Around the land of Eire

I met up with Ashleigh and her two friends Jenny and Julia last Wednesday and just parted with them this afternoon. We really had the best time together! It was hard to see them go!

Thursday was one of my favorite days of the trip. We took the train from Dublin to Hoth and went hiking along the trails. It was not only a gorgeous day, but the scenery was unbelievable. Its one of the prettiest hikes I have ever done- the trails took us over rolling hills right along the coast. I can't post pictures because my computer is still out of comission, but I will try to post them soon!

Friday morning we woke up early to catch the Paddywagon tour to Northern Ireland. Crossing over into Northern Ireland, you could immediately notice the change in the road signs. We got a kick out of one sign that just said 'Blind People'... still not sure what it was really referring to but maybe blind people tend to cross right at that intersection? It was entertaining to see though.

Friday afternoon we made it to Derry (or LONDONderry to the Protestants). It was amazing to hear about the religious divisions that still exist up there to this day. I had a real current events lesson. There is a wall dividing the Catholics from the Protestants. The Protestant community flies the flag of Great Britain, while you can only see the Irish flag flying in Catholic communities. Its really sad because they are so divided- none of the areas were flying the flag of NORTHERN IRELAND!

On Saturday we drove up to the top of the Emerald Isle and visited the Giant's Causeway. This was one of the most unbelievable sights I have ever seen. Right along the water, there are millions of hexagon shaped rocks. Some are piled into pillars, while others are just spread around. They think it was created through plate tectonics, but there is no real proof. The Irish have of course created fairy tales involving giants to explain the rare landscape.

After the Giants Causeway, we stopped in Carrick-a-Rede to cross on the rope bridge. It really wasn't scary at all.. they have it secured enough so that we had no trouble crossing it. A friend we made on the trip Colin decided to jump up and down on it as we were crossing, so that added a little bit of a challenge..

From there, we headed onto Belfast. In Belfast (birthplace of the Titanic!), we took a Black Taxi tour to learn more about the troubles between the Catholics and the Protestants. There are 48 walls separating the two communities in this city and the gates between the two will close at 11 PM and not open again until 6 AM. Its so sad to see. Being in the heart of this city made me really interested in the battle thats going on. I had no idea that there was still so much controversy between the religions. It seems somewhat hypocritical to me that there is war in the name of religions that are supposed to be centered around love, but I guess no one asked me!

Once we were back in the Republic of Ireland, we ventured west towards Galway. After asking for directions about 18 times, we made it to our B&B. It was 10 PM and we still hadn't had dinner, but we found a cute little pub that served food. They had been closed for food for two hours but the bartender offered to make us cold plates since we hadn't eaten. And to be honest, it was one of the best meals I had all week!

The next morning we woke up and drove through the Burren (GORGEOUS coastal roads, cliffs, and rock covered fields) to the Cliffs of Moher. I had already been to the Cliffs with the other crew when they were here in January, but it was just as pretty the second time. It was also fun to see it again through Ashleigh, Jenny, and Julia's eyes. They LOVED it.

We ventured on down the coast and made it back to Cork that night. We had an interesting experience booking into a hotel (lets just say we paid to change the dirty sheets, make our beds, take out the trash, etc.- we will NOT be staying there again!!) but at least found a place to stay.

After kissing the Blarney stone yesterday morning, Ashleigh, Jenny, and I dropped Julia off at the airport and then had a nice, relaxing day. We went to lunch and a movie and then headed back to Killavullen. We met up with William and Paddy so the girls could see their baby sheep. They were PRECIOUS. If I could chose a souvenir to bring back to America, I think I'd pick a lamb!

Tomorrow morning I am waking up and catching the train with my friend Emily to go bike the Ring of Kerry. We're hoping to get on the road as soon as we can, so we're taking the 7 AM train from Mallow to Killarney. We are splitting the 110 miles up over 4 days. Emily has contacted B&Bs along the way that are giving us cheaper rates for being au pairs- which is really considerate of them. We are planning on making stops in Sneem, Glengariff, and Waterville. We will be alternating long day- short day- long day- short day, so we can have some recovery time on our short days. I'm really looking forward to it (just praying I'll still be able to walk come Sunday!!)