The City Buzz

I've come to find that there's nothing else quite like the city. I love it, no matter where I am... the buzz, the bustle, the people, the excitement, the sights, the buildings, the history... it all captivates me. True, some cities are a bit overwhelming and completely exhaust me with their craziness and chaos (i.e. Rome and New York City), but every so often I find a gem - a perfect city with the perfect amount of buzz. In Texas, it was Dallas. In Italy, it was Florence. In Ireland, it is most definitely Dublin.

After spending only a few brief, jet-lagged hours in Dublin upon my arrival, I was very anxious to return and explore all the wonderful things I've been dying to see ever since watching Leap Year. Amanda and Meg were planning to take a trip up to Dublin to go to the Take That concert. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Take That is Britain's legendary version of N'Sync or Backstreet Boys, a boy-band sensation that has been dominating the pop charts since 1990. The entire city was packed, every hotel was booked, and the concert was anticipating at least 78,000 people, a majority of those being crazed middle-aged women unashamedly obsessed with the gorgeous Robbie Williams. Needless to say, if there was ever a time that Dublin was packed and buzzing, this weekend was it.

In addition to the concert (which Meg and Amanda had the time of their life at), there was a huge street festival going on with a Where's Wally theme. I know... it should be Where's Waldo, right? But apparently here in Ireland and the UK, you'll get made fun of if you say Waldo instead of Wally. Not sure why they renamed him, but those red and white stripes and funny glasses are unmistakable anywhere in the world, regardless of the language or pronunciation! The festival, Street Performance World Championship, was aimed at setting the World Record for the number of people dressed up as Wally assembled at one time. The city of Cork also participated in the competition last weekend while we were there for the Frames concert, but we left early because of bad weather and never got to see the great assembly of Wally's. Dublin was different however. Anywhere you went in the city, you were sure to run into a Wally... or four... or ten... walking down the street or shopping in a store or riding on a bus. Wally was literally everywhere you looked.

So we had our fanatical 30-something year old women, our Wally's, and of course the typical young crowd that enjoys the hopping nightlife of Dublin, with each group adding just a little extra "flavor" to the city. But that's exactly what made Dublin so great! So many great people and so many fun things going on, yet Dublin still maintained a feeling of smallness - not too huge, not too crowded, not too crazy. It was clean, it was beautiful, the people were friendly, and the nightlife was fantastic. I loved everything about it. But the absolute best part of all?
Madeleine Wilgus was there.

If you remember back from my blogs about Italy, Madeleine is a friend that I met at Rome Baptist Church while I was au pairing in Italy. She's an au pair in Rome and has been there for the past year but is returning to the States in just a few weeks. Ever since I left Italy, my friendship has continued to grow with Madeleine. We kept in contact through Skype and talked to each other on a regular basis, even when I came back over here to Europe. I had been hoping to make it back to Italy to visit her, but since my time is so short in Ireland and she is leaving in only a few weeks, that idea didn't work out. We came up with a different plan instead: meet up in Dublin for the weekend so that 1) I could have company when exploring the biggest city of Ireland and 2) Madeleine could see Ireland before she leaves Europe and 3) two great friends could reunite once last time before ending up on different continents again! She shelled out a pretty penny to get over here to Ireland, but it was absolutely, a hundred percent worth it. Madeleine and I had quite a few awesome adventures while we were in Italy together, and I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful it was to share another adventure with her once again in Europe. We reminisced lots about fun things we did together in Italy, and I got to hear more stories about how life is going for her there still. It made me miss Italy a lot. But then it just made me appreciate it. I started thinking back on my life and realized that I've had some pretty incredible experiences. Although it hasn't all been easy and simple all the time, there have been some amazing and wonderful experiences in my life, and I'm so thankful for each one and the role it played in shaping who I am today.

That's why I loved Dublin, and this time I am spending in Ireland, and the loads of fun I had with Madeleine, and the days that I have to clean cat poop up off the floor or kill the fleas in my bed. It just makes me appreciate life and all the laughs, frustration, excitement, sweat, fear, and love that come with it. It's beautiful, and it's been so good.

This weekend was all of that, and it was perfect.



