Pictures from Placement

Placement Days 2 and 3

Volunteer placement yesterday and today: It's so fun! We are trying to bring in crafts that the kids can do so we can decorate the room with their art work, and so we can keep them busy and occupied (their minds off their illness). Yesterday, they made paper chains that we hung around the room, and some made "gods eyes" (popsicle sticks with string wrapped around them). They still really love coloring. Someone told us that coloring is something "new" to many of the children. Today, we had an even better day! We made masks out of paper plates in the shapes of animals or super heroes, so the kids were running around with lion, bear, spiderman, or batman faces (zorro, tigers, et cetera). One thing we did today that was a huge hit was so simple, but it was a hit, not just with the kids, but also with the moms (and one dad). We drew the kids' names in bubble letters on pieces of paper that they colored and we then cut out and hung up. They loved it!

We aren't just helping the kids, of course (and their parents), but also learning about the culture. One very simple lesson is that kids are kids everywhere you go. This isn't necessarily something "new" that I'm learning, but it is something that is reinforced when I am interacting with the kids in the asthma ward. I love interacting with the parents, too, trying to understand what they are dealing with and learning ways to communicate in French and Arabic.

We had an Arabic lesson after placement and lunch today and learned (or re-learned) useful phrases, like "what is your name?" and "how are you?" and "let's go." There are sounds in Arabic that are very tricky or challenging for me because we don't really have equivalents in American English. In placement today, there was a dad who helped out a lot by helping us communicate more in French (his son was "Picasso," he said), and there is a mom whose son (5 years old) speaks French, Arabic, and English, and can read in each language; this mother is also very helpful because she knows a little bit of English.

So, to sum up: very rewarding experience so far.

We also had a birthday celebration today for one of our staff members, Khadija, after lunch. There is a patisserie in the market near here that makes the most delicious desserts--this cake was a chocolate mousse concoction covered in chocolate syrup and caramel. Yum!

Tomorrow after placement, we will be taking a cooking lesson and then an Arabic script lesson (so I will learn how to write my name). Then, on Friday, a lot of us are going on an excursion to ride camels in the desert.

First day of placement, and tour of Rabat

Today was our first day of placement. Four of us went to the Children's hospital. Our guide, Khadija, took us on a tour first of the center which was created by a non-profit group within the hospital. It's basically a few rooms set up for the children to play in, including a library and music room with drums, keyboards, guitars, et cetera. The center is really, really nice.

I actually worked in the asthma ward, not the center. In the asthma ward, kids come into a large playroom in between treatments, and they just play. There is a large table set up for coloring, and there are lots of toys, like a slide, a see-saw, a house, and cars to ride on.

We were in the asthma ward for three hours, playing with the kids. Mostly, they colored because we didn't bring crafts for them to do since this was the first day. However, the kids love to color, and we also had a puzzle for them.  The age ranged from toddler to 16. A lot of moms came in with the kids, and they tried to teach us both French and Arabic. I am very humbled by my lack of knowledge of the French language! With the kids, the language barrier didn't seem too big of a deal (though it did get a little frustrating when trying to talk to the parents!).

Anyway, it was a very good first day, and I know I am going to LOVE working with these kids!

After placement and lunch, we went on a tour of Rabat. The tour included: the medina, the Kasbah Des Oudaias, and Le Tour Hassan and Mausoleum of Mohammed V.

We went to the medina yesterday, but today we got to see even more of it, including the more touristy parts where people can buy souvenirs. I have included a picture below. Out of the medina, we walked to the Kasbah Des Oudaias, which is a walled inner city housing beautiful gardens and whitewashed houses. The houses actually looked like a Greek village to me (all white and blue). Both the medina and the Kasbah are ancient. The medina is actually the area that existed before the French came--and the French walled it up and built their buildings outside the medina. The Kasbah is where the original city was, built in the 12th century (I think). You walk up the steps out of the Kasbah to this large area overlooking the Atlantic ocean. So beautiful!

Finally, we went to the tower of Hassan, which is an unfinished mosque that was going to be the largest mosque in the world. There are many pillars sprinkling a large area, and a tall tower with ramps leading to the top for the person who does the call to prayers to ride his horse up. Beside the pillars and tower is the mausoleum, which is another beautiful building with mosaics and tiles and detailed carvings. This is where the king's father and grandfather are buried. I got a picture of me with the guard out front (with the horse) as well as at the entrance to the mausoleum. When I was standing next to the second guard, he said quietly "smile," and I said "say cheese," and I made him laugh! (He's kind of like the guards at Buckingham Palace, you know, all stoic, not supposed to smile.) It was funny.

