30th October, Euro Hostel, Glasgow
...and a paddock of panda cows!
I am in Scotland!
And my bus trip to the land of the kilt wearing men was enlightening! I met Lisa, a lovely 35 yr old baby-of-the-family who has been married for 12years, and still doesn't understand her husband! We chatted about the weather, the English (naturally), the fact that there is no jobs in Scotland, so she will never live in the country of her birth again, and the fact that her parents don't get paid very much on the pension they receive (I saw her parents at the coach station, they seemed really nice!)
And we past panda coloured cows as we drove through the Lake District in England! I kid you not - panda coloured cows! It was soo cool! They had the exact shading of a panda, only it was a field of cows! Love it! An enthralling blend of cow and panda - the panow, or the conda! Whichever works for you!
Now it is 10pm, and I am ready for bed. I am cold, sore, very tired and before I go to sleep tonight I need to put my clock back, because tonight is the night that clocks go back an hour... so instead of waking up at stupid 5.45am each morning I will now be waking up at 4.45am... great!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
On The Road Again!
30th October, Stafford to Glasgow
Just like Donkey (from Shrek for all you non-movie-buffs), let's break into song!
I'm heading to Scotland today, on a coach (bus for us Aussies) which is going to take maybe 6 hours or so! Just Lovely,,,, And getting into Glasgow around 5.30 pm, and I have to make my way to the hostel... this may result in me taking a taxi... If it's raining... or dark...
And for all you Shrek fans (stop hiding your faces and stand proud!) here it is, the one, the only - On The Road Again, performed by you all!!
Just like Donkey (from Shrek for all you non-movie-buffs), let's break into song!
I'm heading to Scotland today, on a coach (bus for us Aussies) which is going to take maybe 6 hours or so! Just Lovely,,,, And getting into Glasgow around 5.30 pm, and I have to make my way to the hostel... this may result in me taking a taxi... If it's raining... or dark...
And for all you Shrek fans (stop hiding your faces and stand proud!) here it is, the one, the only - On The Road Again, performed by you all!!
On the road again -
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
is on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
is on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
(by Willie Nelson)
Friday, October 29, 2010
A Boat to Holyhead
28th October, Dublin to Holyhead on Stenaline
Today was a looooong day! I woke up a stupid o'clock because the girl in the bunk above me was dying of a coughing fit between 2 am and 5am, and my alarm was set for 6am! So stupid o'clock came around, and I got up, dressed and out the door of Jacob's Inn, into the cold Dublin morning... where it was a dark, windy morning (but without rain!). I managed to get to the bus stop for the complimentary Stenaline bus to the port without any incidents, just frozen fingers.
The bus ride itself had a fairly interesting aspect - a lovely English lady who wouldn't shut up! She kept pestering the driver, and eventually got off the bus earlier than what you are really meant to. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else to chatter away for the last of the bus ride, and then we were at the port! My bag (which would have pulled in a fair bit of excess on Ryanair) was checked in, no payment required! Then into the lounge, for a short wait to board the Stena Adventurer...
I was in ferry heaven, it was the most luxurious ferry I have ever been on! It was huge, with restaurants, a video arcade, and even a giant Curious George wandering around on the deck. I walked past him at one point and he was lying on his back on the floor with his legs and arms waving around like a dying cockroach... All because a passenger accidentally knocked him over when she walked past... Good thing the man was wearing a mask, I think he would have been so embarrassed to do that without a mask!
2 hours later saw the ferry outside the Holyhead terminal in Wales, however, another ferry was leaving berth, so we had to wait - AN HOUR! This meant I missed my train to Birmingham, which inadvertently meant I had to buy another ticket. Which then took like 4 hours to travel on with changes. Which was ridiculous really. But what can you do huh? I had to get to Stafford. And now I am sitting in a comfy chair, in a warm house, and all because I worked with some lovely people, this house being the home of one of those people - THANKS DAN!!!!
Today was a looooong day! I woke up a stupid o'clock because the girl in the bunk above me was dying of a coughing fit between 2 am and 5am, and my alarm was set for 6am! So stupid o'clock came around, and I got up, dressed and out the door of Jacob's Inn, into the cold Dublin morning... where it was a dark, windy morning (but without rain!). I managed to get to the bus stop for the complimentary Stenaline bus to the port without any incidents, just frozen fingers.
