Sorry for the Delay in blog entry! We tried to post before we left Ireland but we just did not have the time. Lots of traveling, and we reach you now from Toulouse, France! Also, ther e is not English Spell check on this computer, so sorry for the mistakes.
We have loads to catch you up on, so no time to waste! Last time we wrote we were talking about leaving the farm and going to Dublin early, which is exactly what we did.
Our time on the farm was really relaxing and Emily and I agree that we would do it again. Maybe in a different place but we enjoyed the mutual exchange of the WWOOF program. County Clare was beautiful and difinetly somewhere we want to return to. But we were ready to be on our way so we hopped on the bus in Ennistymon, then caught the train in Ennis and landed in Dublin by the early afternoon. Our hosts, Mary and Tommy O'Brien picked us up from the Luas and brought us to their home, right outside of the city in a place called Knocklyon. We chilled out friday night, had pizza and hung with the family. There are three kids, aged 15 (Kevin), 12(Aine) and 9(Ammon) and an exchange student who was 15 from the Cannary Islands.
We took the bus in with Tommy to town on Saturday and entered the crazieness of St. Paddy's Day. We got in around 11 and started our day at the parade, which was hard to see over the thousands of people rocking crazy hats, outfits and loads of green. After that we just hopped from bar to bar, meeting people and drinking Guinness of course. It was like 4th of July in DC, but much louder, a bit more drinking and rather than a sea of red white and blue, you could see green for miles. We hung around an area called Temple Bar for most of the day. We took a dance break at a place called The Grand Social, which is where Tommy works and there were local DJs playing. The rest of the day had more Guiness, Indian food and chatting with just about everyone we found that spoke English.
We made it back that night and had a good long rest! The next day was Mothers Day in Europe, so we decided, with the daughter, to clean up the house a bit and make dinner! I felt like Mary was my sudo mother for the week, so I felt the need to celebrate! We may have made way too much of it, but we had pasta, chicken and some veg (that lasted us days).
We woke up and went off to hike sugarloaf mountain in county Wicklow about 20 minutes outside of Knocklyon. The family went to set up their summer mobile home while Emily, Kevin and I went to conquer the mountain. It was a bank holiday so there was tons of people and from a far it did not look that hard. But once we started to hike upwards we were having to grab onto rocks to pull up our bodies up. The rough trip up was worth the view because you could see Dublin from up top and over to the water. We took the long way down, where there was a path but not any people. We had gotten a bit lost but we found our way eventually. A little walk on the road, through a neighborhood and we found our way to the town for some tea before heading home.
Our next day in Dublin was spent mostly at the Guinness factory. It may have been the most touristy thing we did in Dublin but well worth it because the storehouse was very well put together, visual and interesting. There were also beer stops on the way, so that kept the tour going for sure. After starting in a room where they go through all the ingredients, you moved up and about into how the creamy stout is made, all of the old and new machines that do it and how technology has influenced the beer. There was a cool exhibit on how the classic wood barrels that the guinness used to be delievered in were made and the massive work that went into to. Near the end there was an area that went through all the famous adertising through the years highlighting all the different symbols and animals that became the face of Guinness. Near the end we entered a room where we could pour our own Guinness! Then we went upstairs to the 7th floor to the Gravity bar to enjoy our beers. People in the city say that it is the best view of Dublin, since it is one of the tallest buildings. We could see all the way to Sugarloaf Mountain, to some of the Irish Isles and the entire city. Had a chat with some folk from London, enhoyed another beer and the view for a while. The Guinness story really is a hero story, in the beer making world at least.
We had a nosh after then walked back into the city center and walked through the Dublin Castle. Unfortunetly most of it has been rebuilt because of different fires and attacts, but it was still a cool monument of history for Dublin. To this day it is still used for government purposes and has facilities for dinners and meetings in it. We chose not to do the 15 euro tour, it looked cool enough from the outside. After that we headed home and had dinner and a movie with the family.
