The Wonderful land o' Ireland

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Thursday

Another early morning. We had to get to Glasgow central station in time to catch our train to the Prestwick airport. It seemed to be a very quick flight to Dublin. Sean was very excited to finally be in Ireland, another stamp in our passports! The bus from the airport dropped us just down the street from our first destination in Dublin: the Old Jameson Distillery. Here we ate a relatively cheap lunch of their sandwiches along with a drink of Jameson at their 3rd Still restaurant, before we went on a tour of the distillery. We were shown were the barley was stored, dried, malted, grinded, washed, and distilled, through three stills for that smooth, unique triple distilled Jameson flavor. Everything was much more downscaled from what it used to be back when it was an operating distillery. Now, it only bottles the whiskey, while their plant in Cork handles all the distilling and manufacturing. The whiskey comes out as a clear liquid and gets its color from being aged in used bourbon or sherry casks (barrels). Using previously used barrels prevents the wood from absorbing too much of the alcohol and gives the whiskey taste from the previous alcohols fermented. All the whiskey has to be aged at least 5 years, after which some of it evaporates, being referred to as the angel's share which you can smell in the air of the aging room. After being shown the whole process, we were given complimentary Jameson cocktails. Sean was one of the eight individuals who volunteered at the beginning of the tour, so he got to be tutored in whiskey tasting. He compared Jameson to American Jack Daniel's. and Scotch whiskey. He even received a certificate of being a official Jameson Irish whiskey taster. He was so delighted with this. We then walked to the Guinness storehouse to have a look around there. Unfortunately, you had to pay for the tour to even look in their store, so we didn't feel like paying the outrageous amount for that. Next, we took a walk around the Dublin castle which was pretty cool to see. And then we stopped in at a coat and arms store where Sean bought a scroll that has his family history printed on it. I had the lady look up my last name, which she traced back to Scottish heritage, with the Rothchild family motto being "by virtue, not force" which I think is very cool. Right next door, we had a treat at this bakery called Queen of Tarts. I thought it was too punny so we had to go in for a snack. It was about that time for us to catch our almost three hour bus ride to Galway on the west coast where we would be spending the weekend since we couldn't find any cheap hostels in Dublin, where we were planning on staying for a couple nights. Once in Galway we found our hostel for the first night and relaxed for a bit. Then we went out to explore the town a little and to find a nice pub. Some guy on the street handed us a little flyer for a cheap comedy show that offered free fish and chips during intermission, so we figured we might as well go. It was at a small place called the Dew Drop Inn, and it was in a very small room on the second floor. It was a solid lineup for the most part and only cost us three euro. One or two of the comedians weren't very good and a few times some references were made that Sean and I just didn't quite get (something about water charges being put into effect) but it was a fun time overall. Afterwards we found a large pub that was very busy. Here we met two girls from America who were studying abroad at the university in Galway. This was clearly a college town, and it really showed later on when the girls showed us the late night spot to get food. The place was called Supermac's and operated a bit like a food court as there were several options of where to get food. And this place was just packed full of teenage Irish folks. The inside was so crowded and we saw at least 5 or 6 guys get tossed out by security. We went in but didn't even get any food, we were just enjoying the environment. We even saw an all-out fight break out, but once it was stopped, everyone just went about their business again. and outside the building there was twice as many people as inside, and they were all chanting something, with people on each other's shoulders and everything. It seemed like an all out riot but I guess that's just the young Irish culture. It was quite a sight to see, but it was getting to be rather late and we had to get up somewhat early the next day for our tour bus.



