Dublin and Collecting My Thoughts

The obligatory picture of myself taken by me. The cliffs aren't a bad background, are they?

I've come to a few conclusions. Conclusion number one: European drivers are better than American drivers, but crazier. Conclusion number two: Irish cities have no idea how to label their streets and/or make them easy to navigate. Conclusion number three: After four nights in Ireland, I can honestly say that I will make it back here some day. There's just too much here to see in one week. It seems like yesterday I was in Glenstal Abbey with Father Christoper (tear) and just getting used to not being in America any longer. Speaking of which, I haven't really been hit with culture shock (yet) but I'm sure that it is mostly because I'm in an English speaking country. Of course, to say the Irish speak English is a misnomer of epic proportions.

Last night was an adventure in dialect and accent with Colm and Daniel. Add on to that fact that I was partially intoxicated for the end of it, and it made the entire event both incredibly entertaining, but also increasingly confusing. Some images and ideas you just can't extract from your head no matter how hard you try. According to Daniel, there is a fish dish in Norway (he's a travelling jazz artist so he has lived all over) that requires someone to pee on the fish and bury it underground for six months. Confused? So was I. Thus the phrase "I need to find a fish to pee on" entered my vocabulary.

So after getting back at four in the morning, I quickly fell asleep only to wake up four hours later completely alert. That's been a trend thus far. Maybe it's a manifestation of my excitement or maybe I just don't need that much sleep when I travel -- who knows. Hopefully that changes once I finally settle down in Settignano. Italy is finally here for me. I've been waiting for the opportunity to visit Italy since I was really young and I can hardly believe that I will be able to experience the culture I love so much. I may only be half Italian, but this opportunity means the world to me. O right, but back to my original point. Got up at eight and came down to eat breakfast. We then trekked out into the COLD COLD COLD Dublin air (I mean WTF?! It's warmer here than in KC but yet it's FREEZING here...) to attempt to go to mass at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral. I say attempt because we got lost on the way there and had to go to the eleven o'clock mass instead of the ten o'clock we had intended. Once again, the roads in this town suck. I think the guys who mapped it out were probably drunk... o wait... that explains a lot. Anyway... This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The eleven o'clock was a Latin mass. Not a traditional Latin mass, but for all intents and purposes it was. We were welcomed to this amazing experience with a boys' choir. Now I know why these choirs were so coveted in past centuries. They were incredible. Mass was beautiful and it was a great way to start our day.

This was originally a British barracks, but now it houses one of the Dublin Museums.

Our next journey was to the Guinness Storage facility. In a word: Lost. Yep. We got lost. Again. So we walked another nine or ten kilometers west in Dublin and then abandoned our quest and instead stopped in at the Museum pictured above that was luckily out there. This was one of the nicest and spread out museums I have visited. It was nice to have just one town's history instead of random history from Europe.

I'm currently online talking with four people and have lost my train of thought. Not that it's absolutely necessary for you all to know this, but I find that I might wonder when I read this again in years to come why my train of thought crashes for no apparent reason.

So for all you keeping track at home, I'll be in Bologna, Italy, tomorrow. I leave Dublin at 3 or so (I don't want to find my itinerary at the moment), which is 9 o'clock back home. Keep us in your prayers as we fly. Father Meinrad and drinks await my safe arrival to Florence. So if for no other reason than my alcohol with my favorite monk, please pray :).

Here's to my last night in Ireland. I will have a Guinness just for you. Don't question my motives. It makes it easier to rationalize.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind always be at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

God bless!

The West Cross in Kilfenora, Ireland.

The Cliffs of Moher and Arriving in Dublin

The Cliffs of Moher with rays of sun breaking through the cloudy day.

It has been an extremely long day. I've finally made it to Dublin after a 3 and half hour bus ride from Galway. So I've been on a bus for over 10 hours today. The first eight were very, very, good. The Galway Tour Company knows how to get the most out of the days spent on the road. Once again they thrilled us with great sites and great history. Today we journeyed to the Cliffs of Moher, which is pictured above. It was a cloudy day, but the sun did happen to make an appearance eventually. I've got to say that these past few days have felt like two weeks with all of the things we've crammed in as of yet.

I'll update later, because I just got invited down to a bar and I can't refuse! Later!

Well I'm sure you're all wondering what happened last night... maybe not, but I like to tell myself that. So get this: I was chilling in the lounge in Jacob's Inn getting ready to go to sleep when I got to talking with a group of people. Eventually it became me, an Irishman, and an Australian. Apparently, the Australian is a professional saxophonist, I've got CDs he gave me last night, which was completely awesome. When I told him that I too was a player, he invited me out for a drink. So that hopefully explains my sudden departure last night. We left the hostel around 12:30. You'd think in Dublin anywhere you'd walk on a Saturday night would be selling alcohol. This myth was quickly disproven as we came to find. We easily walked five or six kilometers before we reached a bar that would actually let us in the front door. It was an experience I'll never forget: wandering through Dublin with Colm and Daniel looking for any place that would serve us. Three Guinnesses later and we were heading back to our hostel for the night.

Honestly, yesterday is a blur to me at the moment. The tour bus was absolutely amazing again, as I was saying earlier, but it almost seems like too much to wrap my head around at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to collect my thoughts and reflect upon the Cliffs at a later date. God bless everyone! Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it!

Bunratty Castle and Limerick City

Bunratty Castle

Hello again, from Limerick, Ireland! It has been a very relaxed day for both Nathan and myself. We started our day around 7 this morning with breakfast and whatnot. Father Christoper offered to take us down to the Castle after his 9 o'clock class, so we gladly accepted. The history of this place was incredible. It started off as a small fort but was then expanded to the castle as you see it now. One of the guides within the castle itself gave us a great history of how the castle became what it is and where it once was. Apparently, during the late 1600s the last owner of the castle had to flee in order to save their lives. They had to leave everything behind. Consequently, none of the furniture or artwork within the castle (except for a small chest on the third floor) are actually from the original castle. After it was renovated, the family that eventually owned the castle filled it with works of art and furniture from their other collections. That was a major disappointment learning that all of this history didn't even belong. After exploring the small village surrounding the castle, Nathan and I hopped on the bus and headed into Limerick City for some lunch.

Our amazing lunch at Costello's.

Getting off the bus station (and after nearly getting hit by crazy European drivers) Nathan and I found Costello's Tavern and decided it looked like a good place to eat. Beef sirloin, peas, carrots, and three different entrées potato-based. This was also my first opportunity to have Guinness in Ireland off tap. It was all absolutely delicious, especially for the price that we paid. We spent the next half hour roaming around the seemingly dead town before hailing a taxi and returning back home to Glenstal Abbey. This will be my last night in Limerick. This both saddens and excites me as we approach the final two legs of our journey before Italy.

Dominic St.
 Legen - wait for it - dary!

Tomorrow morning, Nathan and I will head back to the bus station to go north into Galway for two nights. We will then be in Dublin on the 28th. Before I close, I'd like to say that I miss all of you guys and wish you could experience this amazing journey with me (that is, if anyone is actually reading this). I can't wait to tell you all about my trip to Ireland. Hope you guys are enjoying my blog. If you have any ideas for what I should write about, how I should write it, or just fun things for me to do, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment! God bless!