After leaving Sligo, we got a chance to visit the grave of
W.B. Yeats, one of my very favorite poets.I couldn’t resist buying small collection of his poetry while I was there. As I was walking back to the bus, I couldn’t help but think that there is something terribly romantic about carrying a book wrapped in brown paper.
We also took a daytrip to Derry/Londonderry, a city on the border of the
Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United
Kingdom.
One of the Derry Bogside Murals
As you can imagine, the city has been a contentious place
for many years. Although the Troubles have been over for a while, we were
encouraged to stay inside the walled section of the city, which was safer.I, however, couldn’t resist wandering
outside a little to see a few of the famous Bogside murals and the newly opened peace
bridge.
We ended up our time in Ireland with a visit to Belfast. I was not expecting to like Belfast as much as I did- in
fact, we all fell in love with the place. Once categorized along with with Baghdad, Bosnia, and Beirut as one of the "4 B's" for travelers to avoid, Belfast has come alive in the past ten years.We spend a lot of time in the outdoor/quasi-indoor
Victoria’s Square as well as theQueen’s College area of town, which offered a plethora of independently
owned shops and restaurants.
Well friends, it has been yet another amazing couple of weeks over here in the British Isles! After a brief stop in Wales, the gang boarded the Jonathan Swift and set sail to Dublin. We knew the Irish Sea had a reputation for being temperamental, but we had no idea just what we were in for. The seas were REALLY, REALLY tumultuous that afternoon. The boat would fling to the left and the right- so much so that the windows would skim the ocean! It was both terrifying and unsettling. All around us, people were using their little brown bags- I just cowered into the fetal position in my chair, promptly grabbing my iPod.
So ill.
Lee and I were feeling better towards the end of our journey, so we watched the sun set from the deck as we pulled into the harbor!
Dublin was a crazy week- the city is massive and so full of life. We had a lot of work due during our time there, but we tried not to let that deter us from adventuring! The Dublin Fringe Festival was occurring the week we were there and it was a really unique experience being able to juxtapose the Fringe performances with the RSC productions of the previous week. We were encouraged to see one Fringe show of our choice during the festival. Lee, Katelyn, and I decided to see a show called Farm (I won't even try to pretend that I wasn't the one who picked that show). It was pretty weird. However, the performance did manage to make some poignant comments on the commercialized food industry that I did deeply appreciate.
In each city we visit, the joke has become to determine how much a city "loves" you depending on how many good things happen to you while you are there. Dublin didn't seem too fond of me. It turns out that literally only one ATM in the entire city would take my debit card. I'll let you all imagine how that discovery was made, 48 hours after our arrival. I wish I was exaggerating. The whole ordeal was pretty hilarious because that would happen to me. I even tried the other ATMs at that same bank, but only good old number 2 would give me the euros I so desperately needed.
After I was properly financed, I very much enjoyed all the literary history Dublin had to offer and was pleased to find that the city really celebrates the likes of Oscar Wilde, Sean O'Casey, James Joyce, and W.B. Yeats- just to name a few!
Pride of the Republic
While in Dublin, a few of us took a lovely field trip to Howth Harbor. Visiting this little sea-town has become like a quasi-pilgrimage for the different generations of the British Isles trip. Our journey was pretty hilarious- we had gotten up fairly early so we could catch the 9:30 train. We expected a quiet ride to the sea, but found a train car FULL of preteen Italian students. It was wild- so much Justin Bieber, so much angst. I am pleased to report that 8th grade relationships appear to be the same, despite the country and language. We joked the whole day about,"what if we ran into them again?" Later on, as we followed a small path along the cliffs of the town, who did we see but our Italian friends!
Waiting fot the DART...and the Italian preteens!!
Ciao Italiano!
After spending ten days in the "Dirty Dub", we headed to perhaps my favorite city so far, Galway. I loved Galway, and, let me tell you, Galway loved me right back. Galway is the perfect size and is replete with little shops, cafes, and restaurants. Not to mention, the city is right by the coast, providing plenty of gorgeous views.
While we were there, we visited the beautiful Aran Islands, accomplishing yet another one of my dreams! This was one of my favorite days so far!
Best friends
I was sad to leave Galway, but I know I will be back some day! After taking plenty of detours, Seamus, our bus driver, proceeded to drive us towards Sligo. Some of my favorite moments from the trip have been watching the Irish countryside pass by through my bus window. I can't imagine that a more beautiful place exists anywhere else in the world.
I don't really have much to say about Sligo. We only stayed one night, and we were very far from the city itself. The drive was beautiful, but this is all I saw while I was there:
Don't get me wrong though, I had a lot of fun with that statue.
After Sligo, we were off to Ballyliffin, Derry, Belfast, and many other random towns Seamus wanted to take us through!!
Some highlights: kissing the Blarney Stone, "silent disco" , Irish accents, meeting professional rugby players, continually gorgeous weather, and more varieties/ quantities of sheep than I could have ever imagined!!!!
