Ireland 2000

Every year I attend Irish Fest, and every year Aer Lingus offers an amazing roundtrip airfare to Ireland.  The problem is you must travel between August and December 10th.  I'm in school during that time, as are all of my friends who might be persuaded to accompany me.  But this year I threw caution to the wind and purchased tickets anyway.  It was only a short trip, but I was happy and excited to be going.  Here's how it went...  (Taken straight out of my journal with little editing)  No thumbnail index this time, but I've book marked the links from the pictures back to the text on this page so you won't have to keep scrolling down every time you come back to this page.

Friday, October 20, 2000

It was a crazy day at work.  The students were acting screwy and all hell was breaking loose all over the school.  The gym teacher, Mr. Walker, was even assaulted by a middle school student.  I was definitely ready to get out of town.  The trip to Chicago and dealing with O'Hare was an ordeal, but that was expected.  I left school at 1:45, boarded the bus to Chicago at 2:30 (the bus was already running a half hour late) and arrived at O'Hare two hours before my flight.  I didn't have to check my bags, so I went through customs and just waited around.  The flight to Dublin was long, but not terribly unpleasant.  I tried to sleep, but was fairly unsuccessful.  We arrived in Dublin on time despite delays in Chicago.  The time in Dublin was 9 am.  I had lost an entire evening.

Saturday, October 21, 2000

So somehow it's suddenly 9 in the morning and the sun is shining brightly in the sky and I'm in Ireland.  I didn't feel the jet lag at all and I was full of excitement simply to be here.  I ran all day on pure adrenaline.  I picked up my rental car from Dan Dooley.  Everyone was very nice.  It was a Renault Elf.  A cute little thing.  The driver's side is on the right.  It's also a manual transmission.  I hadn't driven stick shift in awhile, but I caught on pretty quickly.  But throughout the trip I kept trying to get in on the left side of the car.  Oops.  Driving on the left took a bit more getting used to.  It's fairly easy if there is a fair amount of traffic.  All you have to do is follow the car in front of you.  I faced an immediate trial by fire by driving straight into Dublin.  The traffic in Dublin is sheer insanity.  In addition to dealing with the traffic and driving on the left and the stick shift, the city of Dublin is set up with all sorts of crazy one way streets, curving streets, and streets that change names every two blocks.  So I had no idea where I was once I drove into Dublin.  So basically I just drove around until I found a parking structure near the Christ Church Cathedral.  By this time it was 11:00.  Thanks to traveler's luck, the tour of the Cathedral started at 11:00.  So I jumped right on.  The tour guide's name was Barry.  Barry kicks ass.  He was absolutely hilarious.  A fine tour.  He had all manner of stories about the Cathedral and he was really pleasant and welcoming. 

A bit about the Christ Church Cathedral.  It's currently the cathedral church of the Dublin and Glendalough dioceses in the Church of Ireland (that's Anglican/Episcopal).  The cathedral was originally a Viking cathedral in Viking Dublin.  It was originally constructed c. 1030.  It was briefly a cathedral of the Benedictines at the end of the 11th Century.  In 1162, the archbishop of Dublin, Laurence O'Toole introduced the canons regular of St. Augustine to the cathedral where they remained until the Reformation.  The cathedrals present shape is a result of rebuilding  in the 1180s under John Comyn, the first Anglo-Norman archbishop.  The coronation of Edward VI was held here in 1487.  In the 1530s when Henry VIII broke from Rome and the Irish Church, Christ Church Cathedral reluctantly followed suit.  It's a pretty interesting cathedral with plenty of stained glass and high ceilings. 

After the tour I exited the Cathedral and walked down Lord Edward St., which then turned into Dame St.  At the end of Dame St. was the Dublin Tourist Information Center.  I decided it would be a pretty good idea to find a place to stay for the night.  Unfortunately, the computers were all down, so the lady who helped me (and she was very friendly and helpful) had to call around town to try and find a place for me.  We finally found a room in the Bewley Hotel on the south side of Dublin.  I walked back to my car, figured out how to pay for my parking, and then somehow found my way to the hotel.  Driving became a bit easier and I realized that, while the rules of the road do apply, they are flexible and can be bent fairly liberally.  It was in this liberated spirit that I found my hotel.  I checked in without difficulty then took the bus back into the City Centre.  And I walked.  And walked.  And walked.  I  walked down O'Connell St, and Grafton St. (several times) and through St. Stephens Green.  I walked up Williams St. where I found Grogan's, the pub James (a regular at Paddy's) told me to visit.  I walked over the River Liffey and ate at a Fish & Chips shop. 

