july 28, 2007
today was the wedding. i've never been to a jewish wedding before. i was excited.
before the wedding, in the morning, oren and anja organized a trip into warsaw. first stop was lazienki park (pronounced wah-zhen-kee). it was a nice large park with the summer home of the king in it. griff, melissa, floor (a hollander) and i walked around it and marveled at the amount of peacocks that were in the park.
next, the tour went to warsaw old town. for those that didn't know, warsaw was almost completely destroyed in world war 2. the germans decided to punish the poles for resisting and bombed the whole city. only 10% remained after the bombing. warsaw old town was then reconstructed by the communists to replicate almost exactly the city as it once stood. it's a little bizaar - old town looks old, but yet it looks like it's 60-years-old instead of 300-years-old.
i really liked warsaw. i'd like to come back when i have more time to spend here.
the wedding was in the evening. i put on my tailored chinese suit and headed to the ceremony. i looked hot. the wedding was very intersting. some of the traditions i'd seen before in movies and such, some i had not. i enjoyed it. mozel tov!
after the wedding, we danced in circles and then lifted the bride and groom in chairs and carried them around. then we did the groom's parents. then we did the bride's parents. by the end, my arms hurt.
the reception was a blast. we drank, drank some more and danced.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
poland day 13
july 27, 2007
i was a bit hung over this morning. too many shots. freakin' poles and swedes. all they want to do is vodka shots.
oren and anja had organized a horse and carriage ride to a picnic in the afternoon. it was a great time. unfortuantely there was a bit of a mishap with a spooked horse and some thrown people, but everyone involved was ok. a bit scary though...
later in the afternoon, a thunderstorm rolled in. i haven't witnessed a thunderstorm in ages. we don't get them in california. and this was a doozy. the raindrops were massive and the thunder boomed. denis, griff and i sat and watched. it was over in 45 minutes.
the evening efstivities included a swedish dinner full of drinking songs. and vodka. i managed to avoid most of the vodka.
i was a bit hung over this morning. too many shots. freakin' poles and swedes. all they want to do is vodka shots.
oren and anja had organized a horse and carriage ride to a picnic in the afternoon. it was a great time. unfortuantely there was a bit of a mishap with a spooked horse and some thrown people, but everyone involved was ok. a bit scary though...
later in the afternoon, a thunderstorm rolled in. i haven't witnessed a thunderstorm in ages. we don't get them in california. and this was a doozy. the raindrops were massive and the thunder boomed. denis, griff and i sat and watched. it was over in 45 minutes.
the evening efstivities included a swedish dinner full of drinking songs. and vodka. i managed to avoid most of the vodka.
london and poland day 12
july 26, 2007
yesterday was work and a bit of drinking afterwards with some co-workers. not much to tell. today, on the otherhand, i worked half day and then i took off for poland.
but i decided to make a stop on the way - the british museum. i had never been. it was pretty freakin' cool. until you realize that the brits basically stole all of the artifacts that are in the museum before the victimized countries realized what was going on. anyway, if you ever get a chance, visit. and it's free.
the flight to poland was uneventful, which was nice. easyjet is a much nicer budget airline that ryanair. i would definitely fly easyjet again.
when i landed, oren and anja (the engaged couple) had a car waiting for me. it was the first time in my life that i had a driver waiting at the arrival gate with my name on a sign. well, it was oren and anja's name on the sign, but same difference. the car was for me.
an hour later and i'm at the hotel that anja's father owns and the where the wedding is taking place. the hotel is called hotel pod sasmani and it's in a little town called osieck (pronounced oh-shit-zk). josef (anja's father) greated me at the receptino area and immediately took me to the party. earlier, there was a polish dinner and everyone was drinking and dancing when i arrived. there were a few perogis left so i downed them. i hadn't eaten in a while. not good when the first person you meet is a bridesmaid named cookie and she hands you a shot. immediately following, a met up with jason and denis who were about to have a crazy dog shot with another wedding-goer (a crazy dog is vodka, cranberry juice and tobasco). wow. 2 shots in under 5 minutes. and 4 more within the next hour. needless to say i got really drunk.
yesterday was work and a bit of drinking afterwards with some co-workers. not much to tell. today, on the otherhand, i worked half day and then i took off for poland.
but i decided to make a stop on the way - the british museum. i had never been. it was pretty freakin' cool. until you realize that the brits basically stole all of the artifacts that are in the museum before the victimized countries realized what was going on. anyway, if you ever get a chance, visit. and it's free.
the flight to poland was uneventful, which was nice. easyjet is a much nicer budget airline that ryanair. i would definitely fly easyjet again.
when i landed, oren and anja (the engaged couple) had a car waiting for me. it was the first time in my life that i had a driver waiting at the arrival gate with my name on a sign. well, it was oren and anja's name on the sign, but same difference. the car was for me.
an hour later and i'm at the hotel that anja's father owns and the where the wedding is taking place. the hotel is called hotel pod sasmani and it's in a little town called osieck (pronounced oh-shit-zk). josef (anja's father) greated me at the receptino area and immediately took me to the party. earlier, there was a polish dinner and everyone was drinking and dancing when i arrived. there were a few perogis left so i downed them. i hadn't eaten in a while. not good when the first person you meet is a bridesmaid named cookie and she hands you a shot. immediately following, a met up with jason and denis who were about to have a crazy dog shot with another wedding-goer (a crazy dog is vodka, cranberry juice and tobasco). wow. 2 shots in under 5 minutes. and 4 more within the next hour. needless to say i got really drunk.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
london day 10
july 24, 2007
it seems like half of my sf office is london working on projects this week. it's kind of nice to be in an office for the first time and see many faces that you recognize. it makes socializing very easy.
the beginning of the day involved a nice little walking tour of a few projects that one of our london co-workers, ronnie, worked on previously. kind of a precedent tour for the project we're working on. it was also nice because i think i won't get to explore london much on this trip.
the rest of the day was work. you all know how that is.
after work, a few of my coworkers and i headed for dinner at a nice italian restaurant close to the office. 7 of us in all--colin, karl and myself from the sf office, suzi, a former employee of the sf office, chris and tom from the london office and paolo, a consultant. it was a very pleasant dinner with pleasant conversation. and a huge bill. damn, london is expensive.
after dinner, karl, tom, suzi and i walked for about 15 minutes searching for a pub that was still open (pubs generally close at 11pm), found one, and each had a pint of guinness (or half pint in suzi's case). then karl and suzi walked me back to my hotel so i wouldn't get lost.
it seems like half of my sf office is london working on projects this week. it's kind of nice to be in an office for the first time and see many faces that you recognize. it makes socializing very easy.
the beginning of the day involved a nice little walking tour of a few projects that one of our london co-workers, ronnie, worked on previously. kind of a precedent tour for the project we're working on. it was also nice because i think i won't get to explore london much on this trip.
the rest of the day was work. you all know how that is.
after work, a few of my coworkers and i headed for dinner at a nice italian restaurant close to the office. 7 of us in all--colin, karl and myself from the sf office, suzi, a former employee of the sf office, chris and tom from the london office and paolo, a consultant. it was a very pleasant dinner with pleasant conversation. and a huge bill. damn, london is expensive.
after dinner, karl, tom, suzi and i walked for about 15 minutes searching for a pub that was still open (pubs generally close at 11pm), found one, and each had a pint of guinness (or half pint in suzi's case). then karl and suzi walked me back to my hotel so i wouldn't get lost.