Another volunteer and I went to the park for jogging after the tour. It was a long way away, down this street lined with fancy houses, each with guards out front. The park was nice and shady and well-populated, with about a 1.5 mile path for jogging. The volunteer with me actually got hit on by a creepy guy in a jogging suit.

Dinner, and then we walked to the Acimi, which is a little shopping mall where you can get groceries, coffee, or dessert. I bought this really delicious mousse-type-thing for dessert. Now I'm back in the CCS house, ready to go to bed pretty soon, because tomorrow is another fun, exciting day!

Tour of Rabat

Booths in the medina

Group Picture

Rabat!

This place is great.

When we got to the house last  night, we found our assigned rooms, and I have about 7 roommates in this large, spacious room with bunk beds that opens out onto a balcony which will be perfect for yoga (three of us have our yoga mats with us!). The house is in an upper-class neighborhood where a bunch of diplomats live, and it is quite large with a beautiful garden out back. After exploring the house a bit, we had dinner--tangines for meat-eaters and lots of vegetables for veggies. The olives are amazing!!

Today has been very busy. After breakfast, we had an orientation, where we met all the staff, and where we learned about house rules and some stuff about going around in the city, which is pretty safe. We took a short walk to a shopping area (where I think we will go tonight for a glass of wine), and walking through the neighborhood, you can see beautiful houses (FB picture shows one) behind walls and gates, where the diplomats live. The walk was just to kind of orient ourselves to the neighborhood, and then we had lunch, and then we had orientation for our volunteer placements. I am going to be working at the children's hospital, and my duties will be: play. That's it. The kids just need someone to play with them. I will be good at that!!

Some of us went to the medina later, which is the old city surrounded by walls (and having no cars). It's all about shopping!! Rows and rows of shops and goods down these narrow brick lanes, and selling shoes, purses, clothes, teapots, pouffes (made out of camel leather!), spices, and et cetera. So many wonderful things! On our way out, we stopped at this table where a man was selling sweets, and I bought  some chocolate-sticky-nutty concoction (5 durhams worth). Soooo good.

More tomorrow--volunteer placements start at 9am!

Almost there...

It is around 1pm in Paris, where I am sitting in the airport waiting for a delayed flight to Rabat. So far, the trip has been great, despite a few delays, such as the one from Nashville to Atlanta which meant that I had to race through the Atlanta airport to catch the flight to Paris on time. That flight was scheduled to take off at 8:40, and I made it to the gate at 8:23. The whole area was completely empty, and the Delta people were  calling my name over the intercom. However, I made it! And the flight was not full, so I got three seats all to myself and was able to sleep, which I don't think has ever happened before for me on an international flight.

Paris airport is so huge, and I had to go through security twice, so I was really nervous about missing my flight to Rabat; luckily, the plane was delayed in Casablanca.

15 minutes of free airport wi-fi is almost up. I'll post more when I get to Morocco.

MOROCCO!!

The next adventure begins today... I am heading to Morocco for two weeks of volunteer work with Cross Cultural Solutions, and I will be keeping everyone updated on this blog.

Ireland Rocks!

The title is actually a phrase you find on a lot of tee-shirts for sale in souvenir shops because Ireland has a lot of rocks.

Our journey is over. John and I went to the Guinness Storehouse on Sunday as our last touristy thing. It is a tall, multi-story building giving Guinness's history, production, advertisement, and memorabilia. We ended up on the top floor, which has a "gravity bar" where you get a complimentary pint of the brew and look out windows at the whole of Dublin. There are lines about different spots in Dublin from Joyce's works painted on the glass window at strategic places.

Now that the journey is over, and I am almost over my jet lag, I'll point out the highlights and what I learned about traveling in Ireland:

Highlights: If I had to recommend stuff to see, here's what I'd recommend:

Galway is my favorite place. It's a city, but it's not too busy, and it's got the seaside feel that I really love. Plus, it is close enough to major tourist attractions, like the Aran Islands, the Cliffs of Moher, and the Burren to get to those places on day trips. It's pricey to get to those places, but that would be the case regardless, unless you rented a car.

Dublin is a wonderful place, but it's a very busy city, and there are so many sites to see it feels overwhelming. However, the archeology museum is great, and it and the other national museums in Dublin are free. I also have to say that the Dublin Writer's Museum is awesome, even if it does cost money. The Temple Bar area is really cool--it's just this area where there are a lot of shops and restaurants. Of course, the Guinness Storehouse is also very cool.

