Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Monday, April 26, 2004
Sunshine in England!
Well, nothing quite so spectacular as the three week spring break saga, but here's what I've been up to. As of this week I will only have 2 hrs of class mon and 2 hrs on wed. Apparently since my biology class was meeting an incredible 3x a week, lectures finish nearly a month early. In my biopolymers class, I tend to chuckle under my breath as the lecturer explains DNA replication, PCR technique, and DNA fingerprinting... The class that is somewhat of a worry is synthesis of medicinal compounds - lots of complicated reactions that quite honestly i have a hard time getting enough motivation to memorize. plus a course work of retrosynthesis/synthesis of a compound. ick. having so much free time really just makes it worse if you ask me.
The sun has been shining here, with pleasant weather in the 60's/70's for a record 4 days! Everyone gets a little out of control - just sitting outside all day basically and going out every night. Went to the Bell on Wednesday to hear some live music with peeps from my field ecology course. Thursday went to play poker with the Americans. Friday night my flat had a going away party for Claude who returned to Luxembourg on Sat. Homemade lasagne and sangria made for a quality evening. Most of the rest of the weekend I attempted to spend outside - running, a cookout on Sat., sitting in Victoria Park with the flatmates and pretending to make chemistry flashcards sun. afternoon. Last night went with Mandy to see Kill Bill 2, a quality film indeed even though I probably should've saved my money and gone to some weekday matinee.
Well I'm off to enjoy the sun for as long as it lasts!
The sun has been shining here, with pleasant weather in the 60's/70's for a record 4 days! Everyone gets a little out of control - just sitting outside all day basically and going out every night. Went to the Bell on Wednesday to hear some live music with peeps from my field ecology course. Thursday went to play poker with the Americans. Friday night my flat had a going away party for Claude who returned to Luxembourg on Sat. Homemade lasagne and sangria made for a quality evening. Most of the rest of the weekend I attempted to spend outside - running, a cookout on Sat., sitting in Victoria Park with the flatmates and pretending to make chemistry flashcards sun. afternoon. Last night went with Mandy to see Kill Bill 2, a quality film indeed even though I probably should've saved my money and gone to some weekday matinee.
Well I'm off to enjoy the sun for as long as it lasts!
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Wild in Scotland
Thursday night: arrived in Edinburgh, bus to city center, without trouble found my hostel, checked in and wandered the streets. Went up to the Edinbugh castle which is quite spectacular at night.
Friday: Met the tour group at 8am. While waiting I ran into Sophie and 2 other people from the Ireland tour! Such a small world - they were headed out on a 4 day tour that same day with the same company. I made sure they had my email and wished them well before heading out with my 7 day tour. A bit of history from guide Jack as we drove out of town amongst Easter holiday goers. An interesting group of 16 total, all older then me by 3-10 years, and 3 couples with 2 other individuals engaged as well. Mostly Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, me and one other American. A drive to Stirling for the William Wallace monument and story. Trough Rob Roy country to Glen Coe for lunch and the story of the massacre there. The highlands are beautiful - shrouded in clouds. Past Ben Navis and Fort William. A stop at Castle Eilean Donan and finally the Isle of Skye was in view. We stayed at nearby Plockton in a wee bunkhouse was all ours. I walked with a few others on a muddy trail through impressive, very fairy tale-esque native pine forests. Back for a massive homemade meal and of course trip to the local pub.
Saturday: Drove across the controversial Kyle o Lochash bridge, which has the highest toll per meter of any bridge in Europe, onto the Isle of Skye. A gorgeous place with mountain vistas in every direction and always a blanket of clouds. Stopped at an abandoned church and graveyard to wander and admire the view of the Cuillin range at Elgo. A roadtrip to Portree for lunch. Jack had been swerving to pretend to hit all the sheep that kept wandering in the road and we had already noted his near obsession with feral goats so we got him a very feral looking stuffed sheep (of course name Feral) to be the mascot of the trip. The main road is a very bumpy 2 land and all others are shady single lane buisinesses with 'passing places' North of Portree we stopped for what Jack called a 'proper walk' of a couple of hours. Up to the base of the needle on the Stow. Incredible view! The Cuillins on the Isle and the Torrins on the mainland and clouds had lifted leaving a beautiful sunny day. A visit to kilt rock - didn't look THAT much like a tartan to me... but I am rather jaded having just seen the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped to take pictures of hiary highland cows (coos!) On the way back to Plockton, we wandered into the fabled glen of the fairies. With wee fairy mountains and rivers, I of course made a few offers to keep the brownies (say it broonies if you're Scottish!) on my side.