portmarnock day 9
july 23, 2007
denis decided to join me for my round at portmarnock today. he would be my caddy. and by caddy, i mean follow me around, take pics of me and help me find my ball. in no way would he carry my clubs.
tee time was at 8:06am. i left jake and luise's apartment, amid tears from the two of them (not really), at 6:30am because i did not want a repeat of last monday's almost missed time. on the way i was to pick up denis from sylvia's apartment. my directions out of dublin this morning were loads better than the last time i was leaving the city, i made it to turn 6 before i got lost. an hour later, i'm about 1/2 kilometer from denis and i can't find him. at 8:17, i finally picked him up. with a navigator, i was able to find the golf course in less than 20 minutes, meaning i was only about a half hour late for my time. luckily for me, the day was grey and there were few on the golf course. i checked in, was told that is was no problem that i missed my tee time and teed off about 15 minutes later behind a couple with a single caddy that reminded me of the havercamps from caddyshack.
the golf course was much easier than royal county down and royal portrush. the course was less hilly with few blind shots, and the natural rough grasses were kept at a reasonable height. because of this a played well. i bogeyed the 8th and 9th holes to shoot 39. no lost balls.
then it started to pour. and the wind kicked up. i started to back nine by losing 3 balls and doubling 3 of the first 4. i was fully dressed in my rain gear--two rain jackets and rain gloves. after the 13th hole i decided to take the gloves off. obviously they weren't helping. as a result, i was only 2 over in the final 5. final, 83. and pretty legit.
denis left me on the 12th hole to go for a run in the rain on the beach. and hour or so later, he met me on the 18th fairway as i finished my round. it was amazing that i lost only 1 ball while he was gone, even though he didn't really help me with that anyway. he was about as useless as the havercamps' libidos.
after the round, denis and i decided to tour around howth before we headed to the airport--he to go to poland and me before i headed to london for a little bit of work before poland. howth was a nice marina town. we had a pretty kickass lunch of fish and chips there before taking a nice stroll along the boardwalk.
then we headed to dublin airport. we dropped off the rental car with little problem--by the way, i recommend irishcarrental.com--then headed into the airport to check in. we were both flying ryan air.
ryan air was chaos. lines everywhere. and poorly marked lines at that. i walked around for 10 minutes looking for the line for my flight to london stansted, waited in line for 30 minutes to check in, was told that i would have to pay an €8 penalty/kg over 15 kg TOTAL for all checked baggage (in my case was 6kg), waited in another line for another half hour to pay the penalty then was finally given my boarding pass. luckily denis and i arrived 2 hours early for our flights. that was my first and last time flying ryan air.
denis decided to join me for my round at portmarnock today. he would be my caddy. and by caddy, i mean follow me around, take pics of me and help me find my ball. in no way would he carry my clubs.
tee time was at 8:06am. i left jake and luise's apartment, amid tears from the two of them (not really), at 6:30am because i did not want a repeat of last monday's almost missed time. on the way i was to pick up denis from sylvia's apartment. my directions out of dublin this morning were loads better than the last time i was leaving the city, i made it to turn 6 before i got lost. an hour later, i'm about 1/2 kilometer from denis and i can't find him. at 8:17, i finally picked him up. with a navigator, i was able to find the golf course in less than 20 minutes, meaning i was only about a half hour late for my time. luckily for me, the day was grey and there were few on the golf course. i checked in, was told that is was no problem that i missed my tee time and teed off about 15 minutes later behind a couple with a single caddy that reminded me of the havercamps from caddyshack.
the golf course was much easier than royal county down and royal portrush. the course was less hilly with few blind shots, and the natural rough grasses were kept at a reasonable height. because of this a played well. i bogeyed the 8th and 9th holes to shoot 39. no lost balls.
then it started to pour. and the wind kicked up. i started to back nine by losing 3 balls and doubling 3 of the first 4. i was fully dressed in my rain gear--two rain jackets and rain gloves. after the 13th hole i decided to take the gloves off. obviously they weren't helping. as a result, i was only 2 over in the final 5. final, 83. and pretty legit.
denis left me on the 12th hole to go for a run in the rain on the beach. and hour or so later, he met me on the 18th fairway as i finished my round. it was amazing that i lost only 1 ball while he was gone, even though he didn't really help me with that anyway. he was about as useless as the havercamps' libidos.
after the round, denis and i decided to tour around howth before we headed to the airport--he to go to poland and me before i headed to london for a little bit of work before poland. howth was a nice marina town. we had a pretty kickass lunch of fish and chips there before taking a nice stroll along the boardwalk.
then we headed to dublin airport. we dropped off the rental car with little problem--by the way, i recommend irishcarrental.com--then headed into the airport to check in. we were both flying ryan air.
ryan air was chaos. lines everywhere. and poorly marked lines at that. i walked around for 10 minutes looking for the line for my flight to london stansted, waited in line for 30 minutes to check in, was told that i would have to pay an €8 penalty/kg over 15 kg TOTAL for all checked baggage (in my case was 6kg), waited in another line for another half hour to pay the penalty then was finally given my boarding pass. luckily denis and i arrived 2 hours early for our flights. that was my first and last time flying ryan air.
dublin day 8 - booze, booze and more booze...
july 22, 2007
i woke up this morning to a beautiful irish breakfast that luise prepared for jake and i. in hindsight, it was the perfect start to an alcohol-filled day. denis landed a little after 10am this morning and he and i planned to meet at the guinness brewery for the tour. on my way to the brewery, the weather turned sour--the perfect day to sit in a brewery (or two) and have a pint while the rain poured down. so that's what we did.
the brewery tour was interesting, the brewery itself was a little bit disneyland, but the bar at the top of the tower, gravity bar, was really cool. that's where denis and i had our complimentary guinnesses after the tour. it's the big hang out spot so it was pretty full even on such a crappy day. and even though it was raining, you still had a beautiful 360 degree view of dublin from the bar.
after the guinness brewery, denis and i headed to the jameson distillery for another tour. before the tour started, we sat at the bar in the lobby of the distillery and chatted up the australian bartender. overhearing our chat, our tour guide, xander, wandered over and began chatting with us. after some persuasion from denis and a little information drop that i was partially dutch, since xander was dutch, i somehow ended up in the driver's seat for a special whiskey tasting at the end of the tour. so when the xander asked for 4 volunteers (2 guys and 2 girls) to test irish whiskey against other foreign whiskeys, and i raised my hand, i was picked.
the tour was nice--basically the same as the bushmills tour, even down to the same "...so we have happy cows" and "...so we have happy angels" jokes. at the end, xander seated the 4 volunteers at a special table for the whiskey tasting, i got to test jameson against two other irish whiskeys, johnny walker red and jack daniels. since all three irish whiskeys were made by jameson's parent company, the 4 of us were saved on choosing our favorite (or it didn't matter if we chose jameson or not). and since johnny walker red is the bottom of the barrel of the johnny walker scotches and jack daniels is just plain nasty, it was an easy choice to pick jameson. after the tasting, the 4 of us received special diplomas for our services and were sent home.
next, denis and i met up with jake and luise, sylvia and sylvia's brother michael at the brazen head pub, the oldest pub in ireland. we sat down, had a few pints and watch pradraig (pronounced proh-rag in gaelic) harrington win the open at carnoustie. we expected a huge reaction from the pub since pradraig was the first irishman to win a golf major in something like 46 years. instead, there were a bit of cheers and 4 old irishmen started signing the national anthem rather poorly. that was it. apparently the irish were more interested in their guinness.
