The Grand Adventure begins.
I can't believe that, after four years of deferring pay, saving, waiting, planning, and dreaming, and talking to anyone who would listen, the time has finally come for my travels.
First stop Dublin. Thanks to a West Jet Angel named Andie, I scored sweet seats on my flight - front row centre. This was my first time flying with West Jet and I was actually pleased that it was not a direct flight. We landed in St. John's, NWFLD for about an hour and a half. It was a great break and a chance to stretch my legs. Only down side was that I could not go into St. John's - just love it there.
The flight from St. John's to Dublin was an unbelievable 3 hours and 50 minutes. Seems impossible to cross an entire ocean in that short of a time. I did not sleep at all. Those who know me really well will know that I love early bed time and lacking sleep is not generally good for my decision making capabilities to say nothing for my attitude. Having said that I functioned pretty well until about midday!
I was able to navigate by bus from the airport to Marian's Guest House, my first accomodation. Although check in was not until noon, my host allowed me to drop my luggage off and directed me to the hop on hop off bus tour of Dublin. The loop takes a full hour and a half. You can choose to hop on and off at any location for further exploration. At that point in the morning, I saw this a good idea for a place to rest my head and not to have to think too much. My host said she would be set up for my by 11.
Having been to Dublin before, I knew and remembered the main road and some side roads. I was, however, in a completely different area of Dublin. And, although my host had kindly given me instructions about where to pick up the bus, I was not taking in all of the necessary information due to lack of sleep. So, I wandered around the city a bit. I did seen the big green Dublin Tour Bus a couple of times but it was a bit elusive - for a while.
Eventually I discovered a stop for the bus and sat and waited. The bus arrived shortly and I hopped on. The driver/guide was a gregarious fellow with a quick wit and sense of humour. There are 24 stops on the tour, I stayed on for the entire time but was able to stay with it enough to tuck away a couple of places that I wanted to visit when I was refreshed. And truly, I only slept on the bus for about 5 minutes.
I walked back to my B&B and was let in to my room where I promptly crashed. But I was only able to sleep for about an hour before I was awake for the day. My tablet would not charge and I was on a mission to find a way to charge it so that I would be able to keep my blog. I headed down to O'Connell Street, the main road of Dublin. I visited a shop there where they were unable to help me but suggested that I head over to Henry Street, which is a major shopping road. Open only to pedestrians, this road was extremely busy with many shoppers and street entertainers. There was also about 6 different cell phone shops, none with a solution for me! I had to go to a couple of computer stores before a guy was able to figure out how to charge this tablet! And thank God for that! A quick stop at M&S (love) for some fruit and vegetables and it was time for me to return.
The city was extremely busy due to a hurley match that was taking place on Saturday evening. Street merchants were selling hats, flags, and scarfs for the teams that were represented that evening. So many people were wearing their team colours and the scarves reminded me of the House Scarves from Harry Potter. On my way into town, I was like a salmon swimming against the stream but on the way back from town, I was going with the flow. Everyone around me sounds like Jim MacDonald, so they do.
I had a solid sleep on Saturday night and was ready to head back to town to explore a couple of the places I learned about on the tour.
Sunday morning began with a delicious breakfast and a run down along the Liffey River. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. Sharon had recommended that I visit Christ Church Cathedral. A beautiful building that I had passed by on the bus tour the day before. I found out later that the cathedral was actual a setting for The Tudors. My legs were rather tired as I was but I was glad to be out moving.
Later, I was back for the bus tour. The ticket was good for two days. My goal was gaol. Specifically, Kilmainham Gaol. This gaol was highly recommended by the tour bus guides as a place to stop and visit. Guided tours of the gaol were the only way that visitors can tour. There was a line up and 35 people were let in at a time. It began to rain a bit as we waited. But the rain was more like a mist, more like standing in the middle of a cloud, so I did not get soaked. My tour time was 1:30 but there was a bit of museum to explore prior to the tour. The guided tour was about an hour long. We were given a brief history of Ireland supported by an AV presentation.The gaol was in use for about 220 years but has been closed since the mid nineties. Our guide took us through the gaol as it was originally, after minor modifications, and then after major modifications.
I learned about some Irish revolutionaries, including Robert Emmet, who, prior to being execute in 1803 for high treason at the age of 25, delivered an hour long speech that has been quoted by many notorious people including JFK, Gandhi, and the al qaeda. It is a speech about social justice and can be found in its entirety here: www.roberemmet.org/speech.htm and is an interesting read.
After the gaol, I hopped back on the bus and headed to Trinity College where I wanted to see The Book of Kells, 1200 year old manuscripts of the four gospels. There is a small museum that describes how the monks created the manuscripts. The Book of Kells is actually only one book but it has been divided into the four gospels to create four separate books. Only two of the gospels are on display at any given time. Two remain in storage. One of the books displays the text and the other displays the art work. The part of this visit that I enjoyed the most was actually the visit to The Long Room in the library. It reminded me of something out of Harry Potter (sorry for the second HP reference in one blog post). The Long Room was, well, long(65 metres) and had many sections along both of the long walls. Each section was stacked with really old books. There was a spiral staircase in one section and a few ladders in other sections so that books at the top could be reached. I'm not too sure how high the building is tall as well as long. The Long Room made me smile. I love books.
From Trinity College, I headed out to Bewley's Cafe for a recommended meal. I enjoyed soup and Irish bread and butter.Thanks Kim for the recommendation. From here, I walked back to the B&B in order to settle in for the evening, pack up, and get organized for my first move.
After a broken night of sleep I headed down for my breakfast. My order of scrambled eggs this morning was eye poppingly gigantic. I know this as the women at the table next to me laughed at my facial expression when the plate was put in front of me. Cook must have used at least 6 eggs to make my breakfast. I will be way more specific in the future when ordering in a bed and breakfast.
After packing up and settling up I headed out the door. I was on my way to Busaras, the bus station in Dublin. This was about a kilometre walk from my accommodations. I bought a ticket to Donegal for 11:30. The bus ride was about 4 hours across Ireland, heading to the west and the Atlantic Ocean! The journey was beautiful as I was able to see lots of lake, greenery, sheep, cows, and lovely countryside.
I arrived in Donegal Town about 4pm and checked into The Central Hotel, which was right where the bus let me off. I quickly unpacked and headed out for food. I walked down to the Tourist Information Centre to gather some information to plan for my next few days. After chatting with the tourist guide, I headed down to the pier and up to The Abbey Graveyard. There were men hauling in their catch, which I was told was called splake (I think). The graveyard was just up the hill from the pier and overlooks the bay where the tide was really low. Many sea birds and one beautiful crane were foraging for food and making a squawking good sound. The old abbey is a ruins but there are standing gravestone, new and old in the abbey area. There were even a couple of stones with the name McGarrigle on them. I also noticed a shop in town with McGarrigle on the shop front. Distant relatives I am sure.
I decided to take a walk around the town and found Tim Horton's coffee for sale at Spar! A little taste of home. Donegal Town centre is shaped like a triangle but is called The Diamond. I walked around The Diamond, found the castle, a couple of bridges out of town, and the beautiful St. Patrick Catholic Church. And then it began to rain, rather downpour. I walked back to the hotel in order to get my blog started (and watch a little Corrie at the same time!). I am looking forward to a solid night of sleep in order to wake refreshed to face the day.
