Day 44: Pillage and Plunder!

Be your friend's true friend.
Return gift for gift.
Repay laughter with laughter again but betrayal with treachery.

- The Havamal, Book of Viking Wisdom

Self-led tourism again! This time it was around Viking/Medieval Dublin, but I opted out of the Viking museum/Christ Church tour for a time when my roommate Abby can go with me. I woke up this morning feeling a little lethargic, so I tried to get out of the apartment before I convince myself otherwise.


Merrion again! I love this park and its so close to my apartment. It's open until 6pm now, last night Abby and I walked a few laps around it before dinner. In July it stays open until 9:30pm, I heard that it stays light in Ireland until 10pm in the summer months. I hope it wasn't just the locals playing on my gullibility.


This building still stands from the Medieval city and once housed Sunlight soap manufacturing. The engravings show men dirtying clothes and then women cleaning the garments. Typical. The engravings were also used as an advertisement for soap, since it wasn't necessarily a basic household item in Medieval Dublin.


This is the oldest house in Dublin on the oldest street, Fishamble. Parts of the house date from (I think) the 17th century. Also the house has been passed down in the same family for over 250 years.


Christ's Church Cathedral, a Viking settlment site before taken by the church.


The interior of St. Francis'/ Adam and Eve Church. Because it's a Franciscan friary it was simply named St. Francis originally, but the only Church entrance was through Adam and Eve's pub. The pub name stuck.


The Brazen Head, the oldest Pub in Dublin! I don't know if you can read the sign, but it says established 1198! That's history! The man standing in front seems irritated that I'm taking this photo.


This statue is of Handel and is located in the courtyard of an apartment complex. Originally this was the site of a concert hall and was where Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time ever!


Four Courts. Thank goodness for sunshine.

More touristy things planned this weekend! For now drinking some tea and watching Yankee TV.

Day 43: motivated tourist

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
- Oscar Wilde

Indulging in my Thursday morning routine of watching Veronica Mars and drinking tea. Similar to my almost every night routine of watching Scrubs and drinking tea. Basically, when I'm watching TV, I don't even feel like I'm Ireland. As the commercials say "Those Yanks sure know how to make us laugh!"

Last night went to Captain America's, Ireland's response to Hard Rock Cafe. I went with my roommate Abby and my friend from Missouri Christina and her boyfriend who's on leave from the Army met us there. We sat next to a picture that Bono took in Africa. I'm not saying I'm a photography expert, but assuming he had a pretty nice camera I wasn't impressed.

It was karaoke night, lots of songs that we didn't know that sounded like the UK/Ireland equivalent to "Build Me Up Buttercup." They also sang a lot of songs from Grease and Oasis.

Last Friday I went on a little self-led tour of Dublin's fair city, thanks to these Ipod tours that the Dublin tourism office offers on their web site. I think I might do another one tomorrow morning, it's a good way to be productive when flying solo.



This is the interior of the Dublin court house, I opted to just snap a couple photos in the entrance rather than pay for the 3 euro tour.



The courtyard of Dublin castle. When I walked into the open space there was no one there and it kind of freaked me out. So, I decided to sit on a bench until someone walked into the courtyard. I think I was eerily alone there for like 10 minutes, where are all the other tourists?



View of Dublin castle from the "black pool" garden.



Here is the gatehouse overlooking the garden. This garden is apparently the origin of Dublin's name. Now its inlaid with snakes in a celtic knot, but originally it was just a basin of earth. When the Vikings came over they were based in this area and noticed that because it rained all the time this spot was a constant "black pool." I guess Dublin comes from the viking word for "black pool." Fun facts.



St. Patrick's Cathedral



This kind of cracks me up. It's a sign that's supposed to mark a well where St. Patrick baptized people. There's another sign next to it that basically says there's not enough proof, but there is an old well here! This spot is right next to St. Patrick's Cathedral in the church's garden which the Guinness family commissioned.

Class today and then some kicking back!

Day 41: Messages from Home

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration. ~Charles Dickens

Just got back from the package center in Dublin 2 with my Valentine's Day care package from home! It felt like my bday or Halloween, it was quite the cornucopia of treats (make sure you tell Dan I used cornucopia).