needless to say, i was pretty wrecked today. and i have an 8:06 tee time at portmarnock in the morning. ee gads.
i woke up this morning to a beautiful irish breakfast that luise prepared for jake and i. in hindsight, it was the perfect start to an alcohol-filled day. denis landed a little after 10am this morning and he and i planned to meet at the guinness brewery for the tour. on my way to the brewery, the weather turned sour--the perfect day to sit in a brewery (or two) and have a pint while the rain poured down. so that's what we did.
the brewery tour was interesting, the brewery itself was a little bit disneyland, but the bar at the top of the tower, gravity bar, was really cool. that's where denis and i had our complimentary guinnesses after the tour. it's the big hang out spot so it was pretty full even on such a crappy day. and even though it was raining, you still had a beautiful 360 degree view of dublin from the bar.
after the guinness brewery, denis and i headed to the jameson distillery for another tour. before the tour started, we sat at the bar in the lobby of the distillery and chatted up the australian bartender. overhearing our chat, our tour guide, xander, wandered over and began chatting with us. after some persuasion from denis and a little information drop that i was partially dutch, since xander was dutch, i somehow ended up in the driver's seat for a special whiskey tasting at the end of the tour. so when the xander asked for 4 volunteers (2 guys and 2 girls) to test irish whiskey against other foreign whiskeys, and i raised my hand, i was picked.
the tour was nice--basically the same as the bushmills tour, even down to the same "...so we have happy cows" and "...so we have happy angels" jokes. at the end, xander seated the 4 volunteers at a special table for the whiskey tasting, i got to test jameson against two other irish whiskeys, johnny walker red and jack daniels. since all three irish whiskeys were made by jameson's parent company, the 4 of us were saved on choosing our favorite (or it didn't matter if we chose jameson or not). and since johnny walker red is the bottom of the barrel of the johnny walker scotches and jack daniels is just plain nasty, it was an easy choice to pick jameson. after the tasting, the 4 of us received special diplomas for our services and were sent home.
next, denis and i met up with jake and luise, sylvia and sylvia's brother michael at the brazen head pub, the oldest pub in ireland. we sat down, had a few pints and watch pradraig (pronounced proh-rag in gaelic) harrington win the open at carnoustie. we expected a huge reaction from the pub since pradraig was the first irishman to win a golf major in something like 46 years. instead, there were a bit of cheers and 4 old irishmen started signing the national anthem rather poorly. that was it. apparently the irish were more interested in their guinness.
needless to say, i was pretty wrecked today. and i have an 8:06 tee time at portmarnock in the morning. ee gads.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
glendalough - day 7
july 21, 2007
after breakfast, big jake and i set off for glendalough, a national park a bit south of dublin, while luise went wedding dress shopping with a friend. on the way, we made a few stops: one, to get a view of dublin, two, a valley on r115, and three, the glenmacnass waterfall, which was more of a water slide, really.
glendalough was beautiful--it reminded me of yosemite, but on a much smaller scale, except for the amount of tourists. the italian school kids were EVERYWHERE. walking through the monastic settlement was somewhat painful because you couldn't get a photo of anything without 4 other groups of people posing for the same photo, but the ruins were very interesting. enough that i bought an 80 cent pamphlet on them.
to get away from the crowd, big jake and i decided to do a hike up the spinc trail to get a view from the top of lugduff mountain of the upper and lower lakes and of lugduff valley below. the trail was interesting--it was defined by wooden planks all the way up the mountain. a wooden path with stairs to walk up. the hike was nice, 5km in all, up about 280m. jake was a little concerned that we didn't bring water and food with us and didn't know how long he could go without it. he claimed that if we weren't back down at the lakes eating ice cream in three hours, he would consider eating me. me, i didn't care that we were without food and water. i'm a freakin' camel.
the view from the top of lugduff mountain to the lakes was extraordinary, except that you could see one of the main car parks for the park between the lakes. that was disappointing, but only minimally so. the view was well worth the trip. on our way, down, we stopped and took photos of the main waterfall in the park--the poulanass waterfall. i snuck off the path to get a better photo. i'm such a rule breaker.
on our way back to dublin, we decided to head to the coast. we stopped at a quaint little town called bray and walked along the boardwalk. there was a carnie going on. small hands. smell like cabbage. apparently the irish love carnies.
back in dublin, jake, luise and i went to dinner at a nice lebanese restaurant and walked around the temple bar area. temple bar is an area in dublin with a bunch of pubs and night clubs where the foreigners (mostly british) come for stag and hen parties. you could visually see which groups were which just by walking down the street. the stag boys are generally in a pack of 6-8, dressed to the nines and the hens have matching necklaces or sashes and are all over the stag boys. temple bar is a mad meat market. most irish tend to stay away from the place.
after breakfast, big jake and i set off for glendalough, a national park a bit south of dublin, while luise went wedding dress shopping with a friend. on the way, we made a few stops: one, to get a view of dublin, two, a valley on r115, and three, the glenmacnass waterfall, which was more of a water slide, really.
glendalough was beautiful--it reminded me of yosemite, but on a much smaller scale, except for the amount of tourists. the italian school kids were EVERYWHERE. walking through the monastic settlement was somewhat painful because you couldn't get a photo of anything without 4 other groups of people posing for the same photo, but the ruins were very interesting. enough that i bought an 80 cent pamphlet on them.
to get away from the crowd, big jake and i decided to do a hike up the spinc trail to get a view from the top of lugduff mountain of the upper and lower lakes and of lugduff valley below. the trail was interesting--it was defined by wooden planks all the way up the mountain. a wooden path with stairs to walk up. the hike was nice, 5km in all, up about 280m. jake was a little concerned that we didn't bring water and food with us and didn't know how long he could go without it. he claimed that if we weren't back down at the lakes eating ice cream in three hours, he would consider eating me. me, i didn't care that we were without food and water. i'm a freakin' camel.
the view from the top of lugduff mountain to the lakes was extraordinary, except that you could see one of the main car parks for the park between the lakes. that was disappointing, but only minimally so. the view was well worth the trip. on our way, down, we stopped and took photos of the main waterfall in the park--the poulanass waterfall. i snuck off the path to get a better photo. i'm such a rule breaker.
on our way back to dublin, we decided to head to the coast. we stopped at a quaint little town called bray and walked along the boardwalk. there was a carnie going on. small hands. smell like cabbage. apparently the irish love carnies.
back in dublin, jake, luise and i went to dinner at a nice lebanese restaurant and walked around the temple bar area. temple bar is an area in dublin with a bunch of pubs and night clubs where the foreigners (mostly british) come for stag and hen parties. you could visually see which groups were which just by walking down the street. the stag boys are generally in a pack of 6-8, dressed to the nines and the hens have matching necklaces or sashes and are all over the stag boys. temple bar is a mad meat market. most irish tend to stay away from the place.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
dublin day 6 - the day without pictures
july 20, 2007
i woke up this morning as luise was leaving for work - around 8am. i could hear that it was pouring outside. i went back to sleep. i was hung over anyway. i woke up again as jake went to work - around 9am. it was still pouring outside. and i was still hungover. so i went back to sleep. i finally woke up for good around 11:30am. jake had left me a note saying that his work was throwing a happy hour around 4pm and that i should stop by. by the time i putzed around, uploaded photos, wrote some blog entries and took a shower, my hangover almost completely gone, it was 3pm. the rain had stopped so i headed out on the 2.5 mile trek to jake's office.
