My wonderful stay in this gorgeous city finally had to come to an end. Before I left, I took Frédéric and Mathilde out for a wonderful meal at La Dame d'Aquitaine, a super-fancy restaurant. We ate, drank, and were merry before I had to head home.
What an incredible spread! The restaurant was gorgeous, and we were really lucky to get in without a reservation. It was a magical night.
The "amuse-bouche", or appetizer, creamed asparagus with a cappuccino of cream on top. Mathilde didn't even know that green asparagus existed! Before I got to Dijon, I didn't know anything about white asparagus. All we ate in the house was white asparagus. Both are delicious.
My entrée, or hors d'oeuvre. Escargots three ways. Clockwise from the left: escargots in a beef bourgignonne sauce with onions and bacon, baked breaded balls with escargots and garlic butter, and escargots out of their shells with gutter, garlic, and parsley. Absolutely divine.
Frédéric's entrée. Foie gras with cherry jelly. It tasted fantastic! Now I can say I tried it. And I loved it!
The three of us at our table. The night was totally perfect in every way!
I couldn't get over the room. It was built between the 13th and 14th centuries, and is underground. The lighting was so great, though, that it felt like we were outside in the middle of the day.
This blew my mind. Silver covers over our meals? Wow! Before the waiter took the covers off, he introduced our meals. Our dinner was such a production! And so tasty.
My dinner. Roasted duck with fig sauce and apples. I'm drooling just writing about it!
A going-away gift from Frédéric and Mathilde. A tiny 4GB USB key full of french music! Mathilde loaded it up with over 25 CDs! What a thoughtful gift. Merci beaucoup!
This is what Frédéric had for dinner. Some of the biggest scallops I've ever seen, with roasted veggies and mussels. He shared with Mathilde and I, who ordered the same meal. Delicious.
Wow, did we ever look fabulous!
Dessert. Crème brulée with Burgundian beer sauce on top. And I thought the night couldn't get any better. I was so wrong! This was delicious.
All three of us marvelled at the décor of the room. It was so elegant! We had a wonderful time.
This was so cool! We took one of the little white things on the left and put it in the dish on the right, added water, and the little white thing expanded and grew into a napkin! There was lemon essence in the water, so the napkins were lightly scented! A fantastic end to an incredible evening.
Thursday was my last full day in Dijon. I spent the morning with Katty and Christine, trying to escape the rain and eating Kebaps. Before we parted ways, they gave me a cookbook full of recipes from all of the castles in the Burgundy region. I miss you so much, girls!
My last, soggy, day in Dijon. Even with the rain and chill, I miss it so much!
I left Friday morning at 6:30 to begin my long journey home. I travelled over 24 hours in total before I got to fall asleep in my warm, comfy bed. Thanks to everyone who came to meet me at the airport in Calgary! It was great to see so many familiar faces after such a long, difficult voyage. You really made my day.
Thanks too, to everyone who has been following all my adventures on here. All your messages and well-wishing really made my time away easier. I'm very happy to be home, but I miss Dijon terribly. Today I go back to work, re-establishing a routine in Lethbridge. Hopefully that'll help me keep my mind off how much I wish I was still in France. I can't wait to see everyone here again. Let's start making plans to hang out! I'll try to post a couple more entries on here, but my adventure, sadly, has come to an end. Time to start a new chapter in my life.
Thanks again, everyone, for your support and love.
I finally got to see the Catacombs of Paris! It almost didn't happen, though. By the time I got into the city and off the Metro, I only had 2 hours left before they let the last people into the Catacombs. The workers at the end of the line told me that I was looking at about a 2-hour wait, and that it wasn't guaranteed that I'd get in. I had to try! My persistence paid off. I got in with a half hour to spare. What followed was the eeriest, creepiest, coolest hour and a half I've spent here so far!
Good to know. The Catacombs used to be a limestone quarry before they were turned into an ossuary. The transfer of human remains started in 1777 as a reaction to public health concerns and overcrowding of cemeteries above ground. Interment here continued until 1860. There are the remains of about 6 million Parisians in the Catacombs.
