YOB: #8. Go To Ireland (Abridged)

By Beth

How does one go about writing a short article about a trip like Ireland? Even as short a trip as we took? Well, all I can really do is give you the highlights and try to be entertaining while I do so.

We should start by saying that I was very nervous about this trip. While Lara is an experienced international traveler and has done so on her own, I have not been on an international trip where I was the one responsible for getting me to my plane, hotel, etc. I have been overseas several times, just with family, or a group though. As we were planning this trip, it felt like there were no grown-ups going with us. Obviously Lara and I are both adults; I have 2 children, we both have good jobs and responsibilities, but somehow, I still felt as if this trip would solidify my adulthood! Lara thought I was funny. Looks aren't everything though!

I should also note that I informed Lara early on (like when we booked the airline tickets) that I don't like to fly. I'm not technically AFRAID to fly, but it's not one of my favorite things to do. I don't do it enough to have gotten used to it like my brother has (who also had flying issues). I am also not afraid to die. I have eternal security with the Lord so no worries there. I'm not saying I want to die, most certainly not! I want to live to see my great grandchildren. I do not like pain though and try to avoid it at all costs. This is difficult since I am balance challenged, and uncoordinated and sometimes just plain stupid. I get hurt a lot and while I have a pretty high pain threshold, I still don't like pain. Who does?

These issues with flying started about halfway to Japan several years ago. It was my second time going to teach English over there and the flight was very bumpy. At one point, it felt like the plane was falling. For about 15 seconds. That's not really long, I know, but imagine being in a plane that is falling for that long. Yeah. I was white-knuckle the rest of the trip. At that point (and throughout every flight I've taken since) my prayer is not simply "Dear Lord, keep me safe." It's more like "Dear Lord, if it's my time, make it quick." Lara knew all this before we met at the airport on November 24 and she still wanted to travel with me. That's a true friend right there!

I have to say that for the most part, I handled things pretty well. I didn't want to get kicked off the plane, or annoy Lara too much! And considering we had to take off and land three times before we got to Dublin (there were high winds when we were supposed to land in Dublin and we were forced to land in Shannon and sit on the plane for about 2 hours) I think I should be congratulated!

So let's get to the actual trip part. Getting to the hostel was an adventure. The bus stops aren't announced in any way on Dublin busses and we (Lara) was forced to ask the surly driver to tell us when we got to Aungier St. He did, but was really annoyed about it.

The hostel was a pleasant surprise. Clean, bunk beds (I took the top), free internet and centrally located. We were able to get in to our room right away even though it was before 2 pm. I went to the desk to ask for a hair dryer. The French guy there was slightly dazed. Made me give him my drivers license. From PA. In the USA. Then I could take the hair dryer but I had to bring it back and repeat this process each time I wanted to use it. We learned very quickly that the French guy really wasn't the best choice to get information out of. I eventually found a way to keep the hair dryer for the extent of our stay, no thanks to the French guy.

Our first touristy stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral. I'd never been and it was just around the corner from the hostel. We walked over a block or two and through what we thought was the entrance gate. Turned out to be the parking lot to a police station. Good to know it was so close. Back out of the lot, we found the correct entrance. It looked kind of abandoned. I was scared to open the doors. Lara is way braver than me and we went inside. Words cannot describe the beauty of St. Patrick's. We spent a good hour there. I found some cool doors (I'll need to photshop the exit signs out of the pictures I got though), experimented with the backlight feature on my camera, and determined that when I marry Sean Bean, it will be here.

On to the next highlight! The Book of Kells! This is an 8th century illuminated manuscript, containing the four gospels in Latin, transcribed by Celtic monks. I have seen it before but as the pages are only turned once every three months, it's safe to say I hadn't seen this particular page. This time I took the time to read all the intro stuff on the walls leading into the room where the Book of Kells was. I learned a great deal, which will become important later on. After studying the book for a while we headed up to the Old Library. This is my fantasy library; with its high ceilings, spiral staircases and shelves upon shelves of ancient books! Since we were not allowed to take pictures, I bought a postcard.