Sunday: Not only celebrating Easter Sunday, but also the birthdays of Ariane (canada) and Daniel (nz) who both turned 24. We took a while finding all our easter eggs, then headed off to a nearby sea loch - close to Lochlorran - were fisherman Neil MacCray took us out on his boat to help fish for scallops. Once the musles, crabs, numberous starfish, whiskey bottles, and nudabranches had been separated out of the catch we got to try scallops raw and whole. Doesn't get much fresher then that! A picnic lunch while watching seals at Lochlorran. Further on we stopped for a walk and skiped stones on beautiful, clear Loch Marie. Luckily saw some feral goats on the way to Scotlands highest waterfall... not that high! Then on to Ollapool for groceries before arriving at our hostel, a restored manse, in Inchnadamf, land of deer which everyone tried to feed bread. Quite a celebration that evening. Ritual singing of the national anthems then a late night party. Angela taught us a few quite odd New Zealand drinking games.
Monday: Lots of driving not good with the rather hung over birthday kids. Especially on the crazy single lane roads in the highlands, so several stops were made at gorgeous, sandy, North Atlantic beaches. Made a loop from Inchnadamf and worked our way along the coast. Stopped at an incredible beach near Durness for lunch and a bit of a run around and sand castle building. Quick look at nearby Smoo caves and we headed further North where the landscape changed from moutains to rolling hills covered in scrub and heather. Our ferry left from Gills Bay for an easy 1.5 hr crossing to St. Margerets Hope on the Orkney Islands. Had the hostel to ourselves and the local pub was conveniently located next door. It was mostly taken over by our group, but it was fun chatting with the locals and attempting to understand the accent. Dave (probably 70 or 80) told us about his time traveling as a diver for the off shore oil companies to Canada, Australia, and S. Africa. Drinking is truely a profession here and he told us that his job isnt for those who care about family or love. "I'm not much for love, I'm more for drinking and smoking." That pretty much says it all. A quality evening of sampling the local whisky - Scapa and Highland Park.
Tuesday: A raw, rainy, windswept day, but you can't let the weather stop you. We drove up from South Ronaldsey crossing Churchill barriers, causeways created during WWII and saw some of the remaining block ships sunk during WWI to keep German subs out of the Scapa flow. A quick stop at the Italian chapel, built by Italian POWs that were here to build the causeways. Northeast on the mainland onto the Deerness peninsula where we checked out the Gloup (blowhole) and had coffee on the VERY windy cliff to send our thoughts into the wind. On the return, we stopped just long enough to steal 4 huge turnips (neeps) from a field for dinner. In the main city of Kirkwall, we went to the cheese making factory to see a bit of action and sample the famous cheddar. Wandered around the pedestrian street and St. Magnus' Cathedral which is made completely of the local red sandstone. As the rain picked up, we headed off to see the neolithic monuments: The stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brogar, Skara Brae and Maes Howe. The first two are made of standing stones nearly 6 m in height. Only 4 remain at Stenness, but the Rigng of Brogar is impressive. Pouring rain and wind - very authentic Orcadian weather. We were all soaked by Skara Brae - a 5000 yr old village that was covered in sand dunes until the late 1800's so is well preserved. The comfort they lived in is impressive - beds, dresers, a hearth, storage, tools, and sewage system. Off to Maes Howe - an ancient tomb of the same era. Huge slabs make up the underground chambered tomb which is covered in Norse runes. 1000 yr old grafitti proclaiming things like 'this is written very high' and 'i'm the best at writting runes with my grandfathers axe.' We headed back to the hostel for a most traditional meel of neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), cheese, oatcakes, and Kranacan (sp?) for desert which is raspberries steeped in whisky and then mixed with cream and yogurt and toasted oats. The boys on the trip had been drinking for hrs but we cuaght up quickly at the local pub. Somehow I managed to get a few free drinks of Scapa - maybe it is an advantage to be the youngest! Slan javar! (scots gaelic for cheers! reapeated rather constantly on this trip)
Wednesday: Slept in before running around a beach on south Ronaldsey. The ferry returned us to the mainland where we stopped at John O'Groats for the obligatory photo op. Then headed on to a castle of our own, Carbisdale Castle, that has been turned into a youth hostel. Spent plenty of time wandering the creepy paintings and statues, looking for secret passage ways. Then watched the celtic vs. Vila Real football match. We all ended up staying up late drinking in one of the lounges and playing a strange variation of Trivial Pursuit.