On Friday afternoon, I took the tram into the city center to meet Madeleine at a place we had determined beforehand: The Grand Central Bar. I walked in at 3:04, quite amazed that I was only four minutes past our planned meeting time, and found Madeleine sitting in a booth with a bowl of steaming soup in front of her. When she saw me, she jumped up and we both yelled out in excitement and gave each other a big, long hug. It was so good to be together once again! Throughout the weekend, we could not help but be amazed at how things had worked out - two people who randomly met at a church in another country and became such good friends, and then were split apart for an indefinite period of time, only to come back together again in a place neither of us would have ever anticipated, and at a time that was perfect and the only time the occasion could have actually occurred (two weeks later and I won't be in Ireland and she won't be in Italy!). It's just really amazing to think about how God worked everything out so perfectly and how he allowed me to spend time with someone whose friendship I truly value.

After meeting up initially on Friday, Madeleine and I set out to do what we do best: shop! We found the shopping center of Dublin and just went for it: Forever 21, Stradivarius, Top Shop, H&M, Zara... all the great European stores we love so much. Unfortunately, most of my shopping consisted of trying clothes on, falling in love with them, and then pouting in front of the mirror because I didn't actually have money to buy anything. Shopping when you're low on funds is really not the funnest thing to do. We still made sure we had a good time though. By the time we were finished, it was already evening and we wanted to go experience a little of Dublin's nightlife.

Temple Bar

I had been told by three or four different people, each from a different country, that I needed to go to a place called Temple Bar while I was in Dublin. I didn't understand what was so great about this one bar, but I figured I would go check it out. Turns out, Temple Bar is not just one bar, but is actually a whole area filled with restaurants, bars, pubs, discos, and tons of places to hang out at night. Meg described it to me as "buzzy," which seemed like the perfect word. There's enough going on there that you could be entertained all evening without even setting foot inside somewhere. When Madeleine and I first arrived, we walked around and just took in everything that was going on around us. There were street musicians playing on every corner, men in kilts standing on some steps, girls handing out coupons to get into clubs later, homeless people talking nonsense to random passerbys, tourists out taking pictures, people standing around eating... everything you could possibly imagine. We grabbed a hamburger from a cute little restaurant we found and ate out on the street. Then it was time to figure out what to do... which is a challenging task when you have so many good options! We followed the crowds, and the music, and jumped around from pub to pub until we found a place that seemed fun but where we could actually breathe and move a little, and had a great time meeting other tourists from all over Europe.

having fun in Temple Bar!

This is what a night out in the city will do to you :)

Our night on Friday ended pretty early because we had to make it back to the house we were staying in (the place I stayed right when I arrived in Ireland) before the tram stopped running. Naturally, nothing ever goes smoothly when it's late at night and you have no idea where you are going, so we took the tram to the stop we were told to get off at and then spent a good thirty minutes searching for the right house. We finally found it (thanks to Meg's help!) and crawled into that wonderfully comfy bed for the next nine hours.

Saturday morning, after feeling very rested, we set out to be tourists for the day... something I haven't done in quite a long time. Our first stop after breakfast (which was really lunch) was Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells. I didn't know what the Book of Kells was, but it was another one of those things I was told to see, so I went. It turned out to be really cool. Apparently it's an elaborately decorated copy of the Bible's four Gospels in Latin, dating back to the year 800. We visited a whole exhibit with a detailed analysis of the Book, explaining how it was made, what materials were used for it, who made it, and why it was so significant. After walking through the exhibit, we actually got to see the book on display. It was fascinating. As I was reading the information about it beforehand, I didn't see what the big deal about the book was. When I finally saw it, however, I could see what was so amazing about the intricate detailing of the letters and artwork that is contained within the book, as well as the precision and accuracy that went into each letter and line that was painstakingly copied by scribes. The best part of the entire visit though was the library upstairs.

No photos were allowed, but of course I had to sneak one!

