Up to Northern Ireland

Had beautiful weather this weekend, which always makes a trip better! No rain at all! It was perfect. I left on Thursday night to travel to Belfast in Northern Ireland. We found cheap flights with Ryan Air, so we flew from Cork to Dublin, which was only a half hour flight or so. Then bought tickets and took a two and a half hour bus ride to Belfast and got in about midnight on Thursday night. We had booked Linens House Hostel in Belfast for the first night because it was very cheap and reception was open all night. It sounded very bare bones on Hostelworld.com based on reviews, but we were very happy with it. Then again we were only there for about eight hours or so.

On Friday we were up early to do the PaddyWagon day tour, my favorite part of the trip. We had a little mini bus and it took us all around the Antrim coastline to Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, a few castles, and Derry. We had a full bus and I met people from the states, Whales, New Zealand and Spain. Our tour guide Jean was great, and filled all the driving time with stories and background on everything we passed by.

Our first stop was by the coast, where we all got out and you could see Scotland from the beach! Next we went and saw Carrick Island. It is this small island right off the coast and has the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that connects it to the mainland. Unfortunately the bridge is closed until April due to the weather so we didn’t get to go down. I was really bummed- it looked so cool! I hope I get a chance to go back at some point and get onto the island! Next the bus took us to Dunluce Castle, well the ruins of the medieval castle. It is built on this cliff with huge steep drops on all sides of it. Michael Jackson actually tried to buy it and renovate it, but his offer was turned down.

Our next stop was Giants Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Giants Causeway was formed over 60 million years ago from volcanic eruptions. The lava cooled and hardened forming over 40,000 basalt columns. They are tall columns that are hexagonal and form stepping stones. It is a gorgeous site to see. The columns are all over and create these huge mountains. The legend is that a giant built this causeway as a road to Scotland. I took some great pictures so be sure to check them out. I think it is easier to see, than explain. We stayed at the Causeway for about two hours, I would have loved to stay longer, it was beautiful!

Next we took the bus to Derry. It was a long ride, but I spent the whole time sightseeing out the window. We passed so many sheep and green pastures I finally felt like I was in Ireland! I loved to see the country. We even passed another old run down Castle. We made it to Derry; also known as Londonderry depending on whether you are a nationalist or unionist; which is enclosed by defensive walls. Derry is known for its troubles, as most of Northern Ireland is due to the tension between the Catholic nationalists and the Protestant unionists. The Catholics were discriminated under the Unionist government. In the late 1960’s there were civil rights demonstrations. Bloody Sunday was on Sunday January 30, 1972 where 13 people, seven who were teens were shot dead by the British in a civil rights march. Our tour guide Jean was telling us the history. He was one of the ones who marched in the peace protest. His mother sent all four of her sons out in their Sunday best for the peaceful march, never knowing what danger they were walking into.

I really enjoyed the tour and was glad we took the day to see Northern Ireland. Later that night we found our second hostel of the weekend, Paddy’s Palace. We arrived and found out that we had been upgraded from a 20 person mixed room to a private four person room! So that was exciting! Plus there was free internet, towels, and tea and a great kitchen. A few of us walked over to Tesco’s, the grocery store and bought dinner for the night, a pound each. That night we just hung in the hostel, talking to a group of Australians and a New Zealander. It is so interesting how many people from down under we meet as many of them take a year off before college and travel and work.

On Saturday we took a Black Taxi Tour which takes you around Belfast with an explanation of Northern Ireland’s notorious political history. Our driver was really difficult to understand with his accent, but towards the end we could make out most of what he was saying. Belfast has been experiencing conflict between the nationalist Catholics and the unionist Protestants since the 1960’s and it still occurs today. There have been bombing, assassination and street violence. The city is extremely segregated. The taxi took us through different areas of Protestants and Catholic housing. In the different areas the curbs and sign posts were painted orange, green, and white in the Catholic areas or Red, white and blue in the Protestant areas. We passed the famous Peace Lines, which are a series of barriers to separate the neighborhoods and prevent violence. Today there are over forty of them up in Belfast, and one we passed was over 3 miles long, and full of murals and signatures. They even have a gate that closes separating the neighborhoods at night. Our tour guide said it is funny to watch everyone race and try to get over to their own sides before the gates close for the night.  We also saw the political murals all over Belfast depicting their past. I will add a few photos up for you to see.

