Lovely Dublin City

The last few weeks of my time here in Ireland I have been going into the city of Dublin and just walking around exploring what was left to explore.

This video chronicles some of those adventures with my time at St. Stephan's Green, Trinity College Dublin and the book of Kels, and some other cool spots in the city.


Around Dublin City


Hope you enjoy!
Stateside in 2 days!

Cheers,
Patrick

Last Trip to Belfast

So after my last trip to Belfast I had to make a short video about all the great people I was able to see.
Some of the pictures are from throughout the semester as well down in Maynooth and around Ireland.

I'll be flying home a week from today, Friday May 28, and we've still got a few adventures left in us, so look out for them soon!


Hope you enjoy!


Smiles from Ireland


cheers
Patrick

It's been a while...

Hello there!

It's been a wile since I have checked in with everyone because I've been so busy the past few weeks doing..well not much oddly enough. After the whirlwind of adventures, trips and travels I have had previously, the past two weeks have been a little more relaxed and quiet. We had out last two weeks of classes and now we have a week off until the exam periods begins. For me though, I get almost three weeks off, two more left, because my first exam is not until May 21st. So plenty of time to prepare for my essays!

All of my exams are essay based, so I will sit down and write out one to two answers from a list of six to nine questions. To prepare I spend time rereading books, notes and lectures to make sure I have main ideas and themes down that we heard about in relation to the various novels in each class.

So aside from preparing for my four remaining exams I will be spending some time doing some last explorations in Ireland. I'll spend a few more days in Dublin seeing various sights, most importantly making a visit to my great-grandfathers home in Donnybrooke, a suburb of Dublin. I also have a final four day trip to Belfast planned, which I am very excited about.

I hope everyone else is doing well in the final stages of the semester, I will be sure to share my stories and pictures form my final adventures here in Ireland as soon as I can!

I hope all the Mothers out there had a great day yesterday!
Love you Mom!

Check in with everyone later,
Cheers!
Patrick

The Video Journal

Hello all!

Here is the video journal from my trip to Athens.
Just finished putting it together, hope you enjoy!
(sorry about the wind in a few spots)


Athens Video Journal part 1

Athens Video Journal part 2



Cheers
Patrick

Athens all together

Here are all 5 Athens videos together


Athens Day 1

Athens Day 2

Athens Day 3

Athens Day 4

Athens Day 5


pat

Athens Day 5

On the 5th and final day in Athens I spent time at the Olympic Park, site of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, and walked around the city of Athens really soaking it all in one more time. I also spent my sunset hours atop the Rock of the Apostle Paul, this time knowing where I was standing.

It was truly and incredbile journey nd I am so thankful I was able to have the exeprience of adventures I had while in Athens Greece.

Look for the Video Journal coming soon!


Hope you enjoy the video!


Athens part 5

Cheers
Patrick

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

One of the coolest things we saw in Athens was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

This monument is located at the foot of the Parliament building in Athens.

It is the equivalent of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC, USA. Guarded by two Greek soldiers 24/7, it is a really solemn and awesome thing to see throughout the day as you walk past. The most intriguing thing about it is that it is not hidden away in a sense the way the Tomb is at Arlington, it is literally in the middle of the city and can be seen as you walk by every day.

I loved the experience of seeing it so many times a day because you really come to understand the idea of it being under guard 24/7. At some points in the day, there was as many as a hundred tourists to see the changing of the guard. But at one point I walked by at 11 at night, and the changing of the guard went on the exact same way as it did to the large audience. It was really cool to see.

The links below are two videos.
The first shows the entire ceremony of the changing of the guard which occurs every hour on the hour.
The second shows the Ceremonial Steps that the guards take every half hour during their "shift".


Changing of the Guard

Steps


Hope you enjoy them!

Patrick

Athens part 4

Hello everyone!

Here is the link for the video Athens part 4. On day 4, we went to the Acropolis and went all the way up this time! It was incredible to visit the Parthenon and all the other great sites that make up the Acropolis.

