Snow, Woes and Techno

I had a fantastic trip to Barcelona and arrived back to find Dublin covered in a beautiful layer of fresh white snow.  The only downside is that because the country ran out of salt last year, it decided just not to use any this year, a decision which doesn't seem to account for the safety concerns of salting sidewalks so that you don't step out on a sheet of ice when you get off the air coach bus.  Anyway, I hadn't realized it snowed in Ireland since I was having a blast in Barcelona and also because I was told it was warmer in Ireland than at home. Not true. In fairness, I was told this is the first time in 30-40 years it has snowed in Dublin in November.

So, I made my way back to my room taking some pictures along the way, and then slept for 13 hours (they were not consecutive, don't worry). Late at night, I got a call from my friend Natasha who I'd met up with in Barcelona and who is studying in Edinburgh.  I had met up with her and six other people from Edinburgh.  They were stranded in Barcelona for the night because Edinburgh had a foot of snow.  Which is awful.  As much fun as Barcelona is, it completely sucks to be stranded when you're trying to get home.  The flights they'd managed to get involved a twelve hour layover in Dublin today, which was pretty fun and the eventual plot of this post.

I had to go to one seminar in the morning and a lecture in the evening, but I had the bulk of the day to hang out with Tash, another guy from Georgetown (and Delaware incidentally) Christian, and Erin and Lauren who are Scottish.  Since it was snowing here, I limited our travels to St. Stephen's Green Shopping Center for them to buy boots and pants, and then a walk through St. Stephen's Green which was snowy and beautiful.  We were attacked by some stupid boys with a snow ball sling shot though. It was funny the first time, but they kept trying to hit us.  Obviously they missed every time because they were stupid, but it was very annoying and we left the park.  Then we hit up Doyle's before I headed to class. It was a pretty fun day and I'm super glad they were able to visit, albeit unexpectedly.  Unfortunately, they have a flight to Leeds and a seven hour bus ride ahead of them.  They're a fun bunch though, and make the best of the situation.

In other news, as I was going through Belgian immigration/customs last week when leaving Brussels, the immigration officer held me up a bit.  There was no one else in line other than Brooke, but he asked me if I knew Carl Cox.  I was confused and asked him if he meant Courtney Cox because I've gotten that one before.  But no, he meant Carl Cox and wrote the name on my boarding pass for me to look up.  I finally did that this evening and discovered this, Carl Cox:



In any case, I promise to soon post a detailed and pictured account of my Spanish excursion, as well as the long overdue post on the infamous road trip.  It's doing some freak lightning/hail/snow storm at the moment.  I also cut my hand on a glass and am liable to bleed out. Life is splendid.

Thanksgiving in Rathmines

Since I'm awake anyway, I figured I mind as well do a quick post on Thanksgiving in Ireland before I hit the hay.  Nothing makes you more homesick than holidays away from the family, but I had a really good evening.

This morning no one seemed to realize today it was Thanksgiving but I suppose that's to be expected.  However, the whole day I felt like I was rushing to get to dinner and to make sure I had everything.  I went on a fruitless search for mead combined with a failed (more forsaken on my half than anything else) attempt to photograph the swans on the canal, and sped-read a book for Monday - one of those delightful ones the library refuses to keep on the shelf and will not let you take from the library.

Then around 6:20 or so I started to get ready for Thanksgiving in that I left the library, grabbed mac and cheese from my flat and headed to my friend Brooke's flat in Rathmines (via bus because today was absolutely freezing). She had prepared a scrumptious feast for us and two of her flatmates.  Svenja is German and Brenda is Irish and it was their first Thanksgiving.  We had chicken in place of turkey, but that's alright because I don't like turkey anyway.  I also did the honors.  Me and all of my food adventures this trip.  Everything was delicious - green bean casserole, sweet-potato something, pumpkin bread, my macaroni, and the delectable roast chicken.  To top it off, there was pumpkin pie, but I couldn't even finish my slice I was so stuffed.  At the end of the night, I returned to my flat and heard a bunch of guys singing the (US) National Anthem.  All in all, a very happy Thanksgiving.

36 Hours in Belgium

I'm behind on blogging and skipping past the Reading Week road trip to tell you all about Belgium. This past weekend I went with a friend on a 36 hour excursion to Brussels and Ghent.  We got in late Friday night and caught the very last bus from Charleroi Airport to Brussels (this airport is an hour south of the city) and arrived at the hotel around 1 am.  We stayed at the Hotel Bloom.  It was such a nice change from staying in hostels.  The beds were comfortable and there was a TV.  The hotel decor was pretty hip too.  They let us choose our room based on the painting because each room has a mural by a different artist. This was the one we selected:

Also, the hotel staff had ridiculous names.  There was Rainbow, Crocus, Angel, MC, and Sand.

