Back to Abilene

Leaving for Abilene. Excited, but not too much.

Leaving Ireland

I am waiting to board a flight to Boston. My trip is done.

The Cliffs and Burren Day

 

Today was my last day in Ireland but it was also the day that redeemed Republic of Ireland for me, after not taking to Dublin and it was also the day that I fell in love.  Not with a boy, but with the Cliffs of Moher and even more, with The Burren. I have put pictures on this post, mostly of the cliffs and the Burren. I took some videos of the Burren as well, but they won’t upload to my blog. Maybe they are too big. Anyway, if you are reading this and want to see one, just email me @ zhonguoandmillie@gmail.com.

     I went to the Cliffs of Moher, which are on the Western Coast of the Republic of Ireland on a day tour with “Extreme Ireland.” When I made the booking months back, I was surprised they were operating on St. Patrick’s Day. Ironically, today our driver and guide told us that they were surprised that some people did want to go on tour today. They thought everyone would have wanted to go to Dublin, see the parade. I am actually glad I decided to do this tour on St. Patrick’s Day, because it sounds, like it still does outside, that it was a bit crazy in Dublin today, and I don’t feel like I missed much, and saw a lot. I have not been…connecting with Dublin but this day trip really made me love Republic of Ireland. Still not keen on Dublin but outside Dublin, loved it! We were mostly in the Western Part of the country, and it took 3 hours of driving to get there. The distance between Abilene and Dallas. Crazy huh? Anyways, since I do have a fly out tomorrow back to Texas I want to get some sleep, so I will try and keep this post short. 

   The tour began early! We left at 6:50am! it did last all day though, we were back in Dublin by 7pm(takes 3 hours to get from the Western part where we were to Dublin). This I liked, because I got to see a lot of scenery, countryside, a lot of the country, and I liked that I felt that I got my money’s worth, unlike other all day tours where you leave at 9am but you are back by 3pm or something you know?

  The Cliffs of Moher were so beautiful that my words will never do them justice, and neither will pictures or videos. They are stunning. When you get there, you totally understand why they are so easy to fall off of, and why they put up the barrier. Still they did a good job with the barrier. It is limestone slabs, limestone native to the area, so it does not look out of place and neither does it take away from the Cliffs or ruin anything. It was raining when we got there, but since this is Ireland it cleared up after about literly 5 minutes, so I got shots of the Cliffs in rainy weather and sunny weather! Lol. I loved those Cliffs. To think nature created those Cliffs is…mind blowing! Truly takes away your breath. The height, the shapes, the waves crashing at the base, the ruggedness…amazing.  If a guy ever proposed to me at the Cliffs of Moher, that would be my perfect proposal, espescially if it was at sunset.

       After the Cliffs and lunch at this cute traditional Irish pub in a small nearby village called Doolin, we went to The Burren. The Burren is a limestone area, is the simplest way I can put it. as you can see in the pictures, there are rocks everywhere. These are limestones, native to the area, created 320 million years ago when the area was below sea level (seas where shallower then). it feels like you are on the moon…on a barren planet off Earth….The grass has begun to grow due to erosion forming cracks in the limesone, and some cattle are being fed this grass because it is good! It takes in protein and nutrients from the Limestone, and the cattle are thriving on this grass. Amazing huh? I did take a small sample with me, just a tiny piece. I love Limestone. It is all over this area of Ireland, and looks beautiful, so im totally putting that in my future patio or something. The Burren is so amazing and beautiful, I couldn’t take enough pictures or videos. We walked on the Limestone Walk, and then we drove through the Burren. Beautiful.  Stunning. I truly fell in love with it. it was so…stunning and different. The wildness, ruggedness, had a certain beauty that really appealed to me.

   I could go on and on, but I want to keep this post short. I plan on writing a longer post reflecting on my trip when I get back to Texas. besides, these places, the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren, are so stunning that words don’t do them justice, and pictures or videos don’t either. You have to see them for yourselves to understand.

Tomorrow morning,I leave Ireland. I must say I am not excited about leaving. I want to stay here, in Ireland. Seems like I have been here forever, but in a good way. I am so going to come back. For good or for an extended period. I will find a way.