After viewing the Book, we took some stairs up to a very famous room called the The Long Room. The room was a massive long room (clearly) filled with nothing but books, stretching up two or three stories. One of the men working there told us that the ceilings had to be extended at one point, because there was not enough room for all the books that they wanted to keep in there. In total, the library contains over 5 million books, the oldest one dating back to the 1400s (a page from a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the first printed book ever) and the newest from 1906. Madeleine and I were absolutely intrigued with all the history that was in the beautiful room we were in, and we spent a good deal of time interrogating the man on duty to find out more information. We learned that only a few weeks earlier, the Queen had been standing in the exact same spot we had (and that lucky man got to meet her!). We also discovered that the library is actually in use, although no one can really touch anything, and students of Trinity College are allowed to request books to use for research and can read them in a study room under supervision. The man also shared with us a few interesting facts about the room, like how the busts that line the room get less important as you reach the back, starting off with famous philosophers and ending with library benefactors and people no one has ever heard of. In addition, the man explained that the books are in no way categorized alphabetically by author or title. The largest and heaviest books are on the bottom shelves, and the books get increasingly smaller towards the top of the shelves. The number and letter system that we saw massively printed on the side of the shelves was in fact a reference system that corresponds with the card catalog for the library and has absolutely nothing to do with the books' authors.

Trinity College

Dublin Castle

Madeleine and I left the library with substantial knowledge about The Long Room and the Book of Kells, and next headed to see Dublin Castle. We arrived, looked at it from the outside, took a few pictures, and decided that all castles are pretty much the same and we didn't feel like going in another one and listening to a boring tour. Instead, we went to Starbucks :) I think that made Madeleine's year, because Italy does not have Starbucks, and she has been deprived for over a year from the world's best coffee! It was absolutely the most expensive frappucino I've ever bought ($8 after the exchange rate and the charge on my card for foreign transactions),
                                                                                       but it was worth every sip!

After relishing in the deliciousness of our coffee, we set out to find Wally. Not a hard task. We followed the throngs of Wally through the city until they became increasingly bigger, and found ourselves at a huge fairgrounds where all the Wally's were assembled in one place. Walking through the fairgrounds, we passed dozens of crowds surrounding street performers, magicians, musicians, acrobats, sword swallowers - you name it. There were kids everywhere, the smell of fried food, and games and entertainment for the whole family. We didn't spend long there... just enough time to take some Where's Wally pictures and watch a performance or two, and then we concluded we'd seen enough. On our way out of the park, I heard music playing and looked to my left to see literally thousands of Wally's standing together, facing our direction, and dancing to Walking on Sunshine. It was the Great Wally Assembly for the Guinness Book of World Records competition, and we just happened to be there at the exact right time! A ton of people were standing around taking pictures, but the professional photographers were the only ones with a good view, as they were perched on top of a scaffold overlooking the crowd. As Madeleine and I weaseled our way to the front of the other pedestrian photographers for a good shot, it suddenly started to pour and the music immediately changed to "Singing in the Rain." It was brilliant. Umbrellas popped up, and all the Wally's put their hands up and started waving them back and forth as if at a concert. We took as many pictures as possible before the rain became a downpour, and once we were satisfied with what we got, we darted under the nearest awning to try to stay dry until the rain died down.

Our plan had been to walk the ten minute walk to the hostel that we had booked for the night. It took us at least forty minutes. You can't make much progress in a walk when you have to stop every couple hundred feet to avoid getting soaked. Eventually, the sun came back out again (that's the great thing about Ireland), and we easily found the Shining Hostel.

Of course, when we went in and checked in, the two employees looked at each other with an expression of panic and then with wide eyes told us there was a problem with our booking. Now, the reason I say "of course" is because there is guaranteed going to be a problem anytime I try to book or stay in a hostel. When I went to Rome in December, I booked my hostel for the wrong day. Last weekend when we were in Cork for the Frames concert, Meg, her friend Kirsty, and I showed up at 11:00 to the hostel we had booked, only to find a locked door with a sign on it that said, "Sorry, we're full!" Not a good feeling when it's late at night at you have nowhere to go. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that every single hostel in the city of Cork was full. There were signs on all the hostel's and B&B's doors that said "No Room." I got a little taste of what Mary and Joseph may have felt like on Christmas...