it was a nice walk down by the channel that would've been much nicer if the weather had been pleasant. but i enjoyed it anyway. and the happy hour was a good time. i got to chat with a bunch of irish architects about san francisco and dublin.
after the happy hour, jake, his co-worker rory and i headed for downtown dublin to meet up with denis's cousin sylvia for dinner. we went to a restaurant called cafe bar deli. apparently there are more than one in the city because sylvia was at one and we were at another. by the time we figured it out, sylvia had to try to find us in the rain.
dinner was a great time. i enjoyed meeting sylvia and rory. denis is landing in dublin on sunday and hopefully i will get to hang out with him and sylvia and meet more of his relatives on sunday evening.
i woke up this morning as luise was leaving for work - around 8am. i could hear that it was pouring outside. i went back to sleep. i was hung over anyway. i woke up again as jake went to work - around 9am. it was still pouring outside. and i was still hungover. so i went back to sleep. i finally woke up for good around 11:30am. jake had left me a note saying that his work was throwing a happy hour around 4pm and that i should stop by. by the time i putzed around, uploaded photos, wrote some blog entries and took a shower, my hangover almost completely gone, it was 3pm. the rain had stopped so i headed out on the 2.5 mile trek to jake's office.
it was a nice walk down by the channel that would've been much nicer if the weather had been pleasant. but i enjoyed it anyway. and the happy hour was a good time. i got to chat with a bunch of irish architects about san francisco and dublin.
after the happy hour, jake, his co-worker rory and i headed for downtown dublin to meet up with denis's cousin sylvia for dinner. we went to a restaurant called cafe bar deli. apparently there are more than one in the city because sylvia was at one and we were at another. by the time we figured it out, sylvia had to try to find us in the rain.
dinner was a great time. i enjoyed meeting sylvia and rory. denis is landing in dublin on sunday and hopefully i will get to hang out with him and sylvia and meet more of his relatives on sunday evening.
ireland day 5 - hello, my name is dean and i'm an addict...
july 19, 2007
i binged today. i'm not proud of it, but i couldn't help myself. it's just that they're so big and weathered and... old. i feel so... alive when i walk around their decaying walls. castles. i love castles. and not just castles, but old shit. i can't get enough.
my drive back to dublin revolved around castles and abbeys and shrines and more castles. they were all pretty sweet, except for enniskillen. although a significant castle, it was fairly disappointing because it was a functioning fort up until relatively recently so it doesn't seem as old as the others i visited. and it was turned into an irish war history museum. i have no interest in war history, especially irish war history. so i was disappointed. so disappointed that i had to take pictures of cathedrals. cathedrals are so 2000...
i blew off connemara again. there was no way i would've been able to see the ruins i wanted to see, drive to connemara, through connemara and back to dublin by 7pm. i just couldn't pull it off. nothing in ireland seems to be more than 100 miles away, it's just that driving that 100 miles might take you 4 hours. there are very few 120km/hr highways in ireland.
i made it back to dublin by 7pm. jake had planned for us to meet up with his craft beer chat group (that luise fondly dubbed his beer nerds) for a bit of beer tasting. i chatted with many irish beer connoisseurs about brewing craft beer (craft beer = home brew). i had a great time. and a lot of beer. i'm drunk for the first time in months. i'm going to be hung over tomorrow...
i binged today. i'm not proud of it, but i couldn't help myself. it's just that they're so big and weathered and... old. i feel so... alive when i walk around their decaying walls. castles. i love castles. and not just castles, but old shit. i can't get enough.
my drive back to dublin revolved around castles and abbeys and shrines and more castles. they were all pretty sweet, except for enniskillen. although a significant castle, it was fairly disappointing because it was a functioning fort up until relatively recently so it doesn't seem as old as the others i visited. and it was turned into an irish war history museum. i have no interest in war history, especially irish war history. so i was disappointed. so disappointed that i had to take pictures of cathedrals. cathedrals are so 2000...
i blew off connemara again. there was no way i would've been able to see the ruins i wanted to see, drive to connemara, through connemara and back to dublin by 7pm. i just couldn't pull it off. nothing in ireland seems to be more than 100 miles away, it's just that driving that 100 miles might take you 4 hours. there are very few 120km/hr highways in ireland.
i made it back to dublin by 7pm. jake had planned for us to meet up with his craft beer chat group (that luise fondly dubbed his beer nerds) for a bit of beer tasting. i chatted with many irish beer connoisseurs about brewing craft beer (craft beer = home brew). i had a great time. and a lot of beer. i'm drunk for the first time in months. i'm going to be hung over tomorrow...
Saturday, July 21, 2007
day 4 - disaster!
july 18, 2007
last night i forgot to set my alarm on my cell phone. i woke up at 11:20am this morning. not a good start to my day. what's the deal with no alarm clocks in irish hotels and b&bs anyway? i have yet to stay at a place with a proper alarm clock. needless to say, i missed breakfast. and i love irish breakfasts. it's even too much food for me! you start with cereal, then you're served an egg, a roasted tomato, a couple of susage links, a couple of pieces of bacon (HUGE bacon at that), some toast, a muffin and potato bread. mmm, mmm, good. finish it off with some tea and you're ready for the day. but i missed it. i went hungry this morning.
my plan was to hit derry-stroke-londonderry, then drive through connemara on my way back to dublin. instead, i decided to stay one more night away from dublin, tour derry-stroke-londonderry in the morning and then drive the coast of donegal through ishowen to donegal town.
derry-stroke-londonderry is a pretty sweet place. it's called the walled city because it's ireland's oldest example of walled city planning. it's a fascinating place if you're interested in that stuff (which i am). so i spent a good amount of time walking along the walls observing the city. during my wall walk, i spoke with some derry-stroke-londonderry residents and they told me that the dali lama was in the millenium forum. the dali lama! how many times in your life can you say you shook the hand of the dali lama? maybe 6? 10? anyway, if the dali lama was in derry-stroke-londonderry, i was going to meet him. so i headed to the millenium forum to search him out. i was excited. so excited that i was obssessive about making sure my camera was working, kept checking my map to make sure i was heading in the right direction, etc. on my 4th check of my camera, you know, turning it on and off repeatedly, disaster striked again. my battery was dead.
so i headed back to my car to get my battery charger. 10 minute walk. wasted time. since it was around 2pm, i decided to go to a restaurant, get lunch and plead with bartender or waitress to let me charge my camera battery. a restaurant called the metro inside the walled city was nice enough to do so. except that american plugs don't work in irish plugs. you know, square peg, round hole... so i trekked back to my car, grabbed my adaptor and headed back to the metro where i had i weird club sandwich while my battery recharged. it was more like a chicken salad sandwich with bacon. normally i won't eat anything loaded with mayonnaise, especially on vacation, unless i make it myself because you just don't know how long it's been sitting out. the last thing i need is to spend my day on the crapper with stomach cramps.
stomach full and battery charged, i began my search for the dali lama. it wasn't a long search. the millenium forum was about 200m from the restaurant where i ate. as i arrived at the millenium forum, i noticed something strange - it was dark. and empty. it was closed. the dali lama had come, gone and went somewhere where i couldn't follow him. oh well. off to donegal. but first i needed to check something out - a place called the bogside near the walled city.
