DAY TWENTY FOUR
Brad held class for us at Powerscourt center again so that we could meet with our groups and discuss our progress so far. We met about an hour earlier so that we would actually have stuff to say to him. We got a really European breakfast of scones with jam and cream. Wow. How we've adapted.
Ha, anyways, the meeting was very productive and we thought we had a lot of good things to show for it especially after discussing our next steps. After our meeting everyone was being rather indecisive about what to do. In order to not have another dreary day Ashley and I decided to go tour the old Jameson Distillery. We really had to push, since we were feeling not so hot from the night before, but onward we pressed, down O'Connell street towards the northwest part of town.
In my opinion, the old Jameson distillery is a better tour than Guiness. Aside from the cheesy introduction video, the tour is guided so that you actually have someone explaining to you what everything is. Not that you need someone to read for you, but it's just easier than having a self-guided tour where you will be tempted to skip over the parts that look kind of boring.
Now if you ever get the chance to visit the old Jameson Distillery, let me tell you - RAISE YOUR HAND AND VOLUNTEER! Definitely makes the experience better. Unless you're not down to become and official Irish Whiskey Taster, it is definitely the route for you. As a part of the tour of course you do get a complimentary glass of Jameson mixed - the popular drink in Ireland is Jameson and Cranberry: Who knew?. However, as a volunteer in addition to the drink you get to sip three different whiskeys, which definitely left us a little tipsy. At 11 euros student price, that made it well worth the bargain.
The making of whiskey - or any spirit for that matter - is definitely more complicated than the making of beer. Since we have now seen the process of both, I can tell you the difference - distillation. I think. Haha. I don't really know man, there were 8 steps in the tour and the first ones were kind of similar but the last ones were kind of fuzzy. I know that Jameson is on average a 5 year old spirit because they will mix a 7 year old matured cask with a 3 year old. The casks themselves are made of wood that comes from Spain and sometimes Kentucky. Which gives it a rosier flavor. I think. Welcome to the downside of going on a guided tour: since there are so many people you're not always going to be in the front, sometimes you'll be in the back not really paying attention. Check out this old man's murse. From Amsterdam. What a boss.
Seriously though, we came to the end of our tour and learned that we would be taste testing whiskeys. The first, Johnnie Walker black, the best selling whiskey in the world. Who knew? Second, Irish Jameson. Third, the best selling whiskey in America - you guessed it, Jack Daniels. We were supposed to compare the tastes, as Scotch whiskey is supposedly smokier and American whiskey sweeter. It was getting kind of rough man. Chaser anyone? In the end we were supposed to say which one was better after sipping all three. It actually really was the Jameson. If it was because we sipped it before we sipped the others i'm not sure, but a good game all in all and we had three baby shots leftover besides. As we sat there pounding the last of our samples - although it "wasn't a shot competition" we met a new friend. Michael Boyd, a firefighter from Round Rock - what are the odds? He told us about how he was only in town for a day and somehow he ended up being our couch surfer and going out with us that night?...slash agreeing to go to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher with us as our photog [you know how we girls love our pictures]? What a strange and beautiful life it is.
DAY TWENTY FIVE
So our bus to Galway was leaving at 545 in the morning, so our brilliant idea was to stay up all night long. brilliant. We went out with all of the girls that night and had so much fun at The Purty Kitchen watching a band whose lead singer they all knew. It was definitely all fun and games till I realized that little Mikey was kind of serious about staying up all night. I just couldn't do it. Call me lame, but my body still hadn't recovered from Spain! We got home in time for one hour of sleep. The next thing I knew we were awake and heading to the bus stop to leave for Galway.
Now Galway is kind of a ways away, kind of like when we left super early in the morning to go to Cork [where the Blarney Stone is] so the bus ride was about two hours long into the city of Galway. However, since we had decided to go super early in the morning it was seriously dead because it was 845ish when we got there. We literally saw the last of the drunkies ambling down the street on their way home. Our bus into the mountains towards the Cliffs didn't leave for a few hours so we decided to walk around the city centre for a bit. We saw the monument to JFK in the middle of the square and the Spanish arch that had been built in the Spanish Quarter in the 1500s.
