Irish Hospitality

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In order to compensate for my lack of updates, I have decided to publish twice today. Since my last entry, we have left Scotland behind in search of greener pastures.

The last days of Scotland
I took a tour on a ferry to the Isle of Mull outside of Oban. My intent was to explore the Isle of Iona, where St. Columba is said to have singlehandedly continued Christianity. There is only an abbey and a cafe there now, and I greatly anticipated spending the day in deep contemplation on a hard, cold, concrete abbey floor. Instead, the weather was gusty, making rough seas to the island, and I was moored on the Isle of Mull-one stop short of Iona. I redirected my efforts and explored the village of Tobermory on Mull instead. It is a colorful, seaside town mainly for tourists and a few fishermen now. I unexpectedly ran into a girl on an isolated trail on the coast and we befriended each other, then wandering around the city until we found a golf course and blackberry bushes. This entertained us for a while before I had to head back on the ferry. Im coming to be more familiar with these "single-serving friends".

We finished the tour with MacBackpackers by exploring the William Wallace memorial (the movie made him out to be the hero, which he actually was not) and petting Scotland's largest "hairy coo"--a large, furry cow. The pictures should explain. That night we got into Edinburgh, then took a bus straight to Glasgow. We spent that night in the massive ex-student residence called EURO HOSTEL. It was about a 10 story building that looked over the river. As we walked to the hostel, we were viciously eyed by grungy city mites lurking around the bus station. It was the first time I appreciated Adam as my body guard.
The next day, we ran to the Glasgow School of Art on recommendation from a few sources. Unfortunately, the tours started in the afternoon, and we were only able to wander the lobby before racing to the train station to make our flight. We flew RYAN AIR for .98 pence (plus taxes) to Dublin, Ireland. It was an easy, 50-minute flight that took us to the green isle.


In Ireland
We spent the worst night of the trip in the seediest hostel ever. NEVER GO TO BROWN'S HOSTEL. NEVER. Despite glowing recommendations from my guidebook (Lets Go Ireland is going down...) we entered into a filthy, loud, shady underground bunker. The carpeting on the stairs was duct taped together, the drawers in the kitchen were sticky with some unknown glaze, and our room held 20 bunk beds, which meant that 20 different people came in at 20 different times and heard 20 different alarms in the morning. When we woke up from this nightmare, Adam and I looked at each other and said, "lets get out of here". We took the first bus to Dingle that day.
I decided not to judge Ireland solely based on our experience in Dublin, and my impression softened as we drove across the country to the Dingle penninsula. Adam had led Kaitlin on a tour this summer in Alaska, and she had invited us (or we somehow cajoled her) into letting us stay with her as she studied abroad in Ireland. We have had an incredible visit, with a local guide, and look forward to exploring more of this lush country.
Yesterday we walked along the beach, watching the lone dolphin (named Fungi) splash in the harbor, and we fed shrimp and crabs in tide pools cheese and bread (they like it!) No rain (yet). ...we picked blackberries and I made them into a pie last night. Yum! More to come!

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Photos

Tobermory
On the Isle of Mull

Comments

[Patton]

Life Journey
Rachel the blog is a great idea for allowing all of us to keep up with your travels. It takes me back a few years to the days when I set sail on an ocean so blue. The Freedom you have is inspiring. It is great to see the countryside where our family roots have been traced to so many with noble cause. All the way from Katy, Patton.