I walked through Trinity College where the book of Kells is on display.  Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Victoria.  The earliest surviving building is the Old Library, built between 1712 and 1732.  Portions of the library are open to visitors and there's a Treasury which contains the Book of Kells, the Book of Armagh, and the Book of Durrow.  The Book of Kells most likely dates all the way back to the 9th Century and produced by the monks of Iona and County Meath.  Marble busts of famous students and scholars of the college line the Long Room.  The harp on display in this room is the oldest to survive from Ireland and probably dates back to the 15th Century.  This is the harp that appears on Irish coins.  Finally, one of the dozen or so remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic is on display.  This signaled the start of the Easter Rising when it was read aloud by Patrick Pearse outside the General Post Office on April 24, 1916.

After all of this walking and walking and walking, I couldn't find a bus to take me back to my hotel, so I made the long walk back to Merrion Road and my hotel.  I collapsed on my bed, turned on the tv, and there were the Simpsons.  Wonderful.  But I never even made it through the episode.  I fell asleep half dressed and slept long and hard.

Sunday, October 22, 2000

I woke up later than I had expected, but checked out of the hotel and got behind the wheel to drive to Belfast.  Once I got out on the road and away from Dublin, the roads weren't too bad.  In addition, the road between Dublin and Belfast is just about as close as you get to an Interstate highway in Ireland.  There are these things called "roundabouts" that you constantly run into.  They're basically just an intersection in which you have to move around clockwise around to the direction you wish to go.  This is the way that major intersections are dealt with.  There are very few traffic lights.  It's not terribly well controlled, and it can get a bit sticky at times.  It's really a matter of convention, and not too daunting once you get the hang of it, but other drivers really make a lot of assumptions about where everyone else is going.  These roundabouts are the first time I get honked at while driving in Ireland.  Oops.

It was also at one of these roundabouts that I entered Belfast.  There was a sign directing me to The Falls.  That's just about as easy as it gets.  The Falls Road area is a poorer area of Belfast which has historically been the heart of Republicanism in the area.  It's where Gerry Adams is from, as well as Bobby Sands.  I drove down the Falls Road then parked.  From there I simply wandered around The Falls for a few hours, taking pictures of all the political murals and looking around.  There was a small republican parade though a couple of blocks that I followed very briefly.  The community is small and seems to be quite confined to its own little neighborhoods.  There were a lot of kids running around everywhere.  It seemed like a nice quiet neighborhood, and yet there was graffiti all over the place saying "RUC Out" and IRA banners and Irish flags everywhere.  It gave away the fact that these quite neighborhoods feel as though they are under siege.  This could also be seen in the barriers, fences and barbed wire that had been erected in the alleys and streets.  It was quite amazing.  Basically, all the banners and murals were effectively saying "fuck the police".  I can't imagine that being tolerated anywhere in the United States.  As I was walking down the Falls Road a man winked at me and said "Good afternoon!  IRA!".  Interesting.  It was beginning to get dark when I headed into the City Centre of Belfast.  It was Sunday, and so the downtown area was pretty much deserted.  It began to rain and I sat in my little rented Elf and considered my options.  I finally decided to head out of Belfast and towards Carrickfergus.  When I was almost there I spotted a sign for a Bed & Breakfast.  The signs for bed & breakfasts are wooden and small, basically they just say "B&B" with an arrow and they're nailed to light posts or trees along the side of the road.  I decided to take a chance and, sure enough, they had a room available.  The house was down a muddy little lane and faced the ocean, with the mountains behind.  It's a lovely spot.  It's called Slievenamara and the owner's name is Violet.  She was extremely nice and talkative.  Once again my fears of lodging were allayed.  Violet pointed me in the direction of a lodge nearby for food.  The place was called Knogagh Lounge and I enjoyed a very leisurely meal and wrote postcards.  Then it was back to Slievenamara where Violet and I stayed up for another two hours just talking.  It was a very pleasant evening.

