Anyway, I had a good time in Ireland, apart from the time my face swelled up and I leaked pus from my face, but hey, that could have happened anywhere! I've gained a kilo in weight since my sister-in-law feeds me so well and I've basically sat on my arse 90% of the time because my sinus problems have knocked the energy out of me. Okay, that's an excuse, but I need to seriously shed some pounds before I see my mother and all the skinny people in Malaysia in 3 weeks time. Nothing like being back home to make me feel like a lumbering giant.
I've been to Dublin several times but I've never done the whole tourist thing properly. I did manage to go to Dublin Castle where Channel 4 happened to be filming some historical documentary. There's not much of the castle left and several more modern buildings have been tacked onto it, so it looks rather peculiar. The whole complex is a working government building so visitors were only allowed in guided groups. The tour itself was short but I got a condensed history of Ireland out of it. Lots of gory war and torture stories. One in particular that haunts me is how one particular English lord tortured his prisoners by drilling holes into their skulls and pouring tar into it. Positively ghastly. It still makes me sick thinking about it.
My next stop was the Viking exhibition at Christ Church Cathedral, which frankly was a waste of money. It's one of those exhibitions full of replicas which looked like it was made in school. The building itself was beautiful but I'm sorry I paid money to go see the exhibition.
I trudged around the Temple Bar area several times, passing by small shops on cobbled streets and the teenage Goth contingent in front of the Central Bank. I had a poke around in the shops but didn't buy anything, spent time in coffee shops having a goss with my sister-in-law, took plenty of pictures of grand buildings and the effect of light on the River Liffey (oo-er!) and basically bummed around.
The family also had a nice weekend in Blessington Lake, a beautiful area just outside Dublin. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there, but I did manage a daily run around the lake. I took a few pictures with my phone but I have yet to work out how to download it to my computer. It was a really quiet place (either that or the inclement weather kept most people indoors) and only ran into two people on my run. One was a fella who had two unleashed dogs bounding about. I'm afraid I did shriek like a banshee when one lunged at me. I'm not normally afraid of dogs but too much time spent treating people's dog bite wounds have made me a bit paranoid.
Just on a sidetrack, three things I have vowed not to do since I worked in A&E:
- Pet a dog
- Ride a motorcycle
- Jump on a trampoline (Just don't do it folks. Once you break that ankle, you'll have a lifetime of trouble)
I had a long conversation with sister-in-law's friend about her poor kid's eczema, which was worse than mine. It was then that I found out that a lot of my brother and sister-in-law's friends there thought I had a bad case of acne rather than eczema. Err...no.
We also went on a day trip to Carlow, looking at ruined castles and trudging around Altamount Gardens which were beautiful. My sister-in-law wanted to look at a fruit farm, which on the internet said you could come and see, but when we got there, the only thing we were allowed to visit was the farm's produce shop. Bah!
We spent much of our time getting lost around Carlow and Tullow, so as the day winded down we gave up and ended up picknicking by a river and throwing our leftover bread at the ducks. I climbed down the river bank to get closer, only nearly ended up tipping head first into the river over an untied shoelace. The ducks disappeared on my approach so I just crouched on the stone outcropping, looking at the water and doing a bit of pondering. My pregnant sister-in-law and her friend didn't follow me down initially so I was surprised a few minutes later when I heard a rustling behind me. I turned around to greet the friend but instead a large grey rat shot across my lap to plunge into the river. I gave a blood-curdling scream and shot straight up the river bank still screaming my lungs out.
"It was a rat," I said, my eyes bulging. I'm not crazy, honest.
To get out of the dusty air of Dublin, I went to Cork to visit my good friend, Z, whom I hadn't visited in 6 years. Cork was European Capital of Culture in 2005 so it's had a lot of EU money poured into it. It is the Irish Republic's 2nd biggest city and it has certainly changed a lot the last time I was there. It is certainly a beautiful city surrounded by hills with plenty of period properties still intact, painted with a range of bright colours. At the time I was there, Hurricane Gordon was tearing through most of Ireland so we spent a lot of time in Z's apartment re-watching Firefly on DVD and eating the products of Z's wonderful baking. (Mmmm, her orange and poppyseed muffins are particularly splendid). Z and her boyfriend live in a really nice new-build apartment with massive floor to ceiling doors and lots of wood around. It would have been a great building to live in if it wasn't for the confused lift which never seemed to know what floor it was on. I know we have reached the third floor but it's a bit disconcerting to hear the electronic voice of the lift announce, "Seventh floor." Other days, the lift thinks it's the fourth basement.
When the weather cleared up, we spent some time browsing in town, poking around in the English Market and trudging through the Huguenot Quarter. I went up on to the walls of what remained of Elizabeth Fort which was built in the early 17th century and was used by the army as a base for the city's protection. You get good views of Cork from the walls and you can peek into the Garda station built within the walls itself. Not far from the fort is St Fin Barre's Cathedral, a magnificent Gothic-style building made from local limestone, which from a distance, looks like some sort of enchanted castle. It's built in one of the oldest areas of the city and is still in use as a religious building.
Back up north to the city and a bit of a climb up to Shandon, is St Anne's Church, an early 18th century building. For five euro ("Are you a student?", "No, I'm not.", "Never mind, just say you are a student,") I got to climb up the tower and ring the Bells of Shandon. There are eight bells and there is a large placard by the ropes with a few songs written on it and the order in which you pull the bellropes. I played 'Three Blind Mice' and 'When The Saints Go Marching In' because they were the only songs on the card that I knew the tune to. So if you were in Cork on 22 September 2006 between 12 -1pm, that was me ringing the bells. Heh heh.
You can also climb all the way up to the top of the tower, provided you use the earmuffs provided as you go past the bells. It's a tight squeeze and you have to be somewhat healthy and limber to climb to twist your way around the hatches. If this was in England, no doubt visitors would not be allowed due to 'Health and Safety' reasons. But this is Ireland, people are more of a good sport about this, and allow you to take a risk yourself.
A similar notice was up at Blarney Castle, a 20 minute drive from Cork, where they note that due to the age and condition of the castle, there are bound to be accidents so any injury will not be the administrators responsibility since they have to preserve the authenticity of the castle. The famous Blarney Castle, a fantastic 15th century erection, is home to the Blarney Stone, where upon kissing it you receive the gift of the gab, so it is said. From previous pictures I've seen, I somehow thought that the Blarney Stone was set beneath ground. It was only when I arrived at the castle that I found out that the stone is actually perched at the top of the battlements and in order to kiss it, you have to bend over backwards and dangle hundreds of feet above ground. Hoo-bloody-rah. But I did it. Yes, I know, millions of people have placed their smackeroos on the stone but I figured it rained this morning so there may only be fifty or so people who've left their slobber on it until I did. I preferred those odds. Plus I didn't climbed all those steps and risk breaking my neck to not kiss the Blarney Stone.
The gardens of the castle are fantastic and are worth a second visit. There's a dolmen (Stonehenge type thing on a smaller scale) on the grounds and some scary looking trees, ones that look like the ones oin Sleepy Hollow where the dead people climb out of. There's even something called the Witches Kitchen underneath one of those funny-looking trees.
I had a wonderful time in Ireland and it would be nice to go back to see the rest of it properly. I do have to apologise to C, though, for offending his Irish sensibilities and putting that picture of the leprechaun to represent Ireland in a previous post. (Although I did see a smiley dude with a white beard who looks exactly like the leprechaun in Cork's visitor centre, no kidding. Pot of gold not seen anywhere.) Anyway, here's a different picture of Ireland that won't be scaring the kids.
(Courtesy of www.bamjam.net)
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