Galway

Wednesday March 21

After the fun, lazy day riding a bus through Kerry National Park all day, we were ready to get into Galway and see some nightlife with people our age and tour around the pretty little port town. We arrived around 10PM after a layover type thing in some random small Irish town where we danced in the train station and getting crazy looks from people.

A block from the train station, our hostel was really easy to find because Galway is very open and spread out. There was also a giant "Kilnay Hostel" sign outside, so that was a hint it was there, too. We walked in and it was surprisingly super modern, secure, and just all around cool. Dropped our stuff off and headed out to a bar with live music. We refused to go to a dance club or a bar that did not have live music (and we were successful with that goal the entire trip), so after recognizing some acoustic songs outside one of the bars, we went inside.

The Skeff bar was full of American students, and we found a little booth in the corner and with some pints in hand, we sat and listened to music for two hours! A few guys from New York or something came over and literally pulled us up from the booth and danced around. It was such a fun place and wasn't blasting rap music... this made me miss the country bar in Ames a little bit, actually.

They brought us to another bar, The Front Door, where there were six different levels that felt like a saloon/pub. Big wooden accents, brass handles and picture frames everywhere; I felt like we took a time machine a couple hundred years back. Galway was clearly a study-abroad destination because every person I met was either from the USA or the UK, except the one guy that started speaking Italian to me (since I studied in Italy), and I still to this day cannot speak good Italian. We realized we both spoke spanish (Emma helped me out because she did, too), had a nice convo, dipped out of that quickly and found the other girls chatting it up with some Irish people. Sleeping from waking up early (yes, 8:00AM to us is early), and headed back to our hostel. Good night Galway!




Thursday March 22nd
Another pb and j sandwich for breakfast with coffee, we really had no idea what there was to do in Galway. I was kind of getting tired of the bigger city areas, and really just wanted to relax since it had been a week into spring break. There were many streets filled with shops, such as TK Maxx (not TJ Maxx), department stores, and fast food. They had Pizza Hut, Subway, and lots and lots of pubs. Kind of like suburban Minnesota, except they had some historical things, too.

Near our hostel was Eyre Square, a huge grassy area where people were laying out and walking around. There were huge maple trees, plenty of dogs, tulips, and giant iron sculptures. We made our way down just about every street, stopping into little shops and just being really care-free. Lunch was at a restaurant that reminded me of a place in Uptown. Had minestrone soup and garlic bread- it was cold out but the sun stayed around all day long!











My favorite part of Galway was spending hours near the boat docks, main pier, and along the beach. We dangled our feet over the wall of the pier, watching a huge flock of swans swimming around in the ocean. Fishing boats were way off shore, but the seagulls swarming around made it obvious what they were doing.













Emma, Caroline, and I walked to the beach where there was nobody there. A man was playing fetch with his giant labrador (made me think if Ricky or Dad was doing the same with Allie), but we had the rocky/shell-filled beach to ourselves. I had to stick my feet in the ocean since it's my favorite place to be. VERRYY CHILLLY but so worth it!





On our way back into town, we passed the church that Christopher Columbus made his farewell to Europe speech in before going to America. Still can't believe the history some of these places I've visited have, and they don't even seem that old!








Near there, all of the girls wanted to get Claddaugh rings, a silver band with two hands holding a heart in the middle. I was not really into getting one because, depending on if the ring is upside down or right side up, that shows to the world if you are single or dating someone. Not something I felt like advertising, so I made it my goal to get a rugby shirt before leaving Ireland. I would get much better use out of that than a ring (I lose jewelry like its my job, too). We also passed the first cupcake shop I've seen since being abroad. Always up for cupcakes, so I got myself a vanilla red velvet cupcake and it was quite delicious!

With 7 girls shopping around town, we spent the whole day just goofing around in Galway. We had another bus to catch to our next destination, grabbing another on-the-go meal at a grocery store. 3 hours later, we made it to my absolute favorite city of my study abroad adventure: Doolin! Much Love, AF

Ring of Kerry Tour!