There was about 500m of tunnel before the actual ossuary. It was cramped, chilly, damp in places, and smelled very strongly of earth. Those who are claustrophobic need not even think about coming down.
19m below the street! The tunnels rose and fell throughout the tour. There were little plaques like this the whole way to let visitors know how deep under the earth they were.
These sculptures depict cities where the sculptors were believed to have been held prisoner.
The detail is incredible! This one is Port-Mahon, the largest city on the island of Minorca.
"The Quarrymen's Footbath" is a well of crystal-clear groundwater that was found by quarry workers, and used to mix cement by those who worked in the Catacombs.
Some parts of the tunnels were rough-hewn stone on all sides, others were like this. Stone and cement, made to look like the inside of a castle. Creepy.
The engraving reads "Stop! This is the Empire of Death."
My first look at the ossuary. Some cement was used, but for the most part the bones are just stacked up one on top of the other. If this makes you uneasy, skip ahead a bit to Ireland. It's a lot prettier.
Every now and then there were plaques telling what cemetery the bones came from.
Nervous smile? Yes, because something was dripping on me from the ceiling.
It was really interesting to me that the bones were placed in patterns, not just randomly in piles. That also means that one person's bones were not likely to be kept all together for aesthetic reasons. Long bones were piled in front, and the rest are heaped together behind. The stone basin in this picture was used to house a fire that was kept burning all the time to help with air flow.
Stalactites forming on the ceiling. I'm not sure what was dripping, but I got quite a lot on me. Ick.
Yes, I'm bad. I shouldn't have taken a picture with flash. But wow.
Clergymen moved the bones during the night so as to not upset the citizens of Paris. What a terrible task.
Ok, now we're on our way out.
This is a "bell hole", and is over 11 meters high. It was formed by a cave-in. The bell hole is the way that abandoned quarries collapse. They grow and grow, and finally, violently, collapse completely. That was not a reassuring thought as I walked under it.
Ah, tacky and creepy souvenirs. Thanks, but no thanks.
Please just let this be normal, icky grey mud made of dirt and not dead people. Ugh, how I needed a shower after that. No time, though! I had a flight to catch!
Yeah! Going to Dublin to start my Irish adventure! I gave myself plenty of time to get to the airport. I'm glad I did. I had a lot of issues with transport to the airport. Trains changed, construction... But I made it.
My plane! By the luck of the draw, I got a window seat over the wing. Excellent flight.
The sun was setting as I flew into Dublin. So pretty.
First glimpse of the Emerald Isle. I was so excited I was squirming in my seat like a child.
Eee! The sign is in Gaelic! So cool!
Kiss a sheep for good luck. First morning in the Paddywagon.
Our first stop was Monasterboice to look at some centuries-old Celtic crosses. They were gorgeous.
The Celtic cross is a mix between the Christian and pagan faiths in Ireland. The cross is Christian, and the circle represents the cycles of the sun and the moon, which were so important to the pagan faith.
The cemetery held a lot of very old graves as well. Aside from all the tourists, it was quite tranquil.
This was the first Guinness advertisement I saw. It was far from the last!
We stopped in a village called Ardee for lunch. My first fish and chips! Pretty dang tasty, if full of oil.
The scenery was absolutely stunning all over the island. This is on the way into Derry.
A statue in Derry. A teacher won an award for her idea for this statue. The two people represent the Catholics and Protestants in the country. Every year, they move closer together. One day, they'll be touching. Hopefully by then, the troubles in the country will be resolved. Time will tell.
The hostile hostel cat. Bugger kept trying to get into the leftover sausages from the BBQ we had! The lady that ran the hostel told me that when she doesn't feed the cat, he gets into things. Hm. Maybe she should just feed the freaking cat.
This is one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Fish pedicure. You sit and dangle your feet in a tank of hungry fish, who eat the dead skin off your feet. I was tempted to try until I realized that 1) fish aren't meant to eat human skin, and that would probably kill them, and 2) they don't actually have teeth to get all the dead skin off. They just eat the stuff that falls off naturally. Totally useless. Poor fish.