apparently in the early 70's, a group of people demonstrated in derry-stroke-londonderry on civil rights and were gunned down by british troops. 17 people died in the massacre. there are murals and memorials everywhere. it was a pretty powerful place. you are now entering free derry...
after i finished with the bogside, i realized i was running late. i checked my map and decided to head to greencastle, a small town in northeast ishowen (a peninsula in donegal). greencastle was a cool name. and there was a castle there. so off i went.
greencastle is an interesting castle. it's being developed into retail and residences that butt right up to the old fort. the castle itself is across the street and has been totally abandoned. i thought that strange.
next a decided to check out a couple of places marked on my map as "bocan stone circle", "clonca church and cross" and "carrowmore high crosses" on my way to carndonagh. after driving in circles for an hour, i was only able to locate one of those places - carrowmore, at least i think it's carrowmore. i hope you like the picture.
so i woke up late, my camera battery died, i missed the dali lama and i couldn't find half of the places i was looking for. i'm on a roll! so i decided to try for a castle clearly marked in my lonely planet ireland book. it was located just northeast of ballyfillin. hopefully i would find it.
the drive to carrickbrackey castle was amazing. the weather was gorgeous for the first time all trip, the beaches surrounding trawbreaga bay and the cliffs surrounding the lagg sand dunes (on the other side of the bay) were impressive. unfortunately you all will have to just believe me because my last picture of carrickbrackey castle was of a chicken, then my camera battery died again. apparently the half hour charge at the metro restaurant just wasn't enough.
i have to apologize to pat and dave for not taking more pictures of your beloved donegal. the county as absolutely gorgeous and i will only be able to remember it in my head. i'm so stupid!
tomorrow i'm off to connemara. i've put it off long enough.
last night i forgot to set my alarm on my cell phone. i woke up at 11:20am this morning. not a good start to my day. what's the deal with no alarm clocks in irish hotels and b&bs anyway? i have yet to stay at a place with a proper alarm clock. needless to say, i missed breakfast. and i love irish breakfasts. it's even too much food for me! you start with cereal, then you're served an egg, a roasted tomato, a couple of susage links, a couple of pieces of bacon (HUGE bacon at that), some toast, a muffin and potato bread. mmm, mmm, good. finish it off with some tea and you're ready for the day. but i missed it. i went hungry this morning.
my plan was to hit derry-stroke-londonderry, then drive through connemara on my way back to dublin. instead, i decided to stay one more night away from dublin, tour derry-stroke-londonderry in the morning and then drive the coast of donegal through ishowen to donegal town.
derry-stroke-londonderry is a pretty sweet place. it's called the walled city because it's ireland's oldest example of walled city planning. it's a fascinating place if you're interested in that stuff (which i am). so i spent a good amount of time walking along the walls observing the city. during my wall walk, i spoke with some derry-stroke-londonderry residents and they told me that the dali lama was in the millenium forum. the dali lama! how many times in your life can you say you shook the hand of the dali lama? maybe 6? 10? anyway, if the dali lama was in derry-stroke-londonderry, i was going to meet him. so i headed to the millenium forum to search him out. i was excited. so excited that i was obssessive about making sure my camera was working, kept checking my map to make sure i was heading in the right direction, etc. on my 4th check of my camera, you know, turning it on and off repeatedly, disaster striked again. my battery was dead.
so i headed back to my car to get my battery charger. 10 minute walk. wasted time. since it was around 2pm, i decided to go to a restaurant, get lunch and plead with bartender or waitress to let me charge my camera battery. a restaurant called the metro inside the walled city was nice enough to do so. except that american plugs don't work in irish plugs. you know, square peg, round hole... so i trekked back to my car, grabbed my adaptor and headed back to the metro where i had i weird club sandwich while my battery recharged. it was more like a chicken salad sandwich with bacon. normally i won't eat anything loaded with mayonnaise, especially on vacation, unless i make it myself because you just don't know how long it's been sitting out. the last thing i need is to spend my day on the crapper with stomach cramps.
stomach full and battery charged, i began my search for the dali lama. it wasn't a long search. the millenium forum was about 200m from the restaurant where i ate. as i arrived at the millenium forum, i noticed something strange - it was dark. and empty. it was closed. the dali lama had come, gone and went somewhere where i couldn't follow him. oh well. off to donegal. but first i needed to check something out - a place called the bogside near the walled city.
apparently in the early 70's, a group of people demonstrated in derry-stroke-londonderry on civil rights and were gunned down by british troops. 17 people died in the massacre. there are murals and memorials everywhere. it was a pretty powerful place. you are now entering free derry...
after i finished with the bogside, i realized i was running late. i checked my map and decided to head to greencastle, a small town in northeast ishowen (a peninsula in donegal). greencastle was a cool name. and there was a castle there. so off i went.
greencastle is an interesting castle. it's being developed into retail and residences that butt right up to the old fort. the castle itself is across the street and has been totally abandoned. i thought that strange.
next a decided to check out a couple of places marked on my map as "bocan stone circle", "clonca church and cross" and "carrowmore high crosses" on my way to carndonagh. after driving in circles for an hour, i was only able to locate one of those places - carrowmore, at least i think it's carrowmore. i hope you like the picture.
so i woke up late, my camera battery died, i missed the dali lama and i couldn't find half of the places i was looking for. i'm on a roll! so i decided to try for a castle clearly marked in my lonely planet ireland book. it was located just northeast of ballyfillin. hopefully i would find it.
the drive to carrickbrackey castle was amazing. the weather was gorgeous for the first time all trip, the beaches surrounding trawbreaga bay and the cliffs surrounding the lagg sand dunes (on the other side of the bay) were impressive. unfortunately you all will have to just believe me because my last picture of carrickbrackey castle was of a chicken, then my camera battery died again. apparently the half hour charge at the metro restaurant just wasn't enough.
i have to apologize to pat and dave for not taking more pictures of your beloved donegal. the county as absolutely gorgeous and i will only be able to remember it in my head. i'm so stupid!
tomorrow i'm off to connemara. i've put it off long enough.
Friday, July 20, 2007
northern ireland... days 2 & 3
i am posting the last few days in sections because i didn't have access to the internet to post each day. so please bear with me. days 4-6 will get posted this evening hopefully. but as you've probably noticed, the pics are already up. browse at will.
day 2 – july 16, 2007 – royal county down golf club
i woke up this morning VERY excited. not only was i about to play the top course in ireland, i was playing one of the top courses in the world. some experts even have royal county down golf club ranked higher than st. andrews and pebble beach, right behind pine valley, augusta national and cyprus point. at the completion of today’s round, I will have another check off the “top 10 golf courses of the world played” matrix. and with 4 checks edges out my “women of the world” matrix. i get around.
after some discussion, big jake and i agreed that i should leave his place around 8am for my 12:10pm tee time. give myself plenty of time to get there leisurely. newcastle (where the golf course is located) was approximately a 2 hr drive from dublin minus traffic (and the local knowledge of driving on this island). to be honest, i was REALLY nervous about driving today. my only experience driving on the wrong side of the road with a car having manual transmission (translate: shifting with my left hand) was my drive from dublin airport yesterday with big jake expertly navigating. i ain’t got no stinking navigator today. and the skinny roads, roundabouts and weird double traffic lights are intimidating. but I must go on. my golf libido is depended on it.