We then spent the rest of the day walking around Athens and seeing many incredible things.

Athens part 4

Day 5 is on the way soon.
Hope you enjoy!

cheers
Patrick

Athens part 3!

Here is Part 3 of the great Athens adventure!

On day 3 we spent many hours exploring the National Archeological Museum, and then took a bus along the coastal road down south to the Temple of Poseidon!

It was a great day.


Athens part 3


hope you all enjoy!

Patrick

First Athens Videos!

Hello everyone!

here are the videos from Days one and two spent in Greece.

The first day, Easter Sunday, we mostly walked around the city getting our bearings and finding places to eat.
On day two we took a ferry out to one of the Greek Island, Aegina, and spent the day on the beach in the sun. It was incredible!


Athens Day 1

Athens Day 2


Hope you enjoy these videos, days 3-5 are soon to come!

Cheers!
Patrick

Quick Check In

Hello everyone!!

I just got back to class today after a great Easter Break, I hope all of you had a good Easter weekend/week as well.

Things in Athens were incredible and I cannot wait to share all my photos and stories with you. Speaking of which I am working on them now, and hopefully I can start getting them posted in the next few days.

To give you an idea of what I am working with, during my five day visit to Greece, I amassed just under 1,300 photos and nearly 25 mins of video. Everything turned out so great as well, so there is plenty to share!

So look for the Greece videos to begin being posted in the next few days, and I'll get stories out as I get them written out.

Hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather!


best
Patrick

Trip to Tara, Bellifont, Newgrange

After all the wonderful weather we have been having, yesterday made up for it all in 24 hours.

I spent the whole day outside at the historic sites of the Hill of Tara, the monastery at Bellifont and Newgrange. Both Tara and Newgrange date back to over 3,000 BC, and Bellifont dates to the early 5th century.

I was very excited to visit these site, take tons of pictures and learn a lot about them all, but that was very difficult to do on the day we went with temperature fluctuating between 31-34 degrees all day.

At our first stop, Tara, we were met with wind and snow. Lots of it. Were we up on that hill on a good day, visibility could be all the way north to the Mourn mountains, east to the Irish sea, and vastly into the west. We could see maybe a mile in either direction.

At the other site, the snow turned to heavy rain, and the wind blew it in such a manner you were wet no matter what you did.

So though I did not get to take many pictures, or stay dry, it was still a great experience to be in the place of ancient peoples from 5,000 years ago. The incredible skill that went into building these sites and the meanings behind it all add to the already vastly rich irish history.



Now I want to try to go back on some nice days!

St. Patrick's Day in Dubin

Hello everyone!

Below you will find the video of the experience I had spending St. Patrick's Day in Dublin City.

We got the train to Dublin at 9am and even then the Connelly Train station was buzzing with excitement. (We by the way includes the John Carroll Three, five girls from St. Norbert College, and six of our Irish friends).
We saw the parade at noon and then walked around enjoying the atmosphere. The city was packed! There was wall to wall people on every street. My comparison was that New York City and Time Square had New Year's Eve, but Dublin has St. Patrick's Day!

The parade was really interesting because there was barely anything Irish about it! Most of it was composed of groups from the various cities and counties around Ireland. During the week of St. Patrick's celebration in Dublin, there is a festival in and around St. Stephan's Green. Here, all the community art groups show off their exhibits of creative dance and artistic float design. These are then all involved with the parade, giving the parade the feeling of a World Festival, which I thought was really very interesting.

There were various bagpipe groups and some other irish things, but for the most part every new group presented a new and exciting display for the crowd. Some were settings of an Arabian night, some had dancing chefs chasing half cracked eggs, and one was made up of giant mechanical insects! The praying mantas could hover its head well into the gathered crowds to give all the kids a fright.

After the parade we walked to the Temple Bar district, and that was certainly crazy! Shoulder to shoulder people everywhere you went presented the task of navigation in a difficult way. It even took us 9 minutes to cross the Ha' Penny bridge (a task usually taking no more than 15 seconds if you don;t stop). But we made due, and everyone made it out alive.