Friday

It was time to see what the west coast of Ireland had to offer. We got on a tour bus to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. The tour guide was a fun guy who played Irish music along the way. Our first stop was at a small chocolate shop where the rest of the people decided to pay an extra six euro to get a walking tour through some of the hills of the Burren. Sean and I didn't want to pay that extra amount, so we just hung around the chocolate shop until they got back. It was interesting to see the hills full of limestone and surrounded by herds of grazing cattle. What is very unique about the farmlands of Ireland, is that there are many fences made of stone, which serves two purposes. It helped clear the rocky terrain to make room for farming and it also helped construct natural fences for keeping animals in. Next we went to the Cliffs of Moher. They were truly breathtaking. They were also quite extensive, as the walking around to see the cliffs stretched out quite a bit. Being right next to the Atlantic Ocean, it was very windy and chilly, and even though it was quite cloudy that day, it was clear enough to see the steep cliffs just fine. There is a memorial at the cliffs in memory of anyone who has lost their lives there, which is just tragic. Also right near these cliffs were more herds of cattle. The agriculture in the UK and Ireland is just everywhere. Back in the gift shop I happened to find a cheap mint truffle chocolate bar, which was very delicious. We went to the small town of Doolin just north of the cliffs for lunch. And after lunch we stopped at some unique rocky cliffs further north from the Cliffs of Moher to get some good pictures. The rocks here were pretty cool as in the way they cracked and fractured. We made very good timing as it didn't start raining until we were on our way back to Galway. We had to return to the hostel to get our things and move to a different hostel down the street for the next two nights. This once wasn't as nice and they didn't except credit cards, quite frustrating. That night we decide to go on a Viking themed pub crawl. 4 pubs and a nightclub in 5 hours. I wore a viking helmet they gave out to really get into the spirit. We met two British girls who we talked to for a while, the one was 23 and the other was shockingly 28, which she did not appear to be at all. I told them I was going to cure cancer, but they couldn't take me seriously with how I was wearing the viking helmet at the time. The officials of the pub crawl started a silly game by giving everyone a tiny potato and saying whoever has the most at the end of the night wins a t-shirt. I didn't really care so I gave away mine in exchange for someone's shot at the bar. Sean won two more in a game of beer pong but ended giving them away before we left. After the second pub, the official said that the viking hats were with 3 potatoes at the end of the night, so then some annoying douchebags kept trying to take my hat. They knocked one horn off which I had put back on upside down. But then later on they still both horns at which point I just gave them the hat because Sean and I were leaving to meet up with the two girls we met the night before. We went to a smaller pub with them that had a live band performing cover songs, which they were pretty good at. We strolled past Supermac's again which was surprisingly dead. The girls informed us that the busiest nights of the week are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, which doesn't' make any sense at all. We didn't end up staying out too late that night and got a good night of rest.



Saturday

We slept in a bit and woke up to get a nice full Irish breakfast. It was strange having baked beans with breakfast, but it was quite good and the sausage was delicious. It also said it included pudding, but we weren't too sure what it was. We deduced that it must have been these weird brown grain circles, as they were the only things we weren't sure of. We each got two, one which was light brown, and the other that looked burnt, intentionally we hoped. There was some weird seasoned flavor to them but they tasted alright. It wasn't until I returned to Rome that I found out that their black pudding is actually a type of blood sausage. The white pudding is made with grains, oatmeal, and pork meat. And the black pudding is made with grains, oatmeal, and pig blood. I couldn't really taste it, so it was fine. I'd probably even eat it again. But I definitely think the method of trying these weird foods first before finding out what they are is the way to go about it. After our late breakfast, we checked out a very small Claddagh ring museum. They claimed to be the original makers of the ring and had a whole lot of history about it. They also have in their collection the world's smallest Claddagh ring. Then we strolled through the town market and found the donut guy that our pub friend mentioned to us. We bought these small, freshly fried donuts from him for only 80 cents and they were so amazing. It was great. Next we visited the Galway museum which was free, and didn't have too much to see but they had a wide range of things on display, including a film and music section that was pretty cool. There was also this dark room that you enter with a flashlight and you shine it on the walls that glow in the dark. Sean discovered you could write things on the wall by rubbing the flashlight along the wall. And all the small children in the room with us started copying and rubbing their flashlights all over the walls. Then we went for a nice walk along the boardwalk by the shore. It was very nice to relax there for a while and enjoy the ocean wind. We also got to see a guy who was catching major air kitesurfing near the shoreline. It looked awesome. That night we just relaxed in the hostel, having had such a long week of seeing so much and dreading having to go back to Rome the next day.



Sunday

We had to wake up early to catch our bus back to Dublin. We had about an hour and a half of time to kill there, so we walked to Trinity College to enjoy the park area there. We also wanted to check out the Science Gallery there but for some reason it wasn't open like it was supposed to be. We also tried to go to an archeology museum but it wasn't open yet. So we spent some time perusing through a gift shop before getting on the bus back to the Dublin airport (which we discovered sits just outside of a town called Swords, which we thought was pretty neat). It was a rather peaceful and somber journey back to our home in Rome (except for the brief moment of terror when our bus back to central Rome died in the middle of the street. The engine was just flooded and got going again after a couple of minutes.) It was a very long, very exhausting, and very very fulfilling, adventurous fall break.

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