October Break: Dublin

One of the many surprises I had when first coming to Scotland and beginning university here was that there is a mid-semester break! A whole week off just because. Technically it is supposed to be used to prepare yourself for all the work that comes after but who really does that?

I decided to split my week off between Dublin, Ireland and Prague, Czech Republic. I arrived in Dublin early Saturday and left early Tuesday giving me three days.

I went to Dublin with my friend, hall mate and fellow study abroad student (though he is now transferring to Stirling) Tom.  Neither of us had prepared any sort of list or itinerary of things we wanted to see in Dublin so upon early arrival in the hostel around 9:45 we went to the notice boards to see what was going on.

He doesn't smile if he knows his picture is being taken. I gotta be sneaky... 

Hostels are great about connecting visitors with events going on in the area. Sometimes they are tourist focused events and sometimes community activities. One such listing was a daily free walking tour of Dublin beginning at 11. With no plans and plenty of time we walked downtown to find where the tour started.

I'm so glad we went! We knew absolutely nothing about this tour beyond where and when it began. While waiting around for the tour leaders to split us all up in to Spanish and English speakers and then assign us to our guides we ran into John, another guy from our floor who was in Dublin visiting a friend! The four of us stuck together and went on the same tour group.

The tour ended up being three hours long filled with history, anecdotes, jokes, and fun facts. The leader was a native Dublin-er with fantastic presentation abilities and an all around fun guy.

 

That is the Irish Parliament building to the right. There is an unspoken agreement between Parliament and media that when sitting or standing on the dais politicians are free to approach but not otherwise in the square

 

 One of the places with the most interesting stories was Trinity College, The Campanile at Trinity had some particularly interesting bits.  1) Students don't walk under it during semester because it means they'll fail exams 2) If someone is under it and the bell rings it means they're a virgin 3) If a student can climb to the top and yell "Trinity! Trinity! Trinity!" without being shot with a crossbow by the Provost then they become King of Trinity College and get all sorts of perks like being able to ride their horse into the testing theatre or something like that

The Campanile at Trinity College.

The tour gave us plenty of ideas about ways to spend our time the next two days while also dropping us off near the tourism office where we could get more ideas. 

Day one was finished with a pub crawl run by the same walking tour company. We started the evening with a Guinness (of course) and then had some great Irish beer at many of the places we went after. Tom and I dropped out of the crawl a tad early to stay at a bar we particularly liked with a great traditional band playing and excellent atmosphere. We left when we could hardly keep our eyes open anymore at midnight (we had been up since 5am).

We tried so hard to stay awake for them...

The next day was a bit slower. Tom and I wandered to various places we passed on the tour the day before but wanted to take a closer look at.  First was the tourism office to book a tour for the next day. Then to the Irish National Museum to peruse some of Ireland's historical and archeological artifacts. Here tom learned of my passion for museums. The only reason we really moved at all was because he would encourage me to move by leaving me behind. Or sometimes by suggesting we take a look at the next room. Much of the place remains unexplored but that leaves something to see next time!

Wandering further led us to St Patrick's Cathedral. Then dinner and a long conversation break since we ate far too much. Finally was a trek to Phoenix Park.

Phoenix is actually named fionn uisce in Gaelic which means 'clear water'. Nearly every place name in Ireland has an original Gaelic name and an anglicized name created by people from England once King Henry VIII proclaimed himself King of Ireland. Now there is even a statue of a phoenix in the middle just to confuse people into thinking it was the original name. 

Glen Coe

On Saturday the Mountaineering Club went on a trip to Glen Coe. In the Scottish highlands, Glen Coe is probably the most scenic place in Scotland. Most any picture you have seen of the Scottish hills covered in grass, rocks, and heather to are probably from Glen Coe.

Glen Coe is also famed for the 1692 Massacre of Glen Coe when the Campbells massacred the MacDonalds living in the hidden valley. Whenever I told a Scottish person what I was doing this weekend they were so excited for me to see the prettiest place in Scotland. But they also told me that the land remembers what happened and the massacre can still be felt.

There were three groups that went out. An easier hike, a harder hike, and a climbing group. I went on the harder hike along with eight others. We hiked two Munros before leaving through the Hidden Valley (or Lost Valley).

A Munro is any mountain in Scotland greater than 3000 feet. Named after Sir Hugh Munro who put together the list of such peaks in the late 1800s. There are 282 Munros. I have 280 still to go!

A few pictures from our long day:

On our way into the hills...

We spent much of the day being misted on while walking through clouds

In the Hidden Valley

At one end of Hidden Valley looking back the way we came

Happy Birthday Mom!

Before coming to Stirling I spent about a week and a half with my mom. First was eight days in Amsterdam and then two days in the Orkney Islands.

On our first day in Amsterdam in the Reijksmuseum..  

Day trip to Zaanse Schans an outdoor museum to see some of the few still running windmills. The first one visible behind Mom is used to cut lumber.

Another day trip but this one to Delft! We went on a tour of the Royal Delft, the premier delft porcelain maker of the area. this in in their shop where they make the pottery that is later painted on

Pretty plates!

While in Delft we went to see Johannes Vermeer's house which has been turned in to a museum all about his artwork. On one of the floors a studio was set up where if a picture was taken from where they said it could look like you were in a Vermeer! The above photo looks pretty good!

At the flower auction house in the Netherlands. A small city of flowers being sold and shipped around the world.

In Orkney. This is Maes Howe, a 5000 year old tomb built by the stone age people who lived on Orkney. Inside there is 1000 year old viking graffiti on it. Amusingly, it is much the same as we write now: "so and so was here" "so and so is the best rune carver in the whole world"

A hop skip and a jump away from Maes Howe is the Ring of Brodgar the third largest standing stone ring in Britain. 

Thank you for travelling with me Mom! I love you! Happy birthday!