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Published: August 6th 2007
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Hey everyone... I just logged on to travelblog to find that they had some server problems and lost a bunch of blog entries. Hopefully they can restore them, but if not, I hope you've read them all already. Anyway, I was unusually busy last month and the days have just flown by. I will try to condense my July travels into one blog entry.
July started off with Canada Day of course. We had tickets to a Hurling match at the famous Croke Park that day so we went to see the match and learn the rules of hurling. Afterward we went to an Australian bar called the Wool Shed where we had Moosehead beer and Poutine...mmm... They were playing only Canadian music so we rocked out to Bryan Adams and Sam Roberts, etc.
Two weekends ago we had some very welcome visitors from Gloustershire, England. Richard's Aunt Shashi and Uncle Mark arrived on a Friday night and stayed until the next Tuesday. We had a weekend of great meals at restaurants we were eying up, and heard some funny stories about Richard's childhood. The first full day they were here we started off sightseeing by getting on the
open-air city tour bus. We saw an overview of the city and got off at Kilmainham Gaol for a tour. Aftwerward we found an outdoor market where we had a treat of fresh fruit and dairy-free chocolate cake. Highlights of the weekend included seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College, pizza dinner at casa Smith, and Comedy Night at the International Bar. Mark and Shashi returned home after the weekend to see if their house had been affected by the massive flooding in their area of Gloustershire. Fortunately they were only without drinking water for a while, but no flooding or loss of electricity.
Last weekend we had a gorgeous couple of days in my new favourite city, Cork. I have decided that if we want sun we have to leave Dublin. We arrived Friday night after a long workday and a three-hour train ride so we immediately checked into our hostel. We still had a little energy left so we went for a walk around the town to see the nightlife and architecture, then stopped for a while at a little pub down the street from our hostel. The pub was full of locals and there was
live music. After about half an hour there, the guitarist started strumming out classic Irish tunes and the whole bar started singing along. We stayed for another drink simply to hear more music, and left when he stopped playing. The next day we strolled along the river to St. Finnbar Church and then to the Glucksman Art Gallery to see the building (and the art). Afterward we experienced the best food we have ever eaten in Ireland. The restaurant is called the Quay Co-op and serves organic food that is often vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free. Despite these restrictions the food was absolutely amazing... and plentiful. We topped off our already full bellies with more vegan chocolate cake to Richard's delight. When we left it was pouring rain and our plan to just wander the streets was squelched. Instead we got on the bus to the nearby town of Blarney to see.... of course, the Blarney Castle! Despite the kitschiness of the place, the castle was quite beautiful and the surroundings lush and green. We had only 50 minutes in Blarney before our bus back to Cork so we were intent on passing as many people as possible on the
trail to the castle. We got up, kissed the stone, and back down in about 40 minutes, which must be a record. Our bus took us back to Cork where we immediately got on the next bus to Cashel for the next leg of the race.
Cahsel is a small town North-East of Cork and is famous for being the site of the Rock of Cashel, a group of 12th and 13th Century medievel buildings set on an outcrop of rock. We spent an amazingly sunny day here, first seeing the Rock, then laying in the sun soaking up as much of the weak Irish sun as possible. My skin colour changed from a pale whitish blue to a slightly less pale creamy colour.
I am anxiously awaiting the sunny weather in September back in Canada, so save some rays for me. 24 days and counting. Next weekend R and I are going to head up to Cavan County (Ireland's Lake Country) to see if any of my ancestral homes are still standing. The towns are small and there are few hostels so we might end up tenting it for a couple of nights. Let's hope we have
a weekend without rain.
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