Wednesday March 21st

So we departed Cork early in the morning to get to the city of Killarney where we did a 180 KM (111 miles, been getting used to the metric system since being over in Europe. Still wonder why the rest of the world BUT the US is on this kind of measurement system. Anyways...) tour of the Ring of Kerry, a historical loop along the southwestern coast of Ireland and through Kerry National Park. To help save some money, we stopped at a grocery store to grab some lunch and snacks for the 7 hour bus tour. For the first time on spring break, I was very relieved to just be able to sit in the back seat (literally), listen to the tour guide, and soak up everything without sore legs at the end of the day. So to get to Killarney, we took a 2 hour bus, then took the tour bus for 6 hours. Led by Dennis, the jolly white-haired Irish man that cracked many jokes and wore a checkered barret. Of course we were all just LOVING the accents, and the many families/old couples joining us on the tour.

After a wonderful introduction of Dennis and the adventures we had to look forward to the rest of the day, we made way northwest to the city of Killorgin, a bog-filled town with lots of wetlands, creeks, and rivers. It's one of the oldest towns in all of Ireland, and hosts Ireland's most historical and oldest festival known to the world thats still celebrated today. Known as the Puck Fair, the men of Killorgin go out into the McGillycuddy mountains, capture the largest wild goat, and bring him back to the city.



For three days, the goat stands up on a 40 foot pillar, wearing a crown, and considered the King of the city. The only reason people sleep is because they pass out from drinking too much, so its just a giant drinking fest while worshiping a goat. The goats name is Puck, and the Puck Fair symbol can be seen all over the city, with a crowned and confusing looking goat on the front.




The next place we went to was the Red Fox Inn, a little cafe that has a historical Irish village and people dressed up from the 1700's, but also specialize in Irish coffee! I could not drink this kind of coffee everyday, but we all enjoyed a nice cup of it before we made way to our next destination. If it wasn't already obvious, the Irish like to drink. So, it is only appropriate that they have coffee with nothing but the famous Jameson whiskey in it. So, with very black coffee, a shot of whiskey, whipping cream, milk, and sugar, this makes up a great little drink that is deemed appropriate to have at any time of day since coffee is in it.

The Red Fox Inn was in a large bog area, where large parts looked liked they had large squares cut out of the ground. Hard to describe, but basically the bogs were important because instead of using wood to heat homes (Ireland at one point was only 1% trees... today it's about 10%), they would cut out parts of the bog, lay it out to dry, and burn it. That's why Ireland has a funky smell to it through the country because some people still burn parts of bog stuff to heat their homes. It takes about 100 years for 1 inch of bog to grow, so there's conservation efforts going on now to try to save most of the areas. I had to giggle a little when Dennis told me this because if it's been working for thousands of years, why stop now? Anywho, onto the next town!

Many sheep and cow farms later, we made it to the coast! Dennis also said that cows in Ireland outnumber the people, which I believe after traveling through out Ireland. We stopped between Glenbeigh and Kells to have the first view of the ocean crashing into the cliffs/rocks with the rolling hills behind. Even seen PS I Love You or Braveheart? Felt like Gerard Butler would pop outta no where and ask me to marry him, THAT kind of magical! haha made it to the city of Kells, and they're famous for the worlds largest and oldest Celtic crosses. We saw some big ones driving through up on huge hills, they made the hills look small- must have been anywhere between 10-30 feet high, made of complete stone.

Now, this next time really made for some great inside jokes between the roommates and I. The quintessential Irish town (that big word description will be explained in a bit), Cahersiveen (pronounced  Kuh-har-suhveen) just had been repainted and cleaned up because of it's history with Daniel O'Connell.  He was born and raised here, then left to make history.

That guy, Daniel, basically rebelled against the British when they took over the capital of Dublin. The British made it illegal for any Catholic to vote/publicly show that they were Catholic. So he began Ireland's Catholic Emancipation in the late 1700's/early 1800's. He convinced the Brits to change the rule, and was a hero to the entire country-and he did it without any violence. We saw the house that he was born in the hillsides of Cahersiveen (which was a very, run-down skeleton of moss-covered rocks that used to be a house, picture above),

and saw the church that was built and named after him. In Dublin (later in the blog entry for Dublin), they named the central/main street after him, "Daniel O'Connell Street'.

Driving through Cahersiveen we saw some younger girls river dancing outside of their school, and before we made it outside of the city a camera crew hopped onto the bus. Dennis said that they stopped his tour around 6 months ago, interviewing people if they'd go back to visit Cahersiveen. It was in bad shape, so this crew showed it to the people, and since then the local folk did a great job at cleaning the place up!