Thursday: An early start for the long drive back to Edinburgh. Stopped at the battle of Culloden, a very moving place where the last Jacobite rebellion was crushed in 1745 which lead to the repression of the clans, bagpipes, and the Gaelic language. We then did a trip around Loch Ness to hunt for Nessie but no siteings. We all napped in the bus until we stopped at Edradour distillery - the smallest distillery in Scotland. Took the tour and our free dram. Quite a good, and apparently very rare, whisky. Arrived back in Edinburgh around 6:30 and said our tearful goodbyes. A few of us at least were spending the next couple of evenings in town anyway. Mike and Hayley, Aussies working in Edinburgh, had a flat and let me crash at their place for the 2 nights I was there. A whole group of us: Kiwis Zac and Angela and Daniel and Maree, Canadian Ariane, Mike, Hayley, and I all went out for a pub dinner and a few drinks.
Friday: Hayley and I drove to the base of Arthurs seat, and hiked up with just enough time to enjoy the view in the last sun of the morning. Made it back down before the rain started. Met up with the others for coffee and some stovies (mashed potatoes/turnips/somesort of meat) at a pub. Then got to spend some time being tourists and wandering the town. Did a bit of shopping - looked for a CD from The Corries - basically the sound track of our trip. Headed back to Mike and Hayley's apartment where we made a huge stirfry and Daniel, Maree and friend from home Veronica, and Ariane came over to hang out and chat. I went out with some of them for a bit. Just a couple of pubs and a take away place since Veronica had been working out in the highlands for 6 weeks where there are no late night takeaways! Anyway, said our goodbyes, although I've promised to come and visit Daniel and Maree at their place in London for some nights out on the town enjoying the live music scene.
Saturday: got myself up early for the 7 hour train ride back to Bath. I had been dreading it, but it went so easily I have restored my faith in my ability to travel for long periods of time. It was great to finally unpack, go for a run, SHOWER!, do laundry, and catch up with the flatmates I havent seen in 3 weeks! At any rate, congratulations to those who have read the ludicrously long update! Hope it has entertained a few of you at least
Friday: Met the tour group at 8am. While waiting I ran into Sophie and 2 other people from the Ireland tour! Such a small world - they were headed out on a 4 day tour that same day with the same company. I made sure they had my email and wished them well before heading out with my 7 day tour. A bit of history from guide Jack as we drove out of town amongst Easter holiday goers. An interesting group of 16 total, all older then me by 3-10 years, and 3 couples with 2 other individuals engaged as well. Mostly Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, me and one other American. A drive to Stirling for the William Wallace monument and story. Trough Rob Roy country to Glen Coe for lunch and the story of the massacre there. The highlands are beautiful - shrouded in clouds. Past Ben Navis and Fort William. A stop at Castle Eilean Donan and finally the Isle of Skye was in view. We stayed at nearby Plockton in a wee bunkhouse was all ours. I walked with a few others on a muddy trail through impressive, very fairy tale-esque native pine forests. Back for a massive homemade meal and of course trip to the local pub.
