The one full of Blarney

We started off Cork right, let me just tell you.  We walked over a mile to get Fish and Chips from the famous Jackie Lennox Chip Shop.  Never heard of it, you say?  Well, you don't know what you are missing, because for a decent price, you can get some AWESOME fish and chips. And it is totally a local hangout, based on what I saw.  This time we switched things up and got haddock (instead of cod).  It also came with tartar sauce (YUM) and traditional mushed peas.  They were...interesting?  I don't know; I heard that they are an acquired taste.  Many people eat them on their chips, but I don't know why you would want to "ruin" your chips.  Anyways, it was soooo delicious and so much food that even I couldn't finish it all, and that is saying something!  To make it even sweeter, we got a great discount on our three other Paddywagon tours that we booked through our hostel, Kinlay House.  I highly recommend both, if you are asking!


Tuesday we had our first day trip from Cork, to Kinsale, Blarney, and Cobh.  It was a good way to start this round of tours off because it was pretty relaxed and did not involved too much travel or sitting on the bus.  First we hit up Charles Fort, built in the 1600s to protect Kinsale from attack.  The weather was not very good, with wet snow falling severely reducing visibility.  We weren't supposed to stay long, but we left even earlier when someone came out and told us the fort was closed. Oops!  Evidently, you are supposed to pay for admission...maybe on a good day it would be worth it, but this way not that day.

So we headed down the road to Kinsale, which was a compact, cute little town.  It is known as a leisure town, with fishing and water sports in the summer, but in the winter and at low tide, it was quiet.  We were only there for an hour, but it was difficult to know what to do with ourselves.   The weather was not nice at all, so it wasn't much fun to just walk along the waterfront, but we did that for a little while.  The best was sitting in a small cafe with a big cup of steaming hot tea.  The owner came out and chatted with us for a bit, which was nice.  I would definitely say that as a whole, it seems that the Irish are a very friendly lot, definitely willing to help someone out and give advice.  After a little more time, we got back on the bus and moved on.

Next stop was the much anticipated Blarney Castle.  Let's be real, this is the main reason why people do this tour, and it didn't disappointment.  If you go, don't get distracted by the castle.  While it is really neat to see, there are caves, gardens, and paths to be walked and explored.  Those are what I enjoyed more than anything.  And I know,  you are wondering, did I kiss the stone?  The answer: a mostly okay with it, no.  You can't see from the picture of Marissa doing it below, but it is really high...and you can see that you have to lean backwards while looking down to do it.  The idea of it sounded painful to my joints, and let's just say, heights are not really my thing these days.  Supposedly, kissing the stone will give you the gift of gab.  The story originates from a time when English landlords were supposed to collect rent and taxes from areas in Ireland for Queen Elizabeth.  Well the one in Blarney always had a persuasive excuse for why he didn't do it, and when discussing the matter with a subject the the Queen said something to the effect of, "that is a load of Blarney," hence the expression and the superstition of the stone.  Below you can see the difference between blarney and baloney, which I thought was pretty funny.

As I already suggested, we spent a good hour or so checking out the gardens, such as the Fern garden above and walking the Lake Path.  It was absolutely deserted; we saw only one person along the whole path.  I imagine that it is positively radiant with green plants in the later Spring.  Luckily the weather had turned relatively pleasant and much warmer for our time in Blarney, which made it much more enjoyable.

Next we traveled back down through Cork and out to the coast to the port town of Cobh (pronounced like Cove, it's Irish).  We stopped at a local cafe first things for some enormous sandwiches, which was perfect timing because a sudden snowstorm popped into town and made conditions outside miserable for about 30 minutes.  Once it cleared up, we headed up the hill to check out St. Coleman's Cathedral and the views of the harbor from the top.  What Cobh is most famous for is being the last stop for ships heading across the seas to England or in the other direction to the Americas. During the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800s, over 2.5 million immigrants left through this port on their way to the Americas.  Furthermore, Cobh was also the last stop for the Titanic, taking on around 110 passengers here, of which 42 survived.  Below, you can see the remnants of the dock that was used to load ships, including the Titanic.  Finally, we headed back to Cork, tired and done for the day.

Dock used to load the Titanic

As usual, we rested for a bit and then made our way back into town for dinner.  We found a good-looking Kebab place and settled in.  Let's just say that we did not get what we expected.  With a few accent problems, the guy gave us some sauce choices.  I could only discern "spicy," same with Marissa, so we both went with spicy.  As he made up our kebabs, the guy asked if we were sure.  We hesitantly said yes, and I think from that point, we were doomed.  Maybe the guy wanted to see us sweat (literally) or maybe he wanted to challenge us, but he definitely did both.  I HAVE NEVER EATEN SOMETHING SO SPICY IN MY LIFE.  My nose was like a faucet, my eyes were pretty much crying, the sweat was dripping, my face/mouth/lips were burning and every I looked at Marissa I couldn't stop laughing because she looked the way I felt.  But I made it through and finished almost every bite (it was also huge).  It may not be an experience that I am anxious to repeat, but it was an experience.  And it was actually really delicious, if you can get over the 'burn a hole in your stomach' spiciness factor.  What a day!

