Howth

Click on the image and you can view it on Cooliris' Wall. It is a great feature thanks to Cincopa!

This week Jonathan, my boyfriend, came to visit me! He came for his Spring break and his 21st birthday on March 11th! It was fantastic to say the least. We went to Howth, a coastal town in County Dublin, about a 30 minute train ride from Dublin. It cost 8 Euro for a train ticket for a day. We got this ticket because you can hop on and off the train at different points the entire day. So we figured we would go to a couple locations. We wanted to go to Portmarnock, which is a strand (beach) area on the Dublin coast, and also Malahide, where a castle is supposed to be. We went to Howth (pronounced Hoth - long "O" sound) and walked around a bit. We saw live, wild seals! The humans would feed them fish bought at a store/market nearby and the seals would pop up by the edge. You couldn't see them until they got a couple feet from the surface, so it looked like they were coming out of nowhere. They were also huge! We saw a cliff in the distance and Jonathan decided he would get to the top of the cliff. So, we set out in search of a way to get up the cliff in the distance. We found a couple trails on the way that led down to some cliff faces a couple hundred feet above the water and Jonathan beckoned me to come. The trails were narrow and steep and made me extremely uneasy. However, I went. We crossed one point where the trail was so narrow that the next moment you realized you just step on the side of an open edge that completely fell off into the depths below. It was intense for me, because I think one of my biggest fears is being unstable in height situations. We found a fresh stream that ran into the ocean and stepped across slabs of rock. Jonathan decided to go out on a ledge for a photograph, but I refused to go and get my picture taken.
So we went back up to the main road and walking up steeply is easier than going down steeply.
So, we eventually found the main trail that went around the mountain/cliff and there was only one warning sign relatively medium in size and it just told us to stick to the main trails. That's it. I love Ireland for this fact. No railings in nature just a warning. In America, every precaution would be taken not for your safety but just not to get sued for the littlest things!
So, we walked the trails and it was magnificent! Gorgeous scenery, real cliffs, thorny brush, flowers, etc. Families even took their children up there. You were literally walking a couple feet from the edge of cliffs. It was beautiful and definitely worth the trip. So, to say the least, we didn't make it to the other places, but that's okay Howth was an amazing adventure. Jonathan definitely pushed me to my height limit, but it was amazing!
Check out the slideshow to get a taste of what it was like.
Also there are great seafood places and also markets there.
A fantastic find!

Blarney Castle and grounds slideshow

Enjoy!

Blarney Castle

Blarney is gorgeous. The Blarney Castle is truly wonderful. We arrived on a day when the sun was shining and even though it is still winter the grounds seemed to shine with the green and life of Spring. The grounds has a couple arboretums with so many different trees. I personally love trees, their shape, color, height and even their biological makeup. The Castle is gorgeous but monsterous in height. The dungeons have tiny places you can crawl through, but the ground is muddy and damp and me and Molly decided not to go down that way. The caves are more spacious but a big puddle blocked the pathway so we climbed along the slippery rock for a while and then turned back. I had my camera bag on my back the entire day and with the weight it is extremely hard to maneuver in small spaces. Speaking of hard to maneuver, once you are ready to kiss the Blarney Stone, which gives you the gift of gab. It is at the top of the castle and you must climb a winding stairwell to the top. I believe it is around 100 steps. This is the most nerve racking part because the stairwell is extremely small, like obese Americans would not fit. A rope runs along the side which you have to hold on to to feel secure in the least. I had my camera bag on my back and it was scraping the wall. Once you get to the top it is gorgeous though. The Blarney Stone which is a slab of rock given to Cormac McCarthy (one of Ireland's greatest chieftains). To kiss is you must face a fear of heights. You have to lean back while laying down and hold on these two bars to stabilize yourself and then you kiss the rock. A guy is there holding you so you don't fall because there is a gap below yourself that you can see all the way to the ground, however there are two bars that prevent people from dying. The rock is also cleaned every once and a while. I will upload my picture kissing it soon. A photographer is there taking everyone's picture to sell in the giftshop for 10 euro a piece. We took a picture of the picture, even though that's not aloud
As for the rest of the grounds. It is beautiful. You can have a picnic, walk around for hours. Visit the gorgeous Blarney House which looks like a mansion and has its own private grounds. I cannot describe the beauty you will see on a clear day. It something you have to feel, have to experience, because I could write forever on the topic. Look at the soundslides posted to get a small sense of it.

