Ireland: Backtracking

Everyone got up slowly this morning. I quickly packed everything away and headed downstairs for breakfast, which was just a croissant. After breakfast, we loaded onto the airport shuttle. It took a few minutes, but once we got to the airport we found a spot to set our stuff down. I bought a boa, Ireland scarf, and two magnets for my fridge at school. Once we paid for our purchases, we went to get breakfast at a little café cart near the terminal. I got a double chocolate chip muffin and an apple.

We sat around and waited to board the plane. Once we finally got on, our flight was delayed for about an hour while they fixed a maintenance issue. During the flight, I read, napped, and listened to music. They served us a lot of food. First, there was lunch which was a chicken breast, rice, noodles, a roll, and an oatmeal raisin cookie. I only ate the chicken and the roll. After lunch, they provided us with a corn chip snack like we had when we were on our way to Canada. It was really good. Finally, shortly before we arrived in Toronto, they served us wraps. I got the chicken wrap and it tasted just like a chicken quesadilla at Taco Bell. I really missed Mexican food while in Ireland.

Blurry picture on the way home

Tortilla on the plane!

Amazing corn chips

We got off the plane and shuffled through customs, which didn’t take that long. I didn’t get asked any weird questions. Then we killed some time waiting around, sleeping, and using the internet during our layover.

I was so relieved to board the puddle jumper that brought us back to Michigan. The trip to Ireland was great, but everyone managed to get on my nerves at least once. I hate being that close in proximity to people. It just isn’t who I am. I need alone time.

Ireland: The Play's the Thing

I had rice bubbles and toast for breakfast this morning.

We went to Trinity College first thing after leaving the hostel. The college grounds were so pretty. I took some pictures but we didn’t get to linger because we had to get in line to see the Book of Kells. The exhibit was really boring and I couldn’t even take pictures to pass the time. So lame! We sped through it and the souvenir shop before going outside to people watch. The rest of the group took a really, really long time!

We walked to St. Stephen’s Green and ate our packed lunches of rolls, ham, and cheese. There were apples too. I took some pictures of the lake as we wandered over to the National Museum of Archaeology. I really didn’t want to go the museums. They’re free because they are so boring. Instead I plugged in my headphones and wandered around. 

We made sure to feed the birds at St. Stephen's Green

Pharaoh exit sign at the National Museum of Archaeology!

Next we went to the National Gallery. The building was really pretty, but we never ventured past the cafe.

We went shopping on Grafton Street after the museums. I didn’t buy anything, but we did get some ice cream and stop in a store with wifi so that I could find out how much is left on my visa. We met back up with the group and went to dinner at Supermac, which is a fast food joint like McDonald’s. I had a chicken wrap and fries. The wrap part was gross because it was a corn tortilla, but the chicken was alright. For desert there was hard-served, chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. It was delicious! Best Irish ice cream ever.

Following dinner, we walked over to the Abbey Theater and got to see Sean O’Casey’s “The Plough and the Stars”. It was a really boring play that I ended up falling asleep during, but a cultural experience nonetheless.

After the play, we took the bus back to the hostel. Apparently, we’re staying in a shady part of town so we couldn’t walk back because we would get mugged, even if we were travelling in a large group of twelve. I took a shower and packed everything up. I’m so ready to go home.

Ireland: Food is Love

This morning, we woke up at seven and took showers before heading down to the continental breakfast. I had cereal (rice krispies, which they called rice bubbles) and sweet, homemade Irish bread. We packed up after breakfast and headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was a long walk and we ended up just wandering around the church once we got there.

After we were done at the church, we walked over to Dublin Castle to see the free sand sculptures. The castle was pretty, but we couldn’t go inside because we didn’t have time for a guided tour. We took some pictures and moved on to the Christ Church Cathedral, which was the same boring experience. However, when we asked where the bathroom facilties were, we were directed to the crypt. I got to pee and then nap in a crypt :p

When we went back upstairs to explore, they told us we were in time for the peace prayer, so we had to sit down for a few minutes and listen with our heads bowed. I fell asleep.

