I Am A Part Of All I Have Seen

Well, I made it back in one piece.

The trip home sucked... I had to go through the stuff to claim line when I got back to Phili. Then I went through the wrong place and didn't recheck my suitcase. The security people wouldn't let me go back through the doors to check it either.

So I rolled this ridiculously heavy suitcase around trying to find someone to tell me where to go. Finally, about an hour later, I just went back through security to the ticket counter and gave the bag to TSA.

So I get on that plane and get to LGA.

The sign says gate 4. My ticket says gate 4. I'm waiting around and its like 15 minutes before take off and no one is boarding. I check the little TV above gate 4 and Syracuse isn't listed. It was moved across the hall to gate 8.

I get over there and it was a weight restricted flight. There's 2 standby people getting all pissed. I'm like well I DO have a seat on this plane and the lady was STILL not going to let me get on the friggin plane.

Then the capitan radios her saying they can fit 1 more person so I was like c-yaaaa. Then I get to Cuse about 30 minutes early and my luggage isn't there.

Ok... what the...

It's probably on the flight from LGA to Cuse that left at 7:30 and it will be in at 9:05. So Nonny and Poppy took me to Applebees around the corner from the airport and when we got back to the airport the luggage was just coming out and thankfully it was there.

Yay!

Anyway, it was really sad to leave Ireland. I loved it there (well, I liked Longford, Dublin was nothing too special) and will definitely go back again sometime. Next time I'm renting a car... and maybe a traveling companion lol. It was awesome to travel alone though and I think I prefer it.

Well - here's some of my favorite pictures! And now that I'm home I can post some with me in it! haha


Me & the River Shannon:




A Fairy Garden at Belvedere House:




A Field in County Clare:




One of the oldest buildings in Cork:




Of course, kissing the Blarney Stone:




And I will leave you with a nice orb photo in front of the church at the 40 Steps.





And I thank you all for following!
Next Trip: To Be Announced

The Blood Is The Life!

Today I headed out around 11-11:30. I was dropped off near BNY and then walked down past the Custom House. From there I made my way to the Dublin Tourism Center on foot since it was so very nice out again today.

I ate at Pizza Hut (chicken fingers haha) and then waited for the bus to go to Malahide Castle. While I waited I spotted a couple familiar faces! It was a couple from Chicago that I sat on the train with yesterday. (They got off to go on the Clare trip while I stayed on the train to go to Cork.) We ended up exchanging numbers and everything... cool people.

It was a good time. The castle was awesome - like an actual castle where people would actually be capable of living haha. Unfortunatley there was no photography allowed inside :(





After the castle we went to Dublin Bay to take a few pictures...





When we got back into Dublin I just got a taxi back to the hotel. I ordered dinner (yes, chicken) and took a quick little nap. Then it was time for the Ghost Bus! WOOOOO!


We had to sit on the 2nd story of the bus and all the curtains were drawn. Red lights were on. Scary music was playing in the background. Dun dun duuuuuun.

The guide was hysterical... trying to be all 'spooky' and 'mystical' sounding.

We first toured a little around the city. We saw where Bram Stocker was born, and his bachelor pad. We saw the college of physicians where body snatchers would bring stolen dead bodies.

Then we went to an old old cemetary. The graves were all dug up in the 1940's and the bones burned. Some headstones were sitting along the walls. There's what remains of a church... when Henry VIII did that whole anti-catholic thing for Anne Boylen a bishop still gave sermons there secretly. Someone ratted him out and he was tortured and hanged. After that he was quartered and sent around the world to have each limb buried.

His followers went and found the pieces and put them into the walls of the church... creeeeeepy. Here's a picture of where the alter used to be....





Then we left and went to the 'most haunted place in Dublin' which is called the 40 Stairs, or also, Hell.

The story is a little long so I won't retell it... but it involved lepers, a bunch of criminals, and a 'witch' although not in combination with each other.


Here's a picture of where the tunnel opening for Hell used to be...





and one of the stairs...





Sorry they're a little dark... a flash will only do so much.

I'm heading home tomorrow - I'll do a final posting once I arrive with some of my favorite photos.

Cormac McCarthy fortis me fieri fecit ad 1466.

Cormac McCarthy the strong caused me to be built here in the year of our lord 1466... Blarney Castle...

I woke up at 5am again today and got down to the train station around 6:30. The train left at 7 and arrived in Cork around 10. We drove out to the castle and it was a beautiful day!

A grandmother & grandfather were there with their 15 year old grandson and I kind of tagged along with them. (They offered, I didn't impose.) There were only 7 of us on the trip which was really nice.

First I explored a dungeon and then the grandson and I climbed to the top to kiss the stone!





Pretty eh?

From there we did a tour around the city of Cork which was alright.





Then we stopped at a very nice cathedral (St. Colemans). This was the last thing the immigrants saw when they left.





From there we stopped to see the dock that all the immigrants walked out on when they left Ireland most likely the last time...





