Ireland

We spent our last week in Ireland sightseeing western and northern ireland by car. First Stop the Cliffs of Moher. we arrived near sunset, for a spectacular view over Ireland's answer to the 12 apostles. It was windy as hell and freaking cold, but worth the visit to see amazing cliffs, with huge sea spray.

cliffs of moher at sunset from a distance

cliffs of moher

Stayed the night in Doolin, in the cosy, well recommended Rainbow hostel. For dinner we went to the famous McGanns for a pub meal. Unfortunately we were too sick to stay for the live music that the pub was most renouned for. The Irish weather had finally got to us, as we were both suffering from the most severe colds that we can remember.

Doolin old cemetary

Next stop was Galway, where we had a quick walk around of the sights and the town center. On the way to Galway we passed through "The Burrens", best described by Fi as looking like the rock man from the never ending story movie.

The burren

We also drove through the Connemara, a beautiful part of ireland just north of Galway that was described in our guidebook as "so beautiful it makes your brain hurt". Unfortunately it was raining so hard we couldnt see 10 meters outside the car, in driving conditions so difficult, it made our brains hurt. We had a pitstop in Westport which seemed like a beautiful town, but as it was 4pm and getting dark we pressed on to Sligo. Our Hostel receptionist in Sligo asked us what month it was.... It's a bit of a slow town. For dinner Fi had the "recession special" - Dont ever be tempted to try curry cheese chips. It tastes even worse than it sounds.

We stopped at a waterfall just out of Sligo, and visited the Carromore Megalithic tombs. 2500BC stone tombs and stone circles. pretty impressive stuff. It was actually closed but there was a contractor emptying the sewerage tanks and he let us in for our own self guided tour. Nearby was another massive stone tomb on a hill of some important queen, but time restrains and more rain dissuaded us from scaling the hill for good views etc.

megalithic tomb with knocknorea in the background

waterfall near Sligo

We pushed on to northern Ireland, where the roads were much better maintained and the distance was now in miles. We visted the Giants Causeway. The legend goes a Giant named Finn McCool built a stone bridge from ireland to scotland to challenge a rival giant. He got scared and when he saw his rival approaching and ran home to his wife for advice. His wife disguised him as a baby to hide him. When the rival saw the baby he was scared at the size of Finn's "baby" and ran away destroying the giants causeway behind him. So the moral of the story is.....

a castle on the cliff edge - apparently built so close to the edge, the kitchen fell in

Giants causeway rock formations

giants causeway

After a massive day on the road we ended up in Belfast. In the morning we did a black cab tour of Belfast. Our very thickly accented driver took us to all the politically important sites - Shankill road with its pro loyalist, anti IRA murals, to Belfasts very own "Berlin Wall" which has gates that still close every night to separate the two communities. We saw the most most bombed hotel in the world (it has been blown up 36 times), and visited the IRA headquarters. For 90 minutes we were submerged in the turbulant history of Northern Ireland, learning that there are no easy answers to this political (not religious) land dispute, about the desparate struggles, hunger strikes, and the 18 bombs that have been disarmed in the last 6 months.... It also really brought into perspective the situation in palistine. We were also given the opportunity to write a peace message on the wall - and so are now part of the history. We found it absolutely fascinating, one of the best tours of our trip so far.

shankhill road mural

dividing wall

republican mural

On our way back to kilkenny we went via powerscourt waterfall and glendalough - fi's favourite place in ireland, so beautiful.

powerscourt waterfall south of dublin

Glendalough

Glendalough

We covered a lot of ground and managed to see a lot of things in such a short time. A few things stood out about the green isle...

- the irish really do love their guiness and drink a lot of it
- the country roads are somewhat narrow, and all the roads are country roads... and there are ALWAYS tractors driving slowly and nowhere to pass them!
- the names of towns read like an obituary - kilkenny, killarney - there are heaps!
- other favourite town names include - Borris, Borris-in-Ossory, Two-mile-Borris, Doon, Emo park, and Bally.... (insert about 1000 names here..)
- they always talk about the weather (but its always raining)
- you are "just after" reading the end of our blog.

A long time has passed since we last updated this blog, sorry. A picture tells a thousand words so I've added heaps of photos (also too lazy to write?)!

We have been living in Ireland since mid August, trying to earn a few euros, and have been enjoying not living out of a back pack for a while!

We have also been lucky enough to do a couple of "small trips" around Europe - we travelled to Munich for Oktoberfest at the end of September, then went to the Czech republic where we stayed in a brewery spa (and had beer baths), then explored Prague. From there we reunited ourselves with all our friends in London and watched the AFL Grand Final in an Aussie "walkabout" pub at 430am! We also explored Oxford and visited Christchurch College where the famous Harry Potter dining room was inspired.

