how inventive people have been, for quite a long time. I really liked the size and the scope of the site and ingenuity that went into it. Pay special attention to the stack of fireplaces. I toured a wine museum in an old prison that was built in an old castle. I guess today was alcohol day. I ended the evening with a ghost tour. If I ever move here, this is going to be my summer job. The two guys who ran the tour have got an amazing thing going. They were actors, so the tour was basically a show that moved around town. One guy served as our guide, and the other would appear, seemingly out of nowhere, everywhere that we went. He would pop out of trash cans, hop over walls and leap out form around corners in several different masks and costumes. It was a really enjoyable tour. The amazing part is that these guys made at least $1000 each for 1.5 hours worth of entertaining, and they didn't have to pay any overhead. It's brilliant!

I have really enjoyed most of the tours that I have been on. I have opted to go with guided version of each of the tours that have had that option, and I have been really pleased. These tours have shown me two very important things

Important thing #1: I am so glad that I did not take this trip with some random group of people. The only negative aspect on any of the tours that I have gone on has been the other people. My tour at the distillery was hijacked by a group of Dutch tourists. The poor tour guide, who was told she would be leading an English speaking tour, was bullied into letting the leader of the Dutch group translate everything that she said. We ended up taking twice as long as our tour should have, and we held up the tours behind us. On the ghost tour, which was intended as just a fun experience, all of the kids on the tour were allowed to just run around wherever they pleased. Now, I have no problem with kids. I really like most kids. I do have a problem with people who let their kids run around, while we are out on busy streets, especially when their kids obviously have no concept of personal space. I am just saying. If I had gotten stuck with any of these people, and by that I do not mean the Dutch people in general, I would have been miserable for the entire trip. Or I would have gone crazy and beaten up a child or an old person.

Important thing #2: I think I want to marry a tour guide. Not a specific tour guide, please refer back to the first few sentences of this post. I have been really impressed by the depth of knowledge and passion about history that I have seen on my tours. I like that.

I am sorry if this post is too long, but I think I will be away from Internet access for a few days,and I didn't want anyone to die from withdrawals. Ooo, too soon?

It Doesn't Get Much Better

I am writing this while sitting in front of a fire, inside a castle, on a rainy Irish evening. Uh, yeah, I am loving this. I have had an amazing few days so far. I am sorry that I am not able to post more pictures here, my iPad does not like interfacing with Blogspot. I will do what I can. Here's what has been going on.

Despite my struggles the first few days, I am really happy that I chose to rent a car. It is really nice to be able to travel at my own pace, and see a different perspective on the country. I have not had to fill the tank yet, so I will let you know if that changes.

Yesterday I went to the Rock of Cashel. This is a combination of buildings that have served as a fortress, as well as a center for the power of the church. I got to touch buildings that are almost two thousand years old. I got to see gravestones that are older than any building in our country. I got to see frescoes, actual frescoes. I got a little winded walking up the hill, but I recovered.

I also went to see a reproductions of a famine ship, really it was a cargo ship that made extra money by carrying people to America by the boatload, too much? It was interesting to see what the conditions were like for all of these people as they did what they could to save their families. The kitchen was particularly interesting.

My evening wrapped up with a lesson on an Irish drum called a bodhran. I was terrible at it, but so was everyone else in the pub, except for one Swiss kid. Stupid Swiss kid.

Today was filled with tours and feeding the parking meter. I got to tour the Waterford Crystal Center, which was very interesting. I saw the makings of the Irish Open Trophy and several other recognizable pieces. I am now very familiar with the history of the city of Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland. I saw recovered Viking artifacts, including the piece of a long boat that is pictured here. Everyone kind of looks at me when tour guides talk about invading Norsemen, I am not sure why.

I also learned that a man named John Roberts was responsible for building many of the well-known buildings in Waterford, including both the Catholic and Protestant cathedrals, which is pretty unique. I have decidied, without any real support, that this is my Irish ancestor on the Roberts side of the family. I am looking into any monetary claims that can be made. I will keep you posted.

Well, that's it for today. If you don't see any pictures yet, just wait, they will be here.

Red wine is out. Irish coffee has a real potential

I am Here, Mostly

I am in Ireland, but things did not go exactly as expected. Buckle yourself in, this might be a longer post. I said yesterday that I really like airports, which is still true. I am not too fond, however, of airplanes, airlines and cars for that matter.

To begin with, the flight attendant call button for my seat mate's seat kept ringing by itself. It got to the point that the flight attendants stopped checking any time that someone needed them. It also had the uncanny tendency of ringing just as I was finally drifting off to sleep. This did not help my already weak skills at sleeping on a plane.

My seat mate didn't help. For a while I thought that it was going to be a very nice flight. I was sitting next to a woman whose parents are from Ireland, but she was raised in New Zealand, and now lives in Canada. It was a really interesting combination of vocal variations that emerged in our conversation. There was also a four year old Star Wars fanatic sitting in front of us who kept us entertained with his attempts at jokes and deep questions like, "Why did Anakin have to listen to the Emperor?". So things started off well. And then everyone fell asleep.