Londonderry, or Derry, as the locals call it, has a very stormy history with Britain. Half the city is made up of Loyalists, or people who consider themselves loyal to the Crown, and the other half are Republican, and want Ireland to be its own free republic. This is the source of the "Troubles", as they're called. I'll get into that in a bit. The Loyalists fly the Union Jack, and paint the curbs and light standards red, white, and blue to show their fidelity to the Crown. They also call the city Londonderry, because London sent over a bunch of people to build up the city. The Republicans, however, paint the curbs and lights orange, white, and green, and call the city Derry because they want nothing to do with the Crown.
Derry is surrounded by a huge wall. It's been under siege several times in the past several hundred years.
There was a lot of razor wire and spikes on the walls and throughout the city. It was kind of eerie.
A large cemetery next to the Bogside district. This is where the Bloody Sunday victims are buried.
A monument erected to commemorate the life of an IRA family who was killed in duty. One side is in English, the other in Gaelic.
The gate to the Bogside district. When police would enter the district during the Troubles, women would bang trash can lids on the sidewalk to alert the men, who would come running to defend their homes against the police. There are murals all over the neighbourhood depicting the Troubles and those who fought to make things better.
The Bloody Sunday memorial. On January 30, 1972, British police shot and killed 14 Republicans who were believed to be involved with the IRA. The Queen awarded medals of bravery to the officers. It was later discovered that they opened fire on a crowd of people for no good reason, and committed all kinds of cowardly deeds during the one-sided battle. The Queen never apologized. This is one of the reasons that Derry isn't a fan of the Crown.
On a lighter note, the houses all over the country are adorable. It's good to see that, even though it's drizzly and chilly most of the time, people still try to cheer themselves up.
Drinking song! This was painted on one of the walls of the hostel.
First of many pints of Guinness. In a real Irish pub! What a great night.
Joe, our guide, explained the national sport of Hurling as "a cross between field hockey and murder". Sounds like fun! Apparently it's really fast-paced and great to watch, though crazy dangerous to play.
The next day we headed out to the Giant's Causeway. On the way, we stopped to take a peek at Dunluce Castle. Stunningly beautiful.
One night, during a banquet, a third of the castle fell into the sea, killing many people. It's said that their ghosts still wander the castle and the countryside.
Giant's Causeway! I've wanted to see this since I did a report on Ireland in grade 4. I asked the Irish Tourism Board for brochures, and fell in love with all the beautiful pictures. This was definitely a highlight of my trip!
Legend has it that Fionn McCool, an Irish warrior and hero, fell in love with a woman named Deirdre. He married her and they had a child. She had another man in Scotland, however. A giant of a man, he claimed that the child was his and built a bridge between Scotland and Ireland to see the child. Fionn had a plan, though. He dressed himself as a baby and waited for the Scot in the Nursery. When the giant saw the "baby" in the crib, be decided that the child's father had to be even bigger than himself, and fled as fast as his feet could take him. He broke the bridge he had created so that Fionn couldn't follow him. What remains is the Giant's Causeway.
Geologists, however, say that these hexagonal basalt columns were formed when an underwater volcano erupted millennia ago. Choose whatever explanation you like. I love this place!
None of these pictures do the Causeway justice. It was breathtaking, even if it was pouring rain on me all morning.
My boots were waterproof, but my pants weren't. I was a soggy doggy all morning.
I'm pretty sure that this is where my cold started. This view was totally worth it!
This way to Scotland! On a clear day, you can see it 8 miles away. Unfortunately, our day was anything but clear. Thank goodness I packed my umbrella!
This is White Park Bay. Apparently it's beautiful in the sunshine. I thought it was pretty in the rain too.
A nice hearty meal in Ballintoy to warm us up. I had steak and Guinness pie with a pot of tea. So tasty!
It's hard to believe that this is the same day, but it cleared up after lunch when we went to cross the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. This is the island where the Book of Kells was written. Monks worked to copy certain Gospels from the Bible into Gaelic. The book is on display in Trinity College in Dublin.