They interviewed Caroline and Emma, asking questions like, "So, what didja think of the town?" and "So tell me, wouldja come back to Cahersiveen?" and being put on the spot, they responded with "I like the colors, it's very clean" and stuff like that. On their way out the door of the bus, the last person they interviewed was a guy that looked like a college professor. I think he had more time to think (or a silly-huge vocabulary) and went on a five minute explanation, and the only thing from his interview is that he thought it was "a quintessential Irish town." So now we mock the interviewers every once in a while in Irish accents and throw that answer out there. Learning lots already!

Moving on, we drove along the coast until the next town of Waterville. We didn't get out and stop, but Dennis said that this was where the most famous golf courses in Ireland were located. Having all four seasons in one day sometimes, celebrities and pros alike (for some reason I can only remember Sean Connery and Bill Clinton...) find these courses to be rough. A big one that Dennis talked about was Waterville Golf Links Golf Couse, might have to take Dad back there and I can bring extra golf balls and drive the cart, since playing golf isn't in my set of skills. The rain would also make it interesting, since that seems to have been popping in and out all day during our tour. Especially when we could see gusts of it coming from the ocean and big waves crashing practically onto the greens- I'd love to see someone I know try to play that course!

Next stop: Caherdaniel, a city with a great grey-sand beach that was on a large bay with the ocean to the left. Again, big hills, lots of green, a cow pasture on the other side, and still crazy obsessed about Ireland. Another great photo op, with the Scariff Islands in the distance. These two islands, the bigger one on the right, used to be where a monostary was. I don't think it would be easy to survive on an island like that since it really just looked like a giant flat rock, so now theres nothing on it and it was fun to hear Dennis crack jokes about crazy religions.

So we stopped in the city of Castlecove, which being in a deep cove along the ocean, was actually the most densely wiped out city during the plague, only 5% of the people surviving. Obviously they've regrown in population (people, cows, and sheep), and most of it is now a protected park land. Dennis told us about the actual hiking trail of the Ring of Kerry- a 160 KM hike that basically goes to all the parts the bus tour does, but without the bus. He said he did it in 8 days, and with the hills we were going up, I would have to train and mentally prepare myself to do. Maybe someday though, not anytime soon!

Stopped at a random parking lot at the tallest coastal point where there was a man with baby goats and sheep we could pet. Definitely took advantage of this opportunity, as well as the view! Dennis warned us these animals were not potty trained, and my favorite part was holding the sheep. Also go to see it passed around like a baby to all 50 other people on our tour, and by the end it looked like it wanted its mom. That was another fun little pit stop before the next town: Sneem!

All of these Irish town names are really fun to say and made me curious to why there were called this. Maybe you were wondering this too: well, I do not have an answer. But I dare you to try to say Sneem 10 times fast before you read on what its famous for. GO! Hope that was fun, so anyways, the town of Sneem, which in Gaelic means "knot", considers itself the strong point, the knot, of Ireland.


 Theres cool architecture and monuments, but the most famous one is in the center square of the 4 by 4 block-wide city. World Champion wrestler, Steve Casey, was from Sneem and won a few times in the 1940's.  It was a smaller statue (in the picture its on the right), so I'm guessing he was in a smaller weight class, but something a small town would be proud of! Reminded me of Iowa... and how much I still don't like the sport of wrestling. We drove into the mountain part of the park, where we saw 5 of the 9 tallest points in Ireland. More sheep, more cows: and passed through Molls' Gap.

Moll's Gap is a big gap between two mountains where a narrow lake runs through with a great view! It's also a place where a bunch of roads meet and either head north or south. So with a great deal of road signs, we took a photo and headed to the last leg of the tour. WHEW!

To kill some time, Dennis told us about the Muckross house, a 65 room mansion that was built in the 1830's, and soon updated for Queen Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1861. Arthur Guiness later bought it, and then it was sold to some other family, and then given to Ireland for preservation type stuff. Must have been too expensive to clean, but we never actually got to see the house since it was gated and in the middle of the woods! Our last stop, Ladies View, had to do with Queen Victoria's visit that year because her ladies in waiting were in charge of setting up a picnic for the queen. But they were too distracted by the views of Upper Lough and Lower Lough Lake, and the scenery, they never set up the picnic and made the Queen pissed off. So, the Irish people renamed the point Ladie's View after those easily-distracted ladies (go figure!).

