The Galway Girl

Early on in the program we were making travel plans, it happened that Galway was one of the places that wasn’t making the cut. The city came with high recommendations and was on my list of places to visit, but when the Scotland trip came to, Galway got bumped.

Flash forward to Monday in class. The Nebraska professor (Dean Pierce) was raving about her weekend trip to Galway. The city has a vibrant downtown and it so happened that the City Arts Festival was going on. Well, that opened up a nice little door for us. We had looked at some of the preplanned tours that included Galway and it was only scheduled, Galway. So after raving about how great Galway was, she couldn’t turn us down when we offered a plan to visit this city. We were in.

After more research, we decided that we’d do a city tour on our own. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper, allow us more time in Galway and more freedom to see the city. We left Brookfield at 8 a.m. and to take the 9:25 bus out of Limerick. (Our trust in the bus system is waning after Tuesday night when a bus pulled a psyche out and forced us to walk three miles downtown).

The bus arrived at Galway just before noon. The first area we walked through was the Eyre Square, which was one of the coolest Town Centre’s I’ve seen. We then walked down Shop Street, which was a pedestrian shopping area. For a Wednesday afternoon, the area was extremely busy. The other interesting bit about the shopping district was the overwhelming amount of street performers. There were magicians, people singing over a guitar, balloon animals, henna tattoos and people selling knick-knacks. I thought I was back in New York with all the street handlers.

After a lunch, our group began to split up. Since I had done a lot of shopping already and wasn’t much into walking around the shops, I ended up going with Ramsey and Jillian to go sightseeing. We started the afternoon with a bus tour of the city. We saw St. Nicholas's Cathedral – the largest remaining medieval church still in use in Ireland, it was built in 1320. We also got an overview of the city’s history and saw some of the significant buildings in the city, including a thatched-roof house and the first Irish pub to allow music inside. In addition, we also drove by the University of Ireland College and St. Mary's College.

Another cool part of the trip was the journey along the coastline. It was a little cold, but you could see for miles. In addition, they had a bunch of cool houses that lined the coast painted in an array of colors. You can see this below.


On our way back, we cut back through Eyre Center and saw the monument where John F. Kennedy made a speech back in 1963. The next stop was the Arts Festival. They had a bunch of Joni Mitchell pictures hanging up in the main gallery. Interesting stuff about war and the prevailing human condition. We weren't able to do much else because the rest of the events started early in the afternoon, at night or involved children's productions.

Instead of being cultured on the arts, we went back to the Spanish Arches, which were built in 1584 and two of which are still standing. The tour guide said something about them briefly. It turns out that's all the time they deserved. They were cool, but not worth the extra walk. However, the arches were right next to the Galway City Museum. This was pretty cool as it contained more artifacts and memories about JFK's visit to Galway, which was 45 years ago. It also contained the history of the city and tales of the 12 Merchant Princes of Galway.


After a little shopping, the day was capped off with dinner at Mustard – a semi-fancy burger restaurant that seemed reasonable. One of the first things we noticed was the friendly and helpful attitude of our waitress. Up to this point of the trip, the service we received at restaurants was mediocre at best. After giving us our food, we typically would not see our waiter/waitresses until we asked them for the check or flagged them down for more drinks. Anyway, we figured something was up. First, we could tell that our waitress didn’t have an accent. Then she returned to our table to ask how our food was (even though we were the only people in the basement) and finally when we told her that we were opting for desert she responded with “Awesome.”

All this could only mean one thing — she was American.

When I went up to pay the bill, I asked if she was from Galway. (I didn’t want to assume she was from the States) She responded that she was from Nebraska. Boy howdy! Now we’re talking. It ends up she went to Omaha Roncalli and graduated from UNO in December. Not wanting to get a real job, she got a job in Galway. After a while, she saw my Husker Law shirt and it all come together. The point of the story: Even the nice people you meet in foreign countries are from Nebraska. (Also, the other great part of the story was I had an ostrich burger. Tasted good, but had too many toppings

This experience was much more pleasant that the first time I thought I ran into a fellow Nebraskan. Saturday in Cork, we were at a bar and a guy had a shirt with Nebraska on it. I asked if he was from Nebraska: Nope. Did he get the shirt there? Nope. Blah, blah blah. It was only after the conversation was over that I was informed that the guy I was talking to was gay and he was hitting on me big time. Oops. Oh well. At least I eventually ran into a real Nebraskan.