The next morning, we woke up super early (7:15, yikes!) and set out for Ghent. I wanted to see some of the Dutch part of Belgium in addition to Brussels. We may have taken the wrong train because it took an hour to get there and I thought it was only supposed to take 30 minutes or so.  Once we got to Ghent, we got really confused about where we were and which direction we were supposed to go.  We bought a map, but it was in Dutch and we couldn't figure it out.  Eventually we just walked one direction and found the main square.

It was beautiful.  We bought some chocolate and took a canal tour.  And then bought more chocolate.

After that, it was nearly 12:40 so we made our way back to the train station and returned to Brussels.  We found the main square and then promptly bought waffles.  We spent the rest of the day buying chocolate and sight seeing.

The main square in Brussels is called the Grand Place or Grote Markt, in either French or Dutch.  Brussels is very seamlessly bilingual and almost everyone spoke English as well.  In Ghent everyone we ran into spoke English as well, but I read somewhere they don't really like French or something like that.  Anyway, in the Grand Place, they were string up sparkling lights on the massive Christmas tree.  They only lit them up in practice, however, rather than at night.  We also saw the Mannekin Pis, a tiny statue of a peeing boy.  When we were there it was dressed up as a painter.

 

Yes, I did attempt to add videos.  Now it's like you're almost there.

This was from our final morning in the main square.

First waffle!

After that, we made our way to passed St. Michel and St. Gudule Cathedral and the Parliament building to the Metro.  For whatever reason, the metro card machines only accept coins.  However, Brussels's was the cleanest metro I've ever been on and each station had a different decor.  It was quite pretty.

 The bells were lovely too.

We went to the Triumphal Arch, and then took a very long metro ride to the Atomium.  Once there, we went up to the top.  By the time we got there (it was a long wait for the elevator - the only way up), you could see all of Brussels at night much like the view from the Eiffel Tower, except unexposed and not in the center of the city.

Again, it's just like you're there! You can even hear the boy scouts murmuring off to the side.

By then we were pretty exhausted, and at this time I realized I hadn't eaten anything other than chocolates, waffles, a doughnut, and half of a yucky burger from a street trolley all day.  We deposited our chocolate in our room and went out to eat.  I had mussels and fries.

We then went to the Grand Place hoping to see it lit up for Christmas and were sadly disappointed.  We bought more chocolate and had waffles for dessert, before returning to the hotel.

Christmas in Belgium!

 Belgium is famous for chocolate, waffles, mussels, fries, and beer, so to round the trip out, we had beer at the hotel bar.  I had a Leffe Blonde which was really good.  Probably my favorite beer. And then, thoroughly exhausted, called it a night.

The next morning, we went to the main square for a final waffle for breakfast.  We had to eat at a cafe because it was 9:15, too early for any of the street vendors to be open.  In the middle of breakfast, we spotted Miss J from America's Next Top Model walking through the main square.  Then, having enjoyed our last delicious Belgian waffle and backpacks stuffed full of chocolate, we bid adieu to Brussels and headed for the airport.

A taste of our wild roadtrip across Ireland

I told Mommom I'd have a post up by Thursday night and I've been dragging my feet.  I'm flying to Belgium tomorrow for the weekend so I'll definitely have something more substantial before then.

We're having a competition in my family of the ten best pictures from each camera during the trip.  I haven't fully narrowed down my pictures to the top ten, but here are the contenders along with a smattering of people pictures equally important but that just didn't make the cut.

 Old Church and graveyard in Doolin

 Dad at the Cliffs of Moher.  That's seamist blowing up the 700+ foot high cliffs.  Yes, we went in the middle of a massive storm with gale force (85 mph) winds.

 Burricorn!!

 Ballysede Castle where we stayed one night

 Ruins

 A dog in front of the Dingle Peninsula while traveling the Ring of Kerry

Aunt Diane's photo really, she directed the shot.  Along the Ring of Kerry

Both along the Ring of Kerry

 Dad in action, taking photos along the Ring of Kerry

 Cobh, the tiny port town

 As high as Mommom got on our walk up to the Cathedral.  She was very close.

 Viking land

The two below are from Powerscourt, an estate in Enniskerry

 More from the Cliffs of Moher.  Mommom, Gramps, Aunt Diane above; Mom below.

 Dad with the burricorn at Askeaton Abbey.

Below, Gramps at the Abbey.

 Sir Ron.

 Aunt Diane and Mom on the Ring of Kerry

 Viking huts again

 Back at Powerscourt.

I think I figured out the blog site and you should be able to click on any picture to see it full-size.
Now I have an adventure ahead of me tomorrow and must get some rest.