We stopped at O'Neils near Trinity College for a pint to celebrate the day, then headed home on the train.
Once we got back to Maynooth we relaxed a bit and went to the Roost for the evening. Now, the small hometown pub would currently have a traditional Irish music band playing for St. Patrick's Day, right?

Well "The Philippineo Trio" played many great songs for us that night, ranging from Beatles hits, Lady Gaga and some traditional Irish ballads as well. The craic was great and the day was one to never be forgotten.

Hope you enjoy the video!
St. Patrick's Day in Dublin


Cheers
Patrick

St. Patrick's Day at JCU

This is what I missed on St. Patrick's Day at JCU.
A great tradition for an early morning workout, I wish I was there.

St. Patrick's Day Workout at Shula Stadium

Good work boys!

Streak Up!

Galway Videos

Here are the videos from Galway.

Out of the 528 photos I shot during the weekend, these ones made the cut.
Hope you enjoy them!

Galway Part 1

Galway Part 2

Galway Part 3



Cheers
Patrick

Stories from Galway!

Hello everyone!

Here are some of the stories of the fun times I had last weekend in Galway.

..............

When we first arrived in Galway, we walked out of the train station and began to search for our hostel. Just across the street from the train station was a hostel, with a sign that read similar to the name of the hostel we were looking for, but not exactly. I Said we should go there first, just to check and see before we head off to the rest of the city.

Instead, the girls were sure that wasn't it, so we moved on. We went past Kennedy Square, down Shop street, and around and around, until we ended up finding the hostel...right where I said it was originally.

..............

After settling our stuff in, we went for a walk to see the city in the afternoon and just explore a bit. We ended up down in the bay and walked down to the water. As it was for the entire trip, the weather was beautiful and sitting down by the bay at dusk was amazing.

I got some great pictures while we were there as well. While we were sitting there, a dog walked up and sat down next to me and just stared at me. now, having lived with Guinness, my dog, for so many years, I knew exactly what the look meant, and that this was not the first time this dog had given it.

The dog had no collar or anyone near by walking with it, so we came to the conclusion it was a stray and didn't mind sharing our sunset with him. He just sat there, calm as we were, looking out into the water. he left a few times to go explore a bit, say hi to some other dog,s but he always came back, sat down and chilled with us.

There was something very calming about this experience because as anyone would, I sat there a bit skeptical of being so close for so long with a stray dog, but at the same time, there was nothing awkward about it, but rather it was incredible to feel connected with a being who is just looking for a friend.

..............

We had dinner just off Shop street at Riordan's. It was a hole in eh wall place, which of corse means it was phenomenal. The food was great, and we spent the time talking about the adventures we were soon to be on. One of the really cool things about Riordan''s was that each table was graced with the photo of a great Irish author, such as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Shaw, Synge and others.

At first I thought it was just cool decoration, but then I looked at the order receipt and noticed that part of the order form had a section labeled "author". Basically, instead of numbering their tables, like most every restaurant in the world, they are each labeled, or named rather, after the picture that hangs on the wall over it.

We sat at James Joyce. The food was great, as it was all authentic irish cuisine. What's Irish cuisine you ask? Things like a good Irish stew, shepherds pie, and many various forms of steak and potatoes. It was delicious, and after eating we made our way down the road and across the river to The Crane!

..............

Now, for many visitors to Galway, The Crane is a good place to visit for a pint, experience traditional music and good times. For me however, there was more motivation to visit The Crane.

Ever since my parents went to Galway, and then my older brother Tim, I have heard over and over again, if you go to Ireland, you MUST go to Glaway and you MUST go to the Crane. So this was going to happen no matter what, and I was excited because I have heard so much about it.

