As soon as I blogged about how bad the summer weather is in Western Ireland, Galway enjoyed its sunniest day this year -- a beautiful Thursday filled with sunshine, rarely a cloud in the sky, and temperatures around 18-20 degrees (about 70). My cousin and I sat outside at The Quays in Galway, drinking Guinness and basking in the sun.
Then the rain returned on Friday. And Saturday.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
My Travel Map
Damon and I updated our Trip Advisor travel maps today. It's really cool to get this perspective of all the places I've visited back in the States, as well as in Europe. But when we looked at an atlas of the entire globe, it reminded us of this: We have so many more continents to visit. Hopefully in the next couple of years, we can see Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and South America.
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- Paris, France
- Rome, Italy
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Las Vegas, NV, USA
- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Galway, Ireland
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
- View my profile
- Create your own travel map or travel blog
- Visit TripAdvisor.com
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The Final Tourist To Do List
The clock is ticking. We have less than two months left before we return to California and tons of places in Ireland still left to discover.
Here's our list of must-see places we've yet to visit (in order of priority):
1) Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
2) Skellig Michael, County Kerry
3) Slieve League Cliffs, Carrick, County Donegal
4) Aran Islands (again -- first time wasn't enough)
5) Connemara National Park hike up one of the Twelve Bens
6) Galway Irish Crystal Heritage Centre
We've decided to scrap plans to visit Waterford, Wicklow or Wexford on the east coast. Simply not enough time left. I was hoping to watch a horse racing event in Tipperary or Galway, but Damon's not keen on it, nor does he fancy taking a cruise on the Lough Corrib. If we can squeeze in another island trip near County Galway, maybe we'll go to Inishbofin or Clare islands.
Here's our list of must-see places we've yet to visit (in order of priority):
1) Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
2) Skellig Michael, County Kerry
3) Slieve League Cliffs, Carrick, County Donegal
4) Aran Islands (again -- first time wasn't enough)
5) Connemara National Park hike up one of the Twelve Bens
6) Galway Irish Crystal Heritage Centre
We've decided to scrap plans to visit Waterford, Wicklow or Wexford on the east coast. Simply not enough time left. I was hoping to watch a horse racing event in Tipperary or Galway, but Damon's not keen on it, nor does he fancy taking a cruise on the Lough Corrib. If we can squeeze in another island trip near County Galway, maybe we'll go to Inishbofin or Clare islands.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Adventure #28: Cousin Bruce visits Ireland
My cousin Bruce from Kansas visited us this past week. While Damon worked, Bruce and I spent our days touring Ireland. (Damon broke away to sightsee with us on the weekend.) Here are some of the places we visited:
Aillwee Caves
This was a new destination in The Burren I'd never visited; very cool caves, great butter-cream fudge in the farmhouse shop and amazing birds of prey exhibit. We also had lunch at a tavern near the Burren Smokehouse; instead of eating salmon, we opted for our first plate of bangers and mash.
Cliffs of Moher
We got lucky this day -- some rain but low winds -- we visited the Cliffs after our cave tour.
Ring of Kerry
Damon drove us south for our weekend getaway; we spent one night at a B&B in Kenmare, near the Ring of Kerry, hoping to catch one of the boats to Michael Skellig Island on Sunday, but no luck. The waves were too high. I was very bummed not to see the puffin birds on the island. We enjoyed some great food and Irish music at the pubs in Kenmare on Saturday night. This time, our drive through Moll's Gap afforded us sweeping views of the valley and lakes below.
Clifden, John d'Arcy Castle and Aughnanure Castle
The infamous crappy weather of Ireland hampered our journey that day. Our jeans got soggy hiking out to John d'Arcy Castle; we turned back and sipped on hot chocolate at the boathouse restaurant near the docks. We had to skip the John d'Arcy monument due to rain and low visibility. We also snapped some photos of Kylemore Abbey on the way home.
Ross Errilly Friary
Some of the coolest ruins in all of Ireland -- well-preserved and only 30 minutes from Galway.
Dublin
We drank pints of Guinness at the Gravity Bar above the Guinness Storehouse, then went to the Jameson's distillery and drank whiskey at the bar -- the best place on the planet to drink Guinness and Jameson's, respectively.
Galway
Another highlight of the trip was simply hanging out in Galway. We watched musicians at Tig Coili, a famous pub here. Here's a video of musicians at Tig Coili. We also ate fish & chips at McDonagh's in Galway.
Aillwee Caves
This was a new destination in The Burren I'd never visited; very cool caves, great butter-cream fudge in the farmhouse shop and amazing birds of prey exhibit. We also had lunch at a tavern near the Burren Smokehouse; instead of eating salmon, we opted for our first plate of bangers and mash.
Cliffs of Moher
We got lucky this day -- some rain but low winds -- we visited the Cliffs after our cave tour.
Ring of Kerry
Damon drove us south for our weekend getaway; we spent one night at a B&B in Kenmare, near the Ring of Kerry, hoping to catch one of the boats to Michael Skellig Island on Sunday, but no luck. The waves were too high. I was very bummed not to see the puffin birds on the island. We enjoyed some great food and Irish music at the pubs in Kenmare on Saturday night. This time, our drive through Moll's Gap afforded us sweeping views of the valley and lakes below.