The Newgrange Day

 

Today was my Newgrange day and it was a bit more of an adventure than I had planned. I take a short taxi ride to the meeting place at 10:25am, but I’m waiting and waiting and no one is showing up. I’m thinking I’m left behind or something, and I’m starting to cry, but when I check my email receipt  from them, turns out it was 8:15am on Saturdays.  Newgrange is one of the things I was most looking forward to seeing, after Titanic Belfast of course, so I was not going to not go. So I took a cab. I will admit I was worried that they would say it was too far, since I knew it was a bit outside of Dublin. I took out some more money from the ATM and went to a nearby Taxi Rank, and they said it would be about 60-70 euros to Newgrange. I said sure, and was on my way. It took a while to get there, a little less than an hour or so, but I got to see the countryside outside Dublin, which I suppose I would have seen on the tour as well. Still, it was a nice drive. it ended up being 80 Euros, which is about $100, but worth it in my mind. When I got there, the first thing I did was ask how to get to Dublin at the Visitors Centre, and they said there was a coach that left at 3:10pm, and since my time slot was 1:15pm, I would be back in time to catch it.



Walkway to Visitor's Center

 Newgrange was amazing! The entire area is called the Boyne Valley, and it is beautiful, as you can see in the picture. Newgrange is not the only passage tomb, and it is not the biggest actually. There are two others, and the other one is the largest in Europe. I only saw Newgrange, though I suppose I could have seen the others. But my interest was Newgrange. Next time I’ll see the others. It was so amazing! Words could not describe it. it was amazng being in there, knowing that people had built it 5,000 years ago, without the aid of tools, computers, anything. All by hand. We were also told there are no signs of slavery , so all who built it wanted to build it. they also aligned all of these tombs, since Newgrange is not the only one alined with the sun, without the use of any modern day satallites or anything.  Amazijng isn’t it? one neat thing we were told was that the River Boyne, which runs through the Boyne Valley, was used by the ancient people at the time of Newgrange as a natural divide. They would settle and live on one side of the river, and on the other was where they built the passage tombs such as Newgrange: a natural divide between this world and the next. I thought that was interesting. Also the roof, all of rocks is…pretty good. Seriously, we could take lessons from these people on how to built a roof even though theirs is all rocks: it had not leaked in 5,000 years, and newgrange is dated as being 5,000 years old. I’m sure I don’t have to explain anymore. How often do our roofs leak?  It was increable, and amazing and im so glad I went!



                The passage way into the tombs was very narrow! So narrow we were told to carry out backpacks and purses in front of us and below, so as not to scrape the art/rocks as we passed.  It was suggested that if were…claustrophobic or nervous, to go towards the end of the line, which I did. It was not as bad as I thought though. It was so beautiful on the inside. They simulated the winter’s solstice on dec 21 for us with electric lights, and that alone was amazing. When they turned off the lights, it was so dark my eyes were not adjusting, I couldn’t see my hands, and then the electric simulated winter’s solstice came in, beautiful light lighting up the tomb. Amazing.

It was a good day. I took a coach to a nearby station where I then transferred to a Dublin bound bus, and it was 7 Euros, so pretty good compared to another taxi ride for another 80 euro. I did try Black Irish Pudding today , and…I made it about…5 small bites into it, maybe 6, before I decided I did not like it and left basically the entire 5 euro plate of 3 Irish puddings. All in all, it turned into a bit of an adventure but Newgrange was totally worth it! tomorrow my last day in Ireland and then I go back to Texas. sad. Seems like I’ve been in Ireland forever, but in a good day. I don’t want to leave. I want to go back to Belfast, explore it some more, explore Northern Ireland more. And like I said, I will find a way to come back. I’m already looking at master’s and maybe even doctoral programs in Belfast. So far, I’ve liked Dublin, it’s a nice and beautiful city but it is missing that…certain charm that Belfast and Northern Ireland has.



   Tomorrow, on my last day in Ireland and St.Paddy’s Day, I am going on an all day tour to the Cliffs of Moher on the Western Ireland Coast. It is where the “cliffs of insanity” from the princess bride were filmed, and the exterior shot of HP 6 when Harry and Dumbledore go after the locket. Im excited to see more of Republic of Ireland. Today, it was nice being in the taxi and the coach, because it gave me a chance to see more of the countryside, without having to listen to the tour guide talking and stuff. Not that that is bad or anything. I suppose I took an opportunity you know? I’m excited to see more of the Republic of Ireland outside the Dublin area. I’m excited, it will be a good day.

entrance to Newgrange. the white stones are original stones but had to be put up again when they found Newgrange. the limestones, the dark stones either side, is a modern day recreation but they are native to the area.