Oktoberfest

At the Lockenbergs - Michael Tina and Lasse. Dressed for Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest - in the Hacker Pschorr Tent with Alix and Felix

Being a beer wench

Outside with nicks mates

Czech Republic

Hutchy having his beer bath in Chodovar

Prague square at sunset

clock

nick in praha town square

Oxford

The Harry Potter dining hall at Christchurch College in Oxford.

Paris

We also spent a few days in Paris recently, doing all the sights. Loved the Musee D'Orsay, and were fortunate enough to have glorious weather to explore. We stayed in the Latin Quarter which was a perfect location for amazing food at reasonable prices, and great base to explore from. We also travelled out to Epernay in the champagne region and toured Moet Chandon which was a highlight - 17 miles of cellars, stood next nearly 100000 bottles of Don Perignon, and ended up having the "full tasting" after making friends with the tour host!

Champagne tasting

Outside the Louvre

Eiffel tower

Paris at night

Fountain outside Musee Pompidou

Kilkenny

After a couple of weeks in Dublin with Bec and Dave, I (Fi) came to Kilkenny Ireland in mid August to visit Tony who was doing some physio work here, and fell in love with the place. Fortunately I found work pretty quickly at an awesome wine and tapas bar called the Grapevine. I moved in where Tone was staying, just a 15 min walk from the centre of town. Through work at the wine bar I've made some great friends and had some wonderful times - many involving drinking yummy wine from all over the world, and eating lots of tuscan ham and cheese!!! (And the occasional peroshki thanks my my lovely polish friends!) I'm really sad to leave as I have enjoyed my time so much here, I love the people I work with, and its even better since Nick and Bec both moved to KK. It has also got me thinking - maybe I will open my own wine bar one day....

My work

My lovely work colleagues - Lizzy, Anna, T, and Sabastian (Irish, Polish, Aussie, New Zealander and another Polish!)

wine tasting at the Grapevine (my work)

I also recently started a second job (the recession is hitting everyone hard over here), and have been working in Monsoon/accessorize for the past few weeks too. AWESOME discount, and a great excuse for a new wardrobe and some jewellery - no doubt I needed some new clothes!!!

KK is an old medieval town with a castle and gorgeous castle grounds great for walking around, and old cathedrals and other buildings. It also has a surprisingly high amount of pubs and bars - our favourites being - the grapevine of course! and matt the millers on monday, langtons on tuesday, left bank any day! and an honourable mention to lanigans for playing a live version of skippy dedicated to us!

town hall with the Hurling teams colours draped over it

castle grounds on a nice day

main street kilkenny

Jumping the castle

We have become well accustomed to drinking guiness - it really does taste a million times better over here in ireland, had many an irish stew and plenty of potatoes (sometimes done three ways in one dish!). We are used to the rain, but I will NEVER get used to the cold - and its starting to get REALLY cold now in late october.

We are hoping to see a little more of the country over the next couple of weeks before we leave. Although, we have had a few wonderful day trips and so far have been to Kells Priory, the rock of Cashel (no blue cheese to be found anywhere in town however!), kissed the Blarney stone near Cork, seen the cliffs of Moher in the west, and Dublin.

My turn now, thanks fi, not a bad job....

When we arrived in Ireland i headed down to county kerry to Killarney to find work there. As it is a popular tourist spot i thought it would be a good place to find bar work. turns out that ireland is suffering badly from the current economic situation and they are having a poor tourist season and there is high unemployment everywhere. After much frustration i went on the ring of Kerry tour, which was quite impressive. Diverse landscapes from national parks to sheer cliffs and mountain passes to beautiful beaches.

From Killarney i decided to go to a larger city with more employment oportunities. Cork, as ireland's second largest city seemed like the best place to go. Cork was not as picturesque as other places in Ireland as it is quite a big port town and was pretty industrial. I found work within a few days with a catering mob but quit with out starting as the hostel i was staying at offered me a job. the pay was lousy (8.70 an hour) and they charged me 15 euro a night to stay there (even though i was working for them!!), but it was good craic, run by a bunch of NZ'ers they were always having a party and something on all the time.

I did a day trip to the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone. All the locals say they have pissed on it or done something unsavoury to it, and laugh at all the stupid tourist kissing a stupid rock. Anyway i went out there with some friends and we had a good picnic and a few pints.

The Blarney Castle

Upon returning from Oktoberfest, i moved up to Kilkenny. Fi had pretty much arranged a Job for me at a traditional Irish bar. Its very different to the hostel in cork, all my work collegues are irish and understanding their thick kilkenny accent is a constant challenge. I have regulars called Paddy, Mick (trouble), Jim, Jack, Brian, Mick, Jack, Brian and Paddy. (no joke) and they all have things they like being done the same way every time.

Kilkenny is much more beautiful than Cork, the people are much friendlier and it has a real small country town feel to it. I feel much more relaxed here and could really be happy living here for an extended time, except for the freaking weather. everyone will comment on it. It is so cold and it is a good day if it doesnt rain all day.

Kilkenny City main street.

Kilkenny, center of town. note the brewery in the background.