Once it was over, we went out to get lunch. We stopped in a tourist store on the way and I tried on a boa in the colors of Ireland. It was cute but expensive, so I just took a picture. We walked across the street for lunch at Café Werburgh. I got chocolate ice cream, a chocolate chip muffin, and a tortilla wrap with Cajun chicken and swiss cheese. It was an amazing meal for less than seven euros. We took our lunch to a park so that we could eat with pretty scenery. I would have been fine eating in the café though. It was very cute in design and had authentic customers.

The quirky cafe

Cajun Chicken Tortilla Wrap

Pretty park in the business district

We set off on a long walk after to head to Kilmainham Gaol Museum but once we got there we found out we had to wait an hour for a tour, so we walked to the park across the street and took naps. We walked back to gaol when it was finally time for our tours.

The guy took us around the gaol and told us all about Irish history. I was disappointed that he didn’t tell us more about the gaol itself like they did at the gaol in Cork.

A car that we passed on the way to the gaol... quite an interesting garden

After the tour, we broke into dinner groups. Some of the group decided they wanted to go see an Irish dance performance, but I didn’t want to stay out that late or sit through the performance and fancy dinner, so we formed a seperate group. We went to small touristy store where I was able to find a white zip-up sports coat and an adorable sheep umbrella. After leaving the store, we headed back to the Temple Bar area in order to find a restaurant to dine at.

After looking at a couple of menus, we decided to go to a quiet place called O’Shea’s. I ordered a southern fried chicken with chips and a side order of bread. It was actually quite good and I walked away stuffed.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped in a small market and I bought a package of penguin bars. They were really good at the camp, so I thought I would take some home. I’m running short on money, so my purchases from now on will be solely food, hopefully.

Well, I’m ready to crash early tonight so I can enjoy my last day in Ireland.

Ireland: ARRGHHHH!

This morning we woke up at the Girl Guide camp and completed our chores by changing the sheets, mopping the bathroom, and cleaning the kitchen after a breakfast of cereal, croissants, and toast.

As soon as we were done cleaning, the taxis arrived to take us to the train station. We piled into three of them and off we went. As soon as we got to the train station, we found Amanda a wheelchair. Then we killed time by hanging around the station, taking exit sign pictures, and waiting in line to board the platform. Finally we boarded the train. It was really fancy and sleek! I was surprised by how comfortable and spacious it was. The train ride wasn’t very scenic though, so I just sat and read for the two hours.

When we got to Dublin, we collected our bags and walked a mile to the hostel! It was a really long walk to take down all the cobblestoned streets.

Once we decided how to arrange ourselves at the hostel: adults in one room and girls in the other, we headed out for lunch. At La Pizza, I ordered an eight-inch cheese pizza that came with fries, salad, and coleslaw. I was disappointed that the fries weren’t called chips on the menu. I cleaned my plate except for the salad (it had gross dressing) and the coleslaw and then took a ketchup packet as a souvenir.

All of the streets warn you to look left before crossing

After lunch, we headed to the Tower Bar Book Market, which almost felt like how I imagine Chinatown. It was very urban with street dancers and a book market outdoors. There were plenty of little shops surrounding the square too. I found two books that looked interesting while we were there. We passed a lot of graffiti around that area as well. It seems fairly prominent in Ireland.

We were in a rush though to make it to our Viking Splash Tour, which left from St. Stephen’s Green. The tour was alright. We wore Viking hats and screamed at people on the footpaths when they weren’t expecting it. After the guide took us around Dublin, we briefly went out on the water and he talked a little bit about the history of Dublin. He also showed us where the World is docked as the ship is currently visiting Ireland. I lost the hat I was wearing on the tour though because it was windy and blew right off my head.

After the tour, we stopped in a small shop on our way back to the hostel. I bought a shot glass, lighter, t-shirt, hat, mug, and some postcards. We also stopped at Tesco, the European version of Meijers, and I bought a Kit-Kat because they taste better here. I’m going to take it home with me.

For dinner, we ate macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders, grapes, and chocolate chip cookies. I had like five cookies because everyone kept giving me theirs. My travel group cleaned up afterwards and then we came upstairs to have a meeting about tomorrow.