Before I knew what I was getting into...

The one with Bangers and Mash (Dublin)

We arrived in Dublin around dinner time, which didn't leave much of the day for us after we checked in to our hostel, Abraham House. I was less than impressed.  The room was dirty with trash on the floor, looking like it hadn't seen a vacumn in quite some time, but such is staying in hostels. We headed to the popular Temple Bar area to find something to eat. I have to say that it didn't bother me much at all when we ended up eating burritos again and getting a student discount as well.  We also stopped by another hostel to book a day trip with Paddywagon tours for Sunday and then packed it in for the night.

Sunday we started our day tour through Glendalough, Kilkenny, and Wicklow bright and early.  These tours actually ended up being awesome. How much you actually learned on the trip depended on your attention span and your driver, but there is no other way to see as much of the country short of renting a car, and neither Marissa nor I was up for driving on the wrong side of the road.  We started our day in Glendalough, a valley with two lakes and the ruins of a monastery dating back to the 6th century.  In the picture is the celtic cross, the circle dating back to the Pagan worship of the sun, with the cross as an obvious Christian symbol.  You may wonder what I am doing, hugging the cross.  Legend tells it that if your fingers touch around the cross, you will find love within the year (theoretically in Ireland).  Good news, my fingers touched, but this could also mean that I have long arms.  After checking out the ruins, Marissa and I walked down a cute path to check out one of the lakes before getting back on the bus and moving on.

Brownshill Dolmen

Next we headed up through Wicklow Gap, which has a reputation of waterfalls, fine views, and greenery that it really did not uphold.  A scene from the movie P.S. I love you was filmed here, and our driver told us that people come up looking for this magical waterfall that supposedly goes right by the road, but in the film, they super-imposed it next to the road to make it look better.  In reality, it is on the other side of the mountain and really difficult to get to.  What we saw was slightly snow-covered mountains and low-hanging clouds, but it was still beautiful.  We also passed by a field where they filmed part of Braveheart; I must admit it is still on my "must-see" movie lists, but maybe I will recognize it! Next we made a quick stop at the Brownshill Dolmen.  Ireland is sort of known for these random dolmens that are often just big rocks stacked in some way on little rocks, but they leave historians befuddled as to how the big rock got there.  This one was a megalithic tomb, dating back to as early as 4000 BC and weighing more than 100 metric tonnes.  Pretty neat I guess.

The big stop for the day was in Kilkenny, a cute little town known mainly for the castle, as you can see.  We grabbed some lunch at subway and roamed around the streets in search of interesting buildings and things to see.  We checked out the Black Abbey which dates back to the 1200s and is named for the black robes the monks used to wear.  The castle also has a history dating back to the 1200s, spending most of its history in the hands of the Butler family before being handed over to the government in the 1960s.  Many royals have been entertained here over the years and it has a fascinating history.

We got back on the bus, quite a bit colder and significantly more tired.  We had visions of going and finding a popular pub somewhere in the Temple Bar Area, but we were done.  So we hit up the closest place to our hostel, O'Shea's.  It actually ended up being perfect.  Marissa and I both got the local fare of bangers and mash, which is essentially sausage and mashed potatoes.  Mine was specifically sausage made from pork and leeks with mashed potatoes and covered in an onion gravy.  Oh My Goodness! It was so good that I have thought of it often since then, and my mouth salivates now just thinking about it.  I would return for this meal alone.  Afterwards, with our bellies significantly fuller, we turned in for the night.

Day 2 in Dublin was reserved for some sight-seeing before we caught the bus to Cork, where we spent the majority of the rest of our trip.  As is often the case with our trips, we wanted to see the city, but we didn't really want to spend much money to see it.  This was especially the case for this trip because we elected to do four of the Paddywagon tours.  Because it was Monday, the museums were all closed, but we walked to the area to check out the buildings anyways.  We wandered into the National Library, which ended up having this great ceiling.  The security guard was really friendly and gave us a recommendation for a good place to eat, not that we went, but I love it when local people are helpful and friendly.

