Traveling and Studying Abroad: Éire

Well School has started and I have a bit of down time today to FINALLY update my blog about Ireland. I apologize for the delay. Break went by so quickly, my computer was out of sorts for a few days (which nearly killed me), and school started back up. All in all a crazy time.

So here we go..

The night before my friend and I headed out to Ireland we went to our favorite local pub here in Salzburg. It’s called Dubliner and it’s literally our form of “Cheers”. It’s an awesome pub and everyone knows everyone. The bartenders are fabulous and fun loving people. You walk in and feel welcome and at home. Sunday nights a couple guys come in with their acoustic guitars and sing some Trad music. Trad, meaning: Traditional Irish music. I love it and it’s a great way to start a vacation. We stayed for a bit and enjoyed good times singing and having a good Craic. Craic is Gaelic for “Good Time”(Pronounced Crack) :-)

The next day we were to head off to Dublin. I was super stoked and woke up early to finish packing and make sure I had everything sorted for traveling. I had planned on going to the bank to exchange some money but that fell through as every bank that I visited was on their “Lunch Pause” meaning they were closed. I did get to walk along the river and see a beautiful sight that in the last six months of living here in Salzburg had yet to see. I was across from the Altstadt and had a great view of the Festung and Altstadt. I decided that I need to walk that side of the river more often. I’m hardly ever over on that side because I live on the other side of the river. Haha.

Finally the time came to head to the Airport. We wanted to be there early enough to make sure that we made it to Security and to our gate on time. Little did we know that unlike in the States, where you can check in up to 3 or 4 hours early due to security lines and such, they didn’t let us check in until 2 hours before departure. So we sat and waited. Akasha colored in her coloring book and I Skyped my dad. Finally we got to check in and go through Security. One thing I LOVE about security here is that we don’t have to take off our shoes. I had my snowboots on since they’re waterproof and why pack heavy shoes?.. I didn’t realize how small the Salzburg Airport was until we got through Security. There are only 8 gates. EIGHT! I joked that I’d hate for our gate to abruptly change and have to run all the way across the airport to another gate. We had some time to kill so we shopped a bit and got snacks to last us until the next day around lunch since we’d be arriving late and had to meet a tour bus super early in the morning. Our flight is called and we have to walk across the runway outside to get to our plane. Did I mention that it was snowing like a mad man!? Of course as soon as I decide to leave the country it snows a bunch. Side note: they got several inches that night and it was all gone by the time we returned :-( We were flying RyanAir which is a Budget Airline with cheap airfare. The flight went without problem and to start it off on the right foot Akasha and I sang “Here We Go” by N’Sync during takeoff. We were quite the sight dancing in our seat and singing haha.

Upon landing we had to go through Customs and get our passports stamped. That was thrilling. Not. I always end up with the grumpy workers. Oh well, I made it in without problem :-). Now all we had to do was collect or checked luggage and make our way to the hostel. Well it took about 40min for our luggage to finally make it to the belt. We were on Irish time now so things happen when they happen, it may not be quite on schedule but it’ll all work out in the end. I had it all worked out on how to get to our hostel from the airport. We had to take the 16A bus to a certain stop then it was a little walk to the hostel. Finding the correct bus was difficult. The buses aren’t labeled like you’d think they would be. I finally asked someone and they pointed to a bus that was leaving, that was labled 41, and said that’s a 16a bus. Oh well, there were cabs, so we took one and made it to the hostel around 1AM. We checked in and tried to not make too much noise since we had roommates that were asleep. I was exhausted and fell asleep a little after 2 and we had to be up at 6 to walk to the meeting spot for our tour the next day..