After the tour we went to Botanic Gardens. I am sure in the summer it is gorgeous. There were two indoor buildings, so we went into the Tropical Ravine, and Palm House which were full of plants and flowers. Later that night we went to a restaurant called Benedicts, which a friend had recommended. The restaurant was beautiful, and very expensive, especially because it was in pounds. But they have a “Beat the Clock Menu.” So because I ordered at 5:30, I only paid 5.50 pounds for a 12 pound meal of Italian stuffed chicken with basil mash. What a deal!

The next morning was another early travel day, up at 6am to take the bus to Dublin, and flew back to Cork. I loved our trip to Northern Ireland, it was great to see the country and coast for a change!

I had a physics midterm today. It was funny how the class size doubled for the exam. It was interesting to take a test here. I am just glad to have it over with. Yesterday was Pancake Tuesday! So we made lots of pancakes. Jill, my friends Irish roommate made pancakes too. The pancakes they make over here are very flat, and remind me more of crepes. She made them, and put lemon juice and sugar on them and rolled them up. They were delicious!

 Well that is about it for this extra long update. I am on my way to a Traditional Irish music concert for my Music Class, but pictures soon! Cheers!

London Photos

London pictures!

Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes!! I had some sort of crazy Irish flu last week, so I was pretty dead for a chunk of the week. I didn’t realize how much I would miss NyQuil! 

I felt a bit better on Saturday so a group of us went to Cobh (pronounced "Cove"). It was about a half hour train ride away. It was a cute Irish seaport town. Quiet now, but it used to be quite the bustling major transatlantic Irish port. Over 2.5 million people emigrated out of Cobh to America during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Cobh was the last port of call of the Titanic before it left across the Atlantic. Also when Luisitania, the passenger liner was sunk by the Germans survivors were brought to Cobh. The little town had a lot of history to it!

I woke up feeling much better for my birthday which was good! A few friends and I went out to watch the Rugby game Ireland vs. Italy then out to dinner for Italian after we kicked their butt. Haha. My friends made me my mom's raspberry chocolate birthday cake that she makes me every year so I felt right at home! I still expect pancakes when I get home though mom ;)

I leave on Thursday night for Northern Ireland. I will be in Belfast until Sunday afternoon. Hope you enjoy the London pictures! 

Across the Irish Sea to LONDON!

London! I absolutely loved it! So much to see and do and the city is full of so much history it is amazing! I spent Wednesday night traveling, I felt like it took forever to get there. First we took a bus to the Cork airport, then the plane to Stanstead airport, then a bus to London, then the tube and after some walking finally made it to our hostel. We stayed at Journeys London Eye hostel which was great. Best one I have been to yet. Everyone was just so friendly, and it was very youth oriented, so we met tons of great people our age and swapped traveling stories. We crashed early Wednesday night ready for a jam packed weekend.

On Thursday, after our complimentary breakfast of tea, toast, and cereal, we went and found the Big Bus Tour Company. Our friends who had gone the week before recommended them. It included two different bus tours where you could hop on and off, three walking tours, and a boat cruise. It was nice to have the transportation, but looking back probably wasn’t worth it. It was terrible weather on Thursday though; cold and rainy. London had a crazy snow storm earlier in the week, but most of the snow was melted by the time we got there just a bit of ice left when we first got in. I was just surprised how much colder London was compared to Cork. We took the bus tour and saw all the sites, Big Ben, Webminister Abbey, London Eye, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London and went on the River Thames Cruise. We were pretty frozen after that so we found Sherlock Holmes Pub and defrosted. My friends all had their fish n’ chips but I stuck with a roast beef sandwich.

Then we strolled down some major shopping streets doing some window shopping. We found this toy store called Hamleys, probably the coolest place ever. It was seven stories, and had every toy possible. They also had stations set up throughout the store with a sales person demonstrating the toys. We saw everything from magic tricks to nail polish pens to paint sets. At each station we were like a group of five year olds, so easily impressed and awed. My favorite would have to be the Magical snow. It is powder, then when you add water expands one hundred times its size. It feels and looks like real snow! Then after two weeks it changes back into the powder and is reusable. Coolest thing ever. Afterwards, we stopped at Tesco, the grocery store, and bought meals for the next three nights for only two pounds each. There is nothing like pasta and grill cheese.