pouting in the room about something or another

Anyways, the problem in Dublin was actually not our fault, but the manager's, because he overbooked some of the rooms. It's not an airplane... you can't just expect people to not show up to a hostel because they didn't make their connection or had to wait in a security line... and you can't pay people to give up their spot for the night. We actually tried that one ;-) The guy at the front desk was really nice and helpful and called the manager to see what he could work out for us, but the manager didn't seem too keen on that idea. There were beds for us, but they were in two different rooms, not the ones we booked, and I didn't want to stay in a room with creepy men around me by myself, so we asked for further options. We even considered just staying at the house we had stayed at the night before (with the comfy bed), but it is outside the city and there were no buses that run past 11:30... and we were definitely planning to be out later than that. The guy helping us asked his manager if they would pay for a cab for us, but that was a definite no, so he took a look around and actually found two beds available in one room - the staff room. He gave us a ten euro discount, and we took it. The room had a shower, although it was a pretty nasty shower, and two top bunks available for us, so we were happy to take it since we knew we were only going to be there for a few hours to sleep.

We set up our stuff in our room and simultaneously met some of the staff members (from all over the world) that are working at the hostel and getting to stay there for free. One of the guys we met was from Guayaquil, Ecuador, the city I just visited in March. I thought it was really interesting that of all the places in the world that he could be from, he's from a place that I just traveled to! It was nice getting to talk to some of the people, although I wasn't the biggest fan of having a bunch of guys in my room... but it was only 10 euros, so I couldn't really complain.

the band playing at the pub

our new french friends, minus the one taking the picture

Madeleine and I set out for a second night at Temple Bar, this time without a time limit. We went straight to the same hamburger place we had eaten at the night before (there's something about hamburgers in Ireland... it must be all the chips) and chowed down on some delicious food. As we were eating, we heard traditional Irish music playing next door in a pub, so we went over there to check it out afterward. It was seriously amazing. We were completely enthralled with the music the moment we set foot inside, and Madeleine disappeared in a trance as she listened to the guitar, bagpipes, and flute play out beautiful Irish folk tunes. In the meantime, I made some friends (there's no point in going into a pub and sitting in a corner by yourself!) with three guys visiting from France. We all chatted and enjoyed the music and then decided to move along to another location. We spent the evening bouncing around from place to place, just enjoying the different atmosphere each spot had. Some places were filled with young people, some had mostly old, some places had live Irish music, and some had DJ's playing American music, but each one was a blast and had tons of interesting people that we enjoyed meeting and talking to. That is absolutely my favorite part about traveling and going out and experiencing whatever city I'm in - I love all the different people you meet and all the cool stories you get to hear. It's so neat to be in a foreign place and to meet people from literally all over the world that you have something in common with - you're all traveling. Everyone has their own story about why they are where they are and how long they've been there and how they got there, and I love being able to relate and connect with people who I'd never meet at home in the U.S. and probably wouldn't even notice. It opens your eyes so much to other cultures, other personalities, and other types of people that are out there in the world and you can learn so much from them and their way of life! I love it!!

trying to cram everyone into a picture together

Needless to say, going out to Temple Bar was such a blast, and Madeleine and I finally returned to our hostel around two (not too late actually!). We went straight to bed, but don't think we had any sort of great night's sleep. I'm pretty sure I woke up about ten times to things like people snoring, a million showers being taken, guys walking around with not nearly enough clothes on, couples fighting, alarms going off, and people laughing to themselves as they watched movies on their laptop. You know... just a typical hostel ;-) To no surprise, I woke up quite a bit earlier than I expected on Sunday morning. I hadn't thought about it much, but suddenly the idea to go to church came to mind, and I thought it might be cool to find a church to go to while we were in Dublin. I woke Madeleine up and asked her if she wanted to go, and she was all for the idea, so we got up and got ready with a good two hours before any services started. I went down to the front desk and asked them if they could google Baptist Churches in Dublin, because I was really hoping for a comfortable place that felt like home. Nothing came up. She typed in a few other things but all that was coming up were Anglican churches, but I was hoping for something different. She scrolled down the page of search results and then I saw something that caught my eye. It was called Destiny Church, and after a quick look at their website, I asked her for the address and service times.