Finally we stopped at Cobh (formerly Queenstown) to see where the immigrants were processed. This is also the place where the Lusitania and Titanic left for the last time. The statue of Annie Moore is outside. She was the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island.





I sat with another girl from our group (from NJ, works in NYC) who was traveling alone on the train on the way back to Dublin. She was really cool too.

The tour guide, Liam, was friggin awesome! Funny old guy hehe ^_^

So, it was another long day but I had fun. It was nice to see where my ancestors probably left their home land for the final time, and yet the place was a little depressing. (Liam said that it was also called the Dock of Tears.)

Well - one day to go and I'm coming back to the States :'( I'm really looking forward to Malahide Castle and the GhostBust though.

Spend the Afternoon. You can't take it with you.

I was still very tired from yesterdays trip but I set my alarm for 7:30am. I got ready and had a cab take me to Grafton Street. Grafton street is a famous shopping area.





I didn't shop there because the rumor is that everything is really expensive. Instead I walked the whole way down the street just to say I was there, and that end of Grafton is St. Stephen's Green. It's a beautiful park (I guess comparable with Central Park but a lot smaller) and there were ducks and a swam swimming around.




After I looked around there for a little while I walked across the road to St. Stephen's Green Shopping Center. It was 3 floors and very nice. I had a little breakfast pasty thing with chocolate chips and did a bit of shopping.





When you buy stuff and you're not from the EU they give you a little thing stapled to your receipt that you fill out and put into an envelope. When you go through customs you put the envelope into a box or something and they will send you money back. There is a VAT tax here of like 20% or something so I'll get a god chunk back.

After I left the mall I went to a little store on Grafton that sells papers and magazines and such. I got newspapers for Poppy and Becky. I also got a big bottle of water and a sandwich for lunch. It's a strange sandwich : ham and coleslaw. It's not bad though... but it's a cheap way to eat haha.

So I got back about 12:30 and ate half the sanwich and took a nap. I woke up again st 6:30, lol. I guess I was more tired that I realized. Now I'm just watching TV and sorting my gifts and such. I ate the rest of my sandwich and am just relaxing.

I feel like I should be out seeing Dublin but I'm just not interested in it... maybe if I liked bars. It's nice to just relax though. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing after all and tomorrrow will be another long day.

County Cork!! I'll be kissing the Blarney Stone. ^_^

Also, I've found something of extreme interest. The lady at Carroll's Irish Gift Store gave me a map of Dublin (even though I had one already) and it's got some ads on it. One was for Ghostbus. I'm going on the tour Saturday at 9:30pm.

(http://194.106.151.179/sightseeing/ghostbus.aspx)

The site says:
Dublin Tour - GhostBus
Let us put you at your unease on the world's only Ghostbus, and introduce you to the dark romance of a city of gaslight ghosts and chilling legends.

The bus itself is a unique attraction, it is a mobile theatre decorated in the gothic style and features a live storyteller who takes you on a spellbinding trip through Dublin. Once onboard, we take advantage of this atmospheric setting to spirit you away to a world of felons, fiends and phantoms and put you in the mood for being both charmed and spooked at the same time.

En route you learn the real origins of Dracula and his Dublin born inventor, Bram Stoker. We stop at the College of Physicians to recreate the strange activities of Dr. Clossy, whose spirit is still seen walking the corridors carrying a bucket of human entrails. We visit the site where Walking Gallows, the notorious judge, jury and hangman dispatched his victims in a most gruesome fashion.

This tour may not suit those of a nervous disposition!

Tour Highlights:
• Theatrical experience with professional actors
• snatching in St Kevin's Graveyard
• Visit the Haunted Steps
• Discover Dracula's Dublin origins


What seems the coolest to me is the Dracula part and this:
St Audoen's and the Forty Steps
This is one of Dublin's best kept secrets, few people get to pass through the ancient gates of this most haunted place. It is situated in the heart of what old Dubs used to call 'Hell' where tales are told to this date about mysterious lepers, ghostly bells and Dublin's notorious Hellfire Club. Please do not be surprised if a supernatural phenomenon occurs in this place, we are used to it!!!

Anyway, check out the site and I'll be posting some pretty cool pictures tomorrow night.

In The Name Of The Father, The Son, And The Holy Toast

Today was exhausting... ugh...

I woke up at 5 and went to the train station. We left at 7 for Limerick and arrived around 9. (I made a new friend who was also traveling alone. She's from the US and we hung out all day.) We got on a bus and drove around town a little.

(The title for today's post is from Angela's Ashes, which takes place there.)

Then we drove to Bunratty Castle. It was kind of interesting.





We also saw Folk Park...





After that we went to lunch at a little pub. I had chicken, surprise surprise. After that we went to the Cliffs of Moher...





Then we went to see The Burren which is limestone which was left over after the icebergs went out to sea...





After that, to be honest, I was ready to be done. It was cold and windy. I was tired. I was sick of listening to the tour guide even though he was nice.