We finally got there, and it was just a great as I expected it to be. I could see my Mom, Dad and Tim all spending nights there. A hole in the wall pub, on a random street, with great people and music inside. I got myself a pint of Guinness, and sat down to soak in the atmosphere. We left The Crane early the first night, so as to get ample sleep for the Cliffs the next day. But I went back to The Crane the next night and got to experience a session at The Crane!

There was actually two sessions, one downstairs, and one bigger one upstairs. The upstairs session was a collection of around 12 musicians of various instruments playing away. It was fantastic!!

As I sat there, I came to the conclusion that The Crane was not just a pub in Galway, but rather, is is the home pub of the Russell family Ireland.

..............

The next day, we headed to the Cliffs of Moher and walking tour of the Burren. What an incredible day it was!

When we got to the Burren, the mountains make the landscape look like nothing but rock, limestone to be specific. We arrived at the family farm of John Connolly. John works every day on the cattle farm, where they graze, raise and milk cows. His family has owned that farm for over 300 years, so its common to become part of the family business when you grow up. John however also has degrees in Archeology and Irish Heritage from Galway University, and his great knowledge of all that really made our tour incredible.

We started off seeing the cows and newborn calfs in the farm, then made our way up the mountain. As we climbed, not only did the view get more and more incredible, but the mist and rain clouds lifted and the beautiful sunny weather came through. John told us how the mountains formed millions of years ago during the last major ice age, when the land that is now Ireland was located near the equator.

As the sea water retreated, the decaying prehistoric plant and fish matter that had settled to the ocean floor was then exposed to the air, and combined with the seaweed and soil it hardened to create the limestone. The soil that was then on top of the limestone was taken away by glaciers moving along, and that is why there is all the soil and green grass in the valley, where the glaciers melted down and left the soil, and mostly rock in the mountain, where the soil was carried away.

..............

We also learned a lot about the history of farming in the Burren and the life of the farmers. As expected, there we many, many stone walls built by the farmers to separate their land from other families, or to divided land for their sons to own when they grew up.

The interesting thing that I saw was that there was also stone walls going over the mountains. now, I of corse was wondering, why would it be necessary to build stone walls over and across the mountains, and the answer comes from the time of the Famine. During the famine, the farmers had no work and the English would not give them money or food unless they 'earned' it. So, the English rulers made up the job of building stone walls over the mountains for a penny or bowl of soup per day.

They thought this up for a few reasons, one, it cleared more stone our of fields that the English wanted to build their homes in. Second, while they were obligated to give the poor work, they did not want to give them jobs that were in any way productive to a positive economy, thus ensuring that Ireland's economy was never a threat to that of the British Empire. These stone walls still stand today, untouched, as a reminder of the hardships and treatment the poor Irish farmers of the Burren dealt with during the famine.

..............

About halfway up the mountain, we came to a white thorn tree, a tree that holds lots of significance and importance in Irish folklore. This tree, though, was being used as part of an old farmers tradition which tells that if you have things in your life that are troubling you, and you make the climb to the tree, tie a piece of cloth around the tree for you problem, and in doing so leave the troubles there and move on with a lightened load.

..............

How did John end our tour? By giving us some of his Mom's fresh, homemade apple pie and fresh cream from his next door neighbors farm. It was delicious and nutritious! But mostly delicious.

..............

When we got to the Cliffs of Moher, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the landscape. The weather was gorgeous, sunny, clear visibility and warm, around 55-60 the whole day. We began by walking up the north side of the cliffs, towards the observation tower. This part of the cliffs is the highest point of the entire cliffs. After going as far to that side as we could, we went back across to the south aide of the cliffs, and this was when I was really introduced to the cliffs.

Ever since the first sight I got o the cliffs, I have been looking for words to describe the kind of beauty I was experiencing. After sitting on the edge of the cliffs numerous times, and this was the kind to being on the edge that if my shoe slipped off, it was 700 feet to the ocean and thats it, I think I have come up with a pretty accurate description.

The Cliffs of Moher are a terrifyingly beautiful.