We have class again on Thursday, then we fly off to Scotland. This weekend is going to be awesome. On top of the trip to St. Andrews, we are also going to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Then it’s back to Limerick and the last week of classes. Sigh.

And as for the title of this post, it is to one of the best Irish pub songs. Enjoy:

Cheers,

LJLA

They are all Corkers

When I was growing up, whenever you were acting like a silly goose, you got called a corker. I became quite comfortable with the term it wasn't until later when I called some of my friends corkers that I realized it was not a wide-used term amongst them. It wasn't until I watched the movie "Far & Away" that I heard the term again. (Aye, Shannon you're a corker.)

Why the story? Well, last weekend I went to Cork. The land of the Corkers, or so I thought. While most of the other crew went to see the Cliffs of Moher and dolphin watching I opted for Cork. It was one of the top places on my visit list that Nathan and I didn't hit on our 2001 adventure. The trip worked out well because Jillian had a friend from undergrad that lived in Cork so that provided us with three very key elements to the trip: 1. A guide to the city and area, 2. transportation because she had a car and 3. A place to stay for free.

We departed for Cork Friday after class and got there early in the afternoon. While waiting for Jillian's friend, we perused a Dunnes Store -- which is their version of Wal-Mart. I purchased an umbrella for the first time, and what do you know I haven't been rained on since. Awesome.

Because the traffic was so bad and it was getting late, we decided to put off the trip to the Blarney Stone until Saturday. Instead, we relaxed at Emily's house and waited for her boyfriend to get home before work and going out for dinner. Dinner included black pudding. Brendan (Emily's boyfriend) wouldn't tell me what was in it except it was made with blood. But surprisingly it wasn't that bad. Afterward, we went to a few pubs and the capped off the night at a dance club. Cork has a nice nightlife, but boy is it expensive. To get to the nightclub we first had to pay a cover to see a band (The Lollygaggers) on the ground floor. Then at about 1 a.m., we went up to the ultra-hip dance club, which featured a 12 Euro cover charge -- which is about $20. I drank four Red Bulls up to that point and didn't care and was ready to dance and get rid of some of that extra energy. We stayed until 3 a.m. before going home. I was so hopped up on caffeine that I stayed up until about 6 a.m. Good times.

Saturday was awesome because it was the first day in Ireland that I've been able to sleep in. There had been other chances, but travel arrangements and the early sunrise prevented any sleep past 8:30 a.m. I like sleeping in. Before we went to Blarney we first had to wait for Brendan to get off work so we could use the car. We passed the time by watching "The Pursuit of Happyness." Great flick. For some reason, Brendan didn't want to go to the Blarney Stone. In fact, I think he wanted nothing to do with the Stone at all. He was surprised that we Americans had heard of this insignificant stone and had such a desire to see it.

Eventually, we made our way out to Blarney Castle. I was slightly worried about the crowds because I figured midday on a Saturday in July would be a zoo, but I'm guessing between the high prices of travel and a few showers helped our cause. We went on the 20-minute ride out to Blarney, the grounds weren't packed and it didn't feel like an overly touristy place. Once arriving at the Castle and the Grounds we headed to the Blarney Castle. The Blarney Stone is located on the top floor of the Castle and to reach it we had to climb a super narrow staircase -- I had to turn my feet sideways so they would fit on the steps. Luckily there was a rope to make the walk feel a little more secure, but I do not think it would meet ADA standards. On the way to the top, there were several side rooms. From these rooms, I determined that ancient Irish people were tiny. At 6'1" I had to duck quite a bit for most of the doors and couldn’t stand upright in a few of the rooms. I pity the person taller than I.

Once we reached the top, a breathtaking view awaited us. You could see miles of lush countryside and pastureland. Check out the video for a complete 360-degree view of the grounds. Amazing.



