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!