Next we headed over to check out the Trinity College campus, one of the oldest Universities in Ireland.  It has a particularly interesting history surrounding the conflict between English Protestants and Irish Catholics.  It is also known for housing the Book of Kells, an ancient text with elaborate script and pictures.  We also went and found THE Temple Bar, though I am still not sure why the whole area is named after it. I think out driver said something about how they were going to demolish the whole area, but then preserved it because of its historic value, and then it became known as the Temple Bar area, but why?  We tried to check out the Dublin Castle, but right now, some Irish person is the acting European Union president for like six months and so the castle is closed the public, and you can't even see most of the outside, bummer.  We satisfied another craving and grabbed some burgers before catching the afternoon bus to Cork.  Dublin = Success!!

The one with Marissa's flashback

Post-London, we headed north in England to a little town called Grantham.  If the name means nothing to you, then join the club.  I had never heard of it, but Marissa studied at Harlixton there while at Evansville University.  And her 'host' family offered to let us stay with them for the night, so I was game.  It was interesting for sure.  After dropping our things at Jenny and John's house and enjoying a cup of tea (How British are we!!), we headed over to the Harlixton manor to check it out.  The way it works is that students from EU and a few other universities come to England, stay and take classes in the manor.  Families in the area volunteer to bring the students to their homes a few times a month for a home-cooked meal and a glimpse into British family life.  The manor was built by some rich guy with too much money on his hands and ultimately donated to the University for study abroad.  It was a unique mixture of opulence and university.  For me, the best part was the chocolate snacks we snagged from the vending machine ;p

Afterwards, we headed back to John and Jenny's' for more tea.  Have to say, I am a fan, though I take it with sugar like a good American does.  The families of two of their daughters also joined us later in the evening, which was awesome because they brought CHILDREN! One of them has a three year-old boy and a 9 month old baby girl who were just precious.  The boy, Harry, was so shy at first, but by the end he was playing mountain climber in between us and didn't want to leave. ADORABLE! We ate some Chinese food, which was nice, adding to our multicultural food theme.  Eventually we snuggled into bed with our books and enjoyed the feeling of a comfortable bed, for once.

We woke up to a snow storm, which was actually quite beautiful.  The only problem was that we needed to be able to fly out to get to Dublin.  We enjoyed an elaborate breakfast of tea (of course), bagels, fruit, yogurt and cereal, then settled in to watch the forecast and keep in eye on the airport news.  Lucky for us, the airport reopened before our flight, so we headed to East Midlands Airport on schedule.  The lines there were atrocious due to all the canceled flights from the morning, but ours seemed to be okay.  Everything was fine until we boarded the plane and sat there for an hour.  It didn't bother me because I slept like my life depended on it, but evidently they had to de-ice the plane twice.  Better safe than sorry, for sure.  Eventually we began the short flight across the sea to Dublin :)

The one with Winning London

Our Semana Santa trip (Holy Week) started on Wednesday night after school.  I gathered all my last minute things, and we headed off to catch the bus to Sevilla.  We took the shuttle to the airport as usual, listening in on some spring-breakers who were clearly studying abroad in Spain.  It is interesting and funny to see all the different people who come to Spain.  Our flight went off without a hitch and got into London around 12 AM.  By the time we got through customs and bought bus tickets to Victoria, it was nearly 1 AM. London Stansted Airport is way the heck outside of London, so it was almost 3 in the morning before we finally nestled into our hostel beds.

Thursday we began our morning with the typical hostel breakfast, toast with Nutella!  Yum :) Because we had such a late night, we slept in decided that the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace would be the first site to see.  It was already packed with people by the time we arrived, and I can only imagine how busy it would be in the summer months when tourism really picks up.  The flag was up, meaning the queen was at home.  We know that she really was 'in' because several ambassadors arrived by horse and carriage to be sworn in; it was all rather exciting!

By the time we moved on, we were quite cold from standing still so long, but we soldiered on.  We headed over to the River Thames to check out Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the Eye of London (the GIANT ferris wheel), basically the obligatory sites in the area.  It was neat to see them up close and in person, but I have to say that my world was not shattered or anything.  We elected to not go up on the Eye of London because it is expensive and we hate the pound! I probably can not say that enough.  It was bad enough when we got to Spain and our $$ were not worth as much, but now we've got Euros, and when you are once again getting destroyed by the exchange rate, it really isn't fun.  So we had a goal on minimizing spending in London. That is also why we only spent two days there...

Anyways, next we hopped on the Tube to head towards Piccadilly Circus.  I don't want to sound like I am whining, because I really did like London a lot, but compared to Times Square, it was just a couple big TVs with advertisements.  Furthermore, we were getting hungry, so when we saw someone carrying Wok to Walk take-away, we spent a good half hour walking the streets trying to find the restaurant.  We weren't successful, but we weren't too torn up about it.  We walked to Trafalgar Square to check it out, and from there we caught the Tube back to Victoria station to get some food there.   We were walking to the food court when it caught my eye...there it was, a burrito restaurant (golden halo, angels singing!).  We have been missing Mexican food, despite our weekly fajita night, so a burrito was definitely on the menu.