After a last hurrah of photos, a farewell to Dennis and the return to Killarney, we caught the next bus to  the second largest city in Ireland: GALWAY!!! Hope you enjoyed that tour as much as I did. More to come soon! Much love, AF

Kissing Stones in Cork

Tuesday March 20th
So, we arrived in Cork with half of our group. Emma, Ashley, Kelcie and I were the ones to make it on the plane. If you want to know how it happened, read on. If not, skip to following paragraph. So, about the group splitting up: we had an hour bus to catch at 7AM, which we were told by our hostel we can buy our tickets on the bus. We get there in plenty of time, try to get on the bus, and the driver wouldn't let us buy the tickets on the bus! We had to buy them online, so ran around for a few blocks for the closest hotel to get internet and print off our tickets. Caroline and I were sent on the goose chase, and it took us 5 minutes to order and print the tickets, and by the time we RAN back to the bus stop, the bus had left. Next bus was in 20 minutes. SO we got onto that bus, and thanks to all the olympic construction and rush hour traffic, instead of our bus taking less than an hour, it took us an hour and a half, which made us an hour later than anticipated. 20 minutes until take off, Liz and Kate were too late to check their giant suitcase, and Caroline accidentally booked her flight for the wrong day. So that left Ashley, Emma, Kelcie, and I... sprinting through the airport past 45 gates to be the last ones in line for our flight, and no idea how we were going to meet up with the 3 other girls. Welp, to Ireland we go!

I have never seen more green in my life!! Even the misty rain and clouds couldn't hide all of it. We hopped off the plane and into a cab with the funniest guy from France, who was originally from Uganda, and thought our accents were funny and that we were from Holland. I don't think I've ever had someone laugh at me so much... maybe I was so excited to be in Ireland I was asking dumb questions (Emma and Kelcie can add to this I'm sure). He dropped us off right in front of our hostel, the Aaron House, and a bubbly lady named Tracy greeted us as the door with her very old and blind cocker spaniel, Riley. She gave us enough information about Cork and Blarney and Kilarney that would last us a years worth of traveling it felt like. It was only 10AM, and because we left before breakfast was served, we made way into the city of Cork to find a place for brunch.

Stumbled onto the Windsor Inn and Cafe, and the locals had already started drinking! I did not have a beer with my toastie (a ham and cheese sandwich, and chips), but Ash and Kelcie did. Some of the locals came up and talked to us and it was not like when creepy Italians come up to talk to you; they actually were very nice and welcoming! The oldest one pipped up after a few minutes, and with only 4 teeth said he had been to Cape Cod once. Never a lull in conversation with the Irish! Haha we left after a bit, and decided to take a short nap and make way to the Blarney Castle! Kate had texted Kelcie saying they were going to meet us in Galway the next day, and Caroline had rebooked another flight and would be in Cork later in the afternoon. So we were all going to be back together by tomorrow, a good sign! Our naps ended up being 3 hours long, still mid afternoon, but hopped on the city bus to Blarney Castle where we would meet Caroline.

Walked around the Castle grounds for an hour and a half and then we see Caroline running towards us with her backpack still on and so happy to see familiar faces! Now, a group of 5, went to explore our first castle of the trip! Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney stone that, if you kiss it, brings you eloquence, or ability to be a charming and persuasive talker. We explored the jail, King/Queen sleeping quarters, the "ladies in waiting" room that was right next to the priest's room, as well as the dining hall and other random little spaces. I have no idea how people could have slept in little rooms like that, they were the size of a king size bed! The spiral staircases were very steep and narrow, and the rain made it slippery. Made me wonder how many people fell down (or up) those stairs after royal parties. The dining hall was also missing a roof, but we could see parts of the original paintings above the fireplace.

The last part of the castle to see was the Blarney Stone, well, not just see it but kiss it, too! It was awkward because there was a worker that had to kind of hold you while you laid on your back, scooted over a big gap upside down and kiss the stone below. If that's confusing, I put a picture of my kissing it. Not sure if it actually worked but something to cross off my bucket list!