The bus ride itself had a fairly interesting aspect - a lovely English lady who wouldn't shut up! She kept pestering the driver, and eventually got off the bus earlier than what you are really meant to. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else to chatter away for the last of the bus ride, and then we were at the port! My bag (which would have pulled in a fair bit of excess on Ryanair) was checked in, no payment required! Then into the lounge, for a short wait to board the Stena Adventurer...
I was in ferry heaven, it was the most luxurious ferry I have ever been on! It was huge, with restaurants, a video arcade, and even a giant Curious George wandering around on the deck. I walked past him at one point and he was lying on his back on the floor with his legs and arms waving around like a dying cockroach... All because a passenger accidentally knocked him over when she walked past... Good thing the man was wearing a mask, I think he would have been so embarrassed to do that without a mask!
2 hours later saw the ferry outside the Holyhead terminal in Wales, however, another ferry was leaving berth, so we had to wait - AN HOUR! This meant I missed my train to Birmingham, which inadvertently meant I had to buy another ticket. Which then took like 4 hours to travel on with changes. Which was ridiculous really. But what can you do huh? I had to get to Stafford. And now I am sitting in a comfy chair, in a warm house, and all because I worked with some lovely people, this house being the home of one of those people - THANKS DAN!!!!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The Jameson Experience
21st October, Midleton, Co Cork
So today - it was hard, tiring, and long...
To deal with the loveliness of my life, I went to the Old Midleton Distillery, where Jameson Whiskey used to be made. However, now, it is now distilled elsewhere, so the old distillery is now a museum dedicated to the making of Jameson Whiskey! It was really cool!
My memory card (the only one I had on me at the time...) was corrupted.... Damned! So basically, no photos for me to show you, but it was a beautiful! I had a ball - and the best bit about today was the fact that at the end of our guided tour (the guide was a bit stuffy) we had both a whiskey tasting test, with a shot of Jameson, a shot of Johnny Walker, and a shot of Jack Daniels to taste and compare. The other thing we got.... A GLASS OF JAMESON WHISKEY!! Just lovely! And considering how I was feeling about life, four shots of a whiskey, just lovely...
Eventually I got back to Myra and Jim's, had some more whiskey... Had long chats with Jim. He is so cool! A little like grumpy old men, without actually being grumpy, or necessarily old at heart, and just lovely. He has become my 'other man', according to him! Such a laugh!
So today - it was hard, tiring, and long...
To deal with the loveliness of my life, I went to the Old Midleton Distillery, where Jameson Whiskey used to be made. However, now, it is now distilled elsewhere, so the old distillery is now a museum dedicated to the making of Jameson Whiskey! It was really cool!
My memory card (the only one I had on me at the time...) was corrupted.... Damned! So basically, no photos for me to show you, but it was a beautiful! I had a ball - and the best bit about today was the fact that at the end of our guided tour (the guide was a bit stuffy) we had both a whiskey tasting test, with a shot of Jameson, a shot of Johnny Walker, and a shot of Jack Daniels to taste and compare. The other thing we got.... A GLASS OF JAMESON WHISKEY!! Just lovely! And considering how I was feeling about life, four shots of a whiskey, just lovely...
Eventually I got back to Myra and Jim's, had some more whiskey... Had long chats with Jim. He is so cool! A little like grumpy old men, without actually being grumpy, or necessarily old at heart, and just lovely. He has become my 'other man', according to him! Such a laugh!
The Sheridans
19th October, Midleton, Co Cork, the Sheridans
Yesterday afternoon I got on a bus. And 4 and a half hours later I arrived in Cork City. While I was there I saw many a crazy Irish persons (because apparently the crazy people are all in Cork City ~ according to Seany....) It was here I waited for Myra Sheridan. A short time later, Myra arrived, and as she walked up to me... well... I stood at one of the doors of the bus station thinking "I really hope this is Myra, because if it isn't then there is a person beelining towards me and I really don't have the energy to deal with a crazy Irish person..."
But it was Myra, and here begins a time for me to go "splat"....
