maggie and myung's big adventure

I’m not really feeling in the mood to write a blog, but I want it done, and I’m just sitting here at work playing stupid online games so I might as well. Myung came over from Austin last Sunday, and we’ve spent the last week gallivanting around the British Isles. (i'll be adding more pictures - it's taking a while to go thru mine and myungs)

Easter Sunday – Myung arrived early morning, she called when she landed & I met her at the bus station near my house. We relaxed for a few minutes and then headed to Easter Mass at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in the city centre. This is supposedly the main cathedral and Cardinal Desmond Connell was there. He was the Archbishop of Dublin from 1988 – 2004 (during the sex abuse scandal, which severely damaged his reputation). Watching an 81 year old little man, slowly shuffle around the congregation sprinkling water on people, while wearing a giant funny looking hat was fairly entertaining. However, Myung’s jet lag, and the stuffy, incense filled room got the best of us, and when people got up for communion, we got up and left. That evening while Myung napped, I went to BBQ, where I developed a migraine. My plans for Myung’s first night in Dublin were cancelled, since I had to go home to bed. It ended up OK, I asked Al to pick up some Indian take-away (he was easily convinced when I offered to buy him some food as well), and we hung out at the house eating and chatting and watching TV.

Monday – We caught the bus up to Belfast. The city was dead since it was Easter Monday and a bank holiday, but we wandered around in the dark, taking pictures and trying to see some sights. (the photo was taken using the long exposure feature on my camera)

Tuesday – Bus to Giant’s Causeway. We stayed in a hostel in a quaint little town called Bush Mills. We took an interesting tour of the Old Bushmills Whiskey Distillery – I volunteered to do a whiskey taste test. Basically in about 15 minutes I did 5 small shots of whiskey and water, and then had a hot toddy. Triple-distilled Irish whiskey is way better than scotch whiskey (yuk), and definitely smoother than American Kentucky bourbon. Afterwards we split some really tasty fish and chips, and went for a stroll around the town.

Wednesday – we got up early, made breakfast and then walked the 2.5 miles to Giant’s Causeway.

It was a beautiful day, we’d brought a picnic and we ended up spending about an hour just sitting on the rocks in the sun watching people try to take pictures of the waves without getting soaked.

We’d planned on taking a steam train back to Bush Mills, but it turned out it wasn’t running so we walked back and caught the bus to Belfast. It was a nice bus ride along the coast, lots of cliffs, cute villages, and baby lambs everywhere. – Very picturesque. Another evening in Belfast – we walked around a bit, and found a restaurant where I got a huge portion of beef stew and champ (basically mashed potatoes) for only £3.50 (about $7.00).

Thursday – woke up at 4:30 am, to catch our flight to Glasgow. Of course it was delayed, but we still made it in time to catch our train to Inverness, Scotland. The train ride was about 3 hours, not to bad and we both slept some of the way. After arriving in Inverness, we walked to our hostel to drop off our bags (the hostel was no where near as private and quaint as Bush Mills, where it seemed more like a hotel – a room to ourselves, with a bathroom and shower in the room. The huge Inverness hostel felt like summer camp – shared room, toilets and showers – and a huge group of highschoolers hanging out.) We then wandered around the town, had lunch, did some shopping and made reservations for a bus tour for the next day. We finished off the evening with a cheap wine and cheese dinner, and expensive pay as you go internet, before sneaking a pot of tea, and cake up to our room before bed.

Friday – The driver of the bus tour happened to be staying at the hostel, so we met him in the parking lot and started on a near 10 hour drive thru the Scottish highlands.

It was great, Graham, our guide, was young and goofy and a great storyteller of highland history. Among other things we saw old Druid stone circles, drove the length (and back) of Loch Ness, went to Culloden (a battlefield where the British basically massacred the Highland army) and saw Eilean Donan castle (a castle built on a tiny island – it’s considered Scotland’s most romantic castle).



(I didn't take the pic of Eilann Donon castle, but this is what it looked like)

Friday evening, we went to a pub in Inverness called Hootenanny’s. We ate excellent and spicy Thai food and drank locally brewed, organic beer while watching a traditional Scottish band – bagpipes, an accordion, and Scottish drums. After dinner we went to the club upstairs and watched a pretty good local Indie band – whose singer seemed to think he was American – wearing his trucker hat, and singer in a husky American accent.

Saturday – we slept in til checkout time, and then went to H&M, the Inverness Museum of Art, and hung out by the river until it was time to catch the train back to Glasgow. We stayed at a B&B in Glasgow called The Old Schoolhouse. It was literally right next door to the Glasgow School of Art and, just down the street from my regular bar when in Glasgow – Nice N’Sleazy so there were plenty of cool-looking people hanging about, and lots of people watching. We saw a cheesy but entertaining indie/metal/electronic band at Sleazy’s and then headed back to the B&B. I think Myung and I were both eager to take advantage of our clean, comfortable beds, plus we had to wake up semi-early so we could get our full Scottish Breakfast in the morning.

Sunday – I tried a nibble of haggis (made of a sheep’s heart, liver and lungs and then boiled in the animal’s stomach.) It actually was pretty tasty, but hard to get past what it’s made of. After breakfast we walked through Kelvingrove Park, and went to the Kelvingrove Art and History Museum, then met up with Will Smyth and just hung out at his place for the afternoon. Myung had to catch the train to Edinbrough, so I walked her to the station, found an internet café to waste an hour, and then caught the bus out the airport. Uneventful flight – but on arriving back to Dublin, the airport was a madhouse. 3 flights all collecting baggage from the same terminal, I had no €s for the bus, and the downstairs cash machine was broken so I had to run upstairs and by the time I made it to the bus stop, all 3 midnight aircoaches were full. (Any other time of day it would have been fine, but after midnight the bus only runs on the hour). I called my housemate Pete, who happened to have the car that he shares with his girlfriend (not normal for a Sunday night) and chivalrously offered to come pick me up.

Finally home! expecting a dirty house, but OMG – Drucko had cleaned everything – even the fridge and stovetop! Granted, it’s only because he has a ladyfriend in town that he wants to impress, regardless, it was nice coming back to cleanliness.

DONE.