I loved the cards that Maura and Shannon made! They're next to my bed with the Valentine's from the Grandma's now! You guys are so talented.



Motherload! The bounty included cowtails, pistachios, m&ms, twizzlers, salad dressing mixes, combos, and more that I can't remember. I've been chowing down on the pistachios all day. I'm sure they sell them here, but I haven't seen them yet.

The best part though?



Wow, I can't believe I just ate an actual Skippy pbj sandwich! It made me realize that Panda butter really is a poor substitute. I'm going to have to ration out the Skippy though, I could totally just eat the whole jar with a spoon. To say that I like peanut butter more than some people I know would be an under-exaggeration.

Anyways...

Every once in a while I'll try to post some pictures from around Dublin. It will keep me snapping, I forget to take pictures because I live here.

One of my favorite spots in the city is Merrion Square, it's like St. Stephen's Green except more overgrown and less open. I hear that they have a huge party in Merrion on St. Patrick's Day so I'm already jazzed for that. In one corner of the park is one of my buds.



Oscar it's been too long since we hung out and did that 12 page paper before Thanksgiving...remember the good times?




I feel like the sculpter did a terrific job on his pose, his facial expression, it's just fantastic. There are lots of little tributes to the Irish writers throughout the city, especially Joyce. There are plaques in the street at locations that make an appearance in Ulysses.

Class and then dinner at Norah's! Another sunny day in the Dub!

Day 40: Great Craic in Cork

“Baloney is the unvarnished lie laid on so thick you hate it. Blarney is flattery laid on so thin you love it.”
-Fulton J. Sheen

First off I'm really excited that Uncle Tom & Aunt Christy and Uncle Dan found the blog! Hopefully the Blarney stone worked and I can continuously lure you in with entertaining banter.

On Friday night at about midnight my roommate Abby and my friend Sarah convinced me to go to Cork the next morning at 8am! I'm not a huge fan of spontaneity, so I had to do a lot of self convincing. I'm so happy I went! The weather was stupidly nice, temperatures in the 50s all weekend. I'm embarrassed to say I got sunburned yesterday...in Ireland...in February.

We stayed at a hostel in Cork which was clean and had free breakfast, so infinitely better than about 75% of hostels in Europe. On Saturday we took a bus out to Blarney and yesterday we spent the day in the peninsula town of Kinsale, absolutely beautiful!

Thankfully I don't have to convince you too much, the pictures speak for themselves.


Heading to Blarney castle, so sunny!


On the grounds of Blarney, I was actually hot it was so warm out.


I feel like Blarney castle could easily be replicated for a Universal Studios attraction. Because it was so touristy, there was almost a theme park vibe.


In the dungeon! I've seen worse accommodations in Brooklyn.


The catch phrase for Blarney Castle was "terrifying." This most especially applies to the winding staircase. Don't worry, there's a rope.


Beautiful! Fantastic view of Blarney grounds and lots of sunshine.


I was pretty nervous about the actual kissing, but I couldn't chicken out or lie! Everyone wants photographic proof, and I promise you this isn't photoshoped! Also, the Blarney stone guy: strange job or the strangest job?


Blarney gardens! There were all these signs around about fairies and witches which was pretty hokey, but I enjoyed the waterfalls!


I wanted to recreate an episode of LOST or possibly Jurassic Park when we got to the heavily wooded part of Blarney. Maybe even Lord of the Rings...





Cork! It's the second largest city in Ireland but still probably smaller than Warren! Much more relaxed than Dublin and everyone was super welcoming!


Obviously we went to a Mexican restaurant in Cork. Not too bad, especially the Sangria, but you can definitely get better (and cheaper) Mexican on 422 at El Rodeo!


Streets of Cork


Kinsale is so much like Florida! Colorful and filled with old people!


Kinsale bay, reminded me a lot of New England.


Day trip to the tropics! I can almost see myself getting sunburned in this one.


Then we boarded Captain Hook's ship and snapped a couple photos.


What blog post would be complete without a food picture? (sangria doesn't count!) Although I think I'm still partial to the Union Oyster House in Boston, Fishy Fishy Cafe is definitely some of the best seafood I've ever had! I had the pan fried John Dory over basmati rice with vegetable tempura. I'm not sure what was in the sauce but it was fabulous!