The Middleton Distillery/ Jameson Whiskey

This is the Jameson Whiskey aging in barrels. From months to years. It takes about 3 years so age properly some even age longer. The longer it ages the darker the color gets and the more it evaporates. Below is a whiskey tasting I took part in along with 7 other people. We were given 3 shots of whiskey a little watered down and a glass of water to take the taste out of our mouths after each taste. We were given Scottish whiskey, Jameson and American whiskey (our friend Jack Daniels). Because the Scottish whiskey uses peat in the smoke fire for the malted barley it actually has a smokey taste to it. Jameson uses a different technique in the distillation process, and I believe it has a smoother taste. Jack is only distilled once as compared to three times with Jameson. Whiskey tasting is just like wine tasting, you smell it, taste a little and then swish is around in your mouth and swallow. At the end we got a complimentary glass of Jameson. Jameson is definitely my favorite whiskey.

Above is the Middleton Distillery. Half of the Jameson made is kept in Ireland and half is exported. The water wheel you see used to power the mill. The red windows are abundant in the distillery to prevent fires. It is important to keep the air circulating so the crop inside doesn't burn up.
Above is what the whiskey is distilled in.

Above is the two chimneys for the distillery. The left one is for the new distillery and the right one is the old brick.

The Blarney Castle

So, I haven't updated in a while. So here are some photographs of my trip to Cork, Blarney and Cobh. I went with about 118 international students from Griffith College. We went by bus and it took about 3 or 4 hours to get there. We stayed at a hostel. My first experience with a hostel actually. It sort of felt like a submarine or a some place you would sleep in a ship. There were about 3 bunk beds (to fit 6 in a room) with one bathroom. The room was long and narrow, but the bathroom was larger than the one I currently use in Dublin. However, I forgot that hostels aren't like hotels and forgot a towel for the shower, and only brought a washcloth, but made do with that. Anyway, the hostel was quite nice and the free breakfast is always a plus. Tea, coffee, orange juice cereal and toast was included in a seemingly unlimited supply. So every morning we loaded up so that dinner or a late lunch would be our only meal needed, with a snack in between.
So, the college had an itinerary planned out for the weekend, but if we got up early enough we could explore Cork and the nights were free as well.
Cork is a city similar to Dublin, but does not have as many people or vomit as far as I could tell. A river runs around the city center where the shops, museums and a couple gorgeous cathedrals. The hostel receptionist told me that in the Fall almost half of the heart of the city was under water from the heavy heavy rainfall that occurred. However by this time the city was back to normal and beautiful. On our first morning, me and a couple other Americans decided to go into town and the receptionist pointed out some places on the map to visit. I was the only person to ask so I chose the English markets which wouldn't be open the next day, Sunday. I truly enjoy markets because of the sites you see and the bustle that is created with buying and selling goods. Meat, cheese, bread, eggs, vegetables, chocolate and more is sold in the market which is covered and seen above in the photographs. There are also vintage shops and other shops in the market. I even saw a tiny gallery displaying art.
At night the city is quiet except for the pubs and clubs. Staying at the particular hostel we stayed at we got a 15% discount on drink at a certain pub down the street. On the second night it was Molly's birthday at midnight (my roommate) so me and a couple of people gathered a bunch of students and Griffith people and sang Happy Birthday at the top of our lungs. We also went to another club and the bouncer warned us it was an older crowd(meaning 30s) but we went in to have a drink anyway. On our way back a fight broke out between some guys and since Ireland doesn't really have guns, their weapon of choice was belts. We watched for a little bit until the Garda showed up and then broke it up, but the Garda does not carry guns either only batons. Nothing happened after that and we walked on. Below I'll talk about the adventures in the Jameson distillery and the Blarney Castle.