Knitting, Milkshake runs, and Alan Rickman spotting

After going to the knitting club meeting today and failing at trying to teach Brooke how to knit, we gave up and decided to go for milkshakes at the milkshake bar a block from campus.  And guess who was lingering so artfully under the arches of the main gate, seeking refuge from the light drizzle so near and dear to every Dubliners heart.  None other than the very stately Alan Rickman, looking a little damp and gray but dashing as ever.  Don't you wish you were here?


Anyway, I've been a bit under the weather for the past couple days but am feeling much better now.  I apologize for the slew of posts below but I can't do just to each place I went this past weekend without giving it it's own post, plus it makes it much easier for me.


This week at Trinity classes have finally begun.  I had my first three yesterday and have another lecture on Wednesday.  Excepting tutorials, which I'm not sure about yet as far as scheduling goes, I only have class Mondays and Wednesdays (fingers crossed).  I'm taking an English seminar on Ireland and Children's Fiction, a lecture called Shakespeare: Stage, Text, Screen taught in the prettiest classroom I've ever been in, and a history course on continental Europe from 1870 to 1930.  Three courses = 6.5 hours of class each week, not including the massive amount of impending readings.  But whatever, I'm excited.


So as you can probably surmise I had no class today.  Although I woke up around 8, I cannot remember what I did procrastinating until finally leaving around 3 to get another duvet to stuff under my sheets and make my bed slightly less like a medieval torture device, a new phone SIM, and flowers to brighten my day. The milkshake helped of course too.  As did Alan Rickman spotting.  Enjoy the posts below!

PS - I know it's tedious, but there's a Galway post you might have to hit the Older Posts button to see. Sorry there were so many today.

Cliffs of Moher

Our final day of Galway was once more spent away from the city.  We took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and Burren and stopped at a cave with a stuffed bear.

To begin we left the B&B and headed to town for the bus tour.  Having had to rely on the unreliable Dublin bus to take me to Trinity for the first couple weeks of SSP has completely jaded me for Irish bus services.  So we left at maybe 9:05 and I was a little anxious we wouldn't actually make it there, ie that the bus wouldn't show up.  Galway buses, however, are much more dependable than Dublin buses and we made it with significant time to spare.

We saw all sorts of cool things from the bus, like ancient abbeys and church ruins with trees growing in them, as well as Dungarie Castle, a noted place to visit on the 7th grade geography imaginary vacation assignment I found cleaning my room a couple days before I left.

Western Ireland in all its stony glory

cool tree-ruins

We got to the cliffs which were very beautiful.  In the middle stretch there are walls, but you can step right over the barrier on the left or through the fence on the right to get to the far edges.  Having a slight fear of heights, walking along the precipitous edge was a little frightening.

everyone was doing it...

Down.  As close to the edge I would go.

This is the little barrier you hopped over.  Look how green Ireland is! I still haven't gotten over it.

Irish warning signs, oh my.

Safe again on the right side of the barrier

And there were cows right up on the peak of the hills next to the cliffs.  And the tourist center is buried like a hobbit dwelling in the hill so it doesn't obstruct the landscape.

We hopped back on the bus and visited a 5,000 year old passage tomb.

Then we got to this cave.  My standard for caves is the Luray Caverns which look like this:

So it's really an unfair vantage point.  Nonetheless, this cave had a stuffed bear on the outside:

and a door:

bear bones:

I guess Ireland doesn't have bears(?), so it's excited about the remains of the extinct European brown bear.

A very disturbing stuffed bear.

It's unfair to compare, but less than impressive stalactites.

The ceiling was kind of cool though, carved from the way and the rate at which the ice melted.

It also had a pretty cool waterfall inside, which saved it as a tour.

Then I wasn't feeling well.  We had a quit photo stop to get out and see Dungarie Castle.  Our tour guide was great and very concerned about getting us back in time for the train.  We made it back in great time, and altogether it was a fantastic trip.

Aran Islands

After enjoying a homemade Irish breakfast sans the sketchy pudding, we set out for the Aran Islands, Inis Mór the largest island to be specific.  You have to take a bus from the city at 9:30.  The ride takes an hour which can put some people to sleep.  Then you take a ferry which takes another 40 minutes.

someone got sleepy on the bus

someone else fell asleep on the ferry

When you get to the island, there are a bunch of carriages and minibuses operated by locals to give you tours of the island.  We took a carriage around the island.  It was stony and gorgeous, and perfectly Irish.

Our guide (his name was Christopher or Thomas, but I think Thomas; I feel awful for forgetting to ask) drove us around and called up his horses to show us.  Apparently he takes them swimming with him? It was just so cold outside, it's hard to imagine.  But there was a guy with no shirt or shoes sitting outside getting his hair cut there.  I had on both of my coats and a sweater and was still a little chilly.

Our horse was named W.B. Yeats!  Our carriage was covered, but it didn't rain.

It was really nice to be someplace that was just quiet.  It was empty and really peaceful.

Leprechaun house!

The island has a really old fort on it called Dun Aonghasa.  It's a prehistoric fort that is essentially falling into the sea.  The trek up there is equivalent to Ireland's Great Wall of China. It had phenomenal views off the cliffs and you went right up to the ledge.

The long journey there, again definitely not the 10-15 minute walk it was billed to be.

At the gate

the amazing view

at the edge

Over the edge, holding out my camera.  I am so afraid of heights!

It was a very beautiful and quaint place.  And everyone speaks Gaelic and learns English, among other languages, in school.  I had fresh fish and chips straight from the harbor and we packed in a solid day.

Dance hall!

Again it was incredibly pastoral and idyllic.  We also stopped at a church and went inside.  The hymnals(?) were written in Gaelic and it smelled churchy too.  It was my favorite church here so far, simply because it actually felt like a church.