I give thumbs up to Blarney Castle and Blarney House (only about 8 miles from Cork). The House is especially cool because it's still a residence. Cork is a good city for staying in if you want to go to Blarney Castle. The downtown area is really nice (neat places to eat, et cetera).
Thumbs up also go to Muckross House and Traditional Farms (in Killarney). The gardens are so beautiful at Muckross House.

Kilkenny was a neat place. It has interesting historical sites--Kilkenny Castle and Rothe House--and it also has a wonderful craft center where you get to observe artisans at work (and you get to spend lots of money on pottery, fabrics, jewelry, or glass). Plus, it has that great pub that was originally owned by a "witch" in the 1700s.

What did I learn?

The open-road pass is a good idea because Bus Eirann goes to all the major cities. However, it might have also been a good idea to look into car rental for part of the time, especially for driving to the Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, and the Burren (which we didn't get to see). We had to cancel our reservation near Donegal b/c Bus Eirann didn't go there; also, Bus Eirann doesn't go places in Northern Ireland, so Belfast was out of the question for us on this trip. The bus system is great, but it doesn't get you everywhere.

Street names aren't always posted. This can be confusing when you get off a bus and try to figure out where your hostel is.

Even though street names aren't always posted, even big cities like Dublin, Cork, and Galway are pretty easy to navigate.

If you want to visit smaller towns, it may be better to rent a car than to rely only on the bus.

I think that's it. Ireland really does rock! It's such a beautiful place, and the cities are rich in history. For those of us literature nerds, it's a great place to go to pay homage to some really important writers--Yeats, Swift, Joyce, Wilde, et cetera. And for those of us history buffs, it's a great place to go if you want to visit sites where you can step back a few centuries. And for those of us who just like a good view, the countryside is green, lush, full of trees and flowers (and rocks). Yeah, I recommend going.

Back to Dublin

Back in Dublin. It's really crowded here because of the Bank Holiday weekend. I prefer Galway, with its winding cobblestone streets. The last two mornings we were in Galway, I took a long walk out before the city was fully awake, through the pedestrian area where people were driving delivery trucks and shopkeepers were scrubbing the fronts of their cafes or shops, or sweeping the cobblestones. The roads in the pedestrian area lead to the bay, where you can walk all around the water and out to the pier. It's so beautiful! The water reflects the colors of the houses along its banks: white, yellow, pink, blue. And large flocks of swans swim near the boats. There were few people awake this early (around 7), but some were out jogging or walking their dogs.

Also, I enjoyed people-watching in Eyre Square park while in Galway. I took a book out to the park one afternoon while John stayed at the hostel. My favorite image: there was a girl around 18 years old wearing black combat boots and with hot pink hair, with tattoos and piercings (I love how youth express themselves!). But her tough girl look was completely spoiled by the following: the roundest, happiest, fattest little brown puppy was bouncing along with her, at the end of a leash, and she was eating an ice cream cone.

Aran Islands

We left yesterday morning at 9:30am to visit Inismore, the largest of the Aran Islands. It cost: 7 euros for the bus (tickets bought from an Aran Island ticket office, not directly on the bus); 20 euros for the ferry ride, tickets bought at the student rate from our hostel; 10 euros for conveyance in a mini-bus on the island.

And you know what? It was worth every penny.

The journey to get to the Aran Islands took about an hour and a half: the bus ride took about 45 minutes, through Galway and then down a tiny road to a port in Roseveal; then, from Roseveal to the harbor of Inismore is another 40 minutes.

The scenery is so beautiful, and the water isn't Caribbean turquoise, but it is a shimmery blue. The ferry was a large boat with seating on two levels on the inside and a row of seating on the back deck. For the ride over, I stood on the back deck which was very crowded, but I got a good spot by the railing. John sat inside. He doesn't like boat rides. But from where I stood, I could see the coastline of Inismore develop out of the mist, forming into a green and gray island with water lapping against its rocky sides. Ducks sat placidly in swells, and the wind blew a sea-spray into my hair.

Getting off the boat, you walk up a road to a couple of B & B's and restaurants. We stopped at one for lunch, where we were served overpriced but very delicious butternut squash and carrot soup. Further up the road are shops mainly featuring the Aran sweaters, which are very thick to keep out the island's wind. Also on this road is a line of horse and carriages (jaunting cars, they're called), mini-vans/buses, and bike rental places. The drivers of the mini-van/buses are pretty aggressive in trying to get you to pick their van. We payed out our ten euros to a tall man in a striped sweater with bright white hair sticking out in tufts on either side of his head (he was bald in the middle). His name was Sean, and he drove us up to the main attraction, the large ring fort.