It was quite and peaceful, even though I was one big gust of wind away from flying

Sitting so close to the edge, with my Mom's voice in my head telling me to back up NOW!, I experienced feelings of absolute terror as well as tranquil peace of mind. I am not sure that there is anything else I have see in the world that evoked this kind of reaction, and it is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

.............

The next day, we took the ferry and spent the whole day tour the Aran Isalnds on Inis Mor. Again, the weather was incredible, and the day was incredible.

First, when we got of the ferry, we met man near one of the bike shops who asked us what we planned on doing for the day. We responded that we had no idea, but were trying to figure that out. He replied, "O well come with me and I'll show you the whole Island". It turned out to be one of the best tours I've ever had.

He was one of the Islands 800 residents, and thus we really got the best information straight from a local, what more could you ask for?

One of the coolest things we saw on the North East coast of the Island was the Sea Lion colony! From the road we were on, it looked like just a bunch of big rocks, but as we walked closer down the bluffs to the water, we could see that it was a sea lion colony. I thought it was incredible because I had never been near wild sea lions before, and it was really quite a site to see them sun bathing there on the beach.

..............

"Everything on the Island is done in threes, as our guide told us", he said, "We have three schools, three medical professionals (1 doctor and 2 nurses), three cemeteries, three churches, and six pubs!"

..............

The biggest traffic jam we ran into on the one lane roads throughout the islands was when three horse-drawn carriages tired to pass each other.

I also had the opportunity to climb up to Dun Aengus, which is a 3,000 year old stone circle fort built by an ancient celtic settlement that lived on the island. It sits on a cliff that is 300 ft. above the atlantic ocean. Looking out from the top you can almost see New York!

From the fort, you could also look across the way and see the Cliffs of Moher! It was really cool to see the cliffs from the other side.

..............

Currently, there is one priest for the 3 churches on Inis Mor, but as far as just 4 years ago, there was one priest for all three of the Aran Isalnds. To serve the communities on a busy sunday, the priest had a two seater plan that he would fly from church to church on each island. As our guide told us, "while the mainland might have hawks and eagles and cool birds, we've got the flying priests!"

................

If you took all the stone walls around Inis Mor and put them end to end, you would create a stone wall over 7,000 miles long!

..............

one thing you can find on Inis Mor is the smallest church in all of Europe.
Teampall Bheanain is a stone church dating to very early Christianity, and measures only 11 feet by 8 feet!

..............

One of the places we saw was the Seven Churches. This is in the middle of the island, and use to be a monastery and is still a working cemetery for the residents of Inis Mor.

A couple cool facts about this site, first is that there was only two churches in the monastery. The settlement dates as far back as the 5th and 6th centuries, and there were actually only two churches, with the other buildings being the domestic homes of the monks.

During the early centuries, the schools on the Aran Islands were already world renown. This is proven by the graves of 6 individuals in this monastery. The Romans" as they have been named, were students who left 4th century Rome and went to school on the Aran Islands, and then ended up living out the rest of their lives on Inis Mor.

..............

We were so tired after the day at the Aran Islands that we got back to the hostel and played scrabble all night. It was fantastic! Even though I came in last place.....

..............

I am still in awe of some of the things I had the fortune to experience while on my weekend trip to the west coast, and these stories and pictures will surely help me remember the great times I had.

I hope these few stories I have shared with you help to share the experience I had.

pictures to come soon, so be on the look out!

Best
Patrick

Weekend in Dublin

Hello!

I just had a fantastic three days in Galway and now have the whole week off of classes! Gotta love being in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day!

The link here is the video from my weekend in Dublin last week. I didn't have time to get the video cut during the week with the reading I had to get done for class, so here it is now.

It was the first time since I've been here that I have spent any time in Dublin outside of the train stations, and we had a blast. We walked around the city, toured the Kilmainham jail, and spent the night exploring and experiencing the Temple Bar district. Enjoyed tons of great music and had many, many laughs along the way.


Dublin 1


Hope you enjoy it!