Saturday: Drove across the controversial Kyle o Lochash bridge, which has the highest toll per meter of any bridge in Europe, onto the Isle of Skye. A gorgeous place with mountain vistas in every direction and always a blanket of clouds. Stopped at an abandoned church and graveyard to wander and admire the view of the Cuillin range at Elgo. A roadtrip to Portree for lunch. Jack had been swerving to pretend to hit all the sheep that kept wandering in the road and we had already noted his near obsession with feral goats so we got him a very feral looking stuffed sheep (of course name Feral) to be the mascot of the trip. The main road is a very bumpy 2 land and all others are shady single lane buisinesses with 'passing places' North of Portree we stopped for what Jack called a 'proper walk' of a couple of hours. Up to the base of the needle on the Stow. Incredible view! The Cuillins on the Isle and the Torrins on the mainland and clouds had lifted leaving a beautiful sunny day. A visit to kilt rock - didn't look THAT much like a tartan to me... but I am rather jaded having just seen the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped to take pictures of hiary highland cows (coos!) On the way back to Plockton, we wandered into the fabled glen of the fairies. With wee fairy mountains and rivers, I of course made a few offers to keep the brownies (say it broonies if you're Scottish!) on my side.
Sunday: Not only celebrating Easter Sunday, but also the birthdays of Ariane (canada) and Daniel (nz) who both turned 24. We took a while finding all our easter eggs, then headed off to a nearby sea loch - close to Lochlorran - were fisherman Neil MacCray took us out on his boat to help fish for scallops. Once the musles, crabs, numberous starfish, whiskey bottles, and nudabranches had been separated out of the catch we got to try scallops raw and whole. Doesn't get much fresher then that! A picnic lunch while watching seals at Lochlorran. Further on we stopped for a walk and skiped stones on beautiful, clear Loch Marie. Luckily saw some feral goats on the way to Scotlands highest waterfall... not that high! Then on to Ollapool for groceries before arriving at our hostel, a restored manse, in Inchnadamf, land of deer which everyone tried to feed bread. Quite a celebration that evening. Ritual singing of the national anthems then a late night party. Angela taught us a few quite odd New Zealand drinking games.
Monday: Lots of driving not good with the rather hung over birthday kids. Especially on the crazy single lane roads in the highlands, so several stops were made at gorgeous, sandy, North Atlantic beaches. Made a loop from Inchnadamf and worked our way along the coast. Stopped at an incredible beach near Durness for lunch and a bit of a run around and sand castle building. Quick look at nearby Smoo caves and we headed further North where the landscape changed from moutains to rolling hills covered in scrub and heather. Our ferry left from Gills Bay for an easy 1.5 hr crossing to St. Margerets Hope on the Orkney Islands. Had the hostel to ourselves and the local pub was conveniently located next door. It was mostly taken over by our group, but it was fun chatting with the locals and attempting to understand the accent. Dave (probably 70 or 80) told us about his time traveling as a diver for the off shore oil companies to Canada, Australia, and S. Africa. Drinking is truely a profession here and he told us that his job isnt for those who care about family or love. "I'm not much for love, I'm more for drinking and smoking." That pretty much says it all. A quality evening of sampling the local whisky - Scapa and Highland Park.