Ireland: Thank God for free healthcare

We woke up at 7:45 this morning and stumbled off to breakfast. After eating, we helped them clean up the camp and packed ourselves lunches for the day. Our bus driver for the day showed up around eleven to take us to Belfast.

The first thing we did was go to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We walked down a long path that led to a rickety rope bridge suspended about 80 feet above the water. The bridge moved as you crossed the 60 foot wide gap between the mainland and the island. It wasn’t as rickety as I hoped it would be though. It was like crossing a playground bridge.

Waiting in line for the bridge

Still waiting...

We started the hike back and Amanda fell down on the path. We had to run and track down the bus and ice for her because she was crying in pain. Once they managed to help her limp off the path, we decided she needed to go to the hospital, so we dropped her off.

The makeshift splint

Then we continued on to the Giant’s Causeway, which wasn’t anything like I expected. The rocks weren’t nearly as pretty as I had hoped. We climbed around on them though and took pictures of the coast while we were there before we went to the main building gift store.

We got back on the bus and headed to Dunluce Castle, which was actually just a remnant of what used to be a castle. Part of it had actually fallen in the water. We met a group of Girl Guides who are from the area and they walked around the remnants with us.

We went to their campsite down the road and they served us dinner. We had chicken with buns, corn on the cob, multiple flavors of ice cream, and chocolate cake. It was kind of weird because the girls could only cook so much at once, so they just kind of watched us eat. After dinner, we showed the girls our patches. They put theirs on camp blankets. I think that is much more useful in terms of display.

We had to leave them to pick Amanda up from the hospital. It turns out that she sprained her ankle. She is supposed to stay off it for 48 hours, but they didn’t give her crutches, so that should be interesting. Apparently their free health care only extends to walking aids if something is broken.

We came back to camp in order to do our clean up chores to prepare for the morning. I vacuumed the room with a cute miniature vacuum named Henry. We swept the hallway too and now we can’t do anything else until tomorrow.

Ireland: Fairy Liquid

I got up at 6:30 this morning to take a shower. Afterwards, we went down to breakfast, which was cereal, croissants, and French toast. We washed our dishes with fairy liquid, which is what they call dish soap.

We walked to the other side of camp and loaded onto the bus. It took us to a local roller skating rink in Bangor, which is apparently the only rink in Northern Ireland. We tried to bring a little America to the rink by requesting the “YMCA” and “Cha Cha Slide,” but the girls had already heard the songs. I can now say I roller skated in Northern Ireland though.

We took a long, boring walk through Bangor afterwards until it was time for the bus to take us back to camp. For lunch we had ham and cheese sandwiches, penguin chocolate bars that taste like kit-kats, traybakes which are chocolate covered sugar cookies, ham slices, and an apple.

Following lunch, we participated in a camp Olympics. Our group was in charge of the egg race for the Streamers group. We came in second for the competition. It was really boring to watch though and it started to pour halfway through so we had to finish inside.

We went to the camp store afterwards to buy notebook paper and postcards. Then at dinner we had noodles and meat sauce that I didn’t try. There were peas, some sort of apple crumble dish, jello, and ice cream too. Ice cream from Northern Ireland tastes good with jello.

The closing ceremonies for camp Yahoo were tonight, so we were treated to a talent show performed by the girls and participated in camp songs.

Ireland: Camping

We woke up at 3AM this morning and I called home because it was actually a fairly decent time there. Everyone got ready really quickly and we met Tony outside and hopped on the bus. Everyone fell back asleep the second we sat down while he drove us through the Irish countryside and up to the outskirts of Belfast where a Girl Guide camp is located.

After the bus ride this morning that I mostly slept though, we finally arrived at the Girl Guide camp in Belfast. The ride took six hours. We ate breakfast in the main house on fancy plates. I ate rice krispies, apple, and some toast. I really like the imitation American food they have here.