 

Me at the River Boyne at Newgrage. Beautiful river and beautiful valley.

Paranama view of Newgrange

River Boyne. Beautiful isn't it?

The Literacy Pub Crawl Day

 Today I began the day with my Belfast Black Taxi Tour. It was awesome and I'm so glad I did it! Really helped me get a sense of the city and its history, or at least some of it. the tour had to do with the Troubles, which I knew it included that but I thought it was of the whole city as well, but I was glad it was about The Troubles because I wanted to learn more about that. The driver told me that when Republic of Ireland got its independence from Great Britian, the British kept the providence of Ulter, since that is where the money was: the ships, the linen, etc. they then divided Ulster Providence into 6 counties. those 6 counties are Northern Ireland. I could go on and on about the tour but suffice it to say it was great learning what the Troubles were about. basically, the Catholics, which lived in Western Belfast and still do, wanted to be free of the British, a united Ireland. the protestants of course, wanted to stay in the U.K. and in the 60s, this tension pretty much exploded. Western Belfast is still, to this day, Catholic. you drive in, and you see the signs in English and Irish, you see the Irish flag. Elsewhere in Belfast you see the U.K flag. the picture above is the Peace Line, which is a pretty long wall, this is one tiny piece of it. It's almost like the Berlin Wall, the same idea. This wall divides Western Catholic Belfast and Western Protestant Ireland. some places, there is still a border crossing. these crossings open at 6am, and close at 6:30pm. crazy huh? during the Troubles, there was also a wall like this one all around City Center to search anyone coming in, and then once you were in, you were searched again before entering any and each store/building you went into. the wall around city center in Belfast came down in 1995. 1995. only 18 years ago. and someday, someday soon, maybe in 20 years or sooner, according to the driver doing the tour, this Peace Wall will come down as well. they started intergrating the schools as well, Catholics and Prostetants. 62 so far, which is a good start. when the Troubles started British Troops came in to control the "Catholics", and they had their HQ in the top 3 floors of a high rise building in Western Prostetant Belfast, and used the citizens living below as human sheilds kinda, but all of them would have been Prostestants of course.

 the last of the British troops left 8 years ago. people moved back into the top 3 floors 6 years ago. keep in mind, British Troops would have come late 60s or so. amazing huh? Much recent than I thought. the tour was great, really amazing, and I learned a lot. I kept wishing my friends who are in Seminary, like Brent or Kipp, were with me, since this would have right up their alley in a way. amazing how religion and politics were ...the same.

   The cab dropped me off at Belfast Central Station, where I got a 12:35 train to Dublin. I did not want to leave Belfast, and if I could have I probably would have stayed. I LOVED Belfast. it was a great city, I had a great time, and I want to come back. for good or for a longer period of time. I enjoyed the train ride to Dublin! it was great seeing the Irish countryside, very beautiful and relaxing! there is no border markings or anything, but i knew we were in Republic of Ireland when I started seeing the signs in Irish and English! during the Black Taxi Tour, my driver told me that to protestants, they are British, not Irish and you'll offend them if you call them Irish. the catholics are the opposite: to them, they are Irish.

  

I got to Dublin around 2:45pm, and found a cab to take me to my Hotel. cab it wasn't t expensive, less than 10 Euro, but walking would have been too far, mostly because of the luggage and no knowing my way around. my hotel here is nice! cute, and clean! love having my own bathroom in my room! nice luxury after a hostel for 5 days with shared shower and its warm! my hostel in Belfast was nice and I liked it, but the bathroom was cold! still, as I walked along after checking in and dropping off my stuff and freshening up, I am not getting that same....love that i got when I arrived in Belfast. Dublin is a much much bigger city than Belfast, and it does seem to have more of that city vibe. don't get me wrong: it seems to have plently of greenary, the archictecture is still the same on the outside as in the old days, and I love all the cafes around. Dublin is a beautiful city.Still first impression is that...nice to spend time here, but wouldn't want to live here. of course, maybe I should plan on visiting again someday, since during my time in Dublin I'll be doing day tours outside of Dublin. I didnt like London the first time either. I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It lacks the...charm that Belfast had.