After all of that excitement we weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. You see Galway is a town that is known for two things. The Cliffs of Moher and Connemara tours that you can go on during the day; and the "hen and stag" [bachelor and bachelorette] parties that go on at night. Meaning not too much going on in the early hours of the morning. After going through a really low point at Finnegan's and Dunnes, we ended up getting coffee and bagels just to kill time before the bus. Let me just tell you we looked really good. Ha, so we got on the bus for Galway and it was going to be a two hour guided tour. Not one of those again haha. But seriously, me on public transportation = sleep sleep sleep. Oops. I mean I'm sad that I missed some of the interesting things he was talking about although I did manage to wake up for every time we stopped at a picturesque scene for photos. Such as the Dunguaire Castle and the pastures and landscapes in Kinvara and Ballyvaughn. I heard the stories about the stone tables in Poulnabrone Dolmen that were supposedly not coffins, but actually burial places for the bones after the bodies had decayed. Cute. And of course, the miles upon miles of penny fence that had been put together from stone using no concrete or anything hundreds of years ago that still stood today. They were called penny fences because the poor workers had put them together at the price of a penny a meter.
Not that all of that wasn't insanely interesting to me but I really just wanted to see the Cliffs. Besides having been told to definitely not miss out on it, it is touted as one of the top three things to do in Ireland [the top three being Guiness, Blarney and Moher - check on all of them!] After stopping at a small pub for lunch the bus finally made it's way to the top of the mountains. Aren't they beautiful?
Too bad we didn't see those. Ha, no I mean...here
Ok, so we were mildly disappointed. We had come all that way but honestly I could only make out the Hag's Head side of the cliff through the fog. It was definitely an experience however. It was different from Barcelona and it's sprawling city, I guess because it was all natural. In Spain we had seen the rooftops from a man made platform and marveled at what one person could create. These cliffs though, you feel like you're in the presence of something truly not of this world. It's weird to think about something that has stood for so long - the cliffs have been attracting visitors since the 18th century - that will continue to be there always. Even after you leave for the day, or leave the country, or even leave this earth they will still stand there, proud and strong, allowing others to view their grace. They're different from buildings and monuments that are made for other people, for those too, may stand the test of time, but these things are there for no one but themselves, they will just continue to be.
They are 214 meters up. That is a long way down. When you stand so close to the edge that you are almost falling off as you peer down - not that I did that, sorry mom - you feel very insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Not in so much of a way that you don't matter but that you are only one little piece of this huge puzzle of life, and that you should be thankful for being allowed to stand in the presence of something greater than yourself.
Anyways, that was all I got from being close to them. It's a shame because I'm sure on a gorgeous day they are truly breathtaking and inspirational. So I bought a postcard. Ha. Maybe I'll just have to marry an Irish boy and come back someday - kidding again mom. We did stop at the smaller cliffs in Fanore where we got some pretty cool pictures; check me out real close to the edge:
After that, back to the city our little bus went. Our driver was an incredible singer, who gave us a taste of his Craic in both story telling and sining in Irish. We got off the bus and realized that he had also been hauling all the way back to the centre as we found that we had nearly an hour and a half before our bus back to Dublin.
This brings me to a point that I have made several times during this trip and will continue to make as it seems to ring more and more true every day. I know the reason the Irish drink so much. Because the sun never sets here. There's a little tip that Rick Steeves never told me. But I'm serious. It rises at about 4 in the morning and doesn't set till about 12am. Seriously. We were going out the other night and it was 1130ish and in the distance the sky wasn't even dusky, it was light. Now, when you're in the type of city where most things close at five, what else is there to do? I mean, there's a pub on every corner and there is a huge chunk of time from 5-9 when you have to go home and get ready. I mean in America we do love our day drinking but it will normally start to get less sunny at about sevenish. I don't know, maybe it's the time of year. Because granted, it doesn't start to get too dark till about 8 or 9 during the summer in the states as well. But I mean really. People drink a lot here...which is why when we had that time to kill we of course headed to Fibber McGees. Irish Coffee anyone?
Seriously though, we were kind of sad at not getting a chance to see the Galway nightlife. People really do come from all over Ireland and some of the UK to have their Hen and Stag parties here. I mean we were there at 6ish and we already saw two pass our way. Even the ticket man at the bus depot told us he would gladly switch our tickets to the 115 out bound bus so that we could experience it. We did end up heading back to Dublin. I guess this is the other reason that I will have to do Galway again.
DAY TWENTY SIX
Now although last night's festivities may not have been out of control we've gotten a late start to our day. I blame Michael. Ha. But it's actually a gorgeous sunny day so I can't wait to get out there so I don't waste it - although as mentioned earlier it's not like the sun's going away anytime soon. We hope to play around on St. Stephen's green for a little - continue working on this tan from Spain - and check out the Street Performer World Competition in Merrion square, as well as the Farmers market across from the temple bar area. Looks like the start of a busy day and making the most out of our time left here!
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