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Published: September 17th 2007
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Youghal, Ireland
On the way to Cork I left off from my last travel blog ready to spend my last weekend in Ireland. On Thursday Ray, my co-worker, took me out to play golf. Let me set the background of my golf game. I really like playing but I am awful. My idea of a good time on the golf course is driving the cart, drinking a few beers and enjoying the time with my friends outdoors. I cheat a lot and sometimes don’t keep the score. The 3 guys I was playing with all have a handicap between 10 - 15. I didn’t even know what a handicap was until this year. For those who don’t know what a handicap is - let’s just say they are very good. Needless to say I was in for a disaster. I started terrible mainly because I was nervous. I learned rules I didn’t even know existed. After a few tips and coaching I was able to pick up my game quite a bit (at least the drives). I ended up having a great time and I am very glad I did it.
I went out Friday night in Waterford and met a few people out for some
Kinsale, Ireland
Near the fort in Kinsale.....right outside of Cork drinks at my local pub. On Saturday I spent the entire day in Waterford and went to the Waterford Museum. I was quite impressed with the museum which was a pleasant surprise. It had an audio tour with all of the exhibits and I ended up spending over 3 hours exploring.
On Saturday night I joined a few other people out for dinner and went to bed around midnight. LSU was playing against Virginia Tech that evening in Baton Rouge and I really wanted to see the game. I set my alarm for 3:30 am, woke up and called my sister to find the score. LSU was pretty far ahead so I was going to try to get back to sleep. I couldn’t fall back asleep so I went down to the hotel lobby and listened to the rest of game. I couldn’t get video so I just did audio. It was quite the site for me to be sitting in the hotel lobby, laptop in my lap listening to the game from 3:30 - 6:00 am. Actually it was hard to hear a lot of the game since the hotel bar was closing at 3:30 and they were
Lismore Castle
Lismore Castle - owned by some Duke trying to kick people out. LSU ended up winning big so I went back to bed and slept until 9:30.
In all of the time I was in Ireland I never explored the southwest coast. On Sunday I called a co-worker who lived west of Waterford and he offered to give me tour of Cork and the surrounding area. Tom went to college in Cork so he knew the area well. We drove to downtown Cork, parked and walked around. I really enjoyed Cork and I wished I would have spent more time in Cork over the past few months. We got back in the car and drove to the coast to some fort where the Irish (under British control) defended against the Spanish invaders (Disclaimer: I think that is what Tom said but I could be completely wrong - I know someone was defending something against someone else). Regardless, it was impressive. We then drove up to Lismore and saw a castle!! (my favorite Irish pastime - castles). This castle was actually owned by some Duke from England and it is his holiday residence. You can only explore the gardens because he doesn’t open his home to the
Outside of my apartment
The street of my apartment - Waterford public (not sure why not - selfish Duke).
After our tour of the southwest part of Ireland I headed back to Waterford to have dinner with Jenny. Jenny is taking over my role at AOL and she flew in from England. This was her first night in town. We had a good time and I filled her in on the project. The last week of work for me was very busy. I spent all week transitioning the project and closing up a few loose ends. Wednesday night I went out with my co-workers for a good-bye pub night. Thursday night I went over to my friend Carol’s place (the American I met in June). We had a good time and it was sad to say good-bye to her. Friday, my last day at work was tougher than I thought. All summer I was counting the days to come home but when the time came it was kind of sad to leave. I realized I would probably not see most of my friends and co-workers ever again. I definitely will visit Waterford again in the future.
I drove to Limerick on Friday night and spent the night at my
My work - AOL
The office in Waterford - AOL call center. trusty but very meek TravelLodge. On Saturday morning I drove to Shannon and flew home. It was a long travel day but uneventful - exactly what you want during a long travel day! It was very nice to get home. It was great to see Maverick and he was somewhat excited to see me. I think he forgot who I was. I drove my car around, washed a lot of clothes and got to see all of my friends. Last night we had a BBQ which I got to see everyone so that was a lot of fun.
This fall I am going to try to take it easy (the traveling part I mean). I have a few flights scheduled to Baton Rouge for LSU games but other than that - I’m trying to stay in KC. I have a trip planned to Asia next February so that is probably the next time I will update my travel blog.
I hope everything is well in Ireland. For the Irish peeps who are reading this, please let me know when you are in the area. For the Americans who are reading this, hopefully I will see you soon!!!!
Jason
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carol
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so sweet
Carol here - the yank living in Waterford - tough to say goodbye to you too :( Miss you loads...