This made me giggle and think of Monty Python's Holy Grail. I half-expected the "Warden" to demand that I answer his questions three before he would let me cross. I was disappointed when he didn't.
Good to know. I was terrified to cross this bridge. I really dislike heights.
The view was totally worth it though. Absolutely stunning.
The bridge. It was windy and had just finished raining. The bridge was damp, and I was terrified that I'd fall. But it was a cool experience. I'm glad to say that I did it.
I did that. I shook the whole time, but I did it. I'm Indiana Jones!
We drove through Ballymena, in County Antrim. My Grandpa's family were from there. Apparently I still have some distant cousins there. I'm so glad I got to see it!
Our next stop was Belfast. As soon as we checked into our hostel we were herded into a bunch of waiting taxis for the infamous "Black Cab" tour of the city. The story goes that during the Troubles, rebels would hijack buses in certain neighbourhoods, park them across the road so that no one could pass, and do whatever they wanted. It got so bad that bus service in those areas stopped. Taxis continued to run in those neighbourhoods on the condition that no-one was to harass the drivers or damage a cab. Everything worked out fine, and now the taxis are used to give tours. We stopped to look at a mural of a bunch of different images. This is a picture of one of the ten men and women who died during a hunger strike in one of the jails.
This blew my mind. There's a wall that goes through the middle of the city! Republicans live on one side, and Loyalists live on the other. They call the wall the "Peace Wall". I had no idea that this went on! If you look at the house in this photo you'll see that there's a kind of cage on the back of it, closing in the garden and back yard. That's because the people on the other side of the wall still throw rocks and things over the wall to damage the houses on the other side. Our guide told us that about 30 years ago, at the height of the Troubles, this neighbourhood burned to the ground.
There are a number of gates that allow traffic between the two sides of the city, but there are only two that are open 24 hours a day. They're heavily surveilled.
At one point our guide pulled the cab over and handed us markers to write on a section of the Peace Wall. This is my contribution.
A stretch of wall that had some pretty cool graffiti. I asked the guide if he thought that the wall would ever come down. He said that anything was possible, but that there was no way it would happen in his lifetime. There's too much pain and hate here.
A mural on a building close to the wall. The tour was very disquieting. We were all in a wierd mood after it was finished.
Joe told us why the doors were all painted different colours. When the Queen's husband passed away, she ordered the members of her kingdom to paint their doors black in mourning. Some complied, but those who were unhappy with her reign painted their doors any colour but black. Interesting.
Another traditional meal for dinner in Belfast. This is boxty, or potato pancake. It had yummy herbs and spices in it, and was filled with chicken, peppers, onions, and an awesome cream-wine sauce.
Can't forget about dessert. Banoffee pie! Thick, luxurious toffee, bananas, and a wonderful graham-toffee crust. With caramel drizzle and caramel ice cream. I nearly died.
After dinner, we went for a walk around the city to work off our meal and hopefully see a brighter side of Belfast. I wasn't too surprised to see razor wire on the fences in this alley.
Queens College in Belfast. I thought the walls were brick, but they were actually sandstone! So pretty.
City Hall. I was surprised that it was so clean. Very classical.
I really do love the buildings here. The one on the left is a supermarket!
The Titanic, as well as two identical sister-ships, were constructed in the Belfast harbour. All three sank on their maiden voyages.
Prince Albert's clock. Due to poor foundations when it was built, it now leans 1.35 meters off the vertical. I included the lamppost for reference. Neat!
Giant salmon! Joe told us the legend about Fionn McCool and the Salmon of Knowledge. There was a druid, Darmott, who was always asking the Goddess of Knowledge for answers. She got tired of dealing with him, and decided to put all the knowledge of the world into a giant salmon. She declared that whoever caught and tasted the fish would end up with all the world's knowledge. Darmott and his apprentice, Fionn, set to work trying to catch the fish. After years of trying, they caught it. Darmott instructed Fionn to cook the fish, but warned him not to eat it. Fionn cooked the fish, but as he did so, the skin began to blister. Fionn broke the blisters in the skin with his fingers, but burned his thumb. He immediately put his thumb in his mouth to ease the pain. Fionn had tasted the fish. He was blessed with all the world's knowledge.
