Spring Break 2013 Part 2- Dublin

As promised, my blog post about Dublin. I just have one thing to say..... cold, rainy, windy... That about sums it up. For those of you who read my last blog post, I quoted Forrest Gump when he talks about rain. I said in London that the rain is nothing like what Forrest explains, well in Dublin, it very much so was. Especially the part about "sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. It seemed, at times, that using an umbrella was just pointless. The rain blew in sideways and unless you were holding the umbrella directly in front of your face (where you could no longer see where you were going), the umbrella would just flip inside out. Needless to say, I spent sometime indoors. I really tried to embrace the cold, but the first full day in Dublin was just miserable. 

So before I start in on my little day by day recollection, I thought I would share some things I found interesting or funny. I did not realize that Gallic was actually still used in Ireland. When you look at a sign, the first thing you see is in Gallic followed by English, which was quite surprising to me. It was pretty funny when I walked into a bookstore that all the authors names were SO IRISH!!! I mean, I guess you would expect that, but it was quite entertaining. Little fun fact, no matter where I go, what country I am in and what language they speak, Happy Birthday is always set to the same tune. In English, Spanish, Italian, Gallic... always the same. I really see the appeal of see through umbrellas now... As some points, I had to hold the umbrella directly in front of my face because of the wind so it would have been nice to have something I could actually see through.

Okay, so I landed on Wednesday and the sun was shining and it was quite nice. I walked around for a little while, but I was tired so I didn't do much during the day. The first night, I went to the Arlington Hotel for dinner and a show. That was really nice. The food was awesome and the music was great and I got to see some authentic Irish dancers. It's amazing how their upper bodies never move! I even heard Galway Girl! (For those of you that don't know that song, just watch P.S. I Love You. It's the song that Gerard Butler sings to Hillary Swank at the beginning when they meet in the pub. No wonder she fell in love with him!) So yeah, it was a fun night! 

The statue of Ireland's hero, Daniel O'Connell,
at the end of O'Connell Street. 

So apparently this is a famous picture. The spire
is the tallest sculpture in the world and sits in the
middle of O'Connell Street. 

I saw all these claddagh rings in a gift shop and it just reminded me of the one that I had when I was a child. 

The Irish are so serious about their drinking, they
even put a bottle opener in their caps! 

This is the post office of Dublin on O'Connell Street. A very
nice building with a lot of history.

You see how in all those pictures, the sky is nice and blue and welcoming... Well that wasn't the case for the next day. On Thursday, I took the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit, which might I say is not very rapid) out to Howth, a little port city outside Dublin. On the way in, I swear I saw something that resembled the Loch Ness Monster, even though we were at the ocean... It was so cold I could barely take pictures because my hands would freeze in place and I wouldn't be able to move them. It was also really windy. I tested my theory that I didn't actually have to hold myself up, that the wind would do it... I was right, I attempted to fall backwards and the wind held me up. Needless to say, I didn't stay there long. When I got back to Dublin, it had started raining. It was one of those days where you really just want to curl up in front of the fire and watch TV or read a good book and never leave the house. Well, since I was in Dublin and not at home, I attempted to go out. I went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells and The Long Room and then walked to the Christchurch Cathedral and by that time, I was so soaked that I just had to stop. I crossed the River Liffey and went into a little coffee shop and stayed there for a few hours watching other people go by and waiting for myself to dry off. Finally, after 2 cups of coffee and a muffin, I decided to brave the storm and head back to my hostel, which was about a 15-20 minute walk. Once I got back, I just sat and did nothing in the warmth of the hostel until it came time to get dinner. I went out to a local pub and had some fish and chips with a girl I met at the hostel and then went home for an early night. 

This was the harbor at Howth, freezing cold!!!!!

The classical archway of the Trinity College.
Unfortunately, when I was there, there were
camera crews right in front so a straight on shot
was not an option. Oh well, guess I'll just have
to go back.

One of the statues in the courtyard of Trinity College.
Everything was so green.

After a certain point, I refused to take my camera out for fear of the
permanent water damage it would obtain. So these were from my phone. The Long Room of the Trinity College Library, the Christchurch Cathedral, the River Liffey, and one of the classic Georgian doors of Dublin. 

