Bank Holiday

I know it's already Wednesday and I haven't posted in a while. I am currently at work. Why am I online, you say? Well... it's only because I am sooo bored here! Seriously, I just sit here (by myself!) wait for the phone to ring, and wait for some emails. And then I answer them. And drink my coffee. :) Haha... but the people are great here, so it's okay. :)

Anywhoo... so this past weekend was a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland, which meant most businesses were not in operation on Monday. A group of 9 of us, who met from Orientation and the Social decided to go on a trip to Galway. Not much planning was involved, it was pretty last minute, but it was perhaps one of the best weekends I have ever had! 5 of us took the early 8am bus, and the ride was about 3.5 hours. Got there, grabbed a bite to eat, and met up with the other 4 people, who got on a later bus.


(Galway in Irish/Gaelic)

From there, we actually rented a 9-person van and drove to the Cliffs of Moher. Now, none of us actually had any sound experience driving stick, let alone on the wrong side of the road, shifting with the left hand, and on unfamiliar and very narrow terrain. So you can imagine our stress levels were quite high at the beginning.


(Emily with our sexy 9-seater)

The drive to the Cliffs was about 2 hours, and we made a couple stops along the way. Passed by the Dungaire Castle, and took a small tour. It was super neat-- and caters nightly medieval dinners for a price of 50 euros. It's kinda like Medieval Times, in Toronto, where you get dinner and show, but here, it's in a real castle. We walked up the narrow winding staircase to the top, which overlooked the Irish country-side. It was sooo beautiful and lushy green. It was really neat.








(In the dining room)




(Another castle we found. This one was abandoned, and was private property)



After spending pretty much an hour there, we drove on, to the Cliffs. The most unfortunate thing about that day was the weather. It was rainy and foggy. But actually, it was okay, because it gave the Cliffs and the landscape a sense of mysteriousness. We finally got to the Cliffs of Moher, and the sight was just incredible!! It was seriously such a rush, to stand on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. I don't even know how to put the experience into words, but standing at the edge looking out to the cliffs and the ocean kinda felt like the world was opening up its arms to you, and you feel sooo tiny in comparison (well... because you are). The whole experience was pretty overwhelming, for the fact that there were no railings or barriers whatsoever. One could really fall off and die, if they wanted to. But because there were no barriers, that made the whole view all the better! I really want to go back, on a sunny day though. Maybe another weekend...




(I did not actually lean over to take this... it was too scary! I just reached my arm out)


(Look how close we were to the edge!)


(I love this photo I took of Ryan... just shows how huge this place was)






(A castle near the Cliffs)



On the way back, we made a pit stop by some rocks by the coast. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea, but I'm really glad we did; it was fun running around on the rocks and taking more pictures with the ocean!






(I love the coast!)


(Exploring the rocks)

The next day, we took a bus and ferry to the Aran Islands. The weather that day was perfect-- sunny skies all day, warm, and not a single drop of rain. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes. It reminded me of taking the ferry to Center Island, haha.


(Before getting on the ferry)




(Before exploring, we got coffee and scones!)

While Pete, Ryan, Emily, Jon, and Justin rented bikes to go cycling around the island, April, Suzi, Kathleen, and myself decided on taking a van tour, and that was a very good idea, especially when we met up with the bikers at the end of the day and finding out they all got sunburnt and was super tired. Haha. The van tour took a couple of hours, and made some stops at decent locations.


(Regular house and a LEPRECHAUN house!!)






(Posers... haha)


(Leprechaun neighbours!!)

One of the stops was at a small village type area, with lots of tourists and kids playing very impressive Irish music. From there, we trekked (about 20 minutes) to a fort which led to another cliff overlooking the ocean again. Since the weather was perfect, we all decided to sit at the edge. It was so exhilarating! I wanted to sit at the edge at the Cliffs of Moher, but it was all wet and slippery, so I was really glad I got to sit on some kind of cliff!






(One of my favourite photos taken that weekend! Looking westward towards home...)


(Me and Kathleens shoes)


(Looks like we're sitting by a pool!)


(I swear, I'm not falling off!)




(Love this photo as well!)


(The fort that I never got to visit, because I spent so much time by the cliffs)

After the fort, we went back on the van, and pretty much finished the tour. It was pretty good timing. We still had about an hour before meeting up with the rest of the group, so we went to get some frozen treats and sat by the docks and soaked up the sun. It was grand.





Our plans for cooking dinner at the hostel that evening never happened though, because by the time we got back, we were all so tired. Pete left for the bus back, since he had to work the next day. We ended up just going to a pub and ordering food and beverages there instead.




(Ryan and Justin... sun burnt from biking the whole afternoon)


(April and Emily. Guess who took the van, and who biked?)

That night, we went to another pub to listen to live music. There was this little old man there dancing around, and he was honestly the cutest old man there! Haha! Suzi and I were saying how he must've gotten all the girls back in the day. Haha!





The next day, Monday, our group separated again, since some of us wanted to visit Connemara and some wanted to just walk around Galway city and head home early. I went to Connemara. The bus ride there kinda sucked; I kept dozing off. We made a couple of stops by streams, a tiny village, and Ireland's only fjord. Haha... I read that in a brochure somewhere. "Ireland's only Fjord!!" Hahaa... anyway... it was a pretty nice fjord. It just looks like a lake. Surrounded by mountains. Well.... I suppose that is what a fjord is.













We had to cough up another 7 euros to visit a garden, a little gothic cathedral, and a Benedictine abbey. And pay for lunch. So... overall, the day was pretty pricey. But you can't put a price tag on memories! :) The time we got walking between the cathedral, gardens, and abbey was really nice. Along the water, we got to hang out a bit, skip stones, stare off into the distance, and just enjoy the sunshine.























After Connemara, we just cooked some lovely pasta at the hostel, chatted it up a bit with a cool Aussie, then headed back to Dublin! One thing I noticed... I guess I am really starting to get used to living here. When I got off the bus, I was pretty happy, it actually felt like home! Like I'm back in a familiar place! It was really nice; last time I had that feeling was when I got back to Waterloo after spending 2 weeks in Toronto. It's a good feeling though :) As much as I loved every minute of the weekend, it felt good to be back in the city, surrounded by PEOPLE, and not sheep and cows (although I still love sheep and cows)!





~~~

Anyway... today (Thursday) is a better day at work. Not like yesterday, holy crap. T'was quite stressful! Anyway, yesterday I got to hung out and chat a bit with this guy from work, Paul Stafford. Well, he just walked by me and:

Me: Hey!
Paul: Hey Mandy, how are ya?
Me: Good, and you?
Paul: Oh, I'm so hungover!
Me: Hahaa Ohmygod!
Paul: Yeah.... you know ____? (some bar, I forgot the name)
Me: Nope.
Paul: Well, yeah a bunch of us went there for a party..... (trails off)
Me: Haha that's hilarious...

So.... I guess only in Ireland will a co-worker randomly admit that he is hungover from going to a huge party the night before. Hahahah I love Ireland!