Much like the rest of the grounds, the top was almost empty and I think there were at most five other people on the level with us. I was expecting to wait about 10 minutes or so in line before getting to kiss the Stone. I wanted to read as many of the signs about the history and lore of the Stone as possible, but because there was no line I felt like we were rushed right up to the Stone. First, let me tell you about the stone. Its origin is unclear but legend has it that the stone is believed by some to be half of the original Stone of Scone, and said to have been presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn. There are a bunch of others too. Anyway, a legend grew that those who kiss are granted the gift of eloquence. Many famous people and tourists have kissed it, including people like Winston Churchill. A less popular legend is that each night locals pee on it. I could not taste anything, and luckily it rained earlier.

Once at the Blarney Stone, you have to lie on your back and then lean back to kiss the Stone. But it is not just a straight back lean, you have to arch your back at least a foot, if not slightly more, to reach the Stone. It is kind of unclear where the stone is because there is no definitive marking. It is just a stone that is part of a wall. This leads to fake outs and multiple kisses of the wall. While leaning back, a Blarney Stone Guy holds your waist as you lean back to kiss the Stone.

So check that off the list.

We hung up at the top of the Blarney Castle for about five minutes with just our group of three and the guy who takes your picture (and is willing to sell it to you for 10 Euro.) It was quite peaceful and serene. Again, it was one of the best scenes I've seen while here.

In addition to the Castle, the rest of the grounds included several extensive hiking trails, picnic areas and other smaller buildings. We went on the shortest of the planned walks. The first item we encountered were these giant plants that had huge leaves - by which I mean like three feet across. I'm not sure quite what they were like that but they were huge and everywhere. After meandering some more, we ran into a few more points of interest. The first was the Wishing Steps. Legend has it that a blind witch had to carry wood up and down the steps each day. If you walked up the stairs backward and down forward, all with your eyes closed, your wish would be granted. Not only did I do this, but also I broke all sorts of time records. (That might be a stretch of the truth, but I did it twice as fast as anyone else around us.) We passed by a few more spots such as the Fairy Den, Witch's Cave and a sideways branch that connected two trees.

After we departed from Blarney Castle, we crossed the street to the Blarney Mills Factory Store. When you think of Irish sweaters, you think of Blarney Woolen Mills. They had a huge outlet store along with a wide assortment of Irish gifts and Waterford Crystal. I made several purchases and we ate a quick lunch before continuing the adventure south.

One of the other spots recommended by our Professor (a native Corker) was to go south to Kinsale, a nice port town. Kinsale is a typical port community with tons of sailboats and lots of little shops around the bay. However, before we attacked the city, we continued all the way south to Old Head. Compared to the first beach we viewed on the Irish Sea, this one was awesome. Fine sand covered the beach and then probably not quite a mile each direction was cliffs. There were lots of families enjoying the semi-nice day and wearing bodysuits.

Back in Kinsale, we walked around town several times looking at shops and trying to find a place to eat. It so happened that Saturday was also the first day of a week-long arts festival in the city. We listened to a little of the live music and eventually settled on a little pizza place with seafood. I had some smoked salmon. So good. We returned from the daylong adventure wiped out and topped it off with a trip to the store for some ice cream.

Live update: Tuesday's featured a trip to the driving range at Limerick County Country Club. Wes, Jillian and I hit some balls in preparation for our St. Andrews trip. Man, I am pumped. We were going to play a pitch and putt, but there wasn't any in Limerick. Anyway, Wednesday features a trip to Galway and no class. Summer school is great.

Hurling Madness!

I apologize for the delay in posting. Lots of stuff going on. It was a busy weekend indeed. I went down to Cork for the weekend, saw the Blarney Stone and visited the beach. It was a great time, but that story will wait for tomorrow. Today is about a little sport we call hurling.

For the loyal readers, you will remember I gave you a brief overview of hurling back on my first day in Ireland when we went to the Hurlers Pub. One of the things we wanted to try to do was attend a Gaelic sporting event, either football or hurling. It so happened that our trip coincided with the Munster Regional Championship. Our University of Limerick professor said that it was an event not to be missed. In talking with a few of the locals they said the best teams in Ireland come from Munster and the championship just so happened to be in Limerick. I'm pretty sure this match would be like going to watch Game 7 of the ALCS or something. Anyway, I was sold on the game.

The match we were to see between Tipperary and Clare. Tipp (as the locals call it) is about 40 km southeast of Limerick, while Clare was 35 km to the northwest. I asked a local who to root for and he suggested Tipperary. Again, it didn't take much to convince me about picking sides. The only problem was both Tipperary and Clare had the same team colors — blue and yellow. In fact, Tipperary's flag is a blue rectangle next to a yellow rectangle, while Clare's flag consists of a yellow flag next to a blue one. So blindly I chose to wear blue. It turned out to a good call.

We left for the Gaelic grounds shortly after 1 p.m. hoping to catch a bus to downtown where we could walk to the stadium. Except for the traffic on Dublin Road was a mess and we could almost walk as fast as it was traveling. After spending 25 minutes waiting futilely at the bus stop we decided the best course of action was to go to Burger King, eat greasy food, allow everyone to load up on whiskey and call a cab.

Our cab driver took us relatively close to the stadium and dropped us off in the middle of fan chaos. Think downtown Lincoln before a football game, only everyone in the entire stadium is walking on the same street and the city really isn't enforcing the open container laws. Also as we got out we were handed inflatable hurling sticks for free. (Hello souvenirs!)

When we arrived at the stadium we made our way to the City End section where our tickets were for. We opted to get just general admission to save a few Euro. Apparently, by general admission, they mean mass chaos. We eventually found a section about two-thirds of the way up and hung out. Other thoughts about the stadium: it is a large bowl with seating on each of the sidelines (one of which was covered) and concrete steps for standing at both ends. The teams were divided by loyalty (Luckily we got into the Tipp side) and colors. The end zones are standing only. Try to sit down, but the seats were so low it wasn't worth it. We stood the whole game -- and no one complained, not even the blue hairs. Smoking is allowed in the stadium. During halftime, a giant white cloud loomed over the stadium.

With the championship game set to begin at 4 p.m., we were treated to what I think was the junior league Munster championship between Tipperary and Cork. Cork but the Tipps didn't care much because they were there for the main event. After the field cleared following the first match a band marched around the field with each of the county's flags. They played a song toward each section of the stadium. They repeated the march after the teams came out with the members of the starting lineup following behind.

Hurling is an interesting sport. They say it is the quickest ball game out there. I'll take their word for it. It is played with 15 people (goalie, 3 fullbacks, 3 halfbacks, 2 midfielders, 3 forwards and 3 full forwards) who wear Numbers 1-15 from back to front. The object is to take the ball, which is slightly smaller than a baseball and a little bit smaller, and either 1. hit it or kick it over the goal post for one point or hit it under the crossbar for a goal for three points. These two methods of scoring are kept separate which leads to confusing scores like 2-18 def. 1-19.

Also, they can catch and run with the ball for three steps. After that, they have to balance the ball on their stick or pass it to a teammate by hitting it, throwing it underhand or bouncing it off the stick and hitting it with their hand.

The play was quick and included lots of scoring. Tipp scored three times in the first five minutes.
The way they scored was impressive too. Some of the shots were from midfield and from sideline to sideline. They not only could give the ball a good whack, but the players knew how to play the angles. (The referees that indicated the goals and points wore lab coats and waved little white flags.)

Tipp continued to dominate and led 1-16 to 0-6 at one point in the second half, but then Clare rallied and got to within 1-16, 0-15 before Tipp scored a goal to take control again. In the end, Tipp prevailed 2-21 to 0-19. Again the entire stadium — some 48,000 people — poured out of the stadium on onto a street headed into downtown Limerick. We followed the crowd, grabbed some dinner and headed back to campus. Overall, it was a great game and fun to be part of the atmosphere. I tried to take some video, but between where we were sitting and the fast pace of the action, my video isn't very good.

Not much happening back in Limerick. Several of us watched Braveheart in preparation for our trip to Scotland. So awesome. To further our prep, we are going to the driving range on Tuesday so they don't boo us off St. Andrews. Also, I think we talked our teachers into canceling class on Wednesday so we can go visit Galway. Good times.

Cheers,

LJLA