i hit the road about 10 after 8. not too bad. a few quick and easy turns and luise and big jake’s plan was to have me on a highway that should skirt around the city traffic and get me on my way with little delay. jake also lent me two maps—one a street map of dublin and the second a map of the island. i also had my yahoo map directions to the golf course. i was fully prepared for this excursion. turn one—check. turn two—check. turn three… turn three… turn three? damn. missed it. turn around. can’t, one way. circled around. tried. too many one ways. stopped and asked directions. make a quick left and then keep left until you pass a wee hollow and then go through the roundabout and take the third left and then you’ll be back on course. ok. started driving. made the left. kept left. found the wee hollow… i think. what is wee anyway? where’s the roundabout? there it was. which left? this one? ok, made the turn. not the right road. now where was i? stopped to check the map. there i was. i was on the right road. good. kept going. and going. that didn’t feel right. i was driving too long. checked the map again. i was heading in the wrong direction. damn. turned around. ok, now i'm headed in the right direction. drove for 5 mins. i was back where i missed the original third turn. missed it again. but then i knew where i was. got back on track. found the highway. and construction traffic. loads of it. finally got through. i was out of dublin.
it was 9:45am. I made great time.
actually driving in Ireland and the uk isn’t so bad. once you make a few wrong turns, pull a couple of u-ies and make a few 15-point turns you get used to it. one thing is for sure, my dad would’ve had a few heart attacks on this drive. sometimes the road is barely wide enough for double lane traffic with a few inches to spare, and then there are cars parallel parked in both sides HALF-WAY IN THE DRIVING LANES. needless to say I had a few close calls.
the drive from then on was uneventful. i missed a turn or two, but my trusty map always led me back on track. i noticed that once i entered northern ireland, and british control, the speed limit signs, although exactly the same in appearance as those in the republic of ireland, changed. now the number in the outlined red circle represented mph instead of kph. or so i hoped. if not, i’d been doing some SERIOUS speeding.
after my final wrong turn, i took a more scenic route up the coast to newcastle instead of the more direct route through the island, but i figured it was ok since it was only 11am and i had only 11 km left to go. i'd be there by 11:30am – at the latest. i arrived in newcastle at 11:50. according to my yahoo map, i had only about half a mile to the golf course. a couple of turns and i’d be there, ready to tee off. 2 minutes tops. after a few more wrong turns, i was running to the pro shop at 12:05pm, half dressed, club heads banging together angrily at each step. i checked in—just made it. i squeezed a 2 hr drive into 4 hrs. i think that’s a new world record.
i checked in only to find out that i was the last official group to tee off today. and by group, i mean that I’m playing by myself. i was bumped since i was a single and the golf course was full of 4-balls. playing by myself with zero local knowledge and, oh yeah, no caddy. perfect conditions to go low.
i walked up to the first tee. no warm-ups. starter told me to tee away. i blasted my first drive… got all of it… dead left. gone. mulligan, says the starter. first tee, no practice, two balls. ok. second ball—boom! down the gut. big, da lama. huge. nice shot. thanks i said as I headed down the fairway. have a nice round. Thanks I said again. another good shot and two putts later and I was home in 4 on the first hole. birdie. one down. i was going to tear this golf course apart.
8 holes later, i was walking to the 9th tee with a 4-hole string of doubles intact and down to my last sleeve of golf balls. 5 balls missing and counting. i placed apbs on all of them but i wasn't holding my breath. i don’t think the irish are interested in my missing golf balls.
the guys in the group in front of me were on the 9th tee because the course was backed up. they told me that their 4th bailed out mid-round and that i was welcome to join them. perfect - now i had 3 more sets of eyes to watch my ball fly into the heather and 2 caddies to tell me that’s not where you wanted to hit it. truthfully, i was relieved. to prove it, i parred the 9th to finish in at 44. a very dodgy 44.
i have to sincerely thank bill, daniel and rusty for allowing me to join them for the back nine. if it weren’t for their generosity, i would not have enjoyed one of the greatest golf courses in the world. playing a new golf course blind, especially a true irish links course with multiple blind shots is one of the most frustrating experiences in golf. it can totally sour your round especially when you’re dishing out 135 quid ($270) to swing a golf club 80 or so times.
beyond the extra sets of eyes and friendly banter, the back nine wasn’t any different scoring-wise. i rolled in at 45, although a more legit 45. final tally—a very generous 89, 8 lost balls and 3 new friends. and no rain. that was the biggest score of the day.
after my driving fiasco in the morning, i decided to bypass belfast and find a b&b somewhere close to portrush for tomorrow’s round. i realized that belfast really wasn’t that close to portrush and i have an early tee time that I don’t want to miss, like I almost did today. bill, daniel and rusty told me that royal portrush is probably the hardest golf course on the island. i guess i better stock up on golf balls in the morning. there’s nothing like spending $50 on a couple of sleeves of nike one platinums.
a bot of info - if you ever need an energy fix in ireland, i recommend a cocktail of an energy drink called berry red bpm (focus and energy!) and yogurt covered raisons and peanuts. it stopped my head from nodding as i drove down the tight and windy roads to portrush. and as i drove, i could see lightning and hear thunder in the direction i was heading but i never saw rain. and good thing too. when I got to portrush, the road to the city was closed because some schmuck was stuck in his car in a flash flood and the fire department was pumping him out. that severely limited my b&b options. on the way in, i remembered seeing one a few miles back down the road i just arrived from. so i decided to head back and try it. luckily for me, the revallagh b&b had a room. 28 pounds en suite (meaning the bathroom is in the room). not too bad. so I took it.
tee time at 9:40am tomorrow. i’m heading to bushmills (yep, that bushmills) to find dinner and then i’m hitting the bed. i’ve got a long day ahead of me tomorrow—golf, the bushmills distillery, giants causeway, the carrick-a-rede rope bridge and then a drive to londonderry (or derry, depending on which side of the border you’re on). and then I have to find lodging again. wish me luck.
day 3 – july 17, 2007 – royal portrush dunluce links
i doubt anyone finished yesterday’s post so I’m going to keep this one short. today’s round was much better than yesterday’s. an 84, and not as generous as yesterday’s 89 (but still generous). only 6 lost balls. i’m improving. i played with two americans today, graham and jim. and andre carried my bag. he was a golf ball saver.
after golf, i jumped in the kia and drove in the direction of giants causeway. on the way, i ran into dunluce castle. it was a pretty substantial ruin – a lot of the castle still stood. hopefully, i got some nice pics.
it was 2:00pm so I left dunluce castle and headed to bushmills to take a tour through the distillery. i arrived at 2:15 and the tour was at 2:30. perfect timing. the tour took about 45 minutes and ended at the bar where i got a complimentary special 12-year whiskey. it was tasty, so i bought a bottle. the distillery is the only place where you can purchase this bottle. it looks like steve and i will get to drink some good whiskey for a bit…
next on my list was giants causeway – the coastal cliffs and bays created by an eroding island. there were some crazy rock formations on the causeway. after a 5 pound parking fee and a nice 5km hike, i got to see all of them.
like yesterday, thunder and lightning were in the distance, but i had yet to see any rain. so i headed to find the carrick-a-rede rope bridge. i arrived and found out that there was a 3 pound fee to walk over the bridge. i get in line behind a group from a huge tour bus. as i waited in line, it started to rain. lightly at first. then lightning. then thunder. and then it started pouring. i wore my rain resistant jacket, but it certainly wasn’t waterproof. after about a minute in the rain, i was soaked. screw the rope bridge. a bridge made of slick rope after a few flights of slippery stairs wasn’t worth the trouble. i hopped back in the kia and headed for derry-stroke-londonderry – the walled city (that's how the radio djs say it), without crossing the bridge with the other schmucks.
a little over an hour and a cocktail of lucozade energy drink and chocolate covered caramels later, i was in londonderry/derry looking for a b&b to lay my head. it was about 8pm. an hour and 4 no vacancies later and i was in a small town outside of the city at a hotel called an grianan having dinner and falling asleep.
tomorrow the walled city, donegal, connemara and the long drive back to dublin. and possibly an under-21 hurling match in the evening.
day 2 – july 16, 2007 – royal county down golf club
i woke up this morning VERY excited. not only was i about to play the top course in ireland, i was playing one of the top courses in the world. some experts even have royal county down golf club ranked higher than st. andrews and pebble beach, right behind pine valley, augusta national and cyprus point. at the completion of today’s round, I will have another check off the “top 10 golf courses of the world played” matrix. and with 4 checks edges out my “women of the world” matrix. i get around.
after some discussion, big jake and i agreed that i should leave his place around 8am for my 12:10pm tee time. give myself plenty of time to get there leisurely. newcastle (where the golf course is located) was approximately a 2 hr drive from dublin minus traffic (and the local knowledge of driving on this island). to be honest, i was REALLY nervous about driving today. my only experience driving on the wrong side of the road with a car having manual transmission (translate: shifting with my left hand) was my drive from dublin airport yesterday with big jake expertly navigating. i ain’t got no stinking navigator today. and the skinny roads, roundabouts and weird double traffic lights are intimidating. but I must go on. my golf libido is depended on it.
i hit the road about 10 after 8. not too bad. a few quick and easy turns and luise and big jake’s plan was to have me on a highway that should skirt around the city traffic and get me on my way with little delay. jake also lent me two maps—one a street map of dublin and the second a map of the island. i also had my yahoo map directions to the golf course. i was fully prepared for this excursion. turn one—check. turn two—check. turn three… turn three… turn three? damn. missed it. turn around. can’t, one way. circled around. tried. too many one ways. stopped and asked directions. make a quick left and then keep left until you pass a wee hollow and then go through the roundabout and take the third left and then you’ll be back on course. ok. started driving. made the left. kept left. found the wee hollow… i think. what is wee anyway? where’s the roundabout? there it was. which left? this one? ok, made the turn. not the right road. now where was i? stopped to check the map. there i was. i was on the right road. good. kept going. and going. that didn’t feel right. i was driving too long. checked the map again. i was heading in the wrong direction. damn. turned around. ok, now i'm headed in the right direction. drove for 5 mins. i was back where i missed the original third turn. missed it again. but then i knew where i was. got back on track. found the highway. and construction traffic. loads of it. finally got through. i was out of dublin.
it was 9:45am. I made great time.
actually driving in Ireland and the uk isn’t so bad. once you make a few wrong turns, pull a couple of u-ies and make a few 15-point turns you get used to it. one thing is for sure, my dad would’ve had a few heart attacks on this drive. sometimes the road is barely wide enough for double lane traffic with a few inches to spare, and then there are cars parallel parked in both sides HALF-WAY IN THE DRIVING LANES. needless to say I had a few close calls.
the drive from then on was uneventful. i missed a turn or two, but my trusty map always led me back on track. i noticed that once i entered northern ireland, and british control, the speed limit signs, although exactly the same in appearance as those in the republic of ireland, changed. now the number in the outlined red circle represented mph instead of kph. or so i hoped. if not, i’d been doing some SERIOUS speeding.
after my final wrong turn, i took a more scenic route up the coast to newcastle instead of the more direct route through the island, but i figured it was ok since it was only 11am and i had only 11 km left to go. i'd be there by 11:30am – at the latest. i arrived in newcastle at 11:50. according to my yahoo map, i had only about half a mile to the golf course. a couple of turns and i’d be there, ready to tee off. 2 minutes tops. after a few more wrong turns, i was running to the pro shop at 12:05pm, half dressed, club heads banging together angrily at each step. i checked in—just made it. i squeezed a 2 hr drive into 4 hrs. i think that’s a new world record.
i checked in only to find out that i was the last official group to tee off today. and by group, i mean that I’m playing by myself. i was bumped since i was a single and the golf course was full of 4-balls. playing by myself with zero local knowledge and, oh yeah, no caddy. perfect conditions to go low.
i walked up to the first tee. no warm-ups. starter told me to tee away. i blasted my first drive… got all of it… dead left. gone. mulligan, says the starter. first tee, no practice, two balls. ok. second ball—boom! down the gut. big, da lama. huge. nice shot. thanks i said as I headed down the fairway. have a nice round. Thanks I said again. another good shot and two putts later and I was home in 4 on the first hole. birdie. one down. i was going to tear this golf course apart.
8 holes later, i was walking to the 9th tee with a 4-hole string of doubles intact and down to my last sleeve of golf balls. 5 balls missing and counting. i placed apbs on all of them but i wasn't holding my breath. i don’t think the irish are interested in my missing golf balls.
the guys in the group in front of me were on the 9th tee because the course was backed up. they told me that their 4th bailed out mid-round and that i was welcome to join them. perfect - now i had 3 more sets of eyes to watch my ball fly into the heather and 2 caddies to tell me that’s not where you wanted to hit it. truthfully, i was relieved. to prove it, i parred the 9th to finish in at 44. a very dodgy 44.
i have to sincerely thank bill, daniel and rusty for allowing me to join them for the back nine. if it weren’t for their generosity, i would not have enjoyed one of the greatest golf courses in the world. playing a new golf course blind, especially a true irish links course with multiple blind shots is one of the most frustrating experiences in golf. it can totally sour your round especially when you’re dishing out 135 quid ($270) to swing a golf club 80 or so times.
beyond the extra sets of eyes and friendly banter, the back nine wasn’t any different scoring-wise. i rolled in at 45, although a more legit 45. final tally—a very generous 89, 8 lost balls and 3 new friends. and no rain. that was the biggest score of the day.
after my driving fiasco in the morning, i decided to bypass belfast and find a b&b somewhere close to portrush for tomorrow’s round. i realized that belfast really wasn’t that close to portrush and i have an early tee time that I don’t want to miss, like I almost did today. bill, daniel and rusty told me that royal portrush is probably the hardest golf course on the island. i guess i better stock up on golf balls in the morning. there’s nothing like spending $50 on a couple of sleeves of nike one platinums.
a bot of info - if you ever need an energy fix in ireland, i recommend a cocktail of an energy drink called berry red bpm (focus and energy!) and yogurt covered raisons and peanuts. it stopped my head from nodding as i drove down the tight and windy roads to portrush. and as i drove, i could see lightning and hear thunder in the direction i was heading but i never saw rain. and good thing too. when I got to portrush, the road to the city was closed because some schmuck was stuck in his car in a flash flood and the fire department was pumping him out. that severely limited my b&b options. on the way in, i remembered seeing one a few miles back down the road i just arrived from. so i decided to head back and try it. luckily for me, the revallagh b&b had a room. 28 pounds en suite (meaning the bathroom is in the room). not too bad. so I took it.