I went to the Litercacy Pub Crawl Tour, and it was entertaining, food. enjoyed the performances but nothing that I can say I got anything deep or lots of knowledge out of. I did not like the fact that the perfomances would mostly be a bit outside the pub it curtailed to, and then afterwards we would just be set free in the pubs for 20 minutes or so. since I'm not a drinker or anything, and I was by myself, this part was not fun for me. I took some great pictures of the pubs, we went to four, and soem of the buildings around though. I wish there had been more of a guided tour around the pubs, instead of just being let loose in the pubs for 20 minutes at each pub, but I enjoyed the performances and they were beautiful pubs. very crowded since its a friday and St.Paddy's Weekend. So I was...slightly dissapointed, this tour was not what I thought it would be, but I would still give it a 7 out of 10. it was something very fun to do, very entertaining, and it helped me see some of the city.
  After the tour, I walked around trying to find a place to eat, as I was a bit hungry, ate some pizza and then came back to my hotel. pretty eventual day, though it doesnt feel like it.
  

While I was waiting for the Literacy Pub Crawl Tour to begin, I had some dinner/lunch at a pub/resturant called Bailey's, on the same street, Duke Street, as where the tour started from, The Duke Pub, and it was great! I had the Spanish Meatballs, and even though it was a small portion, it was a pub, it was good to last me through the tour and they were soo delicious! I also had some dessert, Chocolate Brownie with Cream. the cream was not to my liking, too sweet or something, but the brownie was amazing! when I get back to Texas, I'm making meatballs!

tomorrow is my day tour to NewGrange, and I'm way excited about that! it will be so amazing and I love seeing things like Old Tombs and stuff. I should be back early enough to still have plently of daylight left to do some walking/exploring around Dublin.

The Giants Causeway Day

      Today was my last full day in Belfast, and it was my Giants Causeway Tour. I did wake up slightlt sick, bit of a sore throat when I swallow, and I slid/fell down the stairs of my hostel on my way to the shower this morning. still, I like to think I made the best of it. I was only interested in the sceneary and the Causeway, so the dystillary that we stopped at for 30 minutes and the rope bridge were not my thing, but it was still worth it. the North Coast of Northern Ireland is so beautiful! I was slightly worried I would not be able to find the meeting place, 25a Donegal Road. I looked up directions online but you never know, and there are a lot of roads named Donegal here in Belfast. Anyways, I found it, exactly where the directions said it would be. we were a bit late leaving, were supposed to leave around 9:30am, but that was okay, I was in no hurry.

     The thing with Day tours is that everything is a bit rushed, you don't get a bunch of time at each place, but that has never bothered me. We went through the Glens of Atrium, along the coastal road, Atrium Coastal Road, and it was gorgeous! the entire tour alone was worth it just for that drive in my opinion. Glen is a Scottish word, the Irish use it too, it means "at the base of the mountain/hill" something like that. In other words, a valley. I took some videos with my camcorder, and it was so amazing! truly beautiful and breathtaking.

We passed through a lot of these cute little villages, the driver told us the names but I forgot them. anyways, they were small, but so cute! each house was different, different colors, different styles, etc. of course they would be super expensive! I kept thinking these little villages would be great to live in, but at the same time the reality might be that I would be easily bored you know? as you can see from the picture above, this road is very dangerous, lots of twists and turns and driving it at night is sure to be more dangerous. so it's not like I would be able to drive into Belfast even if I stayed in one of these villages you know? Still, I loved the character and the charm of these villages.

 Part of the tour was goign to the Carrick-A-Rede Rope bridge, an actual rope bridge like you see in movies over a cliff. This one was not as high, but I did not go over it. It was 5 pounds, but still, I was too scared to go over it. So I went to the restroom, then bought an ice cream and apple juice box and postcards at the gift shop and then went out for a few minutes, took some paranama pictures of the Coast. To the right is one of them. the tiny island behind me is called Sheep's Island. We learned Scotland is only 13 miles away, and since it was so clear, at least for a bit, we could see Scotland, at least a bit. it was only about 1 hour or so by Boat/Ferry.