The Blarney Castle had a huge area of land with walking trails, giant trees, flowers, and cottages. We only had about an hour to walk around the grounds before it closed, so we got to see the tulip field, Arboretum, horse stables, old well, guard tower, and the forest! Another cool thing about the castle grounds was that there were little creeks everywhere. Reminded me of 4th of July in Stillwater, except there was a lot more moss in Ireland and not so many mosquitoes. Spent a good few minutes looking for 4 leaf clovers, too, but no luck! Time to head out, after tossing some coins into the creek on our way out for good luck. Went to a little pub by the bus stop and had some Irish goat cheese and scones, caught our bus, and back into Cork we went!

So, every restaurant and pub closed the kitchens right at 8. Unlike Italy where places don't open until 7, we were SOL on having a real dinner. So, instead we went to Oliver Plunkett's Pub where there was a live cover band (the only music we listened to the entire time in Ireland), and had my first pint of Guiness! That filled me up along with the scone, and after such a full day of traveling and stone-kissing, we were all passed out by 10PM. We had an 8:30AM bus to catch to Killarney, and a quick good-bye to Cork. Well, for now anyways since we flew out of Cork in 4 days. Yay! Obsessed about Ireland already. Much love, AF

Where in the World is Harry Potter: LONDON!

Sunday March 19th

After a 45 minute flight, we landed in the UK! But to our surprise and great travel planning abilities, we were over a 3 hours drive to actual London, we flew into Manchester... oops. And another surprise! London's train system is not cheap like Italy's, and we had no idea how we were going to get to London. After talking to the information guy, the car rental man (yes, we debated on driving ourselves to London because it was cheaper than the train. Manual 8 person van, driving on the opposite side of the road with only Emma and I knowing how to drive manual... that was quickly nixed), we were able to get ahold of a bus company that got us on the very last bus into London around midnight. Luckily our hostel was only a 10 minute walk from the train station, and without any time to stop for dinner, we got crackers at a bus station.

We arrived at the White Ferry House hostel and found it to be the cutest place! Well, on the outside. The entire first floor was a bar, and as we walked up the 3 flights of stairs (we were tired, crabby, hungry, and exhausted. 8 girls in this state is NOT pretty), we opened our room door and only heard snoring. A few manly snores. And we were in a huge room of 6 triple-bunk beds. We found ourselves to be in a co-ed, 18 person stuffy bunker, and thanks to delirium, Emma, Ashley, Caroline and I started laughing so hard we were crying. Could our day have gotten any worse? haha nope, but thanks to luggage locks, ear plugs, and a bed, I had no problem getting to sleep. Another full day of walking around was in the plan, along with a 7:30AM wake up call! London already has been an adventure.

Monday, March 20th
London is my new favorite city. Why? Because they have peanut butter of course! Our hostel had a breakfast, and the only thing I ate was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and was tempted to take one for the road! 2 cups of coffee were a must, and after such a delicious breakfast we were on our way to see everything we could in one day! The group split up because some wanted to do a double decker bus tour, while Emma and I wanted to walk and see everything. So, with my buddy Emma and camera in hand, we started south of Hyde Park and went straight to Buckingham Palace to find Prince Harry so he could marry me. Or maybe one of the crossing guards? Sadly, they do not stand outside anymore, and we couldn't try to make one laugh because they were way behind the gate. There were redcoats on horse, grey coats on foot, the horsies had really pretty gold harnesses it gave me goosebumps!

In front of Buckingham Palace there is a GIANT Queen Elizabeth statue that is facing towards the city and her back is towards the palace. Must be some reason for that, but before I had time to find out we were walking through St. James Park and found the squirrels you could feed. Sadly, I didn't have any food on me but we did see another girl feeding them. Caroline fed them when she went on her bus tour (they could hop off and get back on, so they did some walking around, too). In St. James Park theres a cute little pond with tons and tons of ducks, swans, and other water birds. On the bridge that crossed over the pond we could see little glimpses of the London Eye and Westminister Abbey. So naturally, that was the next area we wanted to go!

Walking along the streets, there were sooo many double decker red buses! Even though they were very, very common since we were in an actual city and that was their form of public transportation, I got excited every time I saw one (like a 4 year old in Disney World), and it was our goal to ride one. We stopped at a red telephone booth and took a few pictures.