tee time at 9:40am tomorrow. i’m heading to bushmills (yep, that bushmills) to find dinner and then i’m hitting the bed. i’ve got a long day ahead of me tomorrow—golf, the bushmills distillery, giants causeway, the carrick-a-rede rope bridge and then a drive to londonderry (or derry, depending on which side of the border you’re on). and then I have to find lodging again. wish me luck.
day 3 – july 17, 2007 – royal portrush dunluce links
i doubt anyone finished yesterday’s post so I’m going to keep this one short. today’s round was much better than yesterday’s. an 84, and not as generous as yesterday’s 89 (but still generous). only 6 lost balls. i’m improving. i played with two americans today, graham and jim. and andre carried my bag. he was a golf ball saver.
after golf, i jumped in the kia and drove in the direction of giants causeway. on the way, i ran into dunluce castle. it was a pretty substantial ruin – a lot of the castle still stood. hopefully, i got some nice pics.
it was 2:00pm so I left dunluce castle and headed to bushmills to take a tour through the distillery. i arrived at 2:15 and the tour was at 2:30. perfect timing. the tour took about 45 minutes and ended at the bar where i got a complimentary special 12-year whiskey. it was tasty, so i bought a bottle. the distillery is the only place where you can purchase this bottle. it looks like steve and i will get to drink some good whiskey for a bit…
next on my list was giants causeway – the coastal cliffs and bays created by an eroding island. there were some crazy rock formations on the causeway. after a 5 pound parking fee and a nice 5km hike, i got to see all of them.
like yesterday, thunder and lightning were in the distance, but i had yet to see any rain. so i headed to find the carrick-a-rede rope bridge. i arrived and found out that there was a 3 pound fee to walk over the bridge. i get in line behind a group from a huge tour bus. as i waited in line, it started to rain. lightly at first. then lightning. then thunder. and then it started pouring. i wore my rain resistant jacket, but it certainly wasn’t waterproof. after about a minute in the rain, i was soaked. screw the rope bridge. a bridge made of slick rope after a few flights of slippery stairs wasn’t worth the trouble. i hopped back in the kia and headed for derry-stroke-londonderry – the walled city (that's how the radio djs say it), without crossing the bridge with the other schmucks.
a little over an hour and a cocktail of lucozade energy drink and chocolate covered caramels later, i was in londonderry/derry looking for a b&b to lay my head. it was about 8pm. an hour and 4 no vacancies later and i was in a small town outside of the city at a hotel called an grianan having dinner and falling asleep.
tomorrow the walled city, donegal, connemara and the long drive back to dublin. and possibly an under-21 hurling match in the evening.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
ireland... day 1
my first blog. wow. how lucky are you?... pretty damn lucky. why am i doing this? it's simple really--i'm sharing my intimate details of my travels with the 3 people who are actually interested (maybe not the INTIMATE details and probably not all of the details either). yep, 3. i'm well-loved. so thanks mom, dad and rocco for reading. i'll try to make you proud.
here we go. day 1. and change.
saturday, july 14-sunday july 15.
the flight was awesome. i had the best seats on the planes. 19d to philly and 9f to dublin. both non-exit row, coach. an aisle and a window. my kneecaps are only bruised a little and i almost slept! actually, the 15 hours on both planes wasn't that bad. i paid $5 for a fun pack that i shouldn't have eaten (chocolate chip cookies, short bread, etc.). i watched two really sweet movies, blades of glory and firehouse dog. the second was especially fulfilling. i sat so long that my feet swelled up and my toes looked like those little sausages that are served at high school graduation parties. and my luggage showed up in dublin. bonus!
big jake was nice enough to meet me at the airport and coach my drive to his place in the rental car. it's a sweet kia. maybe i'll take a picture of it. you would only be so lucky. 3rd gear is tough to find when you shift with your left hand. and the road is tough to find when you drive on the left side of it. i'm glad i spent an extra E11/day on the additional insurance. i will probably need it.
after my arrival, jake, luise and i walked around the city a bit. check out the pics. these are my first pics with my new camera. i hope my skills improve by the end of the trip. after the walking, we went to a gaelic football game. dublin vs. laois (pronounced leash). the dubs vs. the... laois team. i have a new favorite gaelic sport. you guessed it, gaelic football. it's a cross between rugby and soccer. with a lot of action. and a lot of scoring. and irish guys acting tough and pushing each other around. it was freakin' awesome. the game reminded me of saturday mornings in september in ann arbor. the fans were amazing. with a lot of spirit. there was light blue everywhere (the dubs color). and the stadium was cool. not as cool as the big house, but way cooler than the horseshoe. and touchdown jesus. that dude is over-rated.
i took some movies with my new camera too. i'll try to find a way to post them. hopefully soon.
finally, i got to taste guinness for the first time the way god intended it--in ireland. ambrosia. really. and big jake and luise clued me in on a little secret - when you're at a pub in ireland, is the old guys (the ones with the bloated noses with broken blood vessels) are drinking lager, the guinness in the pub is bad. good to know.
tomorrow i play my first round of golf. i know, it's too exciting to think about. try to sleep anyway. tomorrow is only 1.5 hrs away.
here we go. day 1. and change.
saturday, july 14-sunday july 15.
the flight was awesome. i had the best seats on the planes. 19d to philly and 9f to dublin. both non-exit row, coach. an aisle and a window. my kneecaps are only bruised a little and i almost slept! actually, the 15 hours on both planes wasn't that bad. i paid $5 for a fun pack that i shouldn't have eaten (chocolate chip cookies, short bread, etc.). i watched two really sweet movies, blades of glory and firehouse dog. the second was especially fulfilling. i sat so long that my feet swelled up and my toes looked like those little sausages that are served at high school graduation parties. and my luggage showed up in dublin. bonus!
big jake was nice enough to meet me at the airport and coach my drive to his place in the rental car. it's a sweet kia. maybe i'll take a picture of it. you would only be so lucky. 3rd gear is tough to find when you shift with your left hand. and the road is tough to find when you drive on the left side of it. i'm glad i spent an extra E11/day on the additional insurance. i will probably need it.
after my arrival, jake, luise and i walked around the city a bit. check out the pics. these are my first pics with my new camera. i hope my skills improve by the end of the trip. after the walking, we went to a gaelic football game. dublin vs. laois (pronounced leash). the dubs vs. the... laois team. i have a new favorite gaelic sport. you guessed it, gaelic football. it's a cross between rugby and soccer. with a lot of action. and a lot of scoring. and irish guys acting tough and pushing each other around. it was freakin' awesome. the game reminded me of saturday mornings in september in ann arbor. the fans were amazing. with a lot of spirit. there was light blue everywhere (the dubs color). and the stadium was cool. not as cool as the big house, but way cooler than the horseshoe. and touchdown jesus. that dude is over-rated.
i took some movies with my new camera too. i'll try to find a way to post them. hopefully soon.
finally, i got to taste guinness for the first time the way god intended it--in ireland. ambrosia. really. and big jake and luise clued me in on a little secret - when you're at a pub in ireland, is the old guys (the ones with the bloated noses with broken blood vessels) are drinking lager, the guinness in the pub is bad. good to know.
tomorrow i play my first round of golf. i know, it's too exciting to think about. try to sleep anyway. tomorrow is only 1.5 hrs away.
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