Also, look for the Galway videos and stories coming later in the week!


Patrick C

The Big Belfast Surprise

Hi everyone!

Here is the video from the surpise in Belfast my first weekend here, I just hadn't cut it together yet.


The Big Belfast Surprise!


Hope you enjoy!

Patrick

A quick Update!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to give a quick update of what's been going on since the trip to Cork which now feels like so long ago! Oh how time flies.

Last weekend I spent up in the great northern city of Belfast! Or as I know it, my second home. This time I stayed with the Sharratt family. Pearse Sharratt was the NI teen who I hosted during my Ulster Project in 2004, and then I went to visit him and the family the next summer for two and a half weeks. Needless to say it was great to see them all again! As any strong relationship goes, from the first second I walked back into the house I felt as if it was only yesterday I left.

The first night back Pearse and I went out to a local pool hall, as he is now a professional pool player! Now to me he was still my brother Pearse, so challenges were made and in the end....he destroyed me. But it was great fun still!

The family owns and operates two hair solons, one for men and one for women. On Saturday morning I was given the experience of having my hair washed, conditioned, cut and styled, and it was quite a fun time!

The rest of my time up north was spent hanging with the family, playing and singing music, watching the Ireland v. England rugby game of the Six Nations tournament, and catching up on everyone's lives. My teen from UP 2009 had a party that I went to and we had fun with that as well. The night after the party I got home and Pearse, Aarrin, Alanna and I watched some winter Olympic events and saw the U.S.A. win some golds!


Then I spent most of this past weekend in Dublin and it was a great time. Though Maynooth is only a 25min train ride to the city center, I had not yet spent any time enjoying the city of Dublin outside of its train stations for my journeys to Belfast. Not only was the weather fantastic, but we had a great deal of fun as well.

Ellen, Lindsey and I met up with four girls who are also international students with us at Maynooth and attend St. Norbert College in Wisconsin! After spending the day Saturday with them, we met up with four John Carroll students, all close friends of Ellen and Lindsey, who are studying in London for the semester. The night we spent in Dublin, and most specifically Temple Bar, was fantastic.

Now outside of all the fantastic adventures of travel and exploration in Ireland I am going to class, and they are all going well. One of my literature classes is a focus on medieval Irish literature, thus it focuses on the stories of Cu Chuliann and Fionn Mac Cumhail, and I am really enjoying this one. It certainly is helping me add material and substance to my love of story telling!



Well thats my quick update for now, later in the week I will post up pictures from the recent Dublin adventures, as well as some stories that go along with it.

I want to also acknowledge the great success of this years Ulster Project Family Fun Night that was held last week Friday.
All reports I have heard are nothing but great, which I of corse expect from any UP related event. But nevertheless, congratulations for the great support that was shown to Ulster Project MIlwaukee 2010 and beyond! Love always Wins!


I hope everyone has a wonderful week as I hear spring may finally be breaking through back in the great midwest!
Talk to you all soon!

Cheers!
Patrick

Cork Videos

Hello everyone!

Below you will find the links to the video from my trip to Cork. In two days I took 451 photos, so this video is a small portion of that.

Also, it was brought to my attention that there were a few spelling errors in my previous two videos, and for that I apologize. Hopefully I edited this one enough to catch any mistakes I made.

All three parts are up and the links are below.


Cork Part 1

Cork Part 2

Cork Part 3


Hope you enjoy!

Cheers
Patrick

Stories from Cork

The following is a compilation of a few of the stories I lived during my time in Cork this past weekend.

....................

Saturday was to be the first full day of adventures in Cork, and the John Carroll Three (Ellen, Lindsey and myself) decided to venture on northward to Blarney Castle. After getting up and having tea and toast at the hostel, we walked down the hill and across the river to the Cork bus station. We bought out day return tickets on bus route 40 to Blarney and went to wait at the pick-up spot, just up the block about 75 yards.

Upon arriving at the pick-up point, we noticