Alfred

Monday was a chill day. The Crazy Lady and I spent the morning running errands which included raiding the local plant nursery. We got some nice flowers and I picked out a packet of pea pods. I planted my pea pods and left the planter next to the cherry tomatoes that I planted earlier in the week (just in case they got lonely). I checked on them this morning but I see no signs of life. *Sigh* Gardening is nice but I'm not sure that I'm cut out for it...
I went to Lori's for dinner. When I got there she was giving Buzzy a bath, he seemed to enjoy himself and Lori got a bonus a shower in the process. After bath time we had some dinner, chicken soup and rice. Yum! Buzzy ate some of his soup and then decided that the "big people dinner" looked MUCH tastier. He desperately tried to get us to share with him but then got distracted by some rouge crunchies that had fallen on the couch.
After dinner we sat around waiting for Buzzy to get tired, this took longer than expected as he seems to have energy levels akin to an energizer bunny. He finally calmed down and Lori managed to get him to sleep.
We spent the rest of the evening watching Gilmore Girls and eating desserts. Z came home from school and was kind enough to drive me home.

Yesterday was a fun day. I made some pumpkin pie spice and spent the morning experimenting in the kitchen with it.
Later in the afternoon, The Carzy Lady and I went to visit my grandparents. Lori&co were there to and we spent a few hours looking through boxes and trying to organize stuff. We managed to clear out two boxes and acquired lots of goodies in the process(coloring books, fuzzy friends and all other sorts of things!).
It was lots of fun and I hope that we can do it again soon!

Today is looking to be a lazy day. I'm heading over to the Freddie's later today but the day is young, I guess we'll see what happens..

News on the fishie front:
I regret to inform you that both of the big fishies have passed away. Baruch dayan emet. :(

Operation Save The Fishies

Shabbos was fun. Friday night dinner was delicious, my mom made pastel (meat pie) which we haven't had in ages! We opened a bottle of my favorite wine and sat around eating and talking until The Little Munchkin got tired and the Freddie's headed to bed.

Lori&co came for lunch along with a friend that what staying by them. Good times were had by all and I ate way too much food.
We had some visitors and played a game of settlers while the little munchkins napped.
When everyone was awake we went to the big park on the hill to have some fun. We went down slides, climbed up ladders, hung out on the swings, ate some snacks and ran around in circles until we got tired.
Lori&co waved goodbye and headed back to the other side of town while the Freddie's and I made our way back to the sun house.
We found some more snacks and then played a game of phase 10 until shabbos ended.
After havdala the Freddie's headed home and we ate some leftover chicken soup with rice for dinner.

This morning I went to the doctor and got the flu shot so now I'm prepared to face the winter. Bring on the cold weather and torrential downpours!Wooo!

On a sad note, the pump in our pond stopped working a while ago and the effect has begun to take its toll on the poor fishies residing in the pond. As of this morning the death count was up to two fishies leaving only three survivors behind. At around 3:30pm I noticed that the pump had claimed another life but when my mother went to find it, it had disappeared. We found it under one of the plants and realized that it was "not quite dead yet". The situation was becoming unbearable and we realized that we had to act fast if we were to rescue the survivors.
We fished them out of the murky waters and dropped them into a glass salad bowl.

Save the fishies!!!

The Crazy Lady found an empty rubbermaid container which we hauled down to the basement bathroom to fill with water for the poor souls.
Despite my fathers request that we turn the fish into dinner we dropped them into their new rubbermaid home and waited to see what would happen.
As of half an hour ago they are doing much better, The Crazy Lady reports that all three fish are swimming around and that they seem happy in their new home.

Just in case you were wondering, the fish do not have names! There are two big fish (one with a long tail and one with a short tail) as well as a baby fish that mysteriously appeared in the pond earlier this year.
We have had them (except for the baby) for around 8-9 years and I have no idea why my father is so keen on turning them into breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I can't say that I know them well as I don't spend much time in the backyard, but they seem like pretty decent fish to me.

Imaginary Friends

Election day turned out to be more fun than I thought it would be. After we voted, Timmy and I met up with Lori&co at the park on the hill. Lori brought her big fancy camera and let me play around with it for a while. I'm not exactly an expert (ok so a lot of the photos were way over exposed and I sometimes forget to take off the lens cap) but I managed to get some pretty nice shots.

I may not be an expert photographer but I'm good at photobombing. :)

 We all ran around the park like lunatics until we got tired and then headed back to the fambily house for some dinner. I made crockpot pineapple chicken which tasted pretty good (despite the fact that I forgot to cut the chicken breasts into slices before cooking it). It started to get late and Buzzy was getting sleepy so we said goodbye to Lori&co and everyone headed to bed.

Wednesday morning Lori and Z dropped Buzz off and went out to run some errands. Buzzy watched The Aristocats with The Crazy Lady while I made some vegetable soup for lunch.
Lori&co came to pick Buzzy up and I decided to try and finish organizing my room. I moved some of the furniture around and then The Mad Man and Z helped me hang up some hooks for my coats. I also went through all of my old high school notes and managed to clear off a couple of shelves.It took most of the afternoon but I think that it was worth it. The room looks much bigger now and I was able to put away a lot of books that had been living on my desk.
Lori&co stayed for dinner again, we enjoyed some delicious meatballs and spaghetti.

Late last night one of the outdoor cats (Passi) passed away. She was a cat whose nine lives served her well and long. Honestly, she hasn't been looking so great since last winter and I'm relieved that she's not in pain anymore. She's hanging out up in kitty heaven now eating "meals on wheels" and chatting with her old friends.
Frank and The Mad Man laid her to rest in a nice spot under the pomelo tree in the backyard.

After the "service" for the cat, The Crazy Lady and I did some gardening work on the roof. The plants needed a little help after our two week vacation. Weeds were pulled and plants were trimmed. I pretended to plant some cherry tomatoes but I'm not sure if they'll actually grow (I didn't actually sprout the seeds or anything, just stuck them in some dirt and hoped for the best...).
Grocery shopping was next on the list so The Crazy Lady and I headed over to Shufersal to find some chickens for shabbos. We didn't need much so it didn't take us long to get back home.
We made some FF pizza for lunch and then I went up to my tower to get some stuff done.

I noticed a spider on my wall and spent twenty minutes or so suspiciously eyeing it. As I worked I sort of got used to the little critter. I named him Greg and made sure to check on him every once in a while. After a while it became evident that good ol' Greg wasn't moving around very much. I thought that he might be taking a nap but upon further investigation I discovered that Greg was not a spider, but a scratch from when they were taking apart my old bed.
I figured that I had probably been staring at the computer screen for too long so I got up and went to walk the dog.
It's almost time for dinner so I should probably go help The Crazy Lady out. The Freddies are coming for shabbos and Lori&co are supposed to be coming for lunch. It's gonna be a full house!!

Smuggling Tools

The Little Munchkin has been sick for the past few days. Despite the fact that she was sick she seemed to have more than enough energy to run around like a lunatic.

Sunday evening The Mad Man (my dad) and Frank drove over to the Freddie's with my old bed. The Mad Man, Frank and Mr. Freddie schlepped the bed upstairs and put together in The Munchkins room. After the hard labor we celebrated with soup and other snacks before sending The Mad Man and Frank on their merry way.

Monday morning Freddie, The Munchkin and I hung out together. We went grocery shopping, did some cleaning and made a BIG (delicious) lunch. The morning seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was two in the afternoon. Freddie got ready for work while The Little Munchkin and I got ready for the park. We said goodbye to Freddie as she headed towards the hospital and then continued going straight towards the park. It was a little hot out but The Little Munchkin didn't mind, she ran up the steps and slid down all the slides. After half an hour or so of fun she started getting tired so we headed back to the apartment and tried to take a nap. 

The Little Munchkin vehemently opposed to the whole napping idea and instead spent an hour singing and playing in her crib until at last I came to rescue her. Excited about being free she ran around in circles before asking me to put Curious George on for her. We got some snacks and then settled in to watch Curious George monkey around (they put up some new episodes since last time I watched her so I had plenty of episodes to catch up on). 

Mr. Freddie came home from work and dropped me off at the train station. The Mad Man had forgotten his tools the night before and the security guard seemed slightly puzzled by the fact that I appeared to be carrying a hammer, screwdriver and wrench with me. He gave me a funny look and I told him that I liked to be prepared for any/all situations. He nodded and handed me my bag. 

The first train was pretty empty and I had a four seater all to myself. I amused myself by watching the people outside the window, I noticed a guy running for the train and began to chant "run forest run" under my breath. The guy made the train and sat down opposite me, I looked up and noticed that his shirt said "run forest run".

I laughed, the guy looked confused.

The next train was a little more crowded but I managed to snag a seat anyways. The Mad Man picked me up from the train station (I think he felt bad about making me carry the tools home).

I was pretty tuckered out but my new bed still hadn't come, the delivery guy called and said he would come at ten. 

At 10:40 the delivery guy pulled up and started to unload the bed. It was schlepped up to my tower and took all of 10 minutes to assemble (no screws needed). I was a little worried that it wouldn't fit into the space where the other bed had been but it fits perfectly. 

The bed is much lower than my other bed so everything is at a funny angle and the mattress is much thicker and bouncier. It took a little getting used to but I got a good nights sleep so I think it will work out just fine.

Today we elect a new mayor for our city, it's my first time voting for mayor so I'm pretty excited. 

Other than that there are grocery stores to raid and errands to run. It's gonna be a busy day!

Wiggly Wiggly

We made it home from Frankfurt early Wednesday morning. After making a racket with our suitcases and waking up half the neighborhood we decided that it was time for bed.

When we awoke a few hours later it was business as usual, The Dibble and Frank went to school and mounds of laundry needed to be sorted through. 

At 3ish Lori&co showed up, we regaled them with tales and showered them with presents. I started to get hungry and went to scavenge for food but was not overly successful so we decided that a trip to the grocery store was in order.

Lori&co needed some things as well so we all headed over to shufersal for an adventure. Lori , Z and my parents tried to shop as Buzz and I ran amok through the isles. I helped Lori do self checkout (mainly because I love pressing all the buttons), I waved goodbye as they left the store and then headed back to the produce section to annoy my parents. Back at their car, Lori&co had offered to give a lift to a neighbor that lives a few blocks over from us. They piled into the car and began their drive when the neighbor said "wait! I thought I saw your sister in the store with you...?" Lori replied that I had in fact been in the store with them and then continued to stare out the window as if everything was fine. The neighbor looked slightly confused and asked "but why are you leaving her there?". Lori thought about it for a minute before realizing that the neighbor hadn't seen our parents and therefore thought that they were abandoning me in the supermarket. She laughed and then explained the that my parents were still there and that they would drive me home. The neighbor nodded and let out a sigh of relief before turning back to the window.

Thursday was a busy day. In the morning my parents and I went up to the rama so that I could pick out a new bed. The bed that I'm currently sleeping on is a kids bed that we had made when we first bought our house in bet shemesh which was originally intended to be a vacation home. Everyone else grew out of their beds and got upgraded to sapapas (sort of like a sofa bed) but being the shorty of the house it never seemed worth it to buy me a new bed until Freddie asked if we could move it to their new apartment for The Little Munchkin to sleep on. 

I tried out a bunch of mattresses before settling on a nice one that promises to make you feel like "you're sleeping in another world". I'm not sure which world it's supposed to be taking me to but it seemed pretty comfy so I suppose I'll just sort of go with it...

When we got home I ate some lunch and then headed out to Jerusalem to meet my friend Sea. 

Sea started university this past Sunday (woooo) we went to the central bus station to change her bus card to a student card (because students get a discount). We went in and looked at the number on her ticket, 956. We looked up at the sign next to the door, the number 526 stared back at us. This was gonna take a while. We left the central bus station and walked around for an hour, when we checked the screen again it had moved up to 620. Dejected, we went to the food court and got some fries to snack on. We found a bench to sit on in a more or less secluded area and waited another hour and a half before heading back to the office. This time the number was at 915, we were so close! Another 40 minutes went by before her number came up. We pushed through the mob at the doorway and sat down by the desk. Changing the card took a whopping 5 minutes and we pushed our way out and then left the bus station. 

Sea walked me to my stop and waited for the bus to come before crossing the street to catch her bus. The ride took a while but I put my headphones in and drifted off for most of the ride.

Friday was full of cooking, shouting and cleaning. Dinner was simple (soup and stew) but delicious. The Crazy Lady and I were both still recovering from our adventures and decided to go to bed early.

Today was fun,we had a quiet lunch and I walked over to Lori's in the late afternoon.

Tomorrow I'm going to visit the Freddie's and hang out with The Little Munchkin. They moved into their new apartment while I was away so I'm pretty excited to check it out. 

Updates and stuffs: I know I missed out a couple of days due to lack of internet access. I'm working on filling them in! I added photos to some of the posts and uploaded a post for October 10th. Hopefully I'll have it all filled in by the end of the week so don't forget to keep checking back for updates!

Frankfart

Hello from Frankfurt! The Crazy Lady and I made it through the ginormous airport and security and are now waiting by the gate. 

Today had been exhausting.... The flight from Dublin to Frankfurt went by smoothly, there were no delays or cancellations and our suitcases (somehow) weren't overweight. 

We arrived in Frankfurt a couple of hours ago but our gate was closed so we found some seats and waited for them to open the gate. 

A mob of Israelis formed around the gate and they eventually started to let us through security which was quite extensive and stressful.

We were supposed to board the plane at 6:25 but it's nearly 7 and the plane is nowhere in sight. 

I hope it comes soon!!!! I can't wait to get back to the holy land!!!!! 

Recalculating

Hello! I hope you haven't missed me too much... I'm back in Dublin at the Carlton Airport Hotel and thankfully they actually have (free) wifi!!!! WOOOO!!!!!As you may recall from my last post, I've been living wifi-free for the past week or so (which is why I haven't been updating). It's been fun being MIA for the past few days but I won't pretend that I wasn't overjoyed when I discovered that the hotel had free wifi.Today we drove from Doolin back to Dublin, the drive took about three and half hours and was exhausting. After finding the hotel (no thanks to the willful GPS) we dragged our luggage up to our room and then headed back out to return our little red car.The car rental place was easy to find and it took under five minutes to return the car. We hopped onto the shuttle (which we assumed would magically take us back to our hotel) and ended up at the airport. After much deliberation and instructions from a nice stranger, we found the shuttle that took us back to the hotel. Now we're sitting in our hotel room eating potato chips and getting ready for tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 12pm tomorrow and after a four hour stopover in Frankfurt lands in Israel at 1am Wednesday morning. I definitely enjoyed the last two weeks but I think that I'm ready to go home. :)This is just a quickie update to let you know that I haven't abandoned you! Don't forget to check back for more updates wherein we travel through the Atlantic ocean in a tiny boat, explore Galway, storm the Bunratty castle and are serenaded by a cow next door from dusk till dawn.

Bunratty Castle and Folk Park

Shabbos was cold. We closed all the doors that we could and confined ourselves to the living room where we spent the day reading and drinking lukewarm tea from the thermos that we had filled before lighting our candles. We briefly considered going on a walk but decided against it after looking at the overcast sky through the window.

Sunday we headed over to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. When we arrived at the park we were greeted by two huge Irish wolfhounds. The Crazy Lady asked if she could pet them and the trainer told her that they only ate one tourist a day and had already had their allotment so she was free to pet as much as she wanted.
We pet the pups and then went to find the castle.

The castle was built and destroyed a bunch of times before the current structure was built/extensively restored some time in the 19th century and is the most complete and authentically restored castle in Ireland.

The park also has many different types of cottages to show how people would have lived based on their jobs and status. There are houses from all over the country, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary, Clare and County Mayo.

Most of the houses had little fires in the fireplaces and people in costume to tell you about how life would have been. You can watch them churn butter, bake bread and apple tart all of which the visitors are welcome to eat (although The Crazy Lady and I decided against it).

After the cottages there is a 19th century village complete with school, doctors house, pawn shop, grocery store, post office, (some other stuff that I can't remember) and pub.

The school house.

Sneaking behind the counter at the post office (there was no sign saying NOT to go behind the counter....)

Some of the stores have actual shops in them where you can buy pottery, sweater and all sorts of souvenirs. The pub at the end of the street called MacNamaras is a fully functioning bar where you can stop in to eat and have a pint.

When we had visited all the different parts of the park we looked around for something else to do (since it was still pretty early) but due to the fact that it was Sunday, lots of stuff was closed. We headed back to Doolin and started to pack stuff up since we were heading back to Dublin in the morning.
We got in to bed for a good nights sleep treasuring the silence of the little cottage. A couple of minutes after we got into bed The Crazy Lady came into my room and asked me if I had heard the funny noise from outside. I said that I hadn't so she went back into her room.
I was lying in bed trying to figure out what she was talking about when I heard it, we conferred and determined that it was probably a cow.
Happy to have solved the mystery, we went to sleep hoping that the cow would follow suit.

Galavanting In Galway

For Fridays adventure we decided to drive up to Galway. We drove through the beautiful scenery of The Burren for about forty minutes before coming to a sign saying "Corkscrew Hill". It wasn't hard to  see where the name had originated from as we made our way down the sharp curves of the mountain. Despite the intense curves and my mothers fear of heights, everything seemed to be going smoothly. As we rounded one of the curves we saw a sign warning us that the edge of the road was unstable. Thankfully it was a one way street and there wouldn't be anyone coming from the opposite direction, right? Wrong!

The man in the car coming at us smiled reassuringly and after a slight panic we were somehow able to pass him and escape unscathed. 

We made it to Galway alive and found a place to park the car.

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, a lot of the National museums in Ireland have free admission. The museums are a great way to learn about the city that you're in and about the country in general. We found the museum and spent an hour or so looking at the exhibits. After the museum we walked into the town and walked around for a while.

It was a Friday afternoon and there was lots to do for Shabbos so we decided to head back to Doolin before it started getting late.
We made a quick stop at the Galway Bay on our way to pick up the car.

There was a nice big Supervalu in Galway, we stopped to pick up some veggies and stuff for Shabbos and then drove back up Corkscrew Hill and on to Doolin.

Back at our cottage we started to get stuff ready to go in the oven. I found some ground almonds in the store and made a batch of snickerdoodle cookies for dessert. The oven was slightly uncooperative and some of the cookies were a tad under baked while others managed to get slightly overdone but they tasted good anyways. 

We set the table with our best dishes (plastic kid plates from Ikea and foil tin-pan bowls) and got ready to enjoy a relaxing Shabbos. 

The Aran Islands

On Thursday we decided to set out to the Aran Islands which are a 30 minute boat ride away from the Doolin pier. The boat was on the smaller side and by the time we got on the seats outside were full. We sat down on the benches inside and waited for the boat to start moving.

The ride started out fine but after fifteen minutes or so I started to feel a bit queasy. I looked outside and noticed an empty bench, I staggered over to it and sat down. It was a relief to be in the fresh air but I couldn't help but wonder why the bench had been abandoned. The reason soon became apparent when the boat lurched and I was treated to a refreshing spray torrential downpour of ocean water. The Crazy Lady gave me a slightly horrified look before collapsing into a fit of giggles. The rest of the boat ride passed by with me clinging to the railing trying not to barf while the rowdy group of guys next to me sang drinking songs in a foreign language with much enthusiasm.

The boat ride eventually came to end and we stepped off the boat and onto the island. I found a bench and sat down on it, waiting for the ground to stop wobbling under my feet. Meanwhile,  The Crazy Lady made arrangements for one of the locals to take us on a tour of the island in his horse drawn cart.

We saw the Galway Boat Wreck, the islands lake and the ruins of a castle before being dropped off outside of the islands pub.

The pub was cute and warm, we sat there for a while and had some tea to escape the harsh winds outside. Before we left the pub we asked the bartender for suggestions on what else we should see while on the island.
Bartender: Have you seen the boat wreck?
Us: Ya.
Bartender: Have you seen the lake?
Us: Uh, ya.
Bartender: Castle ruins?
Us: Yep.
Bartender: Well then, you're all set. :)
Us: Eh?
Bartender: Hahahaha! You girls have seen everything.
Us: Oh. Uhh, bye then!
Bartender: Bye!

Armed with our new information we set off to find somewhere to eat our lunch.We found some rocks overlooking the ocean and sat down to eat. The strong winds whisked away a bunch of our lettuce but lunch was otherwise enjoyable.

We walked back to the docks and got on a boat to take us back to Doolin via the Cliffs Of Moher (which added another hour and half to the journey). The boat ride back was much more enjoyable, I didn't get seasick and the cliffs were pretty cool.

The rowdy bunch that had been on the boat with us on the way to the islands resumed their drinking songs and everyone seemed to enjoy the ride (and entertainment).

Uncooperative Wifi

Yesterday we visited the Killarney National Park. We took a tour through the Muckross House, hiked up to the Torc waterfall and then walked back to the other side of the park along the side of the lake

Torc waterfall

One of the lakes of Killarney

When we returned to our lodge we discovered that the wifi (which hadn't exactly been working since we got there) was completely disconnected while they were trying to fix it. We vented our frustrations at the girl working at reception and then watched Downton Abbey before heading to our rooms to pack our suitcases.

In the morning the wifi situation had still not improved. We checked out and headed Limerick to check out King Johns Castle on our way to Doolin.

The castle is sort of like a museum, they have a bunch of rooms set up with  interactive games and informative videos explaining the history of the city and castle. After the rooms with information you can go outside and see different parts of the castle that had been recreated like the mason, armories, and mint house. The place is very child oriented but we enjoyed ourselves anyways.

After the castle we got back into the car and continued on our way to Doolin where we will be staying for the next few days.

The GPS was more than unhelpful in finding our cottage. We called the owners and somehow managed to figure out where the cottage is.

The cottage is not exactly what I was expected, the words quaint, used and musty come to mind.

There is a really great view and there's a washing machine (and dryer!) so that's pretty exciting (especially since my selection of clean underwear was becoming a little sparse).

Continuing the tradition of iffy or nonexistent wifi, the cottage is completely wifi free!
We're currently sitting in Mc Dermotts Pub and taking advantage of their free wifi.
I don't know how often I'll be posting so if there's no new post, don't panic!

We've finished our teas so I guess we're gonna head back to our cottage and watch some more Downton Abbey.
Try not to miss us too much!!!!   

Harassing Lemurs

This morning proved to be just as dreary and overcast as yesterday. We decided to stick with our original plans despite the uncooperative weather so we ate breakfast and got into the car. 

First stop on the agenda, the FOTA Wildlife Reserve.

It's basically a zoo but instead of keeping the animals in separate cages, the whole park is a giant cage. 

Many of the animals have free range of the park so your able to get up close and personal with all sorts of furry and feathery friends.

Luckily for me, the lemurs were included on the free range list. I spent most of the morning trying to hunt them down but it was cold and windy and they were no where to be found. The Crazy Lady humored me and let me lead her around in circles while I searched in vain for one of my furry friends.

Just as I was about to give up all hope, we noticed someone standing under a tree across from the lemur house. We hurried over to where the man was standing and found one lonely lemur hanging out on a tree branch. 

Aha! So that's where they were hiding..... I made my way through the trees scouring each one as I went along until I hit the jackpot, the lemurs were curled up together high up in the branches of the tree. 

We waited a under the tree for a while but they didn't seem interested in coming down so we bid them farewell and went to find something else to play with.

 I looked at the map and noted that there were red pandas listed on it. I had always wanted to see one but despite my best efforts, they had always proved to be unnecessarily hard to find. We found the sign for the red pandas and were surprised to see the elusive creatures sitting out in plain sight.

It didn't last long though, we managed to get a couple of pictures before it scampered off to hide in its little house.

The path had led us back to the entrance of the park so we waved goodbye to the grumpy cheetah and got back in the car to head to our next destination. 

Our next stop was a little village on the coast called Ballycotton. I knew that there was supposed to be a gorgeous hike along the cliff side near the village but the GPS was not cooperating. 

We decided that we would just go to the village and hoped that we would find a sign to lead us to the trail. 

The drive was nice and relaxing until the GPS neglected to tell us to make a right onto the main road. The Crazy Lady looked distraught as the GPS repeated "recalculating route" multiple times. It finally finished recalculating and lead us onto a quaint one way road narrow two way road through the country side. Aside from the terror of trying to pass tractors and other large cars coming at us from the opposite direction, it was a lovely drive. 

We somehow made it back onto the main road and found the little village shortly thereafter. 

Our original tactic of "find a sign and follow it" didn't appear to be working, mainly due to the fact that weren't actually any signs for us to follow. 

The Crazy Lady came up with a new tactic, ask a local for directions. It was a sound plan in theory so we stopped the car and asked the only person that we saw on the street for directions. 

He thought about it for a moment and then informed us that he was just visiting and had no idea what we were talking about. 

The next person that we found was infinitely more helpful. She pointed straight ahead and told us to keep on driving until we couldn't drive no more. We followed her directions and arrived at the car park seconds later. We walked over to the edge of the cliff and followed the trail along the cliff side. As I mentioned in yesterdays post, The Crazy Lady isn't overly fond of heights. Luckily for her, we were walking along the side of a cliff and the trail lacked any form of railings along the side.

 

We followed the trail while taking in the amazing view. After about forty minutes of walking the trail led down the cliff and onto a beach.

The Crazy Lady came down part way and then opted to wait there for me while I went down to check out the beach.

The view was pretty breathtaking despite the overcast sky (the pictures hardly do it justice). I clambered over the giant red rocks and tried to imagine what it would look like on a clear day. 

The wind started to pick up again and it was getting late so I climbed back up to the trail and we started to head back to the car.

Thankfully, the GPS had no problem taking us back to Blarney. The drive back was smooth and uneventful.

Tomorrow we're heading to southwest Cork. Maybe we'll get lucky and see a little sun. :P

Magic Rocks And Near Death Experiences

Friday night was quiet, we ate our meal out of our makeshift cutlery (including tinfoil pans that doubled as soup bowls) and then went to sleep.
Shabbos morning we lounged about and read until we decided that we were in the mood to eat lunch. We had a big chicken salad and stale peanut butter cookies for dessert. The day passed with more lounging and reading until shabbos ended and we said havdala.
Our adapters wouldn't work in any of the sockets so we ventured outside to the main building and got some adapters from the main desk. We passed the rest of the night making plans for the next day which, according to the weather, was supposed to be clear and sunny.

This morning we woke up to find that the weather forecast had been a bit off. It was gray and dreary, not to mention the fact that it was raining quite persistently. As we made our breakfast we took turns casting feverish glances out the window hoping that the weather would clear up and allow us to follow our original plans. No such luck, the rain was coming down harder. Even the old men who were determined not to miss their time slots looked as if they were ready to call it quits. 

We needed a new plan, fast. 

Upon further investigation we discovered two things, 1)The top recommended "rainy day activities" were shopping and pub crawl and 2)Most places were either closed or didn't open until 12 or later on Sundays.

We finally settled on Blarney Castle, it opened at 12:30 and was pretty close by to where we were staying.

The castle grounds go on for miles. We decided to check the castle out first. There's an old legend that says that if you kiss the blarney stone you'll gain the "gift of gab" (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone in question is built into the battlements at the top of the castle. In the past, those wishing to kiss the stone were dangled by their ankles over the parapet until they were level with the stone and able to kiss it. It's shocking how many people fell to their deaths before they decided that it might not be the best method to go about kissing the stone. Nowadays you lie with your back to the floor, grab onto two iron bars protruding from the parapet and lower yourself down until your head is level with the stone. Not to worry though, a nice Irish gentleman sits beside you and holds onto your hips so that you don't plummet to your death. 

To get to the magical stone you must first climb up 127 steps to get to the top of the castle. The Crazy Lady bravely led the way into the castle, took one look at the narrow winding steps and then promptly lead the way back out. She has a fear of heights which I like to pretend that I didn't inherit. We agreed that she would stay downstairs and wait while I climbed up to see what all the fuss was about. I made my way up the narrow staircase at a slow but steady pace (everything was wet and slippery from the rain), it was terrifying. There were two guys behind me that tried to hurry me along but I ignored them and continued climbing at a snails pace. Eventually I made it to the top and managed to pry my fingers off of the rope that ran up the staircase. 

I looked over the wall and was forced to admit that it was a pretty nice view. 

I made my way along the wall until I came to the famous stone. I watched two people go through the ritual of kissing the stone and decided that I was eloquent enough as is. 

As I tried to pass the "kissing spot" people started to get upset, "Aren't you going to kiss the stone? You've come all this way...". I politely explained that my heart hadn't been set on kissing the stone, I just wanted to enjoy the view (preferably with both my feet planted firmly on the ground). The guy sitting at the edge of the wall (whose job it was to prevent people from plummeting to their deaths) assured me that it was perfectly safe and promised that he wouldn't drop me. I was touched at everyone's concern for me but still had no intention of putting my face that close to the rock. The two guys that had tried to hurry me up the stairs were excited to "show me how it's done", one by one they lay down on the wall and lowered themselves down to kiss the stone. The one that had gone first said something along the lines of  "Ah yes, I can feel the eloquence rolling off my tongue already" to which the other replied "Dude, I just made out with a rock!". They looked at me expectantly but I stood by my original decision. 

They shrugged their shoulders and exclaimed "We've caught the gift of gab! We've caught the gift of gab!". I looked at the unsanitary rock and said "I'll bet that's not the only thing you caught". Everyone looked at the rock again and watched yet another person plant their lips on the sacred stone. Oddly enough, no one seemed to appreciate my humor (aside from the two guys working there).

I said good bye to my new friends (and enemies) and made my way down the staircase and to where The Crazy Lady was waiting for me. 

Next stop, the garden. The garden was a little unorthodox, to say the least.

It featured plants such as the "cannabis sativa".

Beyond the garden lay paths leading in all different directions. We choose one and wandered about the forest for a while.

It started to drizzle lightly and we decided that it might be time to head back.

Back in the car we ate our lunches that we had brought with us (mmm salad) and tried to plan our next move. We decided to head into Cork to see if there was anything interesting there. There was a shopping mall that looked promising, it had a Tesco in it and we needed to stock up on some more veggies (mainly potatoes).  

We picked up our groceries from Tesco and wandered about the mall until we got tired and decided to head to our "lodge" to relax. 

I got on my laptop and started to blog while The Crazy Lady found her kindle and sat down to enjoy yet another book. 

It's still cold and rainy outside but we're hoping for better weather tomorrow. :)

Driving On The Wrong Side Of The Road

This morning we got off to a late start because I overslept. We checked out of our apartment in Dublin and got a cab to the car rental place where we picked up our tiny red sports car.
There is one supermarket in Dublin with a kosher section, we decided to check it out and see if we could find any chicken.
We were in luck, they had plenty of kosher frozen chicken! We stocked up on groceries (including some chumus!) and shoved them into our tiny car.
Back in the car we spent a good 30 minutes yelling various things at the GPS as we attempted to get it to take us in the direction that we wanted to go. We finally managed to put in Cork and started on our three hour drive to the Blarney Golf Resort.
The drive was nice, very scenic and lots of cows grazing in fields. I only tried to point us in the wrong direction two or three times and we made it to the resort safely.
The resort is really big and fancy. Our lodge has a nice sized kitchen, which we are putting to good use trying to cook for shabbos. Speaking of which, I should probably go help The Crazy Lady get ready
I hope everyone has/had a great shabbos!!!!

When It Rains, It Pours.

We woke up this morning to a torrential downpour. We ate breakfast while debating what to do with our day.
Museums won the debate, we got our things together and hurried outside when we noticed a break in the rain. The break didn't last long and the rain returned in a steady drizzle. We got into town and tried to find the signs that we had followed yesterday, we wandered in circles as the rain became more and more persistent.
It was raining pretty hard and we were dripping wet, we found a little tourist shop and decided to take cover. There was a display of umbrellas at the front of the store, we each grabbed one and paid while waiting for the rain to let up.
After a couple of minutes we decided to make a run for it, we opened our umbrellas and headed back out into the rain. As luck would have it, there was a sign just across the street pointing in the direction that we wanted to go.
We followed the signs and found the national art museum. It turns out the national museums are all admission free so we decided to visit the museum of archaeology&history as well as the art museum.
The archaeology&history museum had lots of really cool exhibits, my favorite was the "Vikings Of Ireland" where I got to meet an actual viking!

Not a very lively fellow...

We also saw some of their swords and axes.

The medieval exhibit was pretty cool as well.

The museum was nice and warm, we had pretty much managed to dry off by the time we left. The rain had let up and the sun came put of hiding. We headed back to the apartment to eat some lunch and rest up.     

After we were fed and rested we decided to check out the Old Jameson Distillery.

The tour started with a cute movie about the distillery. Next, the tour guide led us through the steps of how they make the whiskey. 

Last but not least, came the whiskey tasting. The Crazy Lady and I both enjoyed that last part immensely. :)

The whiskey kept us warm as we made our way back to our apartment for dinner. 

Tomorrow we pick up our rental car and head to Blarney. 

Exploring Dublin

This morning was a little strange. We woke up and tried to make do without our face wash, shampoo,conditioner and brushes. I found a comb in my bag so we both showered using the complementary bottle of shampoo that we found in the bathroom.
After a filling breakfast of eggs and potatoes we decided to head out to explore Dublin. The Crazy Lady let me lead the way despite the fact that I have a pretty bad sense of direction along with a talent for getting lost when walking in a straight line.

I led us around in circles until we found a sign pointing in the direction of Trinity College, it seemed like a good place to go so we headed off in that direction. They actually have loads of signs along the way pointing the way to various tourist attractions, so we managed to get there without getting lost.

The campus is huge! We wandered around for a while staring at the impressive buildings and watching students run back and forth between classes.

Eventually we decided that it was time to go so we wandered back into town. We walked along  the main street and went into a bunch of the stores to escape the steady drizzle.
We recognized one of the side streets and started making our way back to our apartment. There was a big supermarket along the way, we stopped in to stock up on some much needed groceries.
We made it back to the apartment just in time for lunch and eagerly logged into gmail to see if there was any news about our suitcases. Lunch was delicious but there was no news from the airline so we decided to head down the street to use the phone by the reception.
We walked into the building feeling disheartened about the fact that we were out of clean clothes and asked the receptionist if we could use the phone. The receptionist listened as we explained our plight, his eyes lit up when he heard the word "luggage". He excitedly pointed behind the desk and told us that they had arrived a few minutes earlier. We thanked him for signing for them and dragged them back to our apartment.

We hung out at the apartment for a couple of hours and then went out again to make some new friends.

He's a bit taller than the average leprechaun... 

The leprechaun museum was awesome! There were two other people with us so it was almost like a private tour. The tour guide was super friendly and a great story teller, he taught us all about Irish folklore and explained where a lot of the stories originated from. We walked through a "magic" tunnel which led to underneath the giants causeway and then straight into a giants house. We clambered onto a ginormous chair before heading through a rainbow and into the forest.

After the forest came the gift shop, we said goodbye to Noel (the tour guide) and headed back out onto the street.
We wandered around for a while longer before heading back to the apartment to make dinner. I'm pretty exhausted so I think it's time for bed. Don't worry though, we'll have more adventures for you tomorrow!