The ring fort sits at the top of a large hill, and to get there, you have to go through a visitor center and pay 3 euro. Then, hike up a paved path between stone walls, past the most breathtaking scenery--all rocks and grass and wildflowers and butterflies. Right before you go inside the ring fort, there is a wide plateau where you can see the jagged edges of the coastline of Inismore, all cliffs jutting out of the water 100 meters below. I got as close to the edge as possible to take a picture. One book says that young men used to be lowered on a rope over the edge of the cliffs to seek out birds and birds' eggs.

The fort is surrounded by tall stone walls, set up in two tiers, so it looks almost like stadium seating. It is even higher than the plateau, and the wind was very strong. From the ring fort, you can see almost the whole island. The place looks so wild and barren, and only about 800 people live there, though it used to have a population in the thousands. Inismore used to consist of a monastic community and school; now, from what the tour guide said, the people who live there make their money from cattle farming and tourism.

We walked up to the fort and down from the fort, and we got tea at a tea shop with a thatched roof.

Then, our driver took us around the coast to see the seal colony--a colony of seals uses this island as a place to sun themselves. We weren't able to go down to the beach for a close look, but from where we stood at the top of a hill, we could see a couple of seals sunning themselves on rocks and a few playing in the water.

The driver dropped us back near the harbor, and we browsed the shops until time to go.

Ennis to Galway

Ennis was the most relaxing place we've stayed yet. Good thing, too, because after a week of travel, I was exhausted. Also, Rowan Tree Hostel is wonderful! The best hostel we've yet stayed in, mainly because it is so clean and cheerful.

We didn't do too much in Ennis. It is well-situated for driving to the Cliffs of Moher or the Holy Island, but since we didn't have a car (or schedule enough time to take the bus), we didn't do either of those things. However, the town is very nice, with lots of traditional Irish music, and our hostel had a man come to give a free Irish lesson. My name in Irish is [Ay-leesh] (that's how it is pronounced). John's is Sean. In addition to teaching us some Irish phrases, this man (his name was Sean) and his partner, Maire (Mary) taught us to dance to Irish music, played on a concertina by a French girl named Laure. Laure was here for the music festival, and she played so well! The concertina, for those who don't know (I didn't!) is a mini-accordian. We also learned (and sang) a folk song in Irish about market day.

This morning, we caught the 51 Bus to Galway at half-past 9. We arrived around 11am, and since we couldn't check in until 3pm (at Snoozle's Hostel, also a very nice place, highly recommended), we dropped off our bags and went for lunch and a walk around town.

Galway sits on the water and has a seaside feel as well as a medieval feel to it. There is a nice park in the middle of Eyre Square where John and I sat after lunch, watching people walk by or lounge on the grass. We sat on a low wall next to a couple of Irish men with two dogs. I asked what kind of dog one of them was. It was a beautiful dog, tall with dark black hair and a long narrow nose. The man said it was a Mexican Labrador (I think that's what he said--I still have trouble understanding the Irish accent). I said the dog was very pretty, and he said "Thanks, he looks like me." He and his friend found that really funny. Besides people and dogs, Eyre Square also has a memorial to J.F.K, who visited here once. I took a picture, and it should be up on FB soon.

In addition to Eyre Square, we also wandered around the pedestrian-only streets that lead from the city center to the water. These streets are lined with shops, pubs, cafes, et cetera, and they are what give the city its medieval feel. One of the shops is where the original claudach ring was created, and it has a little museum for the ring. They have rings from the ages displayed, going back to the 1700s. Neat!

Tomorrow, if weather permits, we're heading to Aran Islands.

Muckross House and Ennis

I am now in Ennis, a lovely little town in County Clare. We went out to dinner at Brogan's, which has won the James Joyce award for the most authentic food or something in Ireland. Tonight is the last night of a music festival in Ennis, and we got to hear the most wonderful traditional Irish music played at the bar.

Today has been a long day, but a good one nevertheless. When we woke up, we were still in Killarney, of course. We wanted to see Muckross house. This is a house in the Killarney national park that has been donated (along with the park). It was built in the Victorian era and has ornate Victorian furnishings. We took a taxi out to the park b/c there is no bus service, and it was five miles from our hostel, and we didn't have time to walk, though many people do rent bikes. The house was fabulously ornate, and the grounds were so beautiful. The gardens and grounds are covered in flowering trees and bushes, hedges, flowers, et cetera. There are wonderful rocky groves and ancient thick-trunked trees.

