Alright, after the 2 week intermission it is time to finish describing the Ireland trip with my parents.
Wednesday: Heading North from Kilarney to Galway, we stopped mid-morning for an intense Gaelic football rematch game, and then just barely caught the ferry across the River Shannon. Next stop were the incredible Cliffs of Moher - think of the huge, sheer cliffs used in the Princess Bride. An intense wind added a bit to the excitement of crawling on my belly up to the edge and looking over. Lunch was had at Doolin, the capital of traditional Irish music, and we continued on to stop at The Burrens. This area is basically just a large slab of limestone that was pushed up from the bottom of the sea millions of yrs ago. Very little water, and less soil, but somehow an amazing ecological diversity. In Galway, we were celebrating Dad's 50th birthday with style. First at Richardson's pub were dad bough everyone a mini-guinness (a shot of kahlua with baileys on top) and I finally had an Irish car bomb (half a pint of guinness that you drop a shot of whiskey+baileys into.) We moved then to The Keyes for some excellent traditional music. Of course requesting the 2 songs that we had learned on the bus - Sweet Molly Malone and The Fields of Athenrie (sp?) Finally a few of us stopped at a club to dance for a couple of hours. Plenty of good crack (means good times!)
Thursday: A drive from Galway to Derry through spectacular scenery. We stopped at the Shrine of Knock where the virgin Mary appeared to the locals in the 1880s. Then stopped at a beachfront town in Co Sligo where after a bit of wandering, quite a few of us had seaweed baths. A unique experience: You have a private room where you steam yourself for about 10 min and then jump into a tub of hot water with clean, green seaweed in it. The seaweed has been treated previously so that it gives off all sorts of oils. After sitting in that for about 30 min, you come out all clean, soft, and in my case very pinkish! We then drove through Donegal to arrive in Derry, our first city in Northern Ireland. A town with a sad history. We went on a walking tour of the city to the 'Bloody Sunday' monument, the murals created nearby to honor the hunger strike victims, and along the old city walls to the peace wall that surrounds the small protestant community on the catholic side of the river. Everything in town shuts down at 5:30 and people still disappear from the streets until much later. Back at the hostel it was pizza and homemade punch. A group of us headed out to the Bogside Inn, located very close to the Bloody Sunday monument and apparently a traditional IRA hangout - leave your arms with the barkeep. Definitely a local experience. The walls were covered with pictures of the Troubles, and the locals showed us their gunshot wounds. Next, off to Padder O'Donnells where some Irish music was being played. The parents went home soon after, but I stayed out with a group that tried to get into the club The Metro. Unfortunately, it was closed even though it was only 1ish. We wandered a bit in the streets, didn't see any of the predicted drunken youths throwing things at the walls or police. At any rate, back to the hostel - next to one of the largest police stations in western europe!
Friday: After spending an inane amount of time trying to get the bus out of the street between the hostel and the police station (everyone parks illegally since the police never come out of the station) we had a bit of an accident with a pole in a Sainsbury parking lot. Despite that less then propitious start, we headed straight to the Giants Causeway. An interesting geological formation. Lnch was at a nearby village before driving out to a national trust area and walking across a very old rope bridge to a windy, beautiful island. The ground was soft and good for jumping around on while being blown around by the wind. Then we booked it to Belfast where I made Steve drop me off at the airport (made it at 7 for my 8pm flight) Quite a send off when you can get 30 odd people to wave at you from a bus as you're going into an airport. Made it to Bristol, waited a long time but finally caught a train back to Bath and got in around midnight. Just enough time to shower, repack, and get ready to leave in the morning on a field ecology course!
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