I woke up and couldn’t believe I was actually in Ireland. Let alone Dublin. I could see the Liffey right out my window and I was so excited! I got up, got ready and went to look up directions to the meeting place. It looked like a fairly straight shot from our hostel but knowing me I’d miss it haha. We were staying on Aston Quay (pronounced Kay) and had to go to Suffolk Street which is where the main tourism office of Dublin is. Well we only missed it once because I didn’t know that the tourism office is in a remodeled church! That was pretty cool. So we boarded the bus and got comfy for the 2 hour ride across Ireland to Galway where we’d be going to County Clare, Contae an Chláir in Gaelic, to see the Cliffs of Moher. It was an amazing drive. I was loving every second of it. I had my Irish playlist on repeat and watched the sun rise over the green fields of Ireland. We crossed over the River Shannon just as the sun was rising over the hills. The landscape between East Ireland and West Ireland changes from the Peat bogs to rolling hills. I saw many horses and Sheep. So many sheep. We took a pit stop at a nice little petrol station that had a convenience store attached for snacks. I got a delicious bacon chicken wrap and a Red Bull. Now that I was wired I’d be able to make it through the day haha.

The Liffey

Sunrise over the River Shannon

We arrived in Galway around 9 and waited for our new driver to arrive to take us around and up to the Cliffs of Moher. Our tour guide and driver was name Desmond. He was the sweetest old man that of course once he started talking to me I swear had a crush on me. Mind you he was about 70 and was a mix of Bilbo Baggins and a Leprechaun. He told a lot of great jokes and new his history. I’m not sure how he got the bus to and from the Cliffs as some of the roads I swear were not big enough nor made for a tour bus. Yet he did it with ease. We got to see old Castles of Ireland tombs and lots of sheep! We even visited the Fairy Fort which it is said to be the home of Leprechauns. There was even a hidden Leprechaun in the tree. I may have caught him on film haha. It was all good fun.

We had lunch in Doolin, at a little pub. My first legit meal in Ireland was Bangers and Mash with a glass of Guinness. For those not familiar with how beer is served you can either get a Pint or a Glass, Pints being the bigger of the two. Since we were touring and still had a long day ahead we, meaning Akasha, myself, and another student we met who’s studying in Spain, had a glass with our meal. Akasha got the Irish Stew and it was to die for. The bread alone, which is Soda Bread, is SO GOOD! It’s dense and sweet which is perfect! After lunch Desmond played Galway girl over the sound system and Akasha and I may have freaked out a little. If you have ever watched the movie PS I Love You then you know that Gerard Butler and Jeffery Dean Morgan both sing this at different times in the film. It’s a great song and the best version I’ve heard, aside from the live versions at Dubliner on Sunday’s, is by the Pogues. Check it out on iTunes or YouTube!!! So we are finally making our way to the Cliffs. All of a sudden we’re there and it’s a sight to behold. It’ll literally take your breath away. What’s even better is the weather was perfect for seeing the cliffs. It was overcast but no rain! It was also very windy. I can’t really put into words how amazing it was to be standing at a place that is mentioned in so many songs that I’ve heard since I was a little girl going to the Cleveland Irish Festival. I also was standing at a place that my Great Uncle has visited. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the beauty..

The Cliffs of Moher

O'Brien's Castle

We spent about 2 hours wandering the Cliffs and enjoying the view and a great slice of Chocolate Cake. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay any longer and had to head back to Galway and finally back to Dublin. We arrived back in Dublin around 6PM and had time to grab a quick dinner from the grocery store then we slept. I was exhausted from such a full day of touring and traveling.