 After the bridge we arrived at the Giants Causeway! It started to rain of course, which actually made the rocks more dangerous because they became slippery, but it cool. Me and that friend I wrote about last night, the one from Australia, hung out during the tour, which is was fun. We climbed around the causeway, carefully of course. We took pictures, and it was a great time. I took the bus down to the causeway and she walked down, and we both took the bus back up. it was 1 pound each way. While we were at the causeway, we climbed around them, and it was fun! it was like climbing on a giant set of clocks, all different heights and shapes. it's hard to believe that nature created this millions of years ago with a volcano erupsion!when the lava came into contact with the water, the water slowed the lava down and cooled it, creating the causeway. pretty neat huh? I liked that there were certain stones that were famous because they resemble a boot, a granny,etc. but I did not see them, I just took it all in, climbed,etc. I liked that it was not all marked out, because it made it less touristy and more real you know?

  as you can see in the picture above, some of the rocks are

black and others are more of a sand colored. Not sure why that is, maybe the closer it is to the water the more black it is due to the laval? to the right is a picture of me, with the causeway behind me. took it myself, so not a bad picture.

 We were supposed to go to a castle on the way(we also did a 10 minute photo stop at a castle near Belfast, but Susie Millar took me there during the Titanic Tour so I just looked, did not take a whole lot of pictures)but the road to it was closed due to a car wreck,so  we skipped it and went straight  to the oldest licensed dystillary in the world, Bushmill's. we were only there for 30 minutes, and frankly, I was bored. I already had a tour of one in Scotland, and also I am not a drinking, alcohol type of person, so I was glad when it was time to go after the 30 minutes. after that, it was time to head back to Belfast. Since, like I said, I am slightly sore of the throat, I feel asleep or dosed during the hour or so drive back to Belfast. me and my friend went to dinner at a resturant near my hostel , a cafe actually where I went a few nights ago, where I had the chocolate chip cheesecake and hot cocoa, and then went next door for some dessert. she had some coffee, and i had a sprite bottle and an eclair with cream in the middle. the eclair was not good though. she said the bread was stale, when i said i did not like the bread part, and it was cold. somehow, i would have prefered it room temperature or warm, not cold. still, it was fun. Since she's going on to another city and I'm headed for Dublin, most likely wont see her again and I don't recall her name. she told it to me once but you know how I am with names. still, it was a good opportunity to hang out with someone.

This is a Paranama picture I took of the Giants Causeway. pretty neat huh? it really did feel like we were playing on giant, uneven, playing blocks.

This is a Paranama view I took of the coast view where the Carrick-A-Rede Rope bridge is. as you can see, it's beautiful. there is not a curve there, just the way the picture turned out.

on the way, I decided to do a Black Taxi Tour of Belfast in the morning, lasts about an hour and our driver arranged it for me. 30 pounds, any time I want, pick me up and drop me off where I want. So I decided to delay leaving for Dublin until about 12:30pm, and get to Dublin around 3pm, not having time to do the hop-on, hop-off tour there, and since I did not do it in Belfast, I pretty much wasted my money with that, but only $30 so not too bad. and I think the Black Taxi tour will  be good and a good way to see some things in Belfast I did not get to see. besides, nothing specific I want to see in Dublin, so I'll just walk around and stuff when I get there. This way, I get to see parts of Belfast I would have seen on the hop-on, hop-off tour but did not.  so tomorrow it's: taxi tour in the morning at 9am after checking out, then taking a 12:35pm train to Dublin, check into my hotel after taking a cab there, and then walking around the city until about 6:30pm, where I will most likely take another cab to the Duke Pub for my pub-crawl, and enjoy that a ton and then take a cab back to my hotel. not a bad day. I do have about $500, not counting the $365 for the hotel in Dublin, but I should be getting paid Friday, $201 but that money is for my books for my MA in English Literature & Creative Writing-Fiction Concentration starting on April 1, 2013 which I still need to order those books for! next friday I will not get paid, since I did not work this week, and very little the week after that. not lookign forward to going back, to be honest. I hate working at Wings Stop, I feel lonely in Abilene to be honest. I want to stay in Belfast, I love it here, I love this city. I'm going to find a way to come back, for good or for an extended period of time.