In addition to the house and grounds, there is a traditional working farm. You follow a country lane past many meadows and fields where sheep, cows, and horses graze. Along the way, you can stop at three different farms: small, medium, and large. The set-up is that you can see how people on farms worked and lived back in the days before electricity. The houses use peat or charcoal fires, and each is set up as if people still live there (maybe they do?). The first house also had a pig and its litter out back; the second house had soda bread samples; the third house (the big farm) diverged from tradition with a very modern football (soccer) field out front. We passed a goat along the country road, and several chickens (definitely "free range," though I still wouldn't eat them). The farm also had a working blacksmith who showed us how he created an iron piece for a gate or fence. There is a carpenter and a saddle maker, too, but they weren't there.

We basically spent all day at Muckross house and farms, then we headed to the bus station (via taxi) to take the 14 to Limerick, where we caught the 51 to Ennis. The countryside! It is so beautiful. If we had more time, I'd like to rent a car and drive the Ring of Kerry to see more of this wonderful scenery.

Now we are in Ennis, and we are at a very nice hostel named The Rowan Tree. It's a bit nicer than the ones we have been staying at,. I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow besides laundry. I am hoping to go to an island where monks lived in the 7th century.

Killarney

On Sunday, we caught the 10:30 bus to Killarney from Cork.

Killarney is a beautiful city in the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. The real attraction in Killarney is the national park, Ross Castle, and the lakes. It was raining on Sunday, so we dropped off our bags at the hostel and were planning on seeing a movie until we could check into our rooms. We had an hour and a half to kill before the movie started, and we took a carriage ride to Ross Castle.

The castle sits by the "Lake of Learning," so called because in the middle of the lake is an island where monks wrote important manuscripts (names of which are escaping my mind at the moment). Anyway, it is such glorious countryside--shimmering blue lake, and green everything else. The carriage driver was a funny little man who told us all about how awful the nuns were when he was in school (b/c I told him I was a teacher). He also tried, unsuccessfully, to teach me some phrases in Gaelic.

After the castle, we went to see The Princes of Persia. I know, I know, seeing an American movie while in Ireland seems like a waste of money, but it was wet, and we were tired, and our rooms weren't ready.

That concludes our first night in Killarney.

Blarney and Eurovision

Cork's hostel had a quirky little shower. You stand in a tiny stall, press a button, and hope for the best. The first batch of water that comes out is cold. So, it's best to wait until the second batch of water before getting inside the stall. The water comes out in 30 second segments, and so you have to press, rinse, lather, press, rinse, lather, et cetera.

Another thing that gets a complaint: bus schedules. Actually, it's not bus schedules that annoy me, but my inability to understand them. For example, we thought that the bus to Killarney was the 252 leaving at 9am this morning. So, we rushed on over to the bus station before we even ate breakfast. Then, we found out that we were actually supposed to take the #40 to Tralee, leaving at 10:30. Argh. I learned my lesson and when I got to Killarney's bus station, I asked the guy at the information booth for specifics about when/where to get on the bus to Ennis tomorrow. He gave me a printed schedule and highlighted the times, so hopefully we'll get it right.

But before we get to Killarney, I must talk about the Blarney Stone!

Cork is a great city. We had about 45 minutes to wander around before catching the bus to Blarney, and we stumbled upon a parade for girls' football (soccer) leagues. It was great! Also, there is a super fabulous market called "Olde English Market"--it's an indoor market with any kind of food you could want, fresh fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, et cetera. I've posted photos in FB.

We caught the bus to Blarney next. The castle is on the most beautiful and fragrant grounds--flowers, trees, meadows, streams, et cetera. The castle is a tall, stone, crumbling structure. You have to hike up tiny winding stone steps (100 steps), clutching a rope. It's a tight fit. At the top of the castle is a view of surrounding countryside. It is a long way down! Just three flights, but it feels further when you are on top of a crumbly structure, protected only by iron rails. I stood in line to kiss the Blarney Stone. Here's what you have to do: you sit down on a mat, with your back to the wall, and there is a gap in between where you sit and the wall, making it kind of scary. You have to kind of do a backbend to kiss the wall (fish pose for yoga folks). A nice man holds you while you are doing this, so you don't fall through the gap. (There are iron rails between the wall and the stone walk-way, so if you fell, you'd just get a concussion, not a broken neck.)

