The First Update: On a Bus in the Irish Countryside

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It has been a hectic past few days, which explains why this is the first time I've been able to sit down and blog while traveling. I'm currently on a but en route from Dublin to Galway, Ireland, speeding down the highway on the left side (crossing streets here as a pedestrian is still a perilous undertaking). It is indeed very wet and rainy here on these islands, but today it's just humid and overcast in contrast to yesterday's constant drizzle.

I suppose I should explain how I got here. Ireland is country #2 so far after a quick day in London. The flight to Europe was about as good as I could have hoped; we did have to deplane for a half hour during a "systems reboot," but the pilot was able to make up the time so we were basically into Heathrow on time. I slept almost the entire time (except to eat the miserable dinner and breakfast served on the flight; pretty sad compared to the smorgasbord of options on my Cathay Pacific flight last summer). Once in London, I trained into the city center, got lunch at an Italian place in Soho, and picked up rush tickets to see a production of Agatha Christie's murder mystery Mousetrap. It bills itself as being the longest running play in history (see photo). Having gotten the cheapest tickets available, I was perched way up high in the second balcony in a very narrow straight-backed seat; I still really enjoyed the show, though, and won't spoil the surprise ending here. I meandered through the West End and Soho after the show, where the night was still young for the many people out at the city's bars and nightclubs. It's a very international scene here in London, with people speaking all manner of languages and restaurants of every different food type. That includes, of course, American food--McDonalds, Starbucks, Subway, and Burger King are the leaders here in that sector. I've typically been doing "takeaway" options to save time and cut costs, and there are a lot more restaurants catering to that here than in the US.

Saturday morning involved a quick buzz through Westminster, which included seeing Big Ben, House of Parliament, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and the outside of Westminster Abbey. I'll give these a more thorough once-over once I'm back, and really want to check out some of London's great (and free) museums like the Tate Modern museum of contemporary art. Then I caught a budget flight to Dublin and have been here for the last two days. I missed my bus stop coming away from Dublin airport so I spent some quality time seeing the suburbs of Dublin on Saturday afternoon, but had time to participate in a 'literary pub crawl' through some of Dublin's fine establishments. I enjoyed my first Guinness while listening to Irish actors sing traditional Irish songs (jolly tunes which never failed to mention drinking), perform dramatic readings of James Joyce or Oscar Wilde (both from Dublin), or expound on the local history and landmarks. One interesting difference between the American and Irish pub scene is that the most pubs in Ireland only serve alcohol (no food); food is served in small come-and-go places in the bar districts that stay open late. I ended the night in the Temple Bar area, then walked back across the River Liffey to my hostel.

Sunday was another day in the Dublin area, but I decided to take a daytrip to County Wicklow to the south of Dublin. I had been wanting to see Glendalough, a lush valley with two lakes and the site of a 10th-century Celtic monastery. Before we got there, the bus tour stopped at the bridge where a scene from PS I Love You was filmed (pretty site but the significance lost on me since I haven't seen the movie; Braveheart was also filmed in this county), and at the Loch on which the Guinness estate Luggala was situated. In the mountains, we drove through peat bogs while the clouds swept across the landscape; at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit today, it was quite chillier than the other days. Glendalough was really the highlight of the day, though; the valley is shockingly lush and overgrown from having so much rainfall and humidity, and the lakes and waterfalls are perfectly framed by the tall, rounded walls of the valley. I took a quick hike and ambled through the monastic ruins before having to hop back on the bus. Our last stop took us through the oldest mill in Ireland where we saw a weaving demonstration, then the driver told us Irish history and quizzed us on Gaelic pronunciation on the ride back (I did terribly). It was fascinating to hear the perspective of an Irishman on Ireland's relatively recent independence from England in 1921, the decline of the Gaelic language, the Great Potato Famine, and the Celtic Tiger economic frenzy that swept through the country in the late 2000s. Ireland had certainly been through a great number of ordeals since the island was first inhabited, but the Irish people have remained very genuine and loyal to their country (and county specifically). There are local and national elections coming up as evidenced by the plethora of candidate posters on every lamppost, and it seems like the level of civic engagement is high.

So, the trip hasn't been without minor mishap so far. I almost missed my connection to the Dublin airport after I couldn't find the bus stop in London; I didn't get off the bus in Dublin as previously mentioned; I have occasionally forgotten to mention that I am a student to get ticket and meal discounts. Yet all of the big pieces have fallen into place, I have all my luggage and essentials (which wasn't even sized on my budget flight to Dublin!), and I'm appreciating taking things day by day so that I'm not locked in to an itinerary. In western Ireland, I'm going to be doing a lot of nature things like seeing the Cliffs of Moher and biking around the Aran Islands, which will be a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the cities the past few days. Thanks for reading, and look for another post in a few days!

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Photos

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Big Ben and House of Parliament, London

The longest continuously running play ever. Or so it claims.

Shot up Glendalough valley from the monastery. The site dates to the 10th century but the graves only go back to the 1600s (still, before America was a thing though)

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River Liffey in Dublin from O'Connell Bridge

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Irish ice cream from cows in Dingle! My flavors were sea salt and Irish oat (which did actually have oats in it--and was really good!)

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Ireland
We spent the month of March in Ireland. It was colder than we wanted but most day were clear, little rain.....but lots of wind.

[D MJ Binkley]

Mousetrap
We saw this show in London also and really enjoyed it!