After lunch we took the Tube out to Abbey Road to get the required picture of us crossing the street in the same place as the Beatle's cover.  It is actually hilarious and worth going to watch other people do it.  There isn't a stop light or anything, no sign for pedestrians to go, so the cars have to stop for you, but tourists are all standing there milling about for a chance to get their picture taken crossing the street.  Everyone wants their "own" picture, so it is all about timing and such.  Funny.  I got my picture, and we headed to King's Cross to see about train tickets for the following day.  We thought about crossing over and trying to go to Hogwarts at platform 9 and 3/4 but it looked broken, so we just got our tickets and headed back to the hotel.  With some research, I found a delicious fish and chips place, Seafresh.  We got take-away and ate it back at the hostel, complete with salt and vinegar.

Look I can cross the street!

Friday we only had the morning before we needed to pick up our luggage and head back to King's Cross, so we got up relatively early to grab breakfast and head out.  First on the agenda was the Tower of London. I would like to say that it is not a tower. We came up from the Underground, and I literally asked Marissa where it was because I couldn't see it.  It is a castle or maybe a palace, and it has towers, but it is not a tower.  Liars.  Next time I will have to go inside, because it actually looked pretty cool, but we were short on time and funds.  So instead we checked out the Tower Bridge.

Last thing on the list for London was the Natural History Museum.  Ok, I know, we could have chosen from all these great art galleries or museums about the history of London or England, but you know, I love the Natural History Museum.  And this was my (our) trip, so we went to the Natural History Museum. And let me tell you, the dinosaur exhibit was particularly awesome and brought back the strong desires I have had all year to watch Jurassic Park.  And if you are study geology, I highly suggest their rocks and mineral exhibit, because you could easily spend a day there alone, if you are super into that thing.  Then it was adios London, until next time!

The one with the flashback to Caceres

Marissa and I had been contemplating a trip back to Caceres for a while.  It was where we had our orientation all the way back in the beginning five and a half months ago.  I hadn't seen much of Spain yet, but I fell in love with its quaint, lamp-lit streets, white buildings, red roofs, and feeling of history.  Because we only saw it for a few hours at night, most of which was spent outside a bar getting to know the other auxiliars, we decided then that we should go back.  After considering it for the last few weeks, we decided to go for it this weekend.

Yesterday morning we got up early and headed to the catch the 8:50 bus.  It is a two hour trip, and as is usual for me, I slept most of the way, though I also took advantage of the free wifi that they have here on some of the buses.  We arrived in Caceres and decided to walk from the bus station to city center, about a mile away, hoping to see the city as we walked through.

Old town was classic Spain, as we expected.  The sun was shining, for once, and it was actually quite nice out.  We had planned to hit up this palace, but we arrived to find that it was really just an old house with a military/Semana Santa museum inside, guarded by soldiers.  I don't know what happened.  There are supposedly a lot of palaces in Caceres, but they are not what you really think of when you think of a palace. Oh well. It was still really pretty.  We walked through the main plazas, which were very nice.  There were a couple of flamenco singers hanging out in each, which was fun to listen to.

 

We also went into Iglesia de Santa Maria.  We were able to go up into the tower, which was cool.  It had some pretty views of the city.  The only downside was that there were a lot of stairs, which weren't fun for my painful joints.  Finally we headed to Plaza Mayor.  We sat on the stairs and enjoyed some people watching, particularly of several small children (gosh I love kids!).  It was then that we realized that we had been there for an hour and a half, had done everything that we wanted to, and were ready to go home.  We turned on the Internet, and when we found that there was a 1:30 PM bus, decided to head back to Zafra.  Maybe that makes us lame, but we had a good trip. And we got some pastries on the way to the bus :)

The one with a rainbow

Sometimes you just need something, and sometimes that thing is a rainbow. Like today!

The one with the future

We had a fabulous weekend here doing one of the things I like best, planning!  I have less than 3 months left here in Spain, 85 days to be exact.  I have been having a fabulous time here, learning about the world and myself, but I can't pretend that I am not absolutely thrilled to be heading home in three months.  I have a lot to look forward to this summer: Emma and Richard's wedding, Katie and Bobby's Wedding, coaching the Fintastics again, performing all my maid of honor duties, and contemplating my future life plans!  It is going to be awesome.  But in the mean time, we have three more months of awesome to finish here.

So to get you as excited as me, here is a run-down of the probable fun to come:

Caceres, Spain--next weekend
England/Ireland--Spring Break
Galicia, Spain--April
Granada, Spain--April
Malta--May
Albufeira, Portugal--May
Salamanca, Spain--May
Cadiz, Spain--May
HOME!! Hopefully May 30th