After kissing the stone, we went down a different set of stone steps, these with a rail. Along the way, you could poke your head in different rooms--gloomy stone chambers. The second storey floor is no longer there, but it used to be the dining room; the bottom floor is the family room, with big fire places on either end. My favorite was a tiny chamber with a hole in the floor over the castle entrance, called the "murder room," where people could toss boiling water on the heads of enemies as they entered the castle.

The castle gardens were called the "poison gardens," and have all sorts of plants with dangerous qualities, plants like hellebore and poison ivy.

Blarney House was next on our trek. It is a private residence. They only show the house 40 days out of the year, and income from Blarney Castle/House tours helps maintain the upkeep. The guide was very knowledgeable. He took us through the bottom floor's library, sitting room, and dining room. My favorite parts: in the library were copies of first editions, including Jane Eyre! In the sitting room was a view of the lawn and a pasture, where two beautiful horses were grazing. The guide also pointed out cool stuff, like the difference between Victorian-era Waterford Crystal chandeliers and modern ones (the old ones have a higher lead content and better capture the light). There was a table in the hallway with a mirror on the bottom half that women used to use to check their hems before leaving. Et cetera. Upstairs, there were several bedrooms on display. Overall, the house has some really lovely things in it, but it doesn't feel too much like a museum because it is a private residence, and the family always lives there. They even had a television, though it was hidden behind an ornately painted screen.

When we left, the guide told John and I that if we liked gardens, we should check out the home's private garden--the gate was unlocked. It, too, was beautiful.

There are several hiking trails on the grounds, but we decided to go back to the town to eat lunch and catch the bus back to Cork, which is what we did. We ate at a pub (toasted cheese and chips for me).

Our evening in Cork consisted of a late dinner, then hanging out at a bar where everyone was watching something called Eurovision. First, the dinner: We ate at Quay's Co-op, which is now my favorite restaurant in Ireland. All veggie food! And it's over a whole foods grocery store. I had paella, potatoes, and a green salad. Second, Eurovision: I have never heard of this, but it seems like a big deal. The bar was packed for the event, which was shown on a big-screen television. Eurovision is a singing competition for singers all across Europe. Votes are done by country, but people in Ireland, for example, can't vote for the Irish singer. Ireland has done really well in the contest in the past, but they only made second-to-last place this year. Germany won. It was a great show! One act, from Belarus, sprouted butterfly wings at one point, and another act, from Spain, had quirky back up dancers that acted like clowns.

So, that concluded our day in Cork!

Kilkenny Castle, Rothe House, and Cork

You can meet cool people in hostels. For example, at Kilkenny's hostel, we met a nice middle-aged British couple while eating breakfast in the hostel's dining room. John and I had to stop by a grocery store to purchase breakfast to eat in our hostel, b/c none of the shops opened until 9 (and we were hungry at 8). We bought bread, fruit, and instant coffee, and were munching away in the hostel's dining room, when the British couple came in. They were on their holiday, having taken a ferry from England to Kerry County, where they spent about a week in a cottage on a lake. They were finishing up their trip, and they had lots of advice. They did suggest hiring a car rather than a bus when traveling both in Ireland and in England, as the car allows you to get off the beaten path. They also recommended booking your hostels via phone rather than Internet b/c of the service charges involved with Internet-booking. They used to do working holidays in England, which is where you pay a minimal price for room/board, and you do work like ditch-digging or gardening for a week, then you have a week's holiday. They said it was a great way to see the country and to meet people. I asked them where we should go if we visited England, and they pretty much named everywhere! They are from Devon and said it is really beautiful. They also recommended Northumberland, North Wales, Norfolk, and Scotland. So, I guess I just need to see all of the British Isles!

We said goodbye to the couple and headed next to Kilkenny Castle. The castle is really beautiful, large, and well-kept, with hand-painted wallpaper and impressive furnishings. The place has been carefully reconstructed based on old photographs taken of the rooms in the late 1800s. Overall, it is a good place to visit, but I'm not sure what else to say about it. The library contained, among other things, Shakespeare, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and gardening books.

More interesting, I think, was the Rothe House. This is a museum of a Tudor-era home. It was all wooden floors, beamed ceilings, fireplaces with iron pots, and wooden chests, chairs, and floors. The best part was the garden. It has been reconstructed, based on archeological evidence, just like the original garden. It actually consists of two walled gardens, the first containing vegetables and herbs, the second containing fruit trees and bushes and flowers. It smelled really good. Their honeysuckle is pink and fragrant! I'm going to post photos in Facebook.

