Europe, Chapter 1 - IRELAND
It is official. I am resurrecting the lj as a travel blog, so anyone who wants to, can be updated with my journeys in beautiful Europe. So far, I have experienced the country of Ireland. I spent 4 days in Dublin, and 4 in Cork. Here's the rundown of the major things followed by a quick synopsis of how good/bad things were:
Dublin in Detail
Dublin was beyond amazing and beautiful in every way possible. At first, I didn't even want to go to Ireland because I'm not Irish, it never interested me, and I had a lot of other countries on my list I wanted to see before it. And of course that's probably why it's ended up being absolute paradise and as of now my favorite city I have ever visited. It is everything James Joyce taught us it would be...tiny buildings, narrow streets, irish pride everywhere, mostly friendly people, a lot a lot of history. I went to the writer's museum - a dedication to all of the wonderful authors who are from Ireland including Joyce, Wilde, Spencer etc. I also went to Trinity College and saw the book of Kells. If there is any sort of God, and I apply to grad school, I am going there. It was beautiful and it right in the middle of Dublin near all of the amazing pubs! Anyway, I also saw St. Patricks Cathedral, which is beautiful even if you are not into religion. I cannot explain how powerful the size of that building is and how perfectly all the little stones crosses etc are set up. That was probably one of my favorite buildings I have also seen. And since Dublin is not a tall city, one major point of interest is this huge needle going straight up in the air on O'Connel Street. I have a really cool picture of looking straight up at it which will go on facebook eventually. I also went to Grafton Street, which is a huge shopping area you can just walk all over (similar to downtown crossing). I went to the Guinness Brewery and had a Guinness to drink just about every night I was in Dublin. i reeeeeeally like that beer now, I just wish it wasn't so filling and I could drink more of it at once! The Guinness Brewery also has a skybar where you can drink your complimentary Guinness and look at the entire city from up above. I also went to the famous Abbey Theatre one night and saw "The Importance of Being Ernest" by Oscar Wilde. That theatre was much smaller than HHS theatre but it was still really cute. The cast was entirely played by men, which was different to see. I also went to a lot of Pubs of course. There is this one area called Temple Bar where all the major ones near Grafton Street are. WE went to the actual Temple Bar the night of this huge futball game and it was beyond packed with people. Our friend from the hostel Marta, went with me and Jen, but she took off with this Irish guy she met. We left that bar to go find her and incidentally ran into 2 other people from our Hostel, Isabella and Nick. We hung out with them and 4 New Yorkers (going to a wedding in Scotland) the rest of the night. This had to be one of the most fun experiences of the night. We kept getting real loud and had to go to a lot of different bars. And we all sang whenever Bon Jovi or Sweet Caroline came on. We lost Jen at one point so me and one of the guys, James went outside and found her. I also made out with him, haha. He's a NY City Cop and seemed like a nice guy. We all grabbed late night Indian food and headed back to the hostel. Jen and I have already received e-mails from nick and i am about to myspace James, so we already are making new friends. One last thing, we took a day tour from Dublin and went to see the New Grange, which is a rock formation/barrial ground even older than the pyramids. It's long but worth it if you're into that sort of thing. Our last day in Dublin, we were trying to catch a cab to get to the train station, but it took over 40 minutes to do so. There was this huge hurling match between Cork and Kilkinny (Kilkinny won) and everyone came from outside the city to watch the game in all the Dublin pubs. I have never seen anything like this in all my life - it was worse than a Red Sox Yankees Game. also, the National museum has a lot of cool things too. i loved the medieval room with all the swords and the egyptian room.
Dublin in a Nutshell
Stay in a hostel if you go. You will meet amazing people from all over the world. I recommend Globetrotter's Tourist Hostel. They are nothing like American Hostels. Also, Temple Bar is one of the most amazing night spots on earth. Check out that area for the best night life around. Get into Irish sports and go to pubs/big games. It is as much of their heritage as any museum. Spend your days going to as many of the museums and monuments as you can - none of them were boring. Avoid Guinness on weekends - go to the brewery, but go during the week. you will wait in line for over an hour going down the street outside if you go on a weekend. And finally, even if you are not religious, go to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I have never seen a more beautiful building in all my life.