Tuesday: A raw, rainy, windswept day, but you can't let the weather stop you. We drove up from South Ronaldsey crossing Churchill barriers, causeways created during WWII and saw some of the remaining block ships sunk during WWI to keep German subs out of the Scapa flow. A quick stop at the Italian chapel, built by Italian POWs that were here to build the causeways. Northeast on the mainland onto the Deerness peninsula where we checked out the Gloup (blowhole) and had coffee on the VERY windy cliff to send our thoughts into the wind. On the return, we stopped just long enough to steal 4 huge turnips (neeps) from a field for dinner. In the main city of Kirkwall, we went to the cheese making factory to see a bit of action and sample the famous cheddar. Wandered around the pedestrian street and St. Magnus' Cathedral which is made completely of the local red sandstone. As the rain picked up, we headed off to see the neolithic monuments: The stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brogar, Skara Brae and Maes Howe. The first two are made of standing stones nearly 6 m in height. Only 4 remain at Stenness, but the Rigng of Brogar is impressive. Pouring rain and wind - very authentic Orcadian weather. We were all soaked by Skara Brae - a 5000 yr old village that was covered in sand dunes until the late 1800's so is well preserved. The comfort they lived in is impressive - beds, dresers, a hearth, storage, tools, and sewage system. Off to Maes Howe - an ancient tomb of the same era. Huge slabs make up the underground chambered tomb which is covered in Norse runes. 1000 yr old grafitti proclaiming things like 'this is written very high' and 'i'm the best at writting runes with my grandfathers axe.' We headed back to the hostel for a most traditional meel of neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), cheese, oatcakes, and Kranacan (sp?) for desert which is raspberries steeped in whisky and then mixed with cream and yogurt and toasted oats. The boys on the trip had been drinking for hrs but we cuaght up quickly at the local pub. Somehow I managed to get a few free drinks of Scapa - maybe it is an advantage to be the youngest! Slan javar! (scots gaelic for cheers! reapeated rather constantly on this trip)
Wednesday: Slept in before running around a beach on south Ronaldsey. The ferry returned us to the mainland where we stopped at John O'Groats for the obligatory photo op. Then headed on to a castle of our own, Carbisdale Castle, that has been turned into a youth hostel. Spent plenty of time wandering the creepy paintings and statues, looking for secret passage ways. Then watched the celtic vs. Vila Real football match. We all ended up staying up late drinking in one of the lounges and playing a strange variation of Trivial Pursuit.
Thursday: An early start for the long drive back to Edinburgh. Stopped at the battle of Culloden, a very moving place where the last Jacobite rebellion was crushed in 1745 which lead to the repression of the clans, bagpipes, and the Gaelic language. We then did a trip around Loch Ness to hunt for Nessie but no siteings. We all napped in the bus until we stopped at Edradour distillery - the smallest distillery in Scotland. Took the tour and our free dram. Quite a good, and apparently very rare, whisky. Arrived back in Edinburgh around 6:30 and said our tearful goodbyes. A few of us at least were spending the next couple of evenings in town anyway. Mike and Hayley, Aussies working in Edinburgh, had a flat and let me crash at their place for the 2 nights I was there. A whole group of us: Kiwis Zac and Angela and Daniel and Maree, Canadian Ariane, Mike, Hayley, and I all went out for a pub dinner and a few drinks.
Friday: Hayley and I drove to the base of Arthurs seat, and hiked up with just enough time to enjoy the view in the last sun of the morning. Made it back down before the rain started. Met up with the others for coffee and some stovies (mashed potatoes/turnips/somesort of meat) at a pub. Then got to spend some time being tourists and wandering the town. Did a bit of shopping - looked for a CD from The Corries - basically the sound track of our trip. Headed back to Mike and Hayley's apartment where we made a huge stirfry and Daniel, Maree and friend from home Veronica, and Ariane came over to hang out and chat. I went out with some of them for a bit. Just a couple of pubs and a take away place since Veronica had been working out in the highlands for 6 weeks where there are no late night takeaways! Anyway, said our goodbyes, although I've promised to come and visit Daniel and Maree at their place in London for some nights out on the town enjoying the live music scene.
Saturday: got myself up early for the 7 hour train ride back to Bath. I had been dreading it, but it went so easily I have restored my faith in my ability to travel for long periods of time. It was great to finally unpack, go for a run, SHOWER!, do laundry, and catch up with the flatmates I havent seen in 3 weeks! At any rate, congratulations to those who have read the ludicrously long update! Hope it has entertained a few of you at least
Field Ecology in the Gower Peninsula, Wales
Saturday: Made it up to Uni just before 9am. On the bus met another girl going on the field trip, Luisa. Met a few more people on the 3 hour bus ride (alright and took a nap too.) Arrived at the Worms Head Hotel, got changed, and headed straight outside to get working... in POURING rain. sigh, it is Wales afterall. We went from collecting random bus to practicint island biogeography theory by lifting up rocks and counting species underneath, to checking Gorse flowers (gorse is this prickly yellow bush) for the presence of moth larvae. Very wet and cold from the neverending wind, we had a chance to change before dinner, and afterwards we had a seminar session going over the day and expectations for the course.