Samson and Goliath, the cranes in the shipyard that were used to build the Titanic, and many other ships. Some American businessman had purchased the right to set up a bungee-jumping business at the top of one of the cranes. Craziness.
Scout Shop! I love that the Scouts are so popular here.
I was terribly disappointed by European Tim Hortons. Sad face.
The Europa hotel. During the Troubles, this is where the journalists and reporters would stay. Whenever someone reported something that upset either one of the parties involved in the Troubles, rebels would plant a bomb in the hotel. 37 bombs exploded here in 27 years, making it the most bombed hotel in the world. No wonder it looks so good. Many, many renovations.
Again, I can't get enough of the countryside. This is a little lake at the foot of Benbulben Mountain.
W. B. Yeats' grave. There are a bunch of different theories about his epitaph and what it means, but I think it has something to do with his outlook on life while he was alive (he was fairly bitter. Life was hard on him, and he had difficult relations with his family), and that in death the "horsemen" that pass by are the important men that couldn't care less about a writer, and who are uneducated and not worth his time. But that's just my opinion. I love Yeats' poetry.
This is in a village called Knock. On August 21, 1879, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Evangelist appeared to fifteen people of varying ages on the roof of the church. The Lamb of God also appeared, surrounded by circling angels. The Church carried out enquiries in 1879 and 1936, and found all witnesses to be trustworthy and true, and a miracle was proclaimed to have occurred in Knock. This is a monument to that miracle.
Our illustrious leader, Joe. What a great guy. It was his last tour with Paddywagon, and I'm really glad he was with us. We had way too much fun together!
Me chilling with Oscar Wilde in Galway while his brother looks on jealously. This is my second encounter with Oscar in Europe. I kissed his tomb and sat on his lap. Much love for Oscar.
Galway was founded by 14 Gaelic tribes. These are their standards. All the major buildings in the city had a standard on it somewhere.
Galway is credited with being the birthplace of the claddagh ring. That's the one with the hands holding the heart, with the crown on top. I've been wearing mine for a couple years now, but I finally learned how to properly wear it in Galway. When we got there, me and one other lady in the bus had one. When we left, at least half the people in the bus had them.
The pub in Galway was awesome! There were a couple live bands, and former Riverdance dancers! The craic was fantastic in Galway! Read on to find out what that means.
Shepherd's pie like I'v never tasted before in my life. Holycrap, was it ever fantastic. I love that there were two scoops of mashed potatoes in the main dish, and that there were fries on the side.
A bunch of Americans, and Louie. Louie is the young man on the far right. He's from Bordeaux, in France. I got to keep up with my French in Ireland. So cool!
This was way too cool. Take a look at the band, if you can peel your eyes away from the awesome dancers. That's right, there's a girl playing a freaking harp in the band! I won a free CD from them for being able to tell the difference between a jig and a reel. Here's the key: You can say "eggs 'n' bacon, eggs 'n' bacon" over and over to keep time with a reel, and "rashers 'n' sausages, rashers 'n' sausages" to a jig. Neat, right? I even got the band to sign my CD! Such a great night.
The next morning we headed out to Clarinbridge, to take a look at Dunguaire Castle. The people who own it serve traditional medieval food here, in traditional fashion (no cutlery), and the guests get to dress up in traditional garb while they eat. Kind of like Medieval Times in the States, but a little more realistic.
After the castle, we visited an old monastery in an area called the Barrens. The stone here is limestone, and the landscape looks lunar. There are a handful of incredible rare plants that only grow here, nourished by the calcium in the limestone. If you're caught picking the flowers, you get fined 5000€ for each flower! How crazy is that?