The main house where we ate breakfast

The Girl Guide camp is so much better than the hostel we stayed at in Cork. Instead of two rooms with three sets of bunk beds and a private bathroom, we have four rooms. Our room has four beds with drawers and closets. We have a somewhat clean bathroom down the hall.

After breakfast, we unpacked before heading to the climbing cube. We were talking to the girls at the cube who were ranging in age from eleven to fourteen and they brought up the show “16 and Pregnant”. They asked if it was a traditional in America. It’s funny the type of culture we convey through the television.

The climbing cube was fun. The first run was rather boring, but the second time up I was able to jump off a landing and hit a small punching bad while they took a picture.

After climbing, we went to archery, which made me rather uncomfortable because I’m not very good at it. I was able to hit a couple of bull’s eyes, but I didn’t win anything. Amanda won a curley-whirley, which is like a candy bar, for getting the most points.

Next we split up with our rooms for lunch. I had a ham sandwich on wheat bread with an apple, salt and vinegar crisps (ew!), a kit-kat, and some type of cookie with chocolate on top in a brownie shape. It was filling. It was kind of weird though because they had us eat under a huge tent all by ourselves.

After lunch, we went to shooting and practiced with BB guns. At first I didn’t get it because I wasn’t looking down far enough, but I finally figured it out and managed to hit a few targets before we switched to the sling shot activity that was really boring. Finally, we went sledding down a grassy hill using sleds with wheels on the bottom. The sleds were way too small for us.

We went back to our rooms and some of the girls changed so they could go on the river run, which looked torturous. Guys walked them through a freezing river with water up to their waists and threw buckets of water at them. I’m glad I didn’t do it. Some of the girls from our troop who participated walked away with large scrapes on their hands that had dirt in them. They had the hardest time finding peroxide to clean them out, apparently they don’t use that as much over here.

For dinner, we had ham and mashed potatoes. There was also sweet green peas and pineapple. At first, we thought we were going to starve because the portions were tiny, but thankfully they gave us seconds. Desert was vanilla ice cream and apple crumble. The vanilla tasted different, but good. I didn’t like the crumble though. It tasted too much like apple pie without cinnamon.

After dinner, we felt like celebrities. Everyone wanted to swap badges with us and talk to the Americans. We participated in a challenge that involved running around camp and doing random exercises. We met these girls – Caitlin and Chloe – who were really awesome. They joined up with us and we did pretty well. We tried to exchange facebooks and e-mails with as many people as possible. Everyone loves the Americans.

Ireland: Ring of Kerry

This morning, I got up at 6:45 to take my shower and then we went downstairs to eat breakfast. Tony showed up while we were eating, so we cleaned up and hopped on the bus. Tony drove us around the Ring of Kerry.

The scenery was beautiful as we rode around the ring. We took a lot of pictures as we made random stops along the way. The most notable stop was on the top of the cliff where I had to brace myself from literally falling off the mountain. They don’t seem to believe in handrails here.

The wind was crazy

Horses grazing in a valley on the side of the road

For lunch, we stopped at the Lobster Bar. I ordered the kid’s chicken nuggets and fries with a side of bread. The meal was great and really filling, just like at home. The ketchup even mostly started tasting the same as I continued to eat it.

Once we came back to the hostel, we decided to go on a walk. Sadly, all the stores we walked to seemed to be closed. I think places close around six here, I’m not sure why. I bought some bread and a slice of pizza for dinner. It was yummy but the pizza crust was a little hard.

Ireland: Kissing the Blarney Stone

Today we were allowed to sleep in. I didn’t get up until 8AM to take my shower and then we went down to breakfast. I managed to grab some cereal and bread before making myself a ham sandwich for lunch.

The group eating breakfast at the sole picnic table.

Tony, the bus driver who took us to Cork, picked us up and drove us to Blarney Castle. The castle was in a pretty park with a lot of gift shops. I got to kiss the blarney stone, twice actually, and nobody was able to get a good picture, so I had to buy one from the gift shop. They really rush you through at the top of the castle and you have to climb a lot of steps to get up there, so when it's your turn, someone better be ready to snap a picture.