Clifden, John d'Arcy Castle and Aughnanure Castle
The infamous crappy weather of Ireland hampered our journey that day. Our jeans got soggy hiking out to John d'Arcy Castle; we turned back and sipped on hot chocolate at the boathouse restaurant near the docks. We had to skip the John d'Arcy monument due to rain and low visibility. We also snapped some photos of Kylemore Abbey on the way home.
Ross Errilly Friary
Some of the coolest ruins in all of Ireland -- well-preserved and only 30 minutes from Galway.
Dublin
We drank pints of Guinness at the Gravity Bar above the Guinness Storehouse, then went to the Jameson's distillery and drank whiskey at the bar -- the best place on the planet to drink Guinness and Jameson's, respectively.
Galway
Another highlight of the trip was simply hanging out in Galway. We watched musicians at Tig Coili, a famous pub here. Here's a video of musicians at Tig Coili. We also ate fish & chips at McDonagh's in Galway.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Cigarette warnings in Europe
The EU seems to have taken the shock-value approach to anti-smoking campaigns. They've made sure that each box of cigarettes is plastered with a clear message: Smoking kills. I didn't really notice how graphic their anti-smoking advertising/warning campaigns were until I saw some cartons of Kents at the Duty-Free Shop in Turkey. Is this only happening in Europe or has this more-aggressive tactic to curb smoking caught on the States too?
I hope it does...enough with sugar-coating it and saying wimpy statements along the lines of "smoking is harmful to your health."
I hope it does...enough with sugar-coating it and saying wimpy statements along the lines of "smoking is harmful to your health."
Why all the Apologies?
I'm convinced that the most-used words in the Irish vocabulary are as follows:
1) bye
2) sorry
3) hiya (or how'erya)
4) pint
5) feck (or fuck)
6) cheers
Here's my rationale:
Bye -- bye is the most-used word in Ireland (or at least County Galway) because most Irish don't say "bye" once: they say it at least three times with each farewell.
Sorry -- the word that truly inspired this blog post...I'm not quite sure why the Irish feel the need to apologize for, well, almost everything. Sorry is used when you bump into someone, when you want to get past someone blocking your way, when you can't hear or understand someone, when you want to get someone's attention quickly, when you are actually sorry or when you aren't sure what else to say, "sorry" is usually the most appropriate word. They don't say "pardon me," "excuse me," "could you repeat that?" etc, etc. Yes, I do realize that "sorry" is just politeness here, the Irish aren't really apologizing, but it's really cute to witness it from the American perspective. Why do the Irish have to be so kind all the time? I love their warm spirits, but if you're not in the wrong, is there really any reason to accept the blame? I'll have to wean myself off this habit when I return to the States, or everyone will be looking at me strangely.
Hiya - the smile "hi" or "hello" just aren't that common here. Greetings need to include a warm inquiry into the other person's wellbeing, such as "Hi, how'erya?" -- which is really pronounced as more of a run-on word.
Pint - no explanation needed. This is the land of Guinness, the place where keg-truck driver is a highly skilled, sought-after and highly demanded employment position.
Feck - this swear word is like our usage of "damn" or "shit." Think of it as the ketchup in your vocabulary, if every other word was a French fry.
Cheers - from what I can tell, "cheers" means "goodbye" and "thank you." Talk about word economy. Plus it can also be used for toasts (but I think this is more common in the States.) Love this word.
1) bye
2) sorry
3) hiya (or how'erya)
4) pint
5) feck (or fuck)
6) cheers
Here's my rationale:
Bye -- bye is the most-used word in Ireland (or at least County Galway) because most Irish don't say "bye" once: they say it at least three times with each farewell.
Sorry -- the word that truly inspired this blog post...I'm not quite sure why the Irish feel the need to apologize for, well, almost everything. Sorry is used when you bump into someone, when you want to get past someone blocking your way, when you can't hear or understand someone, when you want to get someone's attention quickly, when you are actually sorry or when you aren't sure what else to say, "sorry" is usually the most appropriate word. They don't say "pardon me," "excuse me," "could you repeat that?" etc, etc. Yes, I do realize that "sorry" is just politeness here, the Irish aren't really apologizing, but it's really cute to witness it from the American perspective. Why do the Irish have to be so kind all the time? I love their warm spirits, but if you're not in the wrong, is there really any reason to accept the blame? I'll have to wean myself off this habit when I return to the States, or everyone will be looking at me strangely.
Hiya - the smile "hi" or "hello" just aren't that common here. Greetings need to include a warm inquiry into the other person's wellbeing, such as "Hi, how'erya?" -- which is really pronounced as more of a run-on word.
Pint - no explanation needed. This is the land of Guinness, the place where keg-truck driver is a highly skilled, sought-after and highly demanded employment position.
Feck - this swear word is like our usage of "damn" or "shit." Think of it as the ketchup in your vocabulary, if every other word was a French fry.
Cheers - from what I can tell, "cheers" means "goodbye" and "thank you." Talk about word economy. Plus it can also be used for toasts (but I think this is more common in the States.) Love this word.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Almost time to check out
Damon booked our one-way tickets home to California for early September. I scheduled an appointment with the movers today for the end of August. We can't believe the end is finally near. Ten months have already passed since we embarked on this one-year journey to discover life in Ireland.
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