This beautiful little stretch of road is called the Corkscrew. It's in county Cork, and it's where Lamborghini decided to film one of the commercials for it't best-selling model of all time. It started raining hard just after I took this picture.
We stopped in Doolin for some of the most incredible seafood chowder I've ever tasted! The "Silly Question of the Day" award goes to the lady who asked the chef "Is it very fishy?" Ha! Seriously, though, it was full f shrimp, mussels, cockles, cod, salmon, scallops, and all kinds of other seafoody awesomeness. And yes, it tasted quite fishy. Because it was full of fish.
Picturesque Doolin. There's camping and a hostel on the other side of the stone fence.
One of the girls on the trip had this really annoying habit of saying "Postcard!" every time she took a good picture. But if this wouldn't make for a wonderful postcard, I'm not sure what would. I'd like to take a minute to remind my readers that all the pictures on this blog are my copyright. If you want to copy them for personal use, please don't do so without my prior consent. Thanks!
This one is for Jason. Even the circles here are green! And they seem to be highly organized...
Rumor has it that the drummer from U2 owns this house. A lot of artists live and work in Ireland, because the country allows artists to work tax-free. That's one of the reasons why Braveheart was filmed here instead of in Scotland.
I had been waiting for this for a while. The Cliffs of Moher. Absolutely breathtaking.
Of course there had to be a castle. What a perfect place for a castle.
If you've seen the Princess Bride, you may recognize this. Anyone? The Cliffs of Insanity! I recorded a really sappy video of me singing while watching the waves roll in here. I may post it, or I may just keep it for myself. Time will tell.
Ah, Louis. What a fun guy. I loved the idea of being a Canadian speaking French in Ireland. I think he appreciated having a translator. We had a great week!
Leprechaun castle! It was wee, and Joe wouldn't stop the bus so we could get off to take pictures. Hence the glare off the window. Boo, Joe.
We stopped in Adare for a bit to visit the heraldry guy and see some awesome thatched roofs. I found the sigil for the McCullough family (my ancestors), which is really quite neat.
This old guy was adorable. He only played one song, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", and he played it over and over. What a cutie!
We rolled over to Anascaul in county Dingle for the night. Joe told us that they erected a windmill to make it look like Amsterdam, so that marijuana could be legalized, but I'm not sure how much truth there is in that particular yarn. Though I suppose anything is possible...
Again with the gorgeous scenery. Before I got here, I honestly didn't think everything would be so gorgeous and green. I thought they just took the pretty places and put them on postcards. As it turns out, the entire fecking island is beautiful, albeit often cold and rainy.
When the sun comes out, though, the hills positively glow.
Yep, you read it right. This was the name of the hostel we stayed in in Anascaul.
Bangers and mash! Pork sausages with mashed potatoes, onions, and gravy. So yummy.
The gorgeous B&B next to our so-so hostel. How cute is this building?!
Anascaul is a tiny village with not a lot going on. Joe tried to tell us that there was no phone or Internet, but the hostel had wi-fi. Finding a payphone, however, proved to be a bit of an adventure.
Laundry drying in a shed. The contrast between the old shed and the new car is wonderful to me.
What better to do in a tiny village than to KARAOKE YOUR BRAINS OUT?! Oh yes, there was karaoke. And yes, I rocked it. So did Joe, and every one else who stepped up to the mic. Joe's rule was that anyone that didn't sing couldn't get on the bus in the morning. So everyone drank and sang, and a great time was had by all!
Honestly, could the countryside get any more beautiful??
Oop, yep. There we go. To make any landscape more perfect, just add cows! Love it.
Sleeping Giant's Island. Fionn and Dierdre's son fell in love with a woman who lived under the sea, in Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth. She told him that he could visit his family, but that he wasn't allowed to set foot on the ground if he wanted to return to live with her. So she gave him her unicorn to use to visit his family. When he he got to earth he realized that one week in Tír na nÓg was 1000 years on earth. In the two weeks he was with his bride, 2000 years had passed. All his family was dead and buried, and his castle lay in ruins. He tried to turn back to rejoin his bride under the sea, but fell off the unicorn onto the earth. When he touched the earth, all the time he spent in Tír na nÓg caught up with him. He raced back to Tír na nÓg as fast as the unicorn could carry him, but it was too late. He died. When his bride saw him, she was devastated. She turned his body to stone, creating the island in the photo, and banished the unicorn from Tír na nÓg. It was destined to roam the earth for the rest of its days, searching for another man to replace its master's lost husband.