There was a group of 5 older ladies on a trip: hope that can be us someday! And then a block further down was Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminister Abbey. We wanted to go into Westminister Abbey, but the line wrapped around the 2-block long church and we went into the small, neighboring church called Saint Margarets. Can cross off going into a London church from our list!

Parliament and Big Ben were right along the river, so we walked along that for a while, and then made our way towards the royal Horse Stables where they began the changing of the guards. Everyday at 11:30 all guards on horse and foot rotate spots throughout the city in a very fancy way. At the horse stables, they had the horses stand in a straight row, walk backwards, slowly turn around, and change spots. Then the ones who were bumped out made their way towards the Palace to rotate with the ones there (I think). We only saw the rotation part and then bee-lined it through St. James Park (the guards had to go around on the streets) to the Palace to find a good spot. Which we did!

Right on the steps of the statue, we got to see the little bands lead in the guards with their drums and trumpets, then go through the gates, do a greeting, and rotate through. The royal band played a few royal tunes inside the gates, and by now it was getting close to lunch time and we wanted to eat some real food! We went to Piccadilly Circus (Which is just a big intersection with 8 streets, the traffic made it a circus), and then to the Oxford Circus on Oxfor Street (same deal, but with big big ad screens like in Time Square, and a cool fountain). My friend Chloe from ISU studied abroad in London a year ago and lived on Oxford Street, so it was fun being where she had been! And so many shops, holy cow it was like Mall of America on a street.

After walking for 4 or so hours, we were hungry, and for some reason China Town's food wasn't too appealing. Zig zagging through that nice diverse area, we found ourselves in SoHo and at "The Spice of Life" cafe. How could you not want to have lunch there? So we did, and had pepperjack/whole wheat quesadillas with some chips (that's british for french fries). Cutest saloon-ish bar/pub yet I felt like I was in Uptown. Emma and I sat for about an hour letting our legs rest and mapping out where to go to next. My camera had died at this point, and luckily I brought my charger. Whew, I'm almost as bad as my mom when it comes to taking pictures. Ask all the girls on the trip, it's the main thing I do. Oh well!

Made our way to the Queen's Garden and Regents Park, which is in the north-western corner of London. We were obviously in the nicer part of London because all the homes had big white pillars, perfectly trimmed shrubs, and lots of black and gold accents. Too fancy for my liking, so getting into the park was enjoyable. Still, lots of people running/biking everywhere, but the Queen's Garden had everything perfectly planted in rows, giant trellis' covered in vines, large marble fountains and planters everywhere. Even statues! Fit for a queen no doubt, and something new to look at everywhere you turned. Even though I worked at Cals, still could have used a little help from Aunt Jackie identifying all the flowers!

Next we made way passed the 3-block long London School of Business (more like a royal palace.... all white, white pillars, massive domes, giant windows... Iowa State has some catching up to do!), through a quiet neighborhood and arrived to ABBEY ROAD!! One of the main things I wanted to go to, and it was under construction (most of London was because of the Olympics), but Emma and I still did the walk! Whoo we look so famous!






Stayed north and went to Kings Cross Train Station where the famous Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 is, pretended to run through the wall but since I am a muggle, they would not let me cross over into the wizarding world. Bummer. We then took a double decker bus to the Tower Bridge (top level, front row of the bus!), and then walked along the river for about 3 miles to enjoy the sunset. By this time, our feet were sore, starting to get hungry again for dinner, and found ourselves to be very satisfying walking the entire city of London in one day. But, our day was no where near being over.







  
We arrived back at our hostel and my friend Jake from high school was studying abroad there. He met me at my hostel and had a pint of Czech beer (Prague was one of his favorite places, too), and we talked for over an hour. In the mean time, were were waiting for my other friends Ali and Ashley to meet us and go out for dinner together (Ali was my freshman year roommate and Ashley is in my sorority). Jake had to go do homework because he just came back from Barcelona, wish I had more time to catch up with him! So Ali and Ash arrived and we went to O'Neils pub back near the Picadilly circus. Had my first plate of fish and chips! So yummy, and after catching up with them, we made our way back to the hostel and went to bed. Waking up at 6AM for the flight off to Ireland! Another city that wore me out, and spring break wasn't even halfway through. And back to the snorers... oh well! Much love, AF