Overall, I really like Cork, but I'm happy I'm spending most of my time in Dublin, lots more to see and learn! Mom we should definitely go to the southwest, to Kinsale or a similar town! The area looks exactly like how I pictured Ireland!

Day 34: Dublin let's not play the lazy game

I'm working like so hard, all the balls are getting thrown to me, I'm trying to catch like everyone. All of the people in the out field are all looking around, and, c'mon, lets play some baseball, ok? not the lazy game...
-Goob from Meet the Robinsons

So the last few days have been a recovery from Norah and I's Amsterdam/Brussels adventure! I've actually been doing something that's not really popular in Ireland, homework! It's hard to gauge the classes, not sure of the teacher's expectations over here. I definitely don't want to spend tons of time studying, but I would be pretty embarrassed to not get through a pass fail course on Irish Culture. I'll have to schedule some few and far-between work days.

I've been feeling a bit lazy after all that travel, and this blog post is helping me fake productivity. So, here are two irrelevant pictures.



Norah, Sarah and I attempted to feed the ducks in St. Stephen's Green. Definitely not my idea, I hate when birds swarm around me. I also don't like swans. Actually, I'm terrified of swans and I'm using hate to cover up my fear. So, I tried to play ring toss with bagels and the swans. Surprisingly, they were cool with it and stayed a safe distance.



I went to Lidl yesterday and got some mad cheap food! It's just the ugly cousin of Aldi's. Actually, both stores are equally ugly and equally cheap. This is a pita sandwich which chicken breast, sauteed mushrooms and red peppers, goat cheese and Dijon mustard. The salad has fresh pepper and tomato garlic dressing! Good dinners also make me feel productive!

Day 31 (Part 2): Brussels

“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.”
-Renee Magritte

“How strangely do we diminish a thing as soon as we try to express it in words.”
-Maurice Maeterlinck

Traveling to Brussels was kind of a nightmare, but actually worth it in the end. I felt like Norah and I were in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. First our train from Amsterdam was canceled, then our hotel wouldn't answer their film, we don't speak French so communicating with the public transportation people was difficult, and then we realized that the "Brussels South" airport is like an hour outside of city center.

Thankfully our hotel was super nice, it was like 10 steps up from our Amsterdam hostel. It took a lot of motivation from both Norah and I to actually go back into Brussels after finding the hotel, but we really had no choice! We weren't going to miss out on seeing the city. We probably spent like three and a half hours on trains yesterday. Thankfully the hotel helped us get a free shuttle to the airport this morning and hooked us up with a Taxi last night.

Here's a shot after dropping things off at our hotel.


We tried so hard to be good tourists.


However, when we walked into the the beautiful Grand Place it was suddenly all worth it. This is basically what I thought Paris would look like, it's by far the most beautiful city I've ever visited.


This little guy gets a lot of attention, it's the Mannekin Pis statue. I was surprised that it was only like a foot tall.








Pictures say a lot more than words here.


We ate at a restaurant in the square, it's actually in one of the pictures above. I was pleasantly surprised by the Kriek beer! It was absolutely delicious. It's a cherry flavored beer that basically tastes like a juice box. I'm already researching where I'd be able to buy it in both Dublin and Ohio!


Fantastic.


For the actual meal I got a traditional Belgian chicken casserole, again a hearty meal! Rich flavors, fantastic butter on the bread, definitely cooking I could get used to. I was a little nervous to order the "American" I was warned that it was basically a plate of raw hamburger meat. I figured chicken was safe, you can't serve uncooked chicken!


Looks kind of like how I imagine a bar in Germany would look. Terrifying mannequin included.


That's right a Belgian Waffle! Thank God I'm not studying abroad there, I would be picking one of these up on the way back from class everyday.


Apparently if you rub this statue it gives you good luck? We looked it up afterward, we just rubbed it because everyone else was doing it. Peer pressure.






Again, no words! Unlike Amsterdam, I'm already planning my trip back to Belgium, hopefully with someone who knows French. Probably unlikely, but here's to dreaming!