Athena Dublin Spring 2012: Gabrielle Reiter

WARNING!

St. Patty's Day in Ireland is CRAZY.

to say the least....

Anyway, we started off the festivities with getting ready and dressing in all green, obviously... and then we headed down down for the Parade! Which was impossible to navigate, there were SO MANY people!! It was unbelievable, I thought that St. Patty's day in Chicago was wild, the one in Dublin makes that look like a tea party. But I mean, this is Ireland so what can I say?

The parade itself wasn't that great, actually it was pretty Americanized which was disappointing; I was expecting something a bit more traditional. The crowds were awful too, full of obnoxious rowdy people, which kind of was a buzz kill at times... be prepare to be shoved, multiple times... If you're trying to find a pub, find one and stay there! Otherwise through out the day it's going to be harder to find one that's not completely full, some pubs were up to a three hour wait to get in!  And the streets are packed the entire day, so like I said before just find a pub and stay there. It was a pretty fun day though, all part of the experience! and definitely something that should be on the bucket list; it was a long, incredibly fun, and an exhausting day!  

Scotland by far is one of my favorite places I have visited so far, Edinburgh is like a city lost in time. It’s so beautiful and historic, all of the buildings are from another time, centuries ago. That’s what I loved most about Edinburgh, unlike all of the other cities trying to keep up with all of the latest technology and architecture, this little city has stayed true to its roots. I’ve never been anywhere quite like this place, I felt vintage walking through the streets of the city, it was like I knew everything about it. I wasn’t just learning the history, I could feel it, see it all around me. All of the photos I have taken don’t do justice to what this city is actually like, this is somewhere that you need to put at the top of your list of places to visit!

While we were visiting we did the walking tour of the city, which was free and it was awesome. You learned everything not only about Edinburgh, but all of Scotland and even the UK. Sometimes I know history can be a bit boring, but our tour guide was awesome and kept it very entertaining! Later on our own time we visited the Edingburgh castle, DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!! Seriously, it’s not worth it! When I went into it I was thinking it would be similar to the Tower of London (which I absolutley loved) and it was NOTHING like it! A lot of places within the castle grounds were closed off, and the few things that we could see were so boring. If you are interested in the history of the Scottish army then this might be up your alley, otherwise don’t bother. I was really looking forward to seeing the crown jewels, and there was only one crown. Like I said, boring and a waste of time and money.

We also did a day tour during our visit, originally we were supposed to go the Loch Ness Monster, Glencoe, and the Highlands but there was a confusion in our pre-booking, and the wrong tour was scheduled, which was quite unfortunate because we were all pretty excited for that tour. Instead we saw a couple of different Lochs (lakes), Dewars Whiskey Distillery, and some historic locations, not as exciting as I thought it would be but still pretty cool. There are much better places to see in Scotland though, so I would skip out on this one…

Another great thing that I loved about Edinburgh is I saw so many Harry Potter related things!! I LOVE Harry Potter, so I was freaking out a little bit… We saw the Elephant House, a little cafe that Rowling would sit in everyday writing her stories of HP down on pieces of napkins. We also saw the place where she Wrote the first Harry Potter book, and the original building that inspired Hogwarts. Also there was a gravestone in the cemetery near the “Hogwarts” building with the name “Tom Riddle” on it, which inspired the character in her books.

I could go on and on about Scotland, but instead here are some pictures to help sum everything up…

Dewars Whiskey Distillery

The Elephant House, where JK Rowling started writing her ideas and stories down on napkins for Harry Potter

The big window in the middle is where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The Edinburgh Castle

The Royal Apartments

As my mother would say “Now this is what Scotland is all about!” oh mom…

London was quite the experience, but a wonderful one to say the least.  Definitely some place to put on your bucket list, but I don't think I could ever live in the UK, the currency over there is awful! Dollars to Pounds is worth nothing, so I ended up spending so much more money than I planned...

London is a HUGE city, it's so big it's split up into zones. There was so much I wanted to see and I just didn’t have enough time to get it all done. A lot of the time is spent getting from one place to another, everything is so spread out in London! The places that I did have a chance at seeing was The House of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, The Eye (although we didn’t have time to go on it), Abbey Road, Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station, Millennium Bridge (one of the many places where they filmed Harry Potter), Buckingham Palace, and so much more that I can't think of at the moment! It truly is a wonderful and beautiful city, I had such a fun time and learned so much about England's history. I would love to return someday to finish seeing all of the places I didn't have a chance to see the first time.

The Buckingham Palace

Standing in front of the Palace

The Tower of London

The House of Parliament  

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Tower Bridge

The famous Abbey Road crosswalk 

Off to Hogwarts!

Another day tour that I went on this month was to Blarney and Cork, unfortunately the weather was really crappy out and it was raining most of the day. It was still a pretty neat experience though, we were able to kiss the Blarney Stone! Which was much different than I thought it would be might I add... the stone was actually just a wall built into the Castle, and there were two men that held you upside down when you kissed it so you wouldn't fall through the gap!

It was still pretty cool, the castle was all ruins, most of it fallen apart. It was really neat, but definitely not something that you have to see if traveling to Ireland... and as for Cork, it's pretty much just like Dublin, though I still enjoyed it. There was this fresh market there, which was so cool. They literally had everything, some things not so pleasant, for example a pigs head cut off for sale and dead animals skinned and hanging....... yes, I know, disgusting. But all part of the experience! Here are some photos from our day…

Like I said before at the beginning of this month I went on the day tour to the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, and the weather was in our favor! We were so fortunate to have such a beautiful sunny day. The drive through the countrysides were unbelievable, and when we finally arrived at the cliffs the view was incredible, it was even more amazing then all of the pictures I have ever seen. It was a wonderful day, definitely a must see if you ever visit Ireland! Here’s a look at our day ...