Sunday: Set off on our longest walk of the trip a bit after 9. A lovely day despite the damn wind. We headed up the gower head, looked at some dung beetles, thought of possible projects, walked further and disccussed different lichens. Walked down through a caravan park into the sandy dunes for our pack lunch. Explored in the sand dunes catching snails to examine polymorphisms in shell banding at 2 sites. My group, Louisa and Sarah (biologists) and Georginia (natural sciences) decided on our project to go to anvils that thrushes use to crack open snail shells to see if the proportions of shells of various banding patterns is the same at all anvils. A 40 min walk back along the beach to examine life on a vertical rocky shore: lichens, barnacles, agi, molluscs, etc. After class that evening, we all went to hang out in the bar a the hotel - the only bar in town. Soon became a place for us to meet, do our work, and get a beer before the evening seminar. I did kindof enjoy being the only, somewhat random, foreign student with 18 English students, and several English profs. I'm sure they enjoyed giving me crap about it, but I got a kick hearing all the random stereotypes and it was all in good fun.
Monday: A short drive to three Cliffs Bay for exercises in the woodlands and coast. In the woods we did some symmetry measurements on wild grlic leaves, spent time looking for cool bus, and did an experiment to determine the % male and female that a buttercup population is. Hiked up, stopped at a ruined castle for lunch and to practice a bit of fractal dimensons. On the beach we tested habituation in edible periwinkles and took data to test for randomness in the number of small snails living in dead barnacle shells. A lovely hike back over rocks, the sun finally came out and I was even wearing short sleeves for a bit!
Tuesday-Thursday: These days we were working on our group projects. We had the longest walk of any group, all the way to the sandy dunes. But it was quite fun to scramble around them looking for anvils and finding all sorts of random things. I ended up making 1 pound 30 plus a credit card, and George found a pretty nice football. Anyway, Wednesday night we did number crunching and worked on finishing our paper. Thursday morning were our 12 min group presentations. Went off without a hitch, and we handed in our group paper and individual report on class exercises just before getting on the bus back to Bath. An entire course done! Arrived back at Uni at 4pm, just enough time to repack and catch my 7:30 flight to Edinburgh.....
Sunday: Set off on our longest walk of the trip a bit after 9. A lovely day despite the damn wind. We headed up the gower head, looked at some dung beetles, thought of possible projects, walked further and disccussed different lichens. Walked down through a caravan park into the sandy dunes for our pack lunch. Explored in the sand dunes catching snails to examine polymorphisms in shell banding at 2 sites. My group, Louisa and Sarah (biologists) and Georginia (natural sciences) decided on our project to go to anvils that thrushes use to crack open snail shells to see if the proportions of shells of various banding patterns is the same at all anvils. A 40 min walk back along the beach to examine life on a vertical rocky shore: lichens, barnacles, agi, molluscs, etc. After class that evening, we all went to hang out in the bar a the hotel - the only bar in town. Soon became a place for us to meet, do our work, and get a beer before the evening seminar. I did kindof enjoy being the only, somewhat random, foreign student with 18 English students, and several English profs. I'm sure they enjoyed giving me crap about it, but I got a kick hearing all the random stereotypes and it was all in good fun.
Monday: A short drive to three Cliffs Bay for exercises in the woodlands and coast. In the woods we did some symmetry measurements on wild grlic leaves, spent time looking for cool bus, and did an experiment to determine the % male and female that a buttercup population is. Hiked up, stopped at a ruined castle for lunch and to practice a bit of fractal dimensons. On the beach we tested habituation in edible periwinkles and took data to test for randomness in the number of small snails living in dead barnacle shells. A lovely hike back over rocks, the sun finally came out and I was even wearing short sleeves for a bit!