This statue is on the side of a very windy road. When sailors leave Dingle town by boat, this statue is the last recognizable thing they see on the land. It's said to protect them on their voyage.
Yet more gorgeous countryside, and me. What a cute little stone wall!
The mountains in the distance were the inspiration for the Sydney Opera House. Neat, right?
Our crazy little Paddywagon group. A great bunch of people to spend a week with! I miss them already.
Yeah! The Craic House! "Craic" is a gaelic word for a good time. People often ask each other "What's the craic?" meaning "How are you?/How's it going?" Joe explained that craic means "Happy days, happier nights". On this tour, the craic was awesome!
Lamb sausage from a farmer's market in Dingle town. This was incredible! It was served with mint yogurt and sweet chilli sauce.
A beach! This is Inch Beach, the same beach Coldplay used for the video for their song "Yellow". What a perfect day to go to the beach!
Totally adorable little brownie owls in the coffee shop in Inch. Snack idea for my Brownies back home? Could be. Not at all healthy, but cute as a button.
Yeah! Riding a dolphin! This is a sculpture of Fungie, a dolphin that lives in Dingle Bay. Apparently he's way older than a dolphin's life expectancy should allow, but the town thrives on tourist dollars from those who come to see Fungie. There are tours to go see him, and Tom Cruise even thinks he's alright. Some people think Fungie died a while ago, and has since been replaced with another dolphin.
Some great grass on the beach. What a perfect day!
Me and Joe. What a great guy. He made the tour unforgettable! This is at Killarney National Park.
A ruined watchtower right next to the park.
The park itself. But I'm confused. If it's a national park, where are the bears?? Haha, when Joe found out I was Canadian, he asked me what my bear story was. His theory is that all Canadians have a bear story. I had two, as a matter of fact. "Bear's gonna getcha!"
There's something about a huge grassy field full of dandelions that just makes a person want to roll around in it. So I did.
We stopped in Cashel for lunch before going on to Killarney. This is the Rock of Cashel. Legend has it that when the Devil found out that Saint Patrick was doing such good work he threw an enormous stone at the Saint. Patrick hit it with his staff, and the stone fractured into three pieces and were flung far and wide, to three different parts of the island. One part became the islands to the north, another piece flew off to the west, and the third part landed here in Cashel. Patrick built his church on the rock.
When we got to Killarney, we hopped into horse-drawn wagons for a lovely little ride through the national park. This is a small castle in the middle of a lake.
We had Clydesdales to pull our wagons! I love this breed. They're so strong and hearty! This guy was pulling the cart behind ours, and he got close enough for me to give him an ear scratch! He really seemed to like it. I hate that I'm so allergic to horses.
A beautiful old church in Killarney.
Another leprechaun castle! Ha. Still, I have to wonder why everything is in miniature here. The door, the arrow slits... Maybe it really is for a leprechaun!
After an excellent night in Killarney, we headed over to Blarney Castle to smooch a certain well-known piece of rock. That's right, the Blarney Stone! I was so excited for this part of the tour!
Awesome stonework at the top of the castle. The stairs up to the top were scary as hell. Very narrow, very windy, very uneven, and very steep. I have no idea how my grandpa did it in his 60s. Kudos, Papa!
Looking down into a bedroom in the castle. Everything was rough-hewn stone. It didn't look very comfortable, but it sure was fortified!
Getting ready to pucker up. I seriously doubt that this old guy could keep me from falling, if it came to that, but he sure was fun to chat with!
Aaand... SMOOCH! You have to do it upside down, as the Stone is at the bottom of the wall. No one has ever fallen while kissing the Blarney Stone, though one of the villains in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories fell to his death from the top of Blarney Castle.