Monday, October 23, 2000

Woke up and Violet made me a cheese omelet.  Then it was back into the Elf.  I stopped to look at Carrickfergus Castle and get gas, then it was off I went once again.  It rained pretty much all day and although it wasn't perfect weather, it rarely was more than a minor annoyance.  I followed the road through the Seven Glens of Antrim  I stopped in Glenarm to visit their post office.  I took a side trip to the Glenariffe State Park.  Glenariffe is called "Queen of the Glens" and pretty much everyone I had spoken to had urged me to make this stop.  I wasn't disappointed.  I pulled into the park, got out in a steady drizzle and started down the trail.  Now, there are three main trails in the park.  One is very short, only one mile around the gardens.  The second is a little over 4 miles, this is called the Waterfall trail.  That's the one I had decided to take.  The third is over 7 miles.  I didn't want to take that one.  The trails were shown on a map and they were color coded.  I knew I wanted to take the Waterfall trail, but I didn't pay attention to what color represented it on the map.  So when I started walking down the trail, and the trail split, I found myself looking at a post with three differently colored arrows on it.  I didn't know which one to follow.  So I simply followed a group of about ten individuals who looked as though they knew what they were doing.  I followed them at a pretty good distance for about 30 minutes before I realized that they were all decked out in their woolen socks and hiking boots and light backpacks.  And here I am in a light jacket, no water, no pack...nothing.  I begin to think I may have made a mistake.  But the scenery was beautiful and the trail kept going further down the Glen.  This also started to worry me because I knew that if I went down, I'd eventually have to come back up.  So I walked and walked and walked.  And the trail really was beautiful and the trees were beginning to turn colors and I had a lovely time.  It started to rain a bit harder and more steadily, and sure enough, the last few miles of the trail were right back up the Glen.  Quite a steep climb.  I really enjoyed myself however, and I took my wetness and exhaustion in stride.  At some point I lost my hiking companions.  When I finally made it back to the car, I looked at the map once again and, to the best of my knowledge, I hiked a portion of the Waterfall trail and another portion of the long trail.  That'll teach me from following people just because they happen to be in front of me.

So it was back into the trusty Elf with me.  I immediately got lost coming out of the park.  I drove for quite some time, through lots of small villages that weren't even on the map, on a road that was also not on the map.  Saw lots more sheep.  Saw much more beautiful scenery.  Eventually I found my way once again and headed towards Derry.  I stopped in Ballycastle for lunch.  I was slightly concerned that I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat in a small town, but right there on the menu of the Fish & Chips place was a veggie burger.  Oh I was ever so happy.  And it came with those wonderful chips.  Absolute heaven.  I wrote a couple of postcards and endured American country music on the radio.  Then it was back into the Elf and along the Giant's Causeway.  By the time I got to the Giant's Causeway it was pouring down rain.  It was also quite windy and cold.  With the wind blowing off the North Channel it was very cold.  I was able to pay a pound for the short bus trip down to the coastline.  The Causeway itself is really a sight to behold.  Very cool.  It's made up of hexagonal basalt formations, the largest are over 40 feet tall.  Legend has it that a giant named Finn MacCool made the Causeway.  Finn could pick thorns out of his heels while running and was a big strong guy.  Once, he got in a fight with a Scottish giant.  He picked up a big clod of earth and hurled it at the giant in Scotland.  It landed in the ocean and became the Isle of Man.  The hole he left filled with water and became Lough Neagh.  When Finn fell in love with a lady giant on Staffa (an island in the Hebrides) he built the Giant Causeway to bring her back to Ulster with him.

The rain made the rocks slick so it wasn't possible to climb around on them too much.  Pretty cool stuff.

Immediately upon leaving the Giant's Causeway I came across the ruins of  Dunseverick Castle.  It is said that St. Patrick visited here.  It was home at various times to the MacQuillans and the MacDonnells.  It was also the site of several battles and was important because the ancient fifth road from Tara ends here.

When I pulled into Derry it was already after dark and it was still raining on and off.  I got a little worried coming into Derry.  I didn't see the City Centre on driving into town.  I found a parking structure next door to the Information Center.  The Center was closed.  The parking structure was attached to a small indoor mall.  The mall was closing.  Options seemed to be dimming.  I decided to drive back the way I came.  I happened upon a bed and breakfast and (once again all praise to the traveler gods) they had one remaining room available.  And it was nice.  And it was cheap.  And it was a ten minute walk to the City Centre.  Brilliant.  The keeper of the B&B was really nice and he pointed me in the direction of the City Centre and even recommended a pub.  So off I went.  I walked around a bit.  The City Centre is only two blocks off the street I drove into town on, but it was obscured enough that I couldn't see it while driving.  The city is surrounded by a wall that has befuddled armies that have laid siege to it again and again for a thousand years.  It is where the Protestants took refuge when the Irish Catholics loyal to King James surrounded the city and drove the Protestants into the city.  It's quite a neat place, complete with cobblestone streets and fountains.  There were teenagers all over the place, hanging out and talking on cell phones.  I headed back to the pub that was suggested to me.  I already have forgotten the name.  It was a really cool place.  It was still fairly early, and so it was kind of empty.  The place was very cozy and I slipped into a table complete with candle and facing a fireplace where coals burned warm and red.  I ordered a pint and a glass of water and wrote postcards.  After an hour or two I went off in search of food.  I found a fast food type place that gave me enough chips to feed an army.  I didn't even come close to finishing them all.  But I surely did try.  Stuffed to the point of bursting, I headed back to my room to call it an evening.