A real Irish breakfast came next. It was our lunch. We stopped at a coffee shop and had the following:
Two eggs
1 potato cake
1 vegetarian sausage
Cooked tomatoes
Cooked mushrooms
Baked beans
Brown bread and butter
Tea
I can now say I have had a traditional Irish breakfast.

Kilkenny also has a craft center where artisans work and teach (and sell). I bought a beautiful blue stoneware bowl. Sliversmiths, potters, painters, and fabric-workers all create the most beautiful things here. I highly recommend the place.

The last thing we attempted to see in Kilkenny before catching the bus to Cork was the tower at St. Canice's Cathedral. It was, unhappily, closed. So was the cathedral (for lunch). Thus, we spent our last half hour in the hostel, relaxing. Then, caught the bus to Cork.

Next post: More on Cork and the Blarney Stone.

Dublin/Kilkenny

I'm trying to post pictures, but the Internet isn't working for me. Hopefully I'll get some posted, soon.

So, did I mention the bog bodies at the Archeology Museum? There are bodies that were tossed into the bogs hundreds (thousands?) of years ago. The bogs preserved them, and they are on display so that tourists can appreciate the well-preserved grimaces, fingernails, and clothing still attached to the shrunken limbs. Yikes! Also, did I mention the mini-replica, in the archeology museum, of the Viking village that used to be in Dublin? That was neat, too. It was all huts close together. One hut was created so you could see inside. It looked basically like a big ark, with benches all down each side for sleeping, a fire pit in the middle, and at each end little areas for livestock.

This morning, we breakfasted in the hostel, packed our bags, and headed to the Dublin Writer's Museum. The only problem was that it was closed. It was nine o'clock, and the museum opens at 10:00. Luckily, the museum is at the end of O'Connell Street, which is one of the main roads, and it is lined with city shops, so we found a bookstore and went in for coffee. I think the store was called Earnie's, and the coffee shop inside was called Barnies. It reminded me of Barnes and Noble.

I was determined to buy a watch so I would quit bugging John, asking him every five minutes what time it was. We stopped in a souvenir shop. The only watches they had were pewter pocket watches and Guinness wrist watches. The wrist watches were double the price of the pewter ones, so I bought a pocket watch with the claudach (spelling?) symbol on it.

Finally, it was time for the museum to open. It is the best museum ever. It has a facsimile of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels. It has first editions of famous books. Writers' portraits, typewriters, writing desks, fountain pens, notes, letters, et cetera. There was a library housing 16th century tomes. There were old, yellowing newspaper clippings of reviews for some of the writers' works. There were writers' busts all over. Yeats, Joyce, Swift, Shaw, and Edgeworth (the woman who wrote gothic novels). Ah, it was a nice place. Too bad we had so little time--not enough to really linger over all that there was to see.

We had to catch the 11:30 bus to Kilkenny, so we left the museum, scurried down O'Connell Street, over the River Liffey, and onto Aston Quay, where the hostel was located. Grabbed our suitcases, then scurried to the central bus station. The bus ride took 2.5 hours.

Now I'm in the Kilkenny hostel, which isn't as nice as Abigail's in Dublin. However, it's only 20 euro per person per night. Poor John is not used to dormitory-type living. We have a private room, but we have to share a bathroom with the other people staying on our floor. Still, it's clean, and we have cute bunk beds. The house is Georgian, originally belonging to a middle class family.
Okay, but Kilkenny is not very easy to navigate. At least, it wasn't when we got off the bus on St. Patrick's Street and tried to locate our hostel. Keep in mind that we'd run a marathon to catch the bus this morning and then had nothing to eat. It's a wonder we were still standing, much less functioning at full intellectual capacity. I think we went up and down one street two or three times before we stopped at the tourist's office to ask for directions. Then, the tourist guy gave us kind of faulty directions, so we took even longer, but we finally made it.

Now that we've rested, eaten supper (at a cute little Italian restaurant), and had a Smithwick at Kyteler's Inn, the town is looking much nicer. In fact, I think it's great. It's soooo old. Kyteler's Inn dates back to the 1200's! It was owned by a woman who was accused of being a witch, but really people were just jealous of her because she was a "merry widow"--married four times. She escaped to England, but the Kyteler Inn is still here. Inside there are witches hanging from the ceiling and old iron pots and iron chandeliers. I tried a Smithwick (beer) because it is produced at the St. Francis Abbey Brewery here. It was good. We also visited the Black Abbey, so called maybe because the monks used to wear black capes OR because the black plague visited the monks in the 1600s, killing off 8. It's an ancient stone church with beautiful stained glass windows and statues of saints throughout. I lit a candle at a Mary statue. Outside there are several wild cats that a woman was very concerned about feeding. They must live in the church yard.