View from Blarney castle

Kissing the Blarney Stone

The lovely Tony

There was an ice cream shop next door so I tried the triple chocolate, which was actually really creamy. It had chunks of white chocolate on top and dark chocolate pieces throughout. It was delicious – not very cheap though.

Our ice cream selections

After Blarney, we went to the Cork City Gaol, which is an old Irish jail that has been converted into a museum. We listened to a walking tour through the headsets they gave us and it was actually really interesting. I took a lot of pictures and signed their guestbook.



Inside the jail -- the audio portion of the tour is very important

Outside the gaol

Finally, Tony took us to Barryscourt Castle. The castle was okay, but you can tell they changed a lot when they remodeled. She even said the castle was mostly destroyed by the prior owner. The steps in it were very steep, but we managed. On the grounds of the castle was an apple orchard where we were allowed to pick apples following out tour. They actually tasted pretty good, just the right amount of sweetness. They aren’t as good as the pink lady apples that I found at the grocery store though.

Window seat inside the castle

Picking apples

I asked Tony where we would buy an exit sign as we were leaving and he promised to take us by a supply store. When we went, they were out of them though. He said he would look on his way home for us.

He dropped us off at the hostel and we ate dinner, which was vegetable and chicken soup with noodles, bread, and celery. It was okay. If there weren’t noodles though, I probably would have starved.

At dinner, Kirstyn started talking to an eleven-year-old boy from Spain. He didn’t know very much English, about the same amount I know of Spanish, so the conversation was difficult. It was cute trying to converse with him though. Language barriers are so fun to work around.

Our little Spanish friend

Ireland: Cobh = new favorite city

I fell asleep last night shortly after we ate dinner. Then I proceeded to wake up at 6:45 this morning to take a shower. When I was finished, we went down to breakfast, but the hostel’s kitchen was still locked, so we had to eat at a picnic table outside. I just had a few slices of bread.

The Cork hostel

As we finished, our taxi pulled up and it took us to a train station on the other side of Cork. The other taxi was delayed because the driver accidentally took them to the airport, but they figured it out.

We took a thirty minute train ride, it was more like an aboveground subway, to Cobh. Once we got there, we wandered around the streets until we discovered St. Coleman’s Cathedral at the top of a hill. I felt like I was having somewhat of a spiritual experience while sitting in the pew, but not enough to make me religious, just meditative.

On the train to Cobh



St. Coleman's towers over Cobh

We walked back down to a park near the train station that overlooked the water and took some pictures. Then we headed across the street to go on a Titanic Walking Tour. The tour itself was kind of boring – just a lot of landmarks and statues related to the Titanic and Lucitania – but we were able to see a lot of the town. At the end of the tour, our guide took us to a pub called Jack Doyle’s. They served us lemonade, but it was orange and tasted like a sort of orange pop. While we were enjoying our juice, the tour guide talked to us about the Irish dialect of English. He said that craic (pronounced crack) means that something is fun or cool.

Our "lemonade"

On our way back to the train station, we tried to stop at a few places to shops, but most of the places were closed because today is a bank holiday to celebrate the beginning of summer. The only thing open was souvenir shops and I managed to find a cute bag that says Ireland on it, maybe I can use it as a school bag.

After taking the train back to Cork, we walked to the butter museum and looked at the exhibits. It was lame, but we all managed to get a nice nap in while watching a movie on the history of butter making.

A butter churn at the butter museum

Once we left, we started walking back to the hostel. We stopped in a shop called The Funky Skunk and looked around. It turned out to be a head shop, which mostly sold bongs and pipes. I didn’t buy anything and we continued to walk before stopping in T.K. Maxx. It was like a clothing store that we would have back in the States. They didn’t have anything cheap though, so we headed back to the hostel and made dinner. Tonight was spaghetti, so I actually had something to eat. I feel like I didn’t really help with the cooking though since I didn’t know how. I cut up the bread and figured out how to start the stoves because they weren’t automatic, but that’s all that I could do. It turned out okay though.

Amanda cooking meat for the spaghetti on the non-automatic gas stoves. I had to use a match to light the gas - not exactly the sign of a very modern hostel.