My seat mate passed out despite the constant dinging, probably a result of the sleeping pills and three mini bottles of wine she had consumed. I had finally started to nod off, when she sat straight up in her seat, started rambling and tried to wake up Star Wars boy's dad in the next row, probably a result of the sleeping pills and wine she had consumed. Luckily, the rest of her wine got in the way before she could grab this guy and she spilled it all over herself. She then spent the next hour talking to me, through slurred speech and wandering eyes, about her love of the Titanic, and her dislike of the Yogi Bear movie, which happened to be playing. Eventually, she fell asleep, and an hour later we went through the whole process again. So, I arrived in Ireland at 8 this morning, without having any sleep since the day before. This wouldn't have been a problem if I didn't have to drive.

I am so glad that I went with an automatic transmission. I could not imagine trying to adapt to driving on the other side of the road at the same time that I am trying to remember when to shift and trying not to roll down a hill. The real problem is not just that you have to remember to stay on the left all the time, which I have done, mostly, but you also have to remember that you now have half of your car on your left side. I did not take this into account. Two miles away from the airport I took a curve to sharply and ran my front tire into a square curb and blew it out. Luckily, the random street that I pulled off on had a sign in the middle of it for someone selling new tires. So, thanks to two nice boys, who might have been travelers (gypsies) and 70 Euro, I was on my way. They couldn't understand how I could come from a place that was 100 degrees and be so pale.

But, things are looking up. The weather has been cool and cloudy, which always brightens my spirits. I got to see some really cool places today, including the place where they filmed part of the new Count of Monte Cristo. I made it to my first city, Kilkenny, and only had to make the loop in traffic twice before I found the parking lot. I had the most ridiculously delicious Caesar salad and Irish stew, all while sitting in a leather arm chair. Let the jealousy commence.

And for those of you keeping track at home, Guinness is not at the top of my list.

It Starts

It is finally here! I am sitting in the airport waiting for my first flight. I don't know if it has really set in yet that I am actually going. It has been a long few months of planning and preparing.

In the true Nic style, I managed to take care of all of the big important details, while managing to overlook one tiny little insignificant one. In addition to all of the packing and organizing for being away for three weeks, I also had to prepare to go to the wedding of two good friends yesterday. I had piles laid out all over the house of things to pack, things to take/wear for the wedding, things to carry on, and I thought that I had accounted for everything. It wasn't until I was in the car on the way to wedding that I realized that I had managed to overlook one thing, the shoes I was planning to walk around in for the entire trip. My dress shoes would not suffice, and, while my Chucks are hip and stylish, they offer no support or traction while scaling castle walls, which they let you do, right? Not to worry though. Thanks to my wonderful little brother, I am currently wearing an identical pair of shoes, that only took 4 or 5 stores to find.

I have decided that I really like airports. Well, maybe not the physical building itself. I have a strong dislike of O'Hare Airport, but that is a different story. I like what an airport means. There is movement here. The people are moving. The planes are moving. The sidewalks even move. You come to the airport knowing that you are going somewhere. Even sitting here waiting for a departure, you know that you are just waiting to go. There is a sense of anticipation and excitement. The journey, even if it just a small one, is about to begin. I am like an early American settler, just getting ready to start out on my journey west in a covered wagon. A covered wagon with air conditioning, in-flight movies, and a beverage cart. Other than that though, it is basically the same.

A New Purpose for an Old Blog

I am repurposing this blog to become a travel log for my upcoming trip to Ireland. If you are interested in following along with my travels, then please feel free to come back and check on my progress. You can also feel free to take a look at any of the posts that I have previously made on this site, but be warned, they are extremely boring and reference a lot of texts that even I don't remember anymore.

Preparing for this trip, which is now only two weeks away, has really emphasized two different aspects of who I am.

#1 - I really enjoy being spontaneous. I was not responsible for choosing my destination for this trip. I decided in October that I wanted to take a trip, but I knew that I would have a hard time deciding where to go, so I let others do it for me. On a whim I sent out a request for destinations to my friends and family. I wasn't sure if anyone would respond, but they did. I had dozens of possible destinations to choose from, but I was still in the position of making the choice. I decided to give my trip over completely and let everyone vote on my destination. After a few weeks of voting, Ireland emerged as the top choice. It has been very exciting to give up the control of something like this and let other people decided for me. My initial impulse to let others decide for me turned out to be a good one.

#2 - I really don't enjoy being spontaneous. Once my destination was determined, I had the task of deciding what to do while I am there. I had several people who recommended that I just get in a car and start driving and "discover" Ireland. That is not going to happen. I have read, and reread, Rick Steve's travel guide for Ireland several times. I have a map with little tags showing all of the things that I want to see. I have a hand-written calender with my intial notes on itinerary sights to see. I have a digital calendar with a finalized itinerary, including confirmation numbers and hotel information. I like to plan when I travel. I like to know where I am going to be traveling each day, because I want to make sure that I see the things that I really want to see. That doesn't mean that I turn into a machine when I get in the car. I am much more likely to stop the car to take some photos on the side of the road than I am to pass by something interesting in order to "make good time." I just need to know where I am going to be sleeping each night, and the rest is up for negotiation.

So, there it is. This is my first travel blog entry. It might not have been the most interesting of reads, but cut me some slack, I am not actually traveling yet. They will get better.