Ireland!

Alright ladies and gentlemen (gentleman? do any guys read this?), I have had at least two months of blogging fail. Finishing the semester, being home, and then traveling again, you know how it goes. Let's just say that being home was awesome. I saw my wonderful friends and family (and really got to spend time with them), ate good food, recharged my brain by staring at the lake for hours on end (see below), and just generally really enjoyed myself. And wondered why it was I was leaving again.

 I had a good reason to give myself for leaving though--my first stop back in Europe was a week in Ireland, a country I've wanted to visit for a long time. So on the day I left, I was sad, but also excited. In fact, those feelings balanced out to a quite calm day for me. It was very weird.

On my arrival in Dublin, it was afternoon on a Sunday. This meant many things were closed. Europeans clearly do not see the value of doing things every day of the week! Tongue in cheek, but really I do miss being able to shop on Sunday. Anyway, I had arrived too late for the last tour of Trinity College, but I knew of one sight that was open and, frankly, at about my mental level after three flights, one of which was a red-eye--the Guinness Brewery! Just in case anyone who's never met me is reading this, I'm a beer person. I love good beer. And Guinness in Ireland? That's good beer. The brewery is set up as a giant pint glass, with exhibits you walk as you head up to the top, which is a 360 degree glassed-in bar with great views of Dublin. And a free pint. It was awesome.

 

The next day it was off south. I stopped first at the Rock of Cashel, an old cathedral and castle built on a rock. It was pretty itself and also gave me my first view of the beautiful patchwork quilt that is a lot of Ireland.

After Cashel it was off to Cork, which I wasn't overly impressed by, and then on to Killarney, which was my base for a few days. I got in late at night and crashed. My first two nights in Ireland were lame...

But the next day though was my Ring of Kerry tour, so I wanted to get some sleep! The Ring of Kerry is a loop around one of the peninsulas of SW Ireland and is a really popular day trip. I can see why--it's beautiful! It was, however, also really touristy. I was on a full tour bus, and we were traveling in a flock of full tour buses. But the scenery was amazing.

When I got back from the Ring of Kerry tour, it was still early enough I decided to go check out Killarney National Park. I am SO glad I did. It was a beautifully sunny, calm afternoon. I visited Ross Castle and then just walked around the park, enjoying the emptiness and beauty. I found a quiet little spot beside a lake under the trees and sat for a while, then wandered on an found a spot over the lake, etc. It was a great afternoon. That night I was finally good and social and headed off to a pub for dinner and music. I read that while traveling alone, particularly in Ireland, you should sit at the bar, so I did. And it worked. I talked to the bartender a bit and was soon adopted by a group in Ireland for a family reunion. We all ate at the bar together, then listened to music, then bounced around Killarney for the night. It was great! We ended up singing with the Irish people at a few places. A real pub night!

Lake in Killarney National Park

The next day I did another tour, this time of Dingle Peninsula. I must admit I liked this one better. For one thing it was pretty deserted. I was this time on a small bus with seven other people, and there were no other buses around. For another, this tour was really along the shore almost all day, which gave me constant amazing seascapes with blue ocean and sky and ridiculously green fields.

See why I liked it? Yeah, thought so.  After getting back to Killarney, I wandered around the town for a while, but had a much quieter night--my previous one kept me out past bedtime!

The next morning it was back to Dublin. After the calm beautiful that was Killarney and its environs, I was sick of the Dublin craziness after about 20 minutes, but I calmed down and enjoyed a tour of Trinity College and a good long wander through Grafton Street and dinner with a pint at a local brewery. But I did decide that was enough of Dublin, so the next day I took a tour to Northern Ireland. I know, I'm crazy. But in a good way :) Our first stop was a rope bridge, which was gorgeous. Then it was off to the Giant's Causeway, a really weird rock formation that is, according to everyone but geologists, a bridge from Ireland to Scotland that was built by a giant named Flynn McCool.

My day in Northern Ireland also included brief stops in Belfast and (London)Derry, both of which felt odd. We spent longer in Derry, but both had a very awkward feeling. Very tense. I was happy to have spent most of the day out in the country.

But there you have it. The next morning I had a very early flight to Frankfurt, where I was to be picked up and taken to the summer school for my program. That's a story for later, but for now, just know that Ireland is gorgeous, and given any chance to go, you absolutely should. Given no chance, just swim over there. It's worth it.