But we had to drive to Galway to get to the train station to come back to Dublin. So while we were there we did a little tour with commentary ... here's a picture of Galway Bay...





There's not much to say really - the photos speak for themselves. There were some gift shops where I managed to get a lot of present shopping done. Tomorrow I'll finish it. Oh, and I bought myself a nice aran sweater.

As I said, I'm beat. I had room service for dinner when I got back around 9:30 and now I'm going to bed.

~Until tomorrow~

No Act Of Kindness, No Matter How Small, Is Ever Wasted.

I have no words to express how much I appreciate what my new friend did for me today. It was by far the most fun I've had here yet.

I was eating my scone when he arrived and he had some coffee with me. From there we headed to Belvedere House and since it was such a nice day out he came on the tour with me. It was so nice to have company and he is a very fun guy.

Belvedere House itself was awesome. (Check out the Jealous wall) The gardens are probably beautiful when it's in bloom because they're pretty now. The house was huge and pretty cool. The wall was my favorite part though.




(the house...)






After that he drove me to Newcastle Hotel because the man that owns it is from Manhattan. No one was there but at least I got to see the outside. Then we walked down a little walk path to see the back of the hotel. (It used to be a house... photooo...)






After that we went back to the hotel and I had a Red Bull & Coke, lol. I checked out and he drove me to Longford. He drove around and showed me a lock on the Royal Canal and a bog!! A real live bog! So awesome... I didn't get a picture of that... ah poo.

Then he took me to the train station so I could catch my bus and waited with me until I got on. He even called me to make sure I arrived alright! So nice... I can't say thanks enough.

Well, I'll tell you about Dublin now. The taxi driver was awesome! He's going to come back for me Sunday at 9am to take me to the airport since he lives near here. (I hope he doesn't forget me... he's slightly old lol)

I was put into a room where the internet didn't work so they moved me to this room. It's very nice here! Fancy fancy. I even go a hamburger for roomservice so I didn't have to eat alone in a resturant lol.

Now I'm in my pjs and watching some corny Irish drama on tv. I have to get up at 5am for my trip to County Clare tomorrow and since I napped yesterday afternoon I couldn't sleep very well last night.

Well, I guess that's about it for today! ^_^

One Must Have Sunshine, Freedom, And A Little Flower.

Today I had no sunshine, no freedom, and weeds.
I waited outside in the cold, mist like rain for 30 minutes for a bus that never came. The girl at Daybreak (a little convience store) said it was coming, but guess what, no freaking bus.
I went back into the hotel feeling cold and wet and slightly miserable.
The receptionist tried to help me out. She looked online at the bus schedules and then called taxis. None of the taxis answered. So, she suggested a few other things. One was a valid, open option... Athlone Castle. I remembered seeing it in my travel book and thought eh, what the heck, all castles are cool.
35 euros later....
The castle looks like one on the outside, sure enough... on the inside there were a couple of spots that overlooked the city all from way back in the day. The River Shannon was right there, so that was about the only cool part. Not that the river itself was cool because it was just a river... but because I've heard of it before, haha. Also, there was a swam swimming around.
Back to the castle... I paid 6 euros to bore myself to death with videos (those of you who have been inside the Fort Stanwix visitors center and sat through the videos know what I'm talking about, although none of you have, I'm sure).
After that, and walking around the tiny lil area & by the river, I decided to at least walk around town a bit.
The buildings were kind of fun. Every foriegn looking. There was a nice church.
Some old nasty guy with a big beard started talking to me. At first he was nice, talking about his trip to CA. Then he asked me to go down to a bar and have a drink with him. I said no, I don't drink and I was heading back. Then he said 'you don't drink? that's no good. how's a guy supposed to get you drunk?' My answer: "he's not." Then he said something else I can't remember to which I replied "I didn't come to Ireland for guys." (yea yea - we joked about it but in all honesty I'm not.) He asked me if I was into girls then. O_o Riiight, time to go! I made my exit as soon as possible and found a taxi in the street.
Another 35 euros later...
One of the helpful women from this morning was like "you're back!!" hahaha I said yea there was nothing to see really because everything was closed. (true, but it was raining and it's a slightly boring town.) As I walked through the bar the nice guy from ast night said hello so I stopped and had a coke with him.
He offered to drive me to Mullingar tomorrow so I can see Belvedere House since I couldn't today! It's really nice of him but I feel a little guilty having him take me all the way out there... well he says it suits him so I'll go along with it.
I napped until 9 and then went down because we had to figure out a time to go. (settled on 10:30-11am) I chatted with them for a bit and then a drunk man started talking to me. He was alright, drunk, started hitting on me, proposed marriage, then he kissed my hand. I know he didn't mean anything by it but I was still slightly creeped out so when he went to the bathroom I made my exit.
I came back up and packed my suitcase up for tomorrow except the essentials.
Now, to bed I go...

Here's some pictures ...