Dvblinia was the next...erm...lowlight of the tour. And, no, that is not a typo. As I learned in the halls leading up to the Book of Kells, the Viking alphabet did not contain the letters U or W. Just V. Dvblinia was a cheesey, 3rd grade field trip kind of place showing the arrival and life of the Vikings in Dublin. Throughout the "museum" we learned about "Body odour, bed bugs and fleas", "Death, disease and the Church", "Religious cures" and that casual violence was a problem linked to the universal carrying of knives. We were also stuck behind a group of rowdy school boys. One of my favorite parts was the death cart. "Bring out yer dead!" We got some good shots of Flat Stanley on a Viking bed here. And we colored our names in "viking" which looked very similar to the runes in the Hobbit. Hmmm...This was, however, the only place I could persuade Boromir out of my purse. He was surly the whole trip, due to the fact that his memories of Ireland include his brother, Patrick who was killed by Jack Ryan. And please don't try and tell me that I'm getting my characters mixed up, Boromir=Sean Bean, Sean Bean=Sean Miller (Patriot Games).

Dublin Castle was difficult to find, as it really doesn't exist too much anymore. It was pretty. That's about all I have to say.

Glendalough was probably the biggest highlight of our trip. I loved it in the summer when everything is green and lush. In winter, though, it is hauntingly beautiful. Plus, ours was the only tour group there so I got much better pictures. No people! We took the path less traveled and saw a goat, about 6 feet from the path, turned away from us. We chirped at it to make it turn around so we could get a picture of its face. Yeah, we chirped at a goat, a big goat, with horns.

Also at Glendalough, Lara found what would have been her praying rock had she been a monk-ette with St. Kevin in the 6th century. Yeah, cause women's lib had reached the monasteries by then. We saw a lonely tree, or possibly a tree having a time out. It was cold and my shoes were not holding up too well.

In Kilkenny, I bought new shoes. Mine had completely fallen apart. We also had some killer soup, served by a flustered waiter. With nice arms! The pub we ate used to be the home of Alice Kyteler, witch. On the way to Kilkenny we stopped at a giant rock. No, really. The bus pulled over (you should note that this is the only group tour we took, everything else we did on our own) at the Browns Hill Dolmen Visitors Car Park. We walked about a mile away from the rock, then for about another mile parallel to the rock, then finally a mile straight towards the rock. (All in broken shoes I might add, since this happened before we got to Kilkenny and the Irish version of WalMart, Dunnes.) Why you ask? I believe it's a government experiment. Put up a fancy sign, make the longest possible pathway to get to the main attraction and see how many stupid tourists would actually come and take pictures of a bunch of rocks.     

Kilmainham Gaol must be mentioned. Not a fun place to go but a lot of history there. Somber is the correct word I think. I could write an entire article on that jail, so many political prisoners were held and/or executed there. To honor those brave souls who died here we posed with Flat Stanley in some cells. Ben loved it. Did you know there's a U2 music video that was filmed there? I haven't googled to find out which one yet.

OK, we are coming to the end. Just a few more things to mention. The maps we had were not drawn to scale. We walked to Kilmainham Gaol, on the map it didn't look too far as compared with how far other landmarks were. It took us an hour and a half! We discovered that the scale of the map changes when you leave central Dublin. Luckily I had my new shoes on, otherwise Lara might have killed me to make things easier.

Several times throughout the trip, I found myself looking the wrong way before stepping off the curb to cross the street. For the most part we stuck to corners with lights but the miniature store that we discovered about a block from the hostel was too much a temptation. There was no traffic that my American eyes could see, I ran, and nearly got run over by a taxi. Think maybe I'll stick to corners permanently!

This very short article can in no way capture the mood, memories and hilarity of the trip. I have left many things out, maybe Lara will write about them. I would encourage anyone to travel to Ireland, or if you can't, check out my pictures and Lara's on facebook. Happy travels!

Comments

[Lara]

You're going to marry Sean Bean in St. Patrick's? Good to know. I'll start saving for a ticket now.