Ok, so obviously, I am a bit behind. I first of all ask that all of my faithful readers forgive me! The last two weeks have almost been non-stop going and even on days when I didn’t do much, I was exhausted!! So here we are, friends, the recap of my journeys here, there, and everywhere!
I started out my Easter Holiday by traveling with my host family for three days in London! Ok, can I just say, I love England. The people are a little bit pompous and arrogant, but let’s face it, you would be too if your country owned most of the world at one point. I would imagine that it’s a little hard to let that go. We flew in and go there by the afternoon, where we bought our Tube (Underground, Subway, whichever you prefer) and did the normal touristy stuff that I have grown to know and love so very much. I got to see Buckingham Palace, which honestly was not quite what I had expected, but whatever. We don’t have a queen, so that was cool if nothing else. The next day I knew I wanted to do something historical, let’s face it, that’s what I love. I decided that I wanted to go to the Tower of London, which is not, as some might think, an actual tower. It is a fortress dating from the Norman period of English history with the White Tower, a castle built by William the Conqueror. The part I was intrigued with, was the Tudor history of the Tower, with which it is steeped. I knew I was going to enjoy it, but I didn’t realize how much. I’m glad I went there alone because it was a time of pure joy for me. I’m not even kidding, I loved it so much I was close to tears. It wasn’t just the pure history of the Tower that I loved, but they had an exhibit in the White Tower of, get this, armour of Henry VIII–anyone who knows me, knows that this is my thing. I was one pane of glass away from something that Henry VIII wore…..I can’t even express how cool that was. I’m missing it now just thinking about it. That night, we went to see Wicked on the West End. Did I mention I love Wicked? Although, I must say, I compared the actor playing Fieryo to Sebastian Arcelus, the actor I saw here on Broadway and whom I love. Needless to say, though, it was great. I miss London now just writing about it.
I got back to Ireland on Wednesday night, knowing I had all of one day to rest before I left again on another PaddyWagon Tour to the south-west of Ireland. I hung out with Rachel in Dublin that day and got to listen to my first live Irish music in a pub…very cool.
Friday morning, me being me, I lost my sense of direction and almost couldn’t find the PaddyWagon Palace (yes, that is a real name). I was worried how going on this trip alone was going to affect me, but everything turn out great…God was SO looking out for me! On the bus, I sat next to a brother and sister from South Africa, and between the three of us, we eventually gathered a group of six people that stuck together throughout the trip: 3 from S. Africa, 1 girl from Australia, 1 girl from L.A., and me. It was so amazing. We stayed at a hostel in Galway Friday night which was a lot nicer than I had expected. Unfortunately, because it was Good Friday, most of Galway was shut down, but it was a beautiful city! Everything in the south is beautiful! I couldn’t get over the contrast between the incredible greenness of everything + the blueness of the sky (the weather was AMAZING!) + the feeling that I had gone back into the 19th century. It was so much different than Dublin, I can’t even express. Our tour guide/bus driver was a guy named Gabriel. He had a mouth on him, but he was hilarious. We all made friends with him, and when we got to the Dingle Peninsula, he gave four of us the opportunity to stay at a B&B because the hostel was full. Awesome! Some amazing attractions I saw from this trip: The Cliffs of Moher, Ancient Monastery at Clonmacnoise, The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas (that’s a mouthful, it’s also known as the Galway Cathedral), the Guinness Storehouse, Blarney Castle. Yes, that’s right folks, I kissed the Blarney Stone and received the gift of gab (eloquence, Winston Churchill kissed the Blarney Stone, so maybe there’s something to it) which should be helpful to me in job interviews, haha! The trip was awesome. I met some great people and saw some great things. So much was crammed into just three days, that I’m still blown away by it all.
Whew! And that was only one week! I got home late Sunday night with the decision that my second week of Easter was going to be devoted to seeing as much of Dublin as I possibly could. I felt I got a crack at somethings, but there is no way I got even close to scratching the surface of all that I want to do. One of the first things I did was went to see the Book of Kells (an ancient illuminated manuscript)–worth a trip to Ireland just to do that! I went to the National Library, the Writer’s Museum (all Dublin authors), and the Museum of Archeology. I took a bus tour taking me around the city and showing me all of the main sights. This is probably the most touristy thing EVER but it was worth it. I learned a lot and went on a day where it was shockingly sunny and fairly warm (for Ireland that is, probably about 52 degrees at the highest) and I sat on the open top of the bus and got to see everything. I met Kathleen’s new fiancee and went out to dinner with them. And of course, I went shopping. There are some really cool stores in Dublin and I’m finding some neat things. I’m also very surprised at myself, as I am starting to be able to find my way around the city without whipping my map out at the slightest wind change. This is mostly because I’ve been forced to. I’ve been going into the city alone, so I can’t depend on someone else to read the map for me. It’s nice. However, NOTHING is open late here. Most coffee shops and sandwich bars are closed by 5:00 or 6:00. Seriously, when I was coming home from town I just wanted to grab a latte to take with me on the DART, and the six coffee shops I passed on the way there were closed up. That was frustrating.
Thursday of this week was super awesome. I took a bus tour out to Newgrange, about 45 minutes north of Dublin. This is the site of an ancient burial tomb, known as a passage tomb. It is a Stone Age tomb, older than Stonehedge by 500 years and the pyramids of Egypt by 1000 years. Holy crap it was cool. There were about 25 of in this tight little chamber door and the tour guide was explaining all of the technicalities of the tomb: how it was designed perfectly alligned with the sun on the Winter Solstice and how every year at dawn on that day, the passage of the tomb fills with light and illuminates the ancient carved spirals on the walls. This tour also took me to the site of the Battle of the Boyne, one of the most important battles in Irish history; the Hill of Tara, site of of the ancient capital of Ireland; and through the town of Slane, where St. Patrick did…something or other, haha I can’t remember this one exactaly. When I got back into Dublin that night, I wandered around for a while searching for a sandwich bar (not kidding, everything was shut down) and then, I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Ok, so if my nerd side hasn’t shown yet, get ready for this: I went to a gothic organ concert and readings from Dracula. Oh my gosh, guys, not kidding this was awesome. The setting, a Medieval Cathedral, was perfect. It was creepy, haunting, and chilling all at the same time. I loved it.
Today, I went to church for the first time in Ireland. I went with my family to a Church of Ireland. It is amazing to me how different it was than an evangelical church like the one I go to back home is. More structured, but no less worshipful.
Wow, that’s a ton of writing! I hope I didn’t bore y’all too much, I’ll try to stay more on top of it in the coming 17 days…cause that’s all I have left! How sad! God has really granted me a great trip and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m back to school tomorrow and teaching to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class (8-10 year olds)…….that should be interesting, I’ll let you know how it goes.