Cork in Detail
Cork was not as great as Dublin by any means. Everyone I met who has already been to Ireland, told me Cork was ten times more fun and beautiful than Dublin but I disagreed. I was sad to leave Dublin behind. Here we mostly did day trips outside of the city. We went to see the ring of kerry, which is some of the most beautiful earth of dublin. we saw the highest mountains in the country, the coastline, and just some of the best scenary in all of Ireland. We went to a lot of the southern cities on this tour as well such as Kilarney & kemare and some others i can't name without a map. We also went ot the blarney stone and I kissed it. Blarney castle is fun in its own too, and the Blarney mansion is pretty. It's fun to walk around there. We also went to Kinsale which is a quaint little beach town that reminded me of New England. We went to Fort Charles there, which is fun to explore. we went in some of the dark areas that were closed off, that we werent supposed because someone working there left the gates unlocked :). We actually went to Kinsale twice because we slept too late one day to see the fort.
Dork in a Nutshell
Cork is definitely worth visiting in addition to Dublin. I would not go in the winter because its a lot like Beacon Hill (with a lot of tall steep hills to climb on foot). I have a feeling that it gets hard to walk around. I also recommend seeing the Ring of Kerry, the Blarney Stone, and the Fort. The Ring of Kerry Tour we took lasted about 10 hours, and we made a lot of random stops in little towns - you may want to research your tours before you take them to make sure you don't get stuck on a really long one, if that's too much. Also, don't try to go from Dublin to Cork on the day of a big sports event, because there will be hell to pay. Everything is accessible by public transportation, so check out bus schedules before taking a tour. Also, I know nothing of night life because my roommate was sick the entire time, so that is something i know nothing about Cork (and maybe why i didnt enjoy it as much as Dublin).
Tomorrow I leave for the Netherlands, where I will be for most of the semester!
Dublin in Detail
Dublin was beyond amazing and beautiful in every way possible. At first, I didn't even want to go to Ireland because I'm not Irish, it never interested me, and I had a lot of other countries on my list I wanted to see before it. And of course that's probably why it's ended up being absolute paradise and as of now my favorite city I have ever visited. It is everything James Joyce taught us it would be...tiny buildings, narrow streets, irish pride everywhere, mostly friendly people, a lot a lot of history. I went to the writer's museum - a dedication to all of the wonderful authors who are from Ireland including Joyce, Wilde, Spencer etc. I also went to Trinity College and saw the book of Kells. If there is any sort of God, and I apply to grad school, I am going there. It was beautiful and it right in the middle of Dublin near all of the amazing pubs! Anyway, I also saw St. Patricks Cathedral, which is beautiful even if you are not into religion. I cannot explain how powerful the size of that building is and how perfectly all the little stones crosses etc are set up. That was probably one of my favorite buildings I have also seen. And since Dublin is not a tall city, one major point of interest is this huge needle going straight up in the air on O'Connel Street. I have a really cool picture of looking straight up at it which will go on facebook eventually. I also went to Grafton Street, which is a huge shopping area you can just walk all over (similar to downtown crossing). I went to the Guinness Brewery and had a Guinness to drink just about every night I was in Dublin. i reeeeeeally like that beer now, I just wish it wasn't so filling and I could drink more of it at once! The Guinness Brewery also has a skybar where you can drink your complimentary Guinness and look at the entire city from up above. I also went to the famous Abbey Theatre one night and saw "The Importance of Being Ernest" by Oscar Wilde. That theatre was much smaller than HHS theatre but it was still really cute. The cast was entirely played by men, which was different to see. I also went to a lot of Pubs of course. There is this one area called Temple Bar where all the major ones near Grafton Street are. WE went to the actual Temple Bar the night of this huge futball game and it was beyond packed with people. Our friend from the hostel