Yesterday afternoon I got on a bus. And 4 and a half hours later I arrived in Cork City. While I was there I saw many a crazy Irish persons (because apparently the crazy people are all in Cork City ~ according to Seany....) It was here I waited for Myra Sheridan. A short time later, Myra arrived, and as she walked up to me... well... I stood at one of the doors of the bus station thinking "I really hope this is Myra, because if it isn't then there is a person beelining towards me and I really don't have the energy to deal with a crazy Irish person..."
But it was Myra, and here begins a time for me to go "splat"....
The National Photographic Archive
17th October, Paddy's Palace
Today was lazy! Woke up quite late and called home. Sorted out money, little bit of life, and decided I wanted to go back to bed.
Woke up again later on, and walked into Temple Bar in Dublin.
The National Photographic Archive has an exhibition on at the moment to do with photography in Ireland between 1858 and 1922...
Today was lazy! Woke up quite late and called home. Sorted out money, little bit of life, and decided I wanted to go back to bed.
Woke up again later on, and walked into Temple Bar in Dublin.
The National Photographic Archive has an exhibition on at the moment to do with photography in Ireland between 1858 and 1922...
- Power and Privilege: photographs of the Big House in Ireland 1858-1922
- Unique insights into life in the Big House
The Collector's Eye
Original vintage prints from the Sean Sexton Collection
So I had quite an educational afternoon, which ended with me getting an invite to an exhibition opening on Tuesday evening. If I don't make it down to Midleton, Co Cork, I'll go to that. (I am trying to contact some people who in a round-a-bout way are known to a friend of mum's, to stay with them for a couple of days... Money is low, so visiting people is a nice way of elevating the stress of money)
Paddywagon Tours - Day 6
16th October, Cork to Dublin
We were the same hostel from the other night, however this morning when I went down to breakfast there was no tough looking Irish man to taste a blob of vegemite again. I'd had a hard night's sleep, as the bunk I was in only had one side with a rail - so my night was consisted of being veeerry careful when I rolled over! And as I share my pillow with my camera and computer bag, I had even less space to roll over in!
After breakfast, we crossed a busy road to load our bags into the bus. It was the same bus as the first few days, so we had the fear of having to push start the bus again. But luckily we didn't have that joy!
Instead, we drove to Blarney Castle.
Blarney Castle (Irish: Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, near Cork, Ireland, and the River Martin. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, and dates from 1446. ( Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, The lower walls are fifteen feet, built with an angle tower by the McCarthys of Muskerry. It was subsequently occupied at one time by Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, who is said to have supplied four thousand men from Munster to supplement the forces of Robert the Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Legend has it that the latter king gave half of the Stone of Scone to McCarthy in gratitude. This, now known as the Blarney Stone, was incorporated in the battlements where it can now be kissed.)
The story goes that Cormac returned to his castle before the blarney stone had been placed. It was late in the evening, and he heard a woman screaming for help. He rushed to the lake where she was downing, and pulled he out. The story continues that he placed her down (by coincidence on the Blarney Stone) and gave her the kiss of life. She then turned to the stone and kissed it, setting the tradition of kissing the blarney stone to be blessed with seven years 'gift of the gab', because she had life to talk again, so would make the most of it. The story is quite a beautiful tale, and not really what I had expected to hear. (Yes I kissed it, because the other superstition is if you get to the top of Blarney Castle and don't kiss the stone you have seven years bad sex - I think if he let her drown without saving her, he wouldn't have gotten lucky later on ;D ) And the placement of the Blarney Stone - seriously if someone can pee on it from the edge of the platform, then geee wizz they have some amazing peeing techniques!
After we left the castle of speech, we drove up to Kilkenny, stopping for lunch and a short photo op. Kilkenny has a castle, cathedral and several other beautiful old buildings to stop and look at.
(Kilkenny Castle (Irish: Caisleán Chill Chainnigh) is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of Norman occupation and in its original thirteenth-century condition it would have formed an important element of the defences of the town with four large circular corner towers and a massive ditch, part of which can still be seen today on the Parade.)
