Megan's Trip to Ireland, Part 2

For everyone who hasn't been, Dublin is a fantastic city. The people are super funny and welcoming, there's tons of really interesting history, the museums are free, the downtown area is all within an easy 30 minute walking distance, and they have coffee shops devoted entirely to variations of hot chocolate.

Our first day in Dublin we pretended like we were in America. It was so nice to be around an old friend, we took advantage of it. We bought these crazy elaborate milk shakes (mine had a slice of cheesecake blended into it) and snuck them into a movie. Afterwards we sat in a pub, drank good Irish beer and listened to music.

Our second day, we took the day trip (See Part 1). That night we went out with three American girls we met in our hostel. They'd just come from Amsterdam and had lots of good stories. We spent another evening in a pub, listening to music and meeting people who spoke our language. 

Our third day we moved in with someone we'd met in a bar. His name was Marty, and he's getting his phD in marketing. He was super hospitable and let us crash in his place for the last few nights. That day we went to the Chester Beatty library to look at very old books. Chester Beatty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Beatty) was an American who made a fortune mining copper and collected rare books. He eventually settled in Dublin, where he built a beautiful museum to exhibit his collection. We toured the religious texts room, where there were manuscripts of the bible from 200 ad! Afterwards we went to the National Museum, spent the evening drinking hot chocolate and walking around a shopping district, and ended the night once again in a pub. 

These pictures are of "bog men." There are from around 300 bc and were human sacrifices, thrown into the swamps near Dublin. The bogs there have weird chemicals that tend to preserve organic matter. Archeologists also found edible butter with these bog men! 

Our favorite bar, taking during the quiet day hours

Our last day, we took a free walking tour. Students from Trinity College give them daily. Evidently there are free walking tours in most big European cities (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/). We learned a lot about the fight for Irish independence. I hadn't realized how long and bloody the struggle had been. Oh, and we heard a lot about Bono.

That evening we watched our first rugby match. That game makes no sense to me. We met tons of South Africans who had come to watch their national team compete. Despite the fact that Ireland lost the pubs were jolly as ever.

Irish pub culture starts and ends super early; everyone is out by 8 and only a few bars stay open past midnight.  There is positively nothing open after 3 am. The crowds are also unusual. People of all ages hang out in the same bars. Everyone is super friendly and there's almost always live music.

Amazing, deluxe and cheap hot cocoa

Trinity College 

A castle built so that Queen Victoria wouldn't have to see the slums
during her visit to Dublin

Megan's Trip to Ireland, Part 1

Caroline, one of my best friends from college, and I spent 6 days in Dublin. After debating between all of Ryanair's cheap destinations we settled on a the place where people spoke English. I can't tell you how nice it was to be perfectly understood at all times. That said, I didn't always understand what was being said to me. After some confusion in a pub one night, a jolly middle-aged Irish man said to me "Listen faster lass."

Below are pictures from our day trip through the Mountains and to Kilkenny, a small village south of Dublin. The hostel we stayed in gave you a free day trip if you stayed for two nights. Well worth it. The countryside was incredible, even if the weather was awful. 

The tower in the background is part of the monastery founded by St. Keven in the 500's. St. Keven is famous for throwing a beautiful, naked virgin off a cliff. He believed that she was the devil tempting him.

This is the top of a burial chamber which predates the pyramids!

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle was originally built by Strong-Bow, the infamous Norman Invader of Ireland, in the 12th century. Strong-Bow's real name is Richard de Clare, which just sounds so much less intimidating than his English name. His ancestors, the Butlers, lived there until the 1930's. Today they've renovated the inside to look how it did in the 1800's. Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

A drawing of Kilkenny from the 1800's, borrowed from wikipedia

To come: Pictures and Stories from Dublin

Soisson

 Over our first of four two week paid vacations we took a day trip to Soisson. Soisson is about 30 minutes away from us by train. Although it's the same size as Laon, it has a very different feel. First of all it's flat, so less impressive when you first approach it. Secondly, 80% of it was destroyed in the first world war. Thus it has a much more modern feel.

Hilights of the day include meeting up with Haley, who graduated from my college a few years ago, and other Soisson assistants. Also, Chinese food for the first time since being in Europe! All you can eat Chinese food...

The Cathedral, burned first by the protestant Huguenots in the 1600's and later by the Germans. Below, pictures of the inside. 

allo!!

Hey world of mainly Megans friends. I'm Brielle. For better or worse I was just given access to be a co-conspirator for this blog along with the other assts and I thought I'd type a little something today..just a short hello.

I thought it was really awesome of Megan (Queen Megan, if you happen to be a primary student under her authority that doesn't know any better) to introduce me as the founder of free wifi :) . I live in la ville basse de Laon ...le quartier champagne. Basically lower Laon, at the bottom of the plateau instead of up in the bourgeois FANCY PANTS medieval city with the others. One day at the very start of this whole adventure, I was meeting everyone uptown for a picnic and while we were gallantly looking out over the ramparts at teeny tiny lower Laon, someone mentioned how 'peasantville' looked nice on said day ... peasantville... lower Laon...mmm my home... and since the eternal caste of peasant and the jokes that come with it.. have stuck.


I love being in France. This is my first time teaching. My french is funny.
This adventure is hilariously rad from absolutely every angle.


Anyway, I'll get my camera working and try to be charismatic and funny next time...


Yours truly,