Marta, went with me and Jen, but she took off with this Irish guy she met. We left that bar to go find her and incidentally ran into 2 other people from our Hostel, Isabella and Nick. We hung out with them and 4 New Yorkers (going to a wedding in Scotland) the rest of the night. This had to be one of the most fun experiences of the night. We kept getting real loud and had to go to a lot of different bars. And we all sang whenever Bon Jovi or Sweet Caroline came on. We lost Jen at one point so me and one of the guys, James went outside and found her. I also made out with him, haha. He's a NY City Cop and seemed like a nice guy. We all grabbed late night Indian food and headed back to the hostel. Jen and I have already received e-mails from nick and i am about to myspace James, so we already are making new friends. One last thing, we took a day tour from Dublin and went to see the New Grange, which is a rock formation/barrial ground even older than the pyramids. It's long but worth it if you're into that sort of thing. Our last day in Dublin, we were trying to catch a cab to get to the train station, but it took over 40 minutes to do so. There was this huge hurling match between Cork and Kilkinny (Kilkinny won) and everyone came from outside the city to watch the game in all the Dublin pubs. I have never seen anything like this in all my life - it was worse than a Red Sox Yankees Game. also, the National museum has a lot of cool things too. i loved the medieval room with all the swords and the egyptian room.
Dublin in a Nutshell
Stay in a hostel if you go. You will meet amazing people from all over the world. I recommend Globetrotter's Tourist Hostel. They are nothing like American Hostels. Also, Temple Bar is one of the most amazing night spots on earth. Check out that area for the best night life around. Get into Irish sports and go to pubs/big games. It is as much of their heritage as any museum. Spend your days going to as many of the museums and monuments as you can - none of them were boring. Avoid Guinness on weekends - go to the brewery, but go during the week. you will wait in line for over an hour going down the street outside if you go on a weekend. And finally, even if you are not religious, go to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I have never seen a more beautiful building in all my life.
Cork in Detail
Cork was not as great as Dublin by any means. Everyone I met who has already been to Ireland, told me Cork was ten times more fun and beautiful than Dublin but I disagreed. I was sad to leave Dublin behind. Here we mostly did day trips outside of the city. We went to see the ring of kerry, which is some of the most beautiful earth of dublin. we saw the highest mountains in the country, the coastline, and just some of the best scenary in all of Ireland. We went to a lot of the southern cities on this tour as well such as Kilarney & kemare and some others i can't name without a map. We also went ot the blarney stone and I kissed it. Blarney castle is fun in its own too, and the Blarney mansion is pretty. It's fun to walk around there. We also went to Kinsale which is a quaint little beach town that reminded me of New England. We went to Fort Charles there, which is fun to explore. we went in some of the dark areas that were closed off, that we werent supposed because someone working there left the gates unlocked :). We actually went to Kinsale twice because we slept too late one day to see the fort.
Dork in a Nutshell
Cork is definitely worth visiting in addition to Dublin. I would not go in the winter because its a lot like Beacon Hill (with a lot of tall steep hills to climb on foot). I have a feeling that it gets hard to walk around. I also recommend seeing the Ring of Kerry, the Blarney Stone, and the Fort. The Ring of Kerry Tour we took lasted about 10 hours, and we made a lot of random stops in little towns - you may want to research your tours before you take them to make sure you don't get stuck on a really long one, if that's too much. Also, don't try to go from Dublin to Cork on the day of a big sports event, because there will be hell to pay. Everything is accessible by public transportation, so check out bus schedules before taking a tour. Also, I know nothing of night life because my roommate was sick the entire time, so that is something i know nothing about Cork (and maybe why i didnt enjoy it as much as Dublin).
Tomorrow I leave for the Netherlands, where I will be for most of the semester!