Just when Canadians think that they are crazy about hockey … and Wisconsinites think that they are crazy about football … the Italians show everybody just how crazy are about soccer. Nuts. For now, it’s time to pack once again as we hit the road (rails) for Rome tomorrow.
Ciao!
After about 36 hours in Florence, it is very safe to say Wow. Hard to live up to the high expectations, but, it has. It is pretty amazing here. Hard to describe what we’ve seen, but, it is all very old, very impressive and inspiring. And it is hot. Too hot to sit in an internet cafe while there are so many good smells around … that and my stomach is empty, so, it’s time to head out. Forecast is for two days of rain, so, I hope to take advantage of the rain and write more soon.
Not sure how we’ve done this, but, we’ve managed to bring hot and sunny weather to the UK … so much so that it’s starting to get in the way of our fun. To use some local lingo, its bloody hot out there today. This city (country?) isn’t very well set up for heat. But enough about the weather.
We left Scotland on Saturday, taking the train down to London – about 4 1/2 hours, which is half the time that it would have taken to drive … or at least how long it takes locals to drive. I would have likely been slower. We arrived in London just in time to take the very pricey tube to meet up with Michele’s college friend Kerry — she whisked us off to a pub to watch England lose to Portugal in the World Cup. Not the prettiest scene ever, but, not ones to whinge, the English have handled things pretty well.
Haven’t been writing much about Scotland since arriving last Sunday. It’s been a good visit so far, at a much slower pace than Ireland was, mostly of our own doing.
Staying with my brother has been a good thing — it’s given us a steady place to call home, a place to do laundry, some free email, and the like. He’s also got a pile of books and maps that have helped us out when we have ventured outdoors.
Now that we’ve left Ireland, I thought it would be a good time to take a broader look back at our time there …. rather than a simple log of ‘what did we do today’, I’ll try for something deeper and more meaningful … or something like that.
Today can’t really be described as anything but a transportation day … we started in Ennis, finished in Edinburgh, and spent a lot of time en route.
After a very tasty Irish breakfast prepared by Nora, including some very tasty black pudding, we were on our way to the airport. One of the benefits of getting lost yesterday was that it made finding the airport quite easy. After dropping our car off at the Avis desk (no hidden charges and no damage … woo hoo!), we checked into our Ryan Air flight, and had time to spare. Ryan Air is one of Europe’s most popular discount airlines … they do things a little differently than most of the airlines at home — it’s more like riding a flying bus than anything else. No reserved seating, no particular etiquette when it comes to boarding, etc … it’s just a free-for-all. After a very evident landing on the runway at Glasgow-Prestwick, we headed for the buses. Turns out that Glasgow-Prestwick really has nothing to do with Glasgow — it took us over an hour of highway driving to even see the city. Another bus trip later, we were in Edinburgh. From euros to pounds, we were spending money quickly.
By the end of the day, I think that I heard “Dennis is in Ennis” a few too many times … but after all, I was in Ennis.
We got a reasonably early start to the morning. Rather than go back and do more hiking at Annascual Lake (we found out that there was a waterfall there that we had missed), we’d instead aim for the Cliffs of Mohr, west of Ennis and south of Galway.
Our good luck with weather was holding … a bit of overnight rain and early morning fog quickly faded, and the roads were great for driving. Our third day on the road was certainly the longest, but also the easiest of the driving. The combination of better roads and more confidence made all of the difference. Every time I’d pull onto the road though, I’d still repeat my “drive on the left … stay close to the center line” mantra just to keep myself sharp.
Day two of driving was much better than the first. Starting off in a quiet city (Kenmare), knowing the way out is much better than starting in a busy city (Cork), with no clue how to get out. Within minutes of leaving town, we were on our way up, quickly hitting some very steep, rugged hills. The roads were still narrow, but the traffic was fairly light. As we climbed, we began to see more and more sheep. At the top, we encountered a building our two along with a sign, Moll’s Pass. Beautiful views of several peaks, countless pastures and sheep galore. A single house at the bottom of the valley completed the scene. From the high vantage point, it was easy to see and hear the Harley’s making their way up the pass … little dots turning into roaring beasts.
It’s been a few days since I’ve seen a computer that was hooked up to the web. Multiday summaries tend to get a little messy, but, here goes.
Monday, June 19 — last full day in Dublin, and last day with my old university roommate as well. Bouyed by the success of the previous day’s jaunt out of Dublin, we thought we’d try again. Back to the commuter train, this time heading south to a little place called Bray. There really wasn’t much happening there, but, it was on the open sea, there were Irish mountains all around, and we were full of energy. We spent the next two hours or so walking along a stunning seaside trail that took us to Greystones, the next stop on the commuter rail line. The walk was great — beautiful vistas, rugged shoreline, seals, dolphins (or small whales), birds, flowers … all from a smooth, easy to walk trail that has surely been walked for hundreds of years. Finished up at a warm pub at the end of my first glass of Guinness in Ireland, as well as my first stew. Both were worth the wait. Back to Dublin for a few more pubs (looked for the obvious ones … Murphy’s, O’Brien’s, etc.) and then eventually found our way to the Irish Whiskey. Good times, and a long day, followed by a short sleep.
It’s only taken a few days to see it all in Ireland — every day so far has featured some combination of sun, cloud wind and rain. Yesterday the rain part was a little more dominant than the previous days. Changed plans a little for us, but Ireland still showed us a good time. We left the guide book behind and went out on our own, following instincts. Grabbed a cheapo commuter train out to the coast to a small fishing town (Howth)… seemed like a local tourist spot more so than a foreigner locale. Got to see the ocean, some very rugged terrain, fishing boats, etc … typical maritime stuff. All in all it was good to get out of the city. Dublin is fine, but, I’m more in my element when I’m not surrounded by too many people or buildings.
I hadn’t heard anything about it before I left home, but, it seems that there is some sort of soccer tournament going on over here in Europe. Lots of people getting excited about it … hogs the TV screens day and night. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals play tonight, and there isn’t a hope in hell that I’ll catch a glimpse of it … just more kick ball. Culture shock comes rears its ugly head again.