Tuesday-Thursday: These days we were working on our group projects. We had the longest walk of any group, all the way to the sandy dunes. But it was quite fun to scramble around them looking for anvils and finding all sorts of random things. I ended up making 1 pound 30 plus a credit card, and George found a pretty nice football. Anyway, Wednesday night we did number crunching and worked on finishing our paper. Thursday morning were our 12 min group presentations. Went off without a hitch, and we handed in our group paper and individual report on class exercises just before getting on the bus back to Bath. An entire course done! Arrived back at Uni at 4pm, just enough time to repack and catch my 7:30 flight to Edinburgh.....
Ireland trip continued...
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!
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!
Saturday, April 03, 2004
Ireland trip
First night: We checked into the hostel and walked around downtown Dublin. Admiring the kilts that everyone had on for the Ireland/Scotland rugby match that was on that evening.
monday: We met the paddywagon tour in Dublin, there were 32 of us on our bus. Headed immediately south stopping at Cashel Rock, a couple of castles, and a trip to kiss the Blarney stone. We stopped for the night in Kilarney were we went out for a pub dinner and then many of us headed to The Grand for a couple of hours of excellent traditional Irish musicians.
tuesday: Based from Kilarney, we drove to the Dingle peninsula. Stopped along the way to run around on a few gorgeous beaches. Eventually made it to Dingle for lunch. Spent a couple of hours attempting to attract the attention of the local dolphin, Fungie. Some of the South African boys on our tour (the group was a lot of Australians, 1 Kiwi, 4 Americans, and about 10 South Africans on gap year.) even jumped in the rather chilly water to try to get his attention. We drove a bit more of the Ring of Kerry and stopped at the point of the peninsula. On the way back to Kilarney, our guide let us out to run around and taught us the rules of hurling and gaelic football. The latter became quite popular with our group and whenever we needed to run off some energy we asked to stop and play.
wednesday-fri :sorry but i have to go to wales NOW! i'll finish updating later!
monday: We met the paddywagon tour in Dublin, there were 32 of us on our bus. Headed immediately south stopping at Cashel Rock, a couple of castles, and a trip to kiss the Blarney stone. We stopped for the night in Kilarney were we went out for a pub dinner and then many of us headed to The Grand for a couple of hours of excellent traditional Irish musicians.
tuesday: Based from Kilarney, we drove to the Dingle peninsula. Stopped along the way to run around on a few gorgeous beaches. Eventually made it to Dingle for lunch. Spent a couple of hours attempting to attract the attention of the local dolphin, Fungie. Some of the South African boys on our tour (the group was a lot of Australians, 1 Kiwi, 4 Americans, and about 10 South Africans on gap year.) even jumped in the rather chilly water to try to get his attention. We drove a bit more of the Ring of Kerry and stopped at the point of the peninsula. On the way back to Kilarney, our guide let us out to run around and taught us the rules of hurling and gaelic football. The latter became quite popular with our group and whenever we needed to run off some energy we asked to stop and play.
wednesday-fri :sorry but i have to go to wales NOW! i'll finish updating later!
Avebury
Well, this will hopefully be a very fast update. Mom and dad arrived a week ago, met me here in Bath, and we all rented a car from the Bristol airport. A very tense ride ensued as dad practiced staying left and using roundabouts. At any rate, we made it to Avebury unscathed just after sunset. We stayed at an excellent B&B right in the middle of the stone circle there. The rooms were gorgeous and a huge breakfast was included. The next day we spent wandering around the region of the circle. We headed south first, past ancient Silbury hill and visited Longbarrow, an ancient burial site. Once again off-season worked in our favor. Then we followed the avenue of stones on the female side of the circle back to Avebury and explored englands largest stone circle before walking across several hills on a country lane to the quarry where the stones came from. It seems that even most of the stones in Stonehenge came from this area. Avebury was definitey worth the day visit. We drove back to the Bristol airport then and caught our plane to Dublin! I'll try to get a bit of the Ireland trip in here before I leave.....
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