Alright, so the last day in Dublin made my entire trip worthwhile. I decided that I wasn't going to let the weather get me down and that I was going to embrace the freezing cold. I took a tour bus to a medieval town outside of Dublin called Kilkenny where there is a medieval castle and lots of cool stuff. My tour guide was pretty funny. At one point I heard her use the phrase "silly little git". She explained the history of the shamrock and that St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, used the shamrock to explain the trinity to the uneducated.  When we first arrived it wasn't raining too much and the wind was bearable but after only a few minutes, the misery kicked up again. I don't think I have ever been that wet in my life, aside from being in the shower. My pants were stuck to my legs and my boots had turned a whole different color. Thank goodness for my leather jacket otherwise I would have just been miserable! Well anyway, I took a tour of the medieval castle, walked around the city, and saw the original Smithwicks brewery. After a while, I just couldn't take the cold anymore so I went inside one of the museums across the street from the castle and had lunch. BEST FOOD EVER!!! I had something called cottage pie. I don't really know what it was, some kind of meat covered in potatoes and baked in a casserole! Heaven! 

This is the Kilkenny Castle! I walked all the way out to the far
end of the garden in the rain to get the whole castle in the picture!

The rose gardens of Kilkenny Castle. Well
they are normally rose gardens... right now
they are in hibernation. 

One of the entrances to the Smithwick Brewery!

Some of the medieval streets in Kilkenny. Still made
of cobblestone!

So after Kilkenny, we got back on the bus and drove to the little town of Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. While driving, we passed through a little town called Hollywood. The Irish like to think that California's Hollywood is named after this little town because three brothers from Hollywood in Ireland moved to LA and became very famous in the movie industry and named Hollywood after their hometown. To "prove" this relationship, they put a Hollywood sign up on the hill of the town.

The storm I have been complaining about turned out to be one of the worst in a while. There were lakes where there used to be fields and rivers where there used to be streams. My tour guide kept saying "well that river wasn't there yesterday!" It wasn't until I reached Glendalough that I really witnessed the true beauty of Ireland. When I got off the bus, the rain had stopped and the wind died down a bit and this is what I saw... (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Upper Glendalough Lake! The massive amount of rain flooded
the lake but it was still so beautiful!

This tree is not usually under water, but it
was on that day! I just loved the contrast between
the dark tree and mountains and the light sky!

There were waterfalls where there had not previously
been waterfalls! But just look at all the green! Isn't it
just beautiful!

So this white water river is normally a trickling
stream that you can walk along and admire the
beauty. I would call this a whole other type of beauty!

Those little rivers... not usually there. But look at the green!!!!
I guess they have to pay the price to have such wonderful green
fields and forests!

Like always, documentation that I did
actually travel there. I remember when I
first started blogging someone told me
that there were never any pictures of
myself so I could just be faking it...
Proof I'm not faking it! :)

Probably one of my favorites! This waterfall was just spectacular and wasn't there the day before! Although it was freezing cold and raining all the time, I feel blessed because I was able to witness this beauty that I would not have seen otherwise!

This is the bridge that I had to cross to get back from the lakes
to the monastery. I don't know if you can see, but the bridge was
flooded. You can see part of the medieval monastery on the other
side but getting there was quite the wet challenge. My shoes were
completely soaked by the time I got across to the other side.

More makeshift rivers!

And this is tower of St. Kevin's Monastery. There are only 60 left in existence in Ireland today and this is one of them. Built completely of stone and still standing! The graveyard you see if still used today.

So in the three days that I was in Ireland, I got every type of weather imaginable.

Day 1- beautiful blue skies!
Day 2- rain and wind and clouds...
Day 3- SNOW!!!!

All in all, a pretty wonderful spring break. A few days in London and then a few days in Ireland. I can't wait to go back to Ireland, although, I vow never to return unless it is between the months of May and August because I feel like those are the months that I would have the best chance of having nice weather. 

For those of you that don't know. I went to the Vatican for Easter service this past weekend so keep your eye out for my next blog post about that. I'm sorry I'm a little behind! I'll catch up eventually. Hopefully before it is time to come home. Only 6 more weeks. It's amazing how time flies!