Tuesday, October 24, 2000

My last full day in Ireland.  It passed so quickly!  I woke up and had a very light breakfast with tea.  Always tea.  I walked back into the City Centre with the intention of going right through the Tower Museum.  It wasn't open yet so I wandered around a little.  When I returned, the Museum was open but they were giving "haunted tours".  Some explanation is necessary here.  The Tower Museum is in The Tower, an old structure overlooking the city walls.  It's old and made of stone and has these truly brilliant tunnels and such.  It's basically like the inside of a castle.  The museum documents the history of Derry.  The staff of the museum were dressed up as ghouls and goblins and such and were taking a grade school class through the Tower.  They read them scary stories and would turn the lights out now and again and jump out from their hiding  places to spook the kids.  It was fun to watch, but it made it very difficult to view the exhibits.  Fortunately, the very nice lady at the desk didn't charge me admission.  And so I left the museum and went to the Bloody Sunday Memorial/Trust Building that was about 75 yards away.  They had a small exhibit set up showing photos from Bloody Sunday as well as a chronological description of the day's events.  I joined a small group who were watching documentary videos.  It was very moving.

After the videos were over, I spoke to one of the volunteers who then gave me directions to the route of the march and where the shootings took place.  I thanked him and was on my way.  I missed the turn and wound up hiking up a steep hill.  On the top of the hill was the headquarters of the RUC in Derry.  The RUC stations that I saw in Belfast and Derry and in other small towns in the North were very interesting.  They've got enormous metal walls that rise up for 30 feet or more and are topped with razor wire.  On each corner is a guard tower and cameras facing in all directions.  It's quite a sight.  On the apartment buildings facing this particular building are signs saying "no guard towers" and "RUC Out" and such.  The walls of the headquarters are also full of anti-RUC graffiti.  Again, I can't imagine such a scene in the US.  I walked on a bit and found myself in Creggan, one of the five communities  (including the Bogside) that blockaded the streets and effectively defected from Northern Ireland and proclaimed itself Free Derry.  The sign commemorating the entrance to Free Derry still stands at the entrance to the Bogside and is less than a hundred yards from where many of the casualties of Bloody Sunday fell.  This area is also the site of many murals commemorating the victims of Bloody Sunday, the Battle of the Bogside, the victims of political internment at Long Kesh and others.  It was pretty amazing.

By this time, it had started raining and my feet were getting quite sore.  I headed back into Derry, climbed the city walls and sat down to enjoy the view in the light rain.  When I came down I decided I'd write a few final postcards by the fountain in the rain and drop them in the Royal Mail.  Then it was time to walk back to my little Elf.  I headed back to the Information Center (I managed to set off the fire alarm of the parking structure by opening a fire door...oops) and got directions back to Dublin.  The drive back to Dublin was long, but fairly uneventful.  It took me through the center of the Northern Counties.  I arrived in Dublin just in time for rush hour.  On my way into Dublin I stopped at a B&B to see if they had a room for the night.  They didn't, but the man pointed me in the direction of another B&B and added "and if they're full, come on back and I'll make some phone calls for you".  Amazing!  How much nicer can you get!  I swear, the people in Ireland were the nicest I've ever met in all of my travels.  Everyone was exceptionally nice and went out of their way to help me out. 

The drive into Dublin was insane.  Complete gridlock.  It took me 90 minutes to get from the north side of town to the south side.  And Dublin's not that big.  I was planning on heading back to Bewley's.  I spied a B&B with a vacancy sign.  I pulled onto the curb and got the last available room at the Tavistock Guest House.  They had off street parking, so I pulled my car into the lot and got myself set up.  I walked a couple of blocks and found an Italian place called Mario's Trattoria.  I tried some Irish coffee and didn't like it much.  It was extremely strong and just not my thing.  I did have a wonderful pizza that reminded me of my time in France with Molly, and that was pleasant.  I headed back to my room and unwound.  Thus ended my last full day in Ireland.  Wonderful.

Wednesday, October 25, 2000

Woke up, showered and took my trusty Elf back home to Dan Dooley's Once again there was heavy traffic.  But once again I found my way without too much difficulty.  I waited impatiently for my plane to depart.  The flight home was long; over 8 hours.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  And they made me check my backpack.  In Chicago it was more waiting.  First to get through customs, then waiting for my backpack to come down the baggage carousel, then for my bus back to Milwaukee.  All told, it was a seventeen hour ordeal.  Thankfully I gained six of those hours back because of the time change and was able to hang out with Molly for a bit before collapsing in my old bed once again.  A wonderful whirlwind trip that saved my sanity.  I can't wait to go back.