Destiny Church was just around the corner from the hostel, and the second I walked in, I felt right at home. The best part of all?? I didn't have to worry about any of it being in a different language! It's really nice being in an English speaking country :) We were greeted right away and several people came up to us and were very excited to see two new faces. Most of the crowd was younger, so there were lots of people our age around that we chatted with. The service was very nice and I really enjoyed singing some contemporary worship songs and listening to the pastor's sermon on Ezra. Madeleine and I really liked the pastor and thought he was a very wise and humble man with a really interesting background. He didn't become a Christian until college, and he never expected to end up in Ireland (he grew up here but claimed Scotland as his home during his adult years), but God called him to Dublin and he started a church about 15 years ago. And I'm really thankful he did!

Our Sunday was a relaxed and quiet day. We wandered around, with no specific destination in mind. We ate lunch at a bagel shop, stopped in some stores for brief shopping, and sat on the steps of a statue for awhile to rest. It was nearing time to go and we didn't have much time left, so we decided there'd be no better way to end our trip than to do it the same way we started: at the Grand Central. We headed back to the bar and sat down to share one last drink together before parting ways. It was a sweet time, but a little sad too, as neither of us really have any idea when we will see each other in person again.

We took the tram back to the house to meet up with Amanda and Meg, packed up the car, and headed on our way back to Cork. Madeleine stayed an extra night in Dublin because her flight didn't leave till the following morning.

I think I smiled the whole way home. What a wonderful weekend :)

Castles, Coves, and Cats

 

Last Thursday marked the beginning of my first official Irish adventure. The girls didn't have anything going on in the afternoon, so we took advantage of their free time and took a little pre-tour before our big adventure on Friday. We started in Ballydehob, a tiny town of about 400 people that's about five minutes from here, and explored its magnificent twelve-arch bridge. The bridge was originally used for railway purposes, but was closed down as a railway in the 1950s due to lack of business. However, I was very glad to find that people are still able to visit the bridge and enjoy the incredible view from the top. After Ballydehob, we grabbed some ice cream from the petrol station (you'll be laughed at if you say gas station), and the girls drove me to a beautiful little cove called Audley Cove on the other side of the town. It was my first time near the water since I had gotten to Ireland, and I was absolutely amazed at how crystal clear it was. I was a little chilly, but the girls both kept saying how they wanted to jump in and go swimming. I thought they were crazy! I can't imagine swimming in anything cooler than 80 degree weather, and it had to have been as low as 60. But I've learned quickly... that is warm for the Irish! It doesn't get much warmer than that here, and if it's sunny and at least 60, people are shedding their clothes and ready to dive in.

Luckily, the girls decided to hold off on swimming (due to lack of swimsuits and the promise of the beach the following day), and we got back in the car and continued our tour. We stopped by a few other places - some coves, harbors, and piers - hidden at the end of windy, steep roads that were fantastic practice for Meg to drive on! It was fun, and we were all buzzing with excitement for the next day's real adventure.

On Friday, our first stop was lunch (that's usually about the time we get out of bed and get going here...). We went into Schull and picked up some picnic food from the tiny supermarket in town and headed to our first stop: Sharon's grandfather's house. She had told us what a neat location it was and that we absolutely had to see it. When we arrived, I understood why. As we pulled up the path to the house, the trees closed in around us, leaving only a small circular view of the house through the break in the tree branches. For a moment, I thought we were in the Shire and expected a little hobbit to come running out from inside the quaint old house. While there were no hobbits, there was an overly friendly dog that seemed way too interested in the pizza I was trying to eat. I made the mistake of carrying the pizza with me out onto the property, and in turn had a very eager and relentless friend following me the whole time, and not without the occasional jump in the air to take part in my delicious food with me... or just take period...

Sharon warned us to watch out for charging bulls. That made me comfortable. But as I followed her through the hills and around the shrubbery, I knew it would be worth our risky little jaunt. I strolled up onto the top of the hill and was absolutely amazed at the incredible sight. I had no idea that we were even near the sea (but then again I'm living on a coast with multiple peninsulas, so the sea is pretty much every direction you turn), but when I came up to the crest of that hill, the blue waters shone endlessly on the horizon, dotted with bright green fingers of earth stretching out every here and there into the vast midst of the water. Ireland is truly a beautiful country.