There are other things here to see--we are going to try tackling Kilkenny Castle tomorrow morning before heading to Cork. We walked the grounds this evening, but the inside was closed by the time we got there. However, the grounds are huge and beautiful and opened as a park even after the castle closes.

Tomorrow: Kilkenny Castle, Cork, and the Blarney Stone.

Starting with the zoo.

We went to a bunch of places today. We walked across Dublin to Phoenix Park where the Dublin Zoo is housed. It's a nice zoo, and I think it's one of the oldest in Europe. We spent about two hours there, then we went to a tea room on the outskirts of the zoo for lunch--I had a grilled cheese sandwich and tea; John had a feta panini and tea. Then, we headed back to town, where we went to the Museum of Modern Art, which was okay. The building it's in is really beautiful, but the east wing was closed. There was one exhibit that was cool. It was a room where the floor was covered with gravel like you'd find at a beach. There were two mats on the floor where you could sit and put on head phones and listen to the sound of the ocean. Very relaxing.

Next, we took the bus to St. Stephen's Green (park) from Heuston Station. The park is near Trinity College, and it's got a lot of statues and memorials in it. There is a famous famines memorial and the bust of James Joyce. John thought there was also a statue of Oscar Wilde in the park, but we couldn't find it. There were so many people walking, jogging, and relaxing on the grass. It was the perfect city park.

From the park, we wandered over to the Natural History Museum, which is in an old building in the Victorian style. It was full to the brim with stuffed animals. Not my cup of tea, but the building was really beautiful. But the next museum we went to was great--the National Museum: Archeology. It houses all sorts of ancient artifacts from Ireland's past, like viking and celtic artifacts in addition to clothes/jewelry/religious items from medieval Ireland.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we finished this museum, so we stopped at a tea shop, and I had a scone and coffee and John had a crepe and coffee. This food and drink gave us energy to trek back to the hostel, where we are now. On the way, we passed (on accident) the birthplace of Oscar Wilde. It's marked by a plaque, so if you aren't careful, you could miss it. It's simply a building in a row of buildings near Trinity College.

We did not make it to either the Guinness Storehouse nor the Old Jameson Distillery today! Or the Dublin Writer's Museum. So many places to go, not enough time to get there!

Tomorrow, we're taking a bus to Kilkenny, which I hear has a super fabulous castle. It also has a pub that used to be the house of a witch who escaped persecution.

Later that same day...

Our first day is coming to a close. John and I took a "hop-on, hop-off" bus tour of Dublin today. This is a really cool way to get to know where all the major sites are--the bus driver explains the different items of interest, including history or other interesting facts, and you can get off the bus at any of those sites, then get back on the bus later to continue your tour. Your ticket lasts for 24 hours. I was SO sleepy that I nearly fell asleep on the bus, and when we got back to the hostel, I took a nap. Even though I was sleepy, the tour was good. We went by St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Archeology Museum, the Guiness Storehouse, and et cetera.

This evening, for supper, we went to a place called The Shack that advertised authentic Irish food. Since I'm a vegetarian, I got veggie stir fry (not exactly authentic Irish food), but I also got my first Guinness of the trip. It was really good. John had mussels and a Guinness. The Shack was right across the street from The Temple Bar which has live music every single day. This is all in the Temple Bar district, a place with a lot of eclectic shops and pubs. Our hostel is in the Temple Bar district right across the street from the River Liffey and the Halfpenny Bridge, which is bridge that used to have a halfpenny toll (you probably could have guessed that one!).

Tomorrow we're doing real site-seeing: The Writer's Museum, the Archeology Museum, and the zoo among other things.

We are here!

We got here around 7am Dublin time. No sleep last night on the plane. We took the bus to the bus station, bought "Open Road" passes, and walked to our Hostel ("Abigail's). It is pretty nice. They serve free breakfast, and the rooms have their own bathrooms. Or, at least we hear (about the latter). We can't actually check in until 2:00. John and I ate our free breakfast (toast, juice, cereal, coffee), and are waiting for a free tour that a couple of people here told us about.

Ireland

I am heading to Ireland in a couple of days, and I will be posting my adventures here.