Nearly the End

Again, this has been a whirlwind trip... so I haven't had much time to blog about our adventures. Lots of time in the car, and breezing through sites and historical things. However, I have to be at the airport early tomorrow, and rumour has it they have free wi-fi, so I'll blog about many things then. If not, you'll have to wait until NYC.

To give you an idea of what to expect:
1) A mini-recap of the Galway trip... including a trip to a not-so-great part of Limerick
2) Cork and Cobh
3) Kilkenny and Dublin traffic
4) Newgrange and Dublin (more traffic)
5) Rock of Cashel and Limerick
6) Early morning goodbyes

There might be a limerick or 2 if I can figure out how to write one. But it might be too early in the morning for that we'll see.

Where 2 are good, 5 are better

Decided to start the day a little earlier, as we had a few more places to stop, and wanted to get back back to Limerick before 11.
While eating breakfast, we were talking to one of Steph's roommates, and the mom of another, who was visiting from Spain. The mom hadn't had an opportunity to go anywhere yet, so Steph decided that we should all go to Galway (and points in between). So she woke the other roommate, and all 5 of us were on our way soon after.
First stop, Cliffs of Moher. These are crazy steep cliffs that plunge into the Atlantic. There are 2 short walks that you can take to look at the cliffs, or, you can break the rules like everyone else, and go beyond the signs that say, "do not go beyond this sign" and get a "better" feel for the cliffs. It was awesome.

After the cliffs, we found the Burren. I mis-represented history yesterday. Cromwell did not send the native Irish people to the Dingle Penisula. He actually sent them to the Burren. It really is all rock. There are places where they have picked the rocks to reveal somewhat furtile soil, but only go about half way up the hills. For anyone who has ever picked rocks in a field in Saskatchewan, that is a walk in the park compared to the Burren.

Steph and I built an inukshuk for wayward travellers, and all the rocks are flat, and easy to build with.

After the Burren, we found our way to Galway and visited the city centre and Spanish Arches. Nothing too exciting. Though... someone had poured a who container of soap into the fountain, and there were soap suds everywhere.

Another good day. I enjoyed spending the day with our 3 Spanish travel buddies, and I think they appreciated being out of the apartment too!

Dingle

This town slayed me. For some juvenile reason, the name makes me laugh every time I see or say it. Thankfully I'm not the only one who has found it so funny. The town is a typical pretty Irish town. Though there is this underlying resentment towards the powers that be. Apparently a certain civic politician decided several years ago to do away with all of the English in Dingle, opting for the native Irish (i.e. Gaelic) on all signs. So you see traffic signs with huge spaces missing, where the English used to be. It is the "town that was denied democracy."

Oooo, we rented a car to do our touring. So I get to drive a stick-shift on the wrong side of the car and road, on curvy, narrow coastal mountain roads. Exhilarating. We only got lost once, and managed to only hit a few branches while meeting other cars.

The scenery on the Dingle Peninsula is beautiful. Apologising in advance if my history is incorrect... It is the area of Ireland that Cromwell sent all of the native Irishpeople when he "took over" Ireland in the name of England. The land is rocky and mostly uninhabitable, but the people who live there seem to have done really well. There are rock walls everywhere and sheep dot the mountain sides. My favourite are the walls that border cliffs... I figure they are there to keep the cows and sheep from going over the edge, rather than keeping intruders out.

Another stop we made was at Inch Beach. Despite the cooler temps, I obviously had to dip my feet on this side of the Atlantic. This little dog (who I named Jack) greeted us on the beach, and ran with me to the water's edge. When he realized I was going into the water, Jack stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me like I was crazy. And I was , the water was really cold. He quickly lost interest in my antics, and returned to his owners.

After Inch Beach, we made our way to Killarney. It was dark by this time, so we could only wander around downtown. We ate supper at Hannigan's Pub and Restaurant, and enjoyed listening to the locals cheer on the Irish soccer team in a match against Germany.

It was a good first day! Today's adventures will take us to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. Hope I don't get blown over!

JFK Gong Show

Hello from Ireland. I arrived in Shannon about 2 hours later than expected. It started with being 2 hours delayed in Orlando because of a severe thunderstorm in NYC. Which meant the Shannon flight (and every other flight in the world it seems) was 2 hours delayed. If that wasn't enough, we were in the queue to take-off, and the storm had the audacity to return and start blowing the wind in the opposite direction of how the planes were taking off. So all 50 planes in the queue had to turn around. Unreal.
But, I did get to see some really cool lightening from the sky once we managed to get off the ground.

Steph came and picked me up at the Shannon airport, and I quickly learned that time in Ireland does not exist. We waited about 20 mins after the scheduled arrival time for the bus to take us to Limerick. Limerick is a cute little city. Lots of medieval arcitecture (King John's castle is here, right on the banks of the River Shannon). Steph is giving me lots of history lessons as we go.

Now comes the tough part... deciding what to do for the rest of the week. Thankfully Steph has no classes next week, so we are free to go whichever way the wind blows.

O-Town

Tonight, we visited downtown Orlando. It is waaaaay different (and better!) than touristy International Drive and points beyond. I liked it way better. Ian, I saw the Orange Blossom Special comin' down the line! There is a portion of Church St., which the city is revitalizing. There is an old train station, authentic Orange Blossom Special locomotive and boxcars, and new restuarants scheduled to open soon. However, there is a little shady money business going on right now. Some local scammed about $100million from Florida residents, and ran his operation from the Church St. district. But, once its done, I think it will look pretty cool!

Not much else to say. This guy named "Shorty" toured us around the downtown, recommending restaurants. We finally chose a tex-mex place with outdoor seating. The food was pretty good, and there was live music. I thought the restaurant across the street "Slingapour" had a pretty clever name which deserves recognition.

I can't walk I ate so much.

It is 30C here every day, and I'm in a tradeshow hall during peak heat hours. Sigh. At least the evenings are pleasant.

I am most disappointed, we tried to go to Universal Studios and check out the rides, the but park closes at 7pm, as we are now in the off season. Pay $70 and you only get to ride the rides for an hour. Not worth it. but we walked around, and enjoyed that sun and heat.

Remember when I said yesterday that I am going to gain 15 pounds here... well tonight I ate the best meal I've had since my Keg steak in Toronto. Texas de Brazil is my new favourite restaurant. Veggies and starters are all served buffet style, but it was by far the most exotic and unique salad bar I've had. Tons of fine cheeses, sushi, lentils. Only 2 small bowls with lettuce. And lobster bisque.. yum... Once finished the first course, each person has a little disc; red (STOP) on one side, and green (GO) on the other. Flip it to green, and the cooks who have prepared beef, lamb and chicken on sword skewers, start lining up at your table to serve the meat portion of the meal. And wow, it was some of the best meat I've ever had. If it hadn't been too weird (as some friends have told me). I would have taken pictures of all that food.

If you ever have the opportunity to eat there, do!

I think I might gain 15 pounds

I'm at a baking show in Orlando right now. Imagine, hundreds of booths sampling the latest in delectable (and sugary etc.) pastries, cookies, cakes, icings, muffins, bagels, bread... all stuff I shouldn't eat, but I will. It's really hard to spend $12 on a tiny grilled chicken sandwich, when I can roam the aisles for free and stuff my face. Sigh. Must not gorge.
The only redeeming factor is the amount of time I have spent on my feet today, standing and walking. So maybe it will only be 5 pounds I gain.