A lighthouse off the shore

Old Ruins..

A Leprechaun House! AKA a drinking well…

Old Church Ruins

So it's been a while since I have last posted, the month of March has been pretty crazy for me. My mother arrived March 4th and stayed for two weeks… a very, very long time! I was SO excited to see her! I love my mom so much, being away from her for five months is pretty tough, so it was wonderful that she had the chance to visit, especially since she has never been to Europe. Although trying to entertain her for that long of time was kind of difficult... Anyway we saw so much while she was here! I took her to see the countrysides of Ireland (The Cliffs of Moher and the Blarney Stone), all around Dublin and then we headed to the UK to visit London and Scotland, we had such an amazing time.  It was bittersweet having to say goodbye, but I just keep thinking only two months until we are reunited again! 

The Cliffs of Moher

Last Saturday the group and I took a day tour of Wicklow, Ireland. It was someplace that I was very excited to see, both films P.S. I Love You and Braveheart were filmed there! Unfortunately the weather was very gloomy and the sky was filled with thick fog, and light showers through out the day. The sight of the mountains was very distant and almost completely hidden behind the haze. Though the views still beautiful, we had a lovely day of sightseeing and to top it all off, our tour guide Tommy was a blast! I do plan on returning in the near future around spring time, when the weather starts to take a turn for the better. 

Here’s an example of how thick the fog was, behind the haze there are mountains.

The Wishing Cross
It’s said that if you wrap your arms around the cross, and you make a sincere wish, it will come true.

The Bridge from P.S. I Love You

The Field where Braveheart was filmed

Monday and Tuesday we decided to venture out of Dublin to the countryside once again, this time it was Dingle, Ireland; a small town on the lower west coast. It was the trip of the unexpected, this was our first time traveling this far, but we thought it would be a piece of cake.

Wrong.

We left our apartments at 6:45 to make the 7:30 bus to Dingle, of course we were running late and we weren't quite sure where the bus station was... we arrived in the city centre at around 7:00am now searching for our next destination, the bus station.

After some help from a local we finally made it, it was now 7:15 and we still needed to purchase our tickets, with only fifteen minutes left we were rushing! We had to purchase the tickets from this little machine, there were five of us and a few were have some troubles with credit cards. With only a few minutes to spare, we finally made it on the bus!

Next stop: Dingle. Or so we thought... It turned out that we actually had to transfer buses several different times, ending up traveling with a total of three different busses to get there. Instead of it taking normally 4 hours to get to Dingle, we traveled for 8... not a pleasant day of traveling.

Finally we reached our destination! Only it was about 4:00pm, the sun was setting and everything was starting to close. We made it to the tourist office to get all of the information we could about sightseeing and booked a tour for the next morning, not knowing what quite to expect.

Next place of arrival, our hostel. I was expecting a hostel to be a downsized hotel for students, but it was actually someones home. The homeowner, a nice woman, showed us around and made us feel as comfortable as possible. Once we were settled we headed out to see the town and grab a bite to eat.  Though almost everything was closed, we did get to see a lot and finally found a place to eat, Murphy's, which was delicious especially after a long day on buses. Later on we found the only pub we could with live irish music, a very small family place.

But since I have been in Ireland it was one of the best experiences I have had, I actually got to be a part and experience some real irish culture with the locals. It was wonderful and the music was out of this world.

Check out this video of the band we listened to, also featuring my friends and I:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHlRPg48x50

After a long day we finally headed back to the hostel for a good night's rest to prepare for what was in store for the next day. It was Tuesday morning, we were all ready, packed up, and heading out for our day tour of the Dingle pennisula.

Our tour guide, John, picked us up from the hostel and began the tour at an all irish girls boarding school that was on the island.  He showed us all over the peninsula, different landmarks, historic sights, beautiful views, beaches, and lastly he drove is through the second largest mountain in Ireland, where we got to do some rock climbing and see some beautiful lakes.

It was one of the best days I have had since being in Ireland, I was with some amazing people, visiting some incredible places, and sharing one of the best experiences in my life.

Have a little look at what our trip to Dingle:

Last Friday we had made the last minute decision after class to take the train to Howth, Ireland; one of the many places that we have been told to visit while we are here, plus it’s only about 30 minutes away. Once we arrived to the small fisherman town, we set out to explore.

The ocean was beautiful, there were sailboats everywhere along the dock and the smell of fish ran through the air. We spotted some cliffs a few miles away and took off to find them, up a huge hill we went! Of course we made very frequent stops to take pictures, and embrace the wonderful view all around us.

After about and hour and a half, a few wrong turns, a small puppy, and a breathless hike we finally reached our destination!

The Summit.  Definitely worth the hike.

It was one of the most beautiful views I have ever laid eyes on. Huge cliffs that towered over the ocean, yellow flowers all around us, hills that went on forever, a lighthouse, the open ocean, and the most breathtaking sunset.

It was perfect. It was the best way that I could have started off my travels while studying abroad.

Take a look for yourself, here are some pictures..

The Small town of Howth

The hike to The Summit

Some Random puppy walking around, he was a hit!