The next day we slept in a bit and then wandered the great city that is Dublin. First we had to get a plug adapter. I was crazy in thinking that since Ireland is in the EU that they’d had the same plugs. OOPS so we went next door to an electronic shop and found a fairly cheap converter. Then we went to Starbucks. Yeah, I know it’s and American thing but seeing a bit of home at a place that is the closest to home that I’ll be for the next 6 months I had to have a decent Hot Chocolate and slice of Banana Nut Bread. Then we went to Grafton Street. The main shopping street in Dublin. There you can find the statue of Molly Malone. I had recently read a story that takes place in Ireland and was written by someone from Dublin so it was neat to see actual places from the story in real life. We walked the length of Grafton Street and into the beautiful park St. Stephen’s Green which was built in 1663. It’s a beautiful park with a couple lakes and fountains. We made a wish in the fountain then came upon a tour bus. It was a Hop on Hop off bus that went to Guinness Storehouse and Jameson distillery. We figured why not? So we hopped on and went to St Patrick’s Cathedral. I had hoped that we’d be able to visit for free since in the US and Austria it’s free. This is not the case in Ireland. Since they do not receive State Funding they charge a fee to visit. We opted to take pictures of the outside. A little disheartened about not seeing the inside we decided to head to the Guinness Store House to tour and learn to pour the Perfect Pint. One neat fact that I learned was that the Guinness World Book of Records was started by Guinness himself! They were sitting around one day and wanted to know some fact and they decided to create a book to contain all the records for the fastest, tallest, loudest, etc. I bet you didn’t know that! I also got to learn how to Pour the Perfect pint of Guinness. I even received a certificate for completing the class. Did you know that to properly drink a Guinness you should Gulp it. A Guinness should be finished in approximately 6 Gulps. Yeah, that’s not happening. I have seen it done though haha.

Molly Malone and a Leprechaun

9000 year Guinness Lease

I poured the Perfect Pint :-)

Next we hopped back on the bus and were bound for the Jameson Distillery! We got to see the Wellington Monument, which is the second tallest Obelisk in the world next to the Washington Monument in DC. The monument is in Phoenix Park which was established in 1662. Here you can find people playing sports such as Football, walking, running, playing with pets, and skeet shooting. You’ll also find a heard of Fallow Deer which were brought to the park for hunting games a long time ago. They are no longer hunted but you can see them through out the park. We could see them from the bus and it was neat that they were so comfortable so close to humans. At the end of the Phoenix Park you’ll find the American Embassy as well as the Dublin Zoo! We passed several war monuments and then we may have missed the Jameson Stop.. Well we did miss it but headed back to Trinity College to check out the Book of Kells. We walked onto campus and it was gorgeous! It’s how you’d picture European colleges. Old buildings and nicely dressed students on bikes and such. We followed the signs for the Book of Kells and made it to the library. They were charging 12 Euro to view it. We said ‘Nay Nay’ and hopped on the bus to the Jameson Distillery. We finally made it and it was the last tour of the day. By now we’d been running around Dublin all day and it was close to 5 o’clock. We learned how Jameson was started and how it’s distilled. We also got to look into how it’s aged. Then the best part of the tour is a tasting. I love Jameson as much as the next person and can drink it on ice perfectly fine, but I wanted to try something new so I had a Jameson and Cranberry juice on ice. It was pretty good but I still prefer mine straight on ice.

American Embassy

Spire of Dublin

Trinity College

Once we were done with the tour we decided to walk to the Main Bus Station for Bus Éireann. We bought tickets to Belfast and Cork and back to Dublin. I was excited for the next part of our trip but sad to leave Dublin. We still had one last night in town though. We grabbed Papa Johns for dinner, we haven’t had it for over 6 months! Then we went back to the hostel to chill before we went out to the pubs. We decided to try out a pub that a friend of ours told us about from Dubliner. He’s actually from Dublin and gave great directions, had I remembered to put them back in my purse from my bookbag! I had looked at them once and thought I knew where to go. I was only off by a street or two but we didn’t find it. We did however get some delicious Gelato and found another pub. This first pub was a complete dud. It was on Suffolk street and admittedly we were early, but it wasn’t what we were looking for. So we decided to head to the “Evil Temple Bar” as Ken likes to call it. We walked around trying to find a pub with live Trad music and good atmosphere. We ended up not finding it on Temple bar but back a pub in a hotel on Aston Quay. We decided to stay for a few drinks, which I had Smithwicks. You can’t find it in Austria anywhere that I know of so I was drinking it while I could. Haha. Oh and you have to pronounce it correctly. It’s not Smith Wicks it’s Smittiks. The live music was pretty good but wasn’t Trad music. He sang Pink Floyd and Van Morrison as well as a few other songs. I knew them all and sang along. He laughed when I caught him singing the wrong words and I had them right. It was a good night and a good way to end our stay in Dublin.