Thursday night we went to the Absolut Ice Bar. It is a bar where everything in it is made out of ice. The bar, tables, chairs, chandeliers, walls, glasses. They give you huge capes with hoods and gloves attached before you go in, but you can still only be in there for about 40 minutes because it is so cold. It was really cool. Afterwards we met up with Brianne’s cousin, who is studying abroad in London, and his friends. We went to a pub called The George, which was a very English pub. The George is London’s only surviving coaching inn. Chaucer began his Canterbury Tales here and Charles Dickens was known to visit.

On Friday we did a bit more of the bus tour. Saw Buckingham Palace, the US Embassy, Notting Hill, and Kensington Palace. Again it wasn’t the greatest weather and we ended up venturing off on our own for some exploring. We were planning on doing the Beatles Walking Tour, but after a few wrong turns we just missed it. Instead we went into the National Art Gallery to get away from the cold. Great thing about London- all their museums are free! We saw paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, and a million other artists. We decided to see a West end show Friday night and it is amazing how many shows they have to see! We got cheap tickets for the “stalls” to see Wicked, so we were up really close to the stage but on the far side. Wicked is a musical about the witches of Oz, a prequel to the Wizard of Oz. I had seen it before at home and was surprised at how exact the two shows matched up. They didn’t even have British accents!

After the show we went back to the hostel to make some grill cheese and chatted with all the travelers at the hostel. We met people from all over including, Madrid, Morocco, Germany, Scotland, Australia, Canada, and even the states. We spent the night hearing ridiculous stories from an Aussie who is a world traveler. Earning enough money for a plane ticket and going wherever there is good snowboarding. We heard stories of his tent burning down, flipping his car over after driving around Australia with no breaks, and being chased by a crocodile. You never know who you are going to meet in a hostel.

The next morning we went on the Buckingham Palace Walking tour. We saw the changing of the guards, a very ceremonial event. We unfortunately couldn’t get our picture taken with one of the guards because apparently a few weeks ago a guard attacked a mocking tourist. So now they stand behind ropes and the tourists have to stay a few feet away. We then made another tourist must see stop and went to Kings Cross Station for a picture by Platform 9 and ¾. You Harry Potter fans will understand that one. Julia laughed at us, but took pictures of Kristina, Brianne and I attempting to make it to Hogwarts. We went to Harrods, the biggest department store in the world. It is seven stories and has everything you could possible think of, from Tiffany’s necklaces, to Armani children tee shirts, to Ferrari bicycles and an amazing food floor. A huge store! We also went to the National History Museum and checked out the Human Biology exhibit to brush up on our Anatomy, as classes start on Monday. Saturday night we met up with Brianne’s cousin again, and went to Kings College Bar. We tried “SnakeBite,” a drink that people have been recommending to us. It is Carlsberg beer, Long Horn cider and black current syrup. Surprisingly really good!

We slept in a bit on Sunday, and “checked out” at eleven. It was a beautiful day so we hit up a few of the tourist spots like Big Ben again and took some pictures in the nice weather. We headed down to Camden Market, which is similar to Canal Street in New York City, with all the stalls set up with street vendors. I had been wearing my rain boots all weekend, and made a great buy at the market of sneakers :) Later Julia and I went to the Imperial War Museum. We only had an hour left as it was closing but what we saw was really interesting. They had a “Childrens War” exhibit and how the kids experienced WWII and went through the Blitz experience which demonstrated how London experienced 57 days of bombing. It was a really interesting museum, I just wish we had more time- [Chris you would have loved it!].

Our flight was at 6 am the next morning, and we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 2am. So we went back to our hostel even though we were no longer paying customers. We took over the couch area for the next eight hours or so and hung out all night, eating the last of our pasta and grill cheese, drinking the endless amount of English tea, and chatting with all the other guests. Julia talked our Canadian friend into letting us watch the latest episode of Greys, so at 1am we spent out last hour in London catching up on US television. We walked to the bus stop, took the night bus to Victoria station, Took the bus to Stanstead airport, flew back to Cork, took the bus to Cork city, and finally the bus home to our flat and got home about 9:30am. I slept all day Monday and woke up in time for class Monday night.

This week is RAG week at UCC. “Raise and Give,” it is a week full of charity events to raise money, but the Irish use the occasion to go out and drink. Unfortunately I have come down with some sort of virus and have spent most of my time in bed sleeping. Hopefully I will fight it off soon enough and in time for my birthday!

But that was my trip to London! I will get pictures up ASAP!

Off for the weekend

Just a quick update. I am off to London today for the weekend. I am flying out tonight at 6:20 and I will be flying back on Monday morning bright and early at 6am!

Till next week!