We didn't stay long on that incredible hill (partly due to the crazy dog that was jumping all over me), but the few minutes we spent there were spectacular. Before leaving we walked down to the small pier that overlooked the little cove near the house and took a few pictures. The next stop on our journey was Barleycove Beach, apparently one of the best beaches around here. Meg and Sharon's friends were all at the beach, so we were planning on meeting up with them once we got there. Everyone was out to celebrate the first day of summer, right after all their exams had ended the previous day. On the way to the beach, we passed two or three other beaches that looked like really nice beaches - bright blue waters, rocky and sandy shores, kids playing everywhere - and I wasn't sure why we weren't going to those. I understood when we got to Barleycove. We drove up a massive hill (quite fun to watch Meg practicing her awesome driving skills in a manual car) and parked on the street somewhere. I still didn't know where the beach was at that point, but we started walking down a huge grassy green hill, through some reeds and bushes, and out on the other side to a huge white beach. To get to the beach, you had to walk over a bridge/buoy thing that seemed to stretch on for eternity. It was sunk into the ground, but apparently it rises up with the water when the tide comes out.

We finally made it down to the beach, and I realized that of all beaches, this was the place to be. It was full of people, although we couldn't seem to find Meg and Sharon's friends. Another group of people told us they were on the other side the hill that was next to us, only able to be reached by going through the water. None of us were dressed to swim, but Meg happily gave me a piggy back across the water so that my pants wouldn't get wet. On the other side, there was another beautiful cove with tons of people laying out and running around in the sand, including the friends we had been looking for. We sat there for awhile... it may have been an hour... maybe two, just talking, visiting, and enjoying a rare thing in Ireland - sunshine. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and there was no better place to be than the beach. After some time, the friends started leaving, so the three of us decided to continue our adventure on to our next destination: a castle.

Meg drove us once again through the hills of West Cork, stopping every once in awhile when I would shout out in excitement and something I just had to take a picture of. Finally, the castle was in sight, my first view of a real Irish castle. Dunmanis Castle not a big one. It's not anything like the ones you are thinking of. It's more like a tower...but it's hundreds of years old, and it's in the middle of the hills, overlooking the ocean. What an amazing location! We walked inside and found a large open room a whole lot of dirt and rocks. There was a tall ladder perched against the wall with a small opening at the top. I hadn't even noticed the ladder when Sharon peered from around the opening and beckoned us to come up. I looked at her like she was crazy. She laughed and said she sometimes goes up places before she thinks about how it will be to come down...






Five minutes and a few squeals later, Meg and I had joined Sharon at the top of the rickety old ladder to stand up in the top level of the castle. There wasn't a whole lot of moving or shifting for fear that the floor might give out but, of course, we managed to take a few great pictures from the window sill that at least promised sturdiness. A whole other room branched off the other side of the hallway we were in, but we were content with looking rather than exploring. Then came the time to go down. Like Sharon had said, sometimes you don't think about what the way down is going to be like when you're only on your way up...

I'm a chicken so I was second down. Sharon was waiting for me at the bottom and Meg was steadying the top. I gazed down at the ladder from the top and had that one common thought we all have thought before: "There is no way..."

I turned and twisted and repositioned until I finally situated myself in the safest way to retreat. One rung at a time... one step... don't look down... AH!!! Don't look down!! One more step... that's it... phew!! Made it! I took a breath and just thought about how cool it was to climb down an ancient ladder that was actually used to get around a castle at one point. I tried to imagine what it might have used to look like in that castle or who might have used to reside there. I'm not really sure what it was used for, but I do know that it was a fascinating thing to see and hang out in!

Wandering around the outside to explore more, we got a text message from Amanda: "KITTENS!!!"

Enough said.

We literally dropped everything we were doing and RAN.

We sped home and burst through the door, ecstatic to see what we had been waiting so long for! Amanda told us that she hadn't seen the cat when she had arrived home, but heard some purring when she went to go get dressed for the evening. Deep in her closet, hidden behind a rack of dresses and shirts, three newborn kittens were nestled up in a big ball of fur, feeding from their mother's belly. The mom had knocked some scarves off of Amanda's shelf and hidden herself in a barrier of clothes to prepare for the birth. We didn't get to see them come out, and really didn't know when they actually did, but we were there only a few hours after and relished in the precious sight of brand new kittens.

It was the perfect way to end our adventure. :)