But Tomorrow...on to Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland!

The Second Titanic Day

*Events of this post took place on March 13, 2013.

 

     I did my Hop-on, Hop-off tour, or at least I used the bus. I ended up not doing it for the two days I had scheduled, which makes me feel a bit bad, but oh well. today I was going to go to the Titanic Dockyard and the Titanic Musem and then do as much of the tour as I could, but I slept later than I planned, no breakfast as I planned, so I got on the tour and got off at Titanic Quarter, and went to the Dockyard and to the Titanic Museum, and by the time I did both the tour was over for the day. oh well. it was only about $30, and the ticket covers doing the tour in Dublin, so I'll do that when I get to Dublin on Friday. and my priorority was Titanic, its the reason why I did this trip, and I have been walking around city center so its not like I have not seen the city. just haven't seen all of the memorials and other stuff. just means I'll have to come back to Belfast, but that's a different story. 

  As you can see above, I went to the Titanic Dockyard, and it was such an amazing experience for me. getting there was slightly scary as you have to walk along the edge of this small balcony area, but I got through it. being there truly does give you the reality of how massive the Titanic was. it truly is her footprint. I can tell you how long she was, roughly how much she weighed, and that she was the largest moving object built by man at the time, but I was still blown away by how massive it was! She was so long, and so tall! it's amazing! I was too scared to go down the metal stairs, 4 flights, to the floor of the dockyard, but it was fine with me. It gave me a whole new appreciation for those people who got into those lifeboats, because the dockyard was not as high as the ship would have been, she would have been as high as the roof of the building, the pumphouse, to the right, but it was still scary for me to look down!  I cannot put into words how much it meant to me to be there, and neither can any words do it justice. I did also go to the Titanic Belfast Experience, which was SOOO good! I loved that they did not concentrate on just the sinking. they started with Belfast's becoming a world center for Linen, for Shipbuilding, on the planning of the ship, on the building, on the launch,etc. they sinking was included of course, but it was only part of her story. to me, it gave me this new way of looking at her, in fact being in Belfast has done that. The sinking was a tragedy, but there is so much to be proud of concerning this ship. she was not always the wreck we see on the ocean floor today. They have this cool ride in the part about buiding the ship, 6 minutes, and its a slow rollercoaster type of ride. it was cool. it was a facinating museum.

 I took a cab back to nearby city centre, my first since I got to Ireland, and then had dinner at the Fountain Bar and Resturant again. I had the 10 ounce Sirloin Steak with Mash Potatoes, and it was yummy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was at the Titanic Dockyard, I was told about this Ghost Walk tour that left at 7:30pm from City Hall, only 8 pounds, so I decided to do it and I'm so glad I did! It was a short tour, 1 hour or so, but it was great! it took my to small alleys and parts of Belfast I hadn't seen, and it was great hearing all the different ghost stories. the picture to the left are two of the people I met on the tour, I cannot recall their names, I'm bad with names, but the one on the left is Austrialian and she's actually going on the same tour to the Giants Causeway tomorrow that I'm going on, and the one on the right is German. we went for a drink and some late dinner at a pub called Kelley's Cellar near where the tour ended, and hung out talking until about midnight. I did try the Guiness, and I...did not like it. they added some berry stuff to it, and it did help, but not enough for me to like it. I tried a sample and once they added the berry stuff it was okay, but the half pint with the same berry stuff was for some reason not good. anyways, it was an experience and it was fun hanging out with them, talking, etc. and now I'll know someone on the tour tomorrow, which is nice.

 

I know I seem like I'm rushing through today's post, and I am because it is 1:45am, and my tour leaves at 9:30am, and I need to be there by 9am, and that means I have to get up around 8am, so that is why.

Tomorrow is my last day in Belfast, and I'm about that. my time here has been amazing, I am in love with this city, and I'm going to find a way to comeback, for good or for a much longer period of time. Friday it is on to Republic of Ireland for a few days, and then home on Monday. I'm sad to go home, I don't want to leave Belfast, I don't want to go back to Abilene, to that job I hate, but like I said....I'm going to find a way to come back here.