The next day we took the bus into town again but took it past the city center to the Botanic Gardens. The flowers were just coming into bloom, the homes, green houses and fountains on the property were so beautiful. Inside each green house was a different type of climate with all the different vegetation from that area. Tropical habiscus flowers, bamboo, a cactus room (which was questionable). There was a river that ran through the gardens that had swans and ducks living in them and some beautiful birds as well. Being in all that nature really brings you back down to earth and reminds you how important it is to take care of what is around you and not abuse this earth we will live on.
We stopped in the tea room after to warm up a bit then we walked back into town. We stopped into the famous Trinity College, where all the kids don't wear sweatpants to class and the buildings are older than our country. We stopped into to see The Book of Kells, which are a manuscript of four Gospels of the new testiment written in the 8th century. Most likely on the Isle of Iona to honor St. Columba (but there are at least 3 other major theories of where it was created and its journey to Ireland).
Another museum that was extremely well put together. They wet through the four famous books that make up the Kells and showed examples of other bible type books simular to that time period. They showed how the books were made, from over 145 calf skins and carefully lined with a dull knife before written on. There were four different authors of the book, and although they don't know their names they can be distinguished by their different styles. One used gold, one used fancy letters at the begining of each sentence, one used color to emphasize different letters and the other for the full page art pieces throughout the book. They went through all the synbolism found in the book and how each picture has their very own specific meaning in the new testiment. We finally got to enter the room with the books displayed. In 1953, the manuscrip was split into 4 parts, and every few weeks they turn the page on these books. The detail, pricision and the color were insane and it was hard to believe how old they were. Emily and I had a moment where we tried to imagine the journey of the book through all these years and all the people who helped it get here. Insane in the membraneeee.
After that, we went to The Douglas Hyde Gallery that is attached to the college and saw the exhibit of Howard Finster and onlt about 20 of his message paintings. I will now site and quote The Douglas Howard Art Gallery (2012, Dublin, Ireland, www.douglashydegallery.com)
"The American artist Howard Finster, believing that he was inspired by God to spread the Gospel, built an extraordinary Paradise Garden in Georgia, and produced tens of thousands of works of art. He first came to prominence in the 1980s, when his work was used on record covers by R.E.M. and Talking Heads. He is now probably the best-known 'outsider' artist of recent times"
That was the best way to describe the artist and I did not want to steal material (I can thank freshman year 301 for that). Look him up and check out his work. He was really talented and I have a feeling a little bit crazy. After that, we met a friend of Emilys at a place called The Porterhouse, one of the only microbreweries we had found in Europe so far. The beer was delish and I got hot wings so I was a happy camper since I have not really seen anything besides the Indian food with hot stuff here. After that we wet onto a place called Diceys where drinks were cheep in the beergarden and there was no shortage of 90s pop music to dance to. Got a cab home late, Emily slept in her jeans and all was gravy. We slept in and made our way to Jonnie Foxes, a famous bar in Dublin up inthe hills. It is hard to explain the very cool decor in this place to check out the website to see for yourself! http://www.jfp.ie/ We explored the place for a bit before sitting down for some stew by a fire inside. We had a great day with Tommy and Mary, who if I cant say enough are the most wonderful company!!
We then went to see THE HUNGER GAMES!!!!! There was no way that Emily and I could resist. We had both read the books in about 5 days and I had actuallly started to have dreams about them before I had finished. Again, we had been AWESOME at using the Dublin bus system and made our way to the movie theater. Of course there were little 13 year olds slurping on their slurpies so Emily and I had to move seats but otherwise it was well worth the 8 euro. I am sort of ready to see it again..or at least re-read the series. Anyways we chilled out that night and had pizza with the kids and started to pack since we had to get into town early to catch the bus the next day.
The O'Brien family was another perfect example of the kindness in Ireland. They really treated us as their own and took us in for the week we were there. All the kids had no problem treating us like siblings, making fun of our use of "awesome" and informing us on everything we needed to know about football. The daughter was also a great baker so we had some yummy desserts while we were there!. They were absolutely lovey and I feel like I have a new family in Ireland. See you in NYC O'Brien family! Thank you for the laughs and the hospitality. I am so happy that Uncle Jeff took you in 30 years ago Tommy, what a pleasure to meet you guys.