After lunch, photos and feeling a little cold, it was soon time to move on. We piled back into the bus, and with sleepy eyes and heavy heads, many people (including myself) fell asleep on the drive back to Dublin. We stopped in to the most famous, very large, well presented and fabulously entertaining Guinness Factory! Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Guinness (had my first pint ~ well half pint to start off with ~ of Guinness in Galway) but I will drink it for St Paddy's Day, or if I have a voucher for a free pint. However by the time I got to the Gravity Bar on the 7th floor of the Guinness showroom (which offers a panoramic view of Dublin City), it was that packed out with people that I wandered around to see some of Dublin from the skies, and wandered back down to the gift shop - where I proceeded to get gifts for family. Geeez... Nice and expensive (you lot better be happy with the pressies I got you, cos I'm not going there again!!) !!!
And this, my friends, was the final part of my 6 Day Tour of Southern Ireland. We got back to Paddy's Palace, where I checked in for two nights, as I need to decide what exactly I am doing now.
We were the same hostel from the other night, however this morning when I went down to breakfast there was no tough looking Irish man to taste a blob of vegemite again. I'd had a hard night's sleep, as the bunk I was in only had one side with a rail - so my night was consisted of being veeerry careful when I rolled over! And as I share my pillow with my camera and computer bag, I had even less space to roll over in!
After breakfast, we crossed a busy road to load our bags into the bus. It was the same bus as the first few days, so we had the fear of having to push start the bus again. But luckily we didn't have that joy!
Instead, we drove to Blarney Castle.
Blarney Castle (Irish: Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, near Cork, Ireland, and the River Martin. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, and dates from 1446. ( Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, The lower walls are fifteen feet, built with an angle tower by the McCarthys of Muskerry. It was subsequently occupied at one time by Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, who is said to have supplied four thousand men from Munster to supplement the forces of Robert the Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Legend has it that the latter king gave half of the Stone of Scone to McCarthy in gratitude. This, now known as the Blarney Stone, was incorporated in the battlements where it can now be kissed.)
The story goes that Cormac returned to his castle before the blarney stone had been placed. It was late in the evening, and he heard a woman screaming for help. He rushed to the lake where she was downing, and pulled he out. The story continues that he placed her down (by coincidence on the Blarney Stone) and gave her the kiss of life. She then turned to the stone and kissed it, setting the tradition of kissing the blarney stone to be blessed with seven years 'gift of the gab', because she had life to talk again, so would make the most of it. The story is quite a beautiful tale, and not really what I had expected to hear. (Yes I kissed it, because the other superstition is if you get to the top of Blarney Castle and don't kiss the stone you have seven years bad sex - I think if he let her drown without saving her, he wouldn't have gotten lucky later on ;D ) And the placement of the Blarney Stone - seriously if someone can pee on it from the edge of the platform, then geee wizz they have some amazing peeing techniques!
After we left the castle of speech, we drove up to Kilkenny, stopping for lunch and a short photo op. Kilkenny has a castle, cathedral and several other beautiful old buildings to stop and look at.
(Kilkenny Castle (Irish: Caisleán Chill Chainnigh) is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of Norman occupation and in its original thirteenth-century condition it would have formed an important element of the defences of the town with four large circular corner towers and a massive ditch, part of which can still be seen today on the Parade.)
After lunch, photos and feeling a little cold, it was soon time to move on. We piled back into the bus, and with sleepy eyes and heavy heads, many people (including myself) fell asleep on the drive back to Dublin. We stopped in to the most famous, very large, well presented and fabulously entertaining Guinness Factory! Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Guinness (had my first pint ~ well half pint to start off with ~ of Guinness in Galway) but I will drink it for St Paddy's Day, or if I have a voucher for a free pint. However by the time I got to the Gravity Bar on the 7th floor of the Guinness showroom (which offers a panoramic view of Dublin City), it was that packed out with people that I wandered around to see some of Dublin from the skies, and wandered back down to the gift shop - where I proceeded to get gifts for family. Geeez... Nice and expensive (you lot better be happy with the pressies I got you, cos I'm not going there again!!) !!!
And this, my friends, was the final part of my 6 Day Tour of Southern Ireland. We got back to Paddy's Palace, where I checked in for two nights, as I need to decide what exactly I am doing now.
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