Kissing the Stone endows the kisser with 7 years of good luck and the gift of eloquence, or the "Gift of the Gab". I even have a certificate now to prove that I did it! What an awesome experience.
Looking down into the castle. It was really neat to be able to wander around and see the rooms and kitchen on the way down.
A real, honest-to-goodness murder hole, Jason! Now you can't call your basement that any more.
The murder hole. Man, what a brutal way to attack a person! Boiling oil from above? No thanks!
A lookout tower by the stream that runs through the grounds.
I couldn't believe this. There was a garden full of dangerous, poisonous plants! Everything from tobacco to mandrake, poison ivy, and even rhubarb. The more dangerous plats were in little cages. The idea of the garden is to inform guests about the dangerous plants that are in the garden, and on the island in general. Kind of a neat idea, but totally unsettling. Also, Brett Michaels was nowhere to be found. I was disappointed, to say the least.
This tree was not in the Poison Garden. Fret not.
While I was wandering around the grounds I found a Fern Garden! A lot nicer than the Poison Garden.
This is called an "Ice House". I haven''t been able to find out anything else about it. When I looked inside, it was dark and chilly, and deep underground. Maybe they kept meat and veggies here to keep them from spoiling? I'm not sure.
Blarney Castle in all its majesty.
After Blarney, we headed back to Dublin for a much-deserved pint of Guinness. Because we didn't drink enough of it during the week. We needed another one.
Right here. It starts here! I was pretty pumped.
On our way through the Storehouse, we got to see and learn an awful lot about Guinness, its history, how it's made, and what sets it apart from other drinks. This is one of the machines they used to use to make Guinness.
A seal that was used while the drink was fermenting.
Yum! I love that the sign has the tumbling bubbles on it, like you can watch in an actual pint.
We waked in and out of the giant barrels that were once used to store fermenting Guinness.
Free tastes. They're pretty strict on the "one per customer" rule.
How to properly taste my favourite stout. It's like tasting wine! What a process.
This was a pretty intense tour. This area talked about the craft of barrel-making. I watched a video on how it was done. It's a very long and involved process, but necessary for so many drinks!
A display of the different bottles Guinness has used over the years.
A series of the "My goodness, my Guinness!" figurines. So cute!
There were walls full of old advertisements for the drink. Some of them were really creative, and others made no sense at all.
There was a workshop where people could learn how to pour the perfect pint. The lineup was insane!
It's cool that a person can try, though.
The building is shaped like a giant pint glass! I love it. The Gravity Bar at the top is the head of the pint.
Me and my much-deserved pint. Attempts at a Guinness moustache proved to be disastrous.
After the Storehouse, the Paddywagon tour was finished. I checked into the hostel and went out exploring. I really wanted to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, but the library was closed by the time I got there. Drat.
The Millennium project in Dublin. I'm not sure why they built a giant needle in the middle of downtown.
This is for my little brother. Yes, Josh, there's an enormous Heineken building in Dublin!
People drive on the left-hand side of the road in Ireland. That freaked me right out. With traffic on the other side of the road and so many one-way streets, I never knew where traffic was coming from!
One of the dirtiest cobblestone streets I've seen yet. The cracks were full of bottle caps, glass, and all kinds of other ickiness. This was outside Temple Bar, on one of the busier streets.
These guys were really good! There were bands, buskers, and beggars all up and down the street.
I'm sure they mean "Detour", but I took it as the other sense of the word. Entertainment, this way!
Obama was in Ireland a couple weeks before I got there. People were pretty happy to see him.
Well, that about does it for my Ireland trip! This is just a small sample of the 1200+ pictures I took. What an incredible week! I was able to cross more things off my bucket list, and I had a great time (despite being sick for most of the tour). I only have 2 days left in France to see friends, take more pictures, and take in as much as I can before I head back home. I'll try to get one last post in before I leave.
Until then, my friends,
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields.
Until the day we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of God's hand.
May the memories that we have shared linger on and on.