We said our goodbyes in the monring and got the bus into town to get to Athlone. The day was absolutly beautiful! We have been so lucky with the weather and maybe I should not jinx it but we have not had much rain at all, a handful of sunny days and the trip that day felt like the first day of spring.
We took a bus into Athlone and the Big Dawg, Aidan Riley and his mum picked us up. We got back to his house, right off the main drag in the city. The house is really beautiful, with a nice backyard and a view of the country side. His sweet mum made us tea and eggs and we settled in. We went to Clonmacnyse, about 20 minutes drive outside of the city. The area sits on the River Shannon, which runs through 12 counties in Ireland, one of which is Westmeath. The area was really beautiful, with old ruins of a church, momuments of local heros and we even had sunshine. It might have been the first time I did not need my jacket thus far. We played frisbee for a bit before heading home.
A beautiful stew for dinner with homemade brown bread made by his mum. His dad joined us withyummy wine and good conversation. Then we got into some serious Athlone shinangins. That night some of Aidan’s friends came over for some beers before we went out dancing. Not many more details of the night are important besides the fact that this place was a hidden jem and the dancing was endless.
We woke up, not exactly on our A game so we jut chilled out all day, played bananagrms and laughed a whole lot. This is why I enjoy Aidans company so much! Lots of laughing and a never ending amount of banter. His mum made us practically an entire thanksgiving dinner with chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, gravy and all of the fixings! It was perfect. We watched the inbetweeners with Aidos friend (who are also filled with funnies),and I suggest everyone finds the movie and watches it. It was really really funny! We also had the franchise taste of dominos for dinner. A short rest then early rising for a 9 am bus back into the city to catch our flight.
The hospitality in Ireland has been prime and we really are grateful for all of our hosts. I know we have not met every person in Ireland, but everyone we have has been super nice. Not to mention the diversity in all the different places we went and the endless, beautiful plush green grass I had been waiting to see (and play frisbee on). I really enjoyed Ireland and was sad to leave.
We landed safe and manages to make it to our hosts home with the short directions given by Nada (our latter host when we make it to spain).
Our hosts in Toulouse are Nada's son Joey, his roommate and friend since they were 16 Emile. They have a cool apartment only 20 minute walk from the city center covered in their art and cool tapestries. They have ben wonderful company so far and great hosts. Giving us maps of the city and suggestions on where to go and such. We have had nice dinners and afternoons enjoying the sun with a side of cheese and wine.
Our first day here was relaxed. We just hung out in a park along the river, Garonne and layed out , listened to music, and played around with the frisbee (not to mention enjoy the 26 degree weather, not exactly sure of the ferenheigt conversion but it is inthe high 70's). We met Emile for lunch to get kebabs and eat on the river. We picked up some french dictionaries and spent some more time working on the blog. We came back, picked up some cheese, bread and wine (a common activity?yes) and sat on the patio for the last bit of sun of the day. Emily and I made dinner and we played music and sang for a bit. I like france.
As we were Sitting by the river, people watching a bit I saw a group of young people drinking wine and socializing. They are all speaking in French, Spanish and English simultaneously and it's really amazing. Our first full few days here have been grand but I feel a bit disconnected from the people because of the language. I wish I had learned a bit more before I came but I also wish there was more of a damand to learn a language as a grew up. I took 3 years of Spanish and I can't remember a thing. I remember a crush I had on a boy in my class and I believe my name was Rosa.
Anyways day number two went better with the French Speaking, witht he book plus an extra study of a podcast i downloaded I was able to order coffee and get around wth a few new words. I walked around the city today on my own. I walked through an art gallery, sat by the river again and wandered town. It is a very cool and compact city with alot of different cultures in the mix. Good food everywhere, cool shops and cafes.
We have a few more days here before Nada comes through to take us to Barcelona. Emily and I are both happy to be with some people our age and just enjoy exactly where we are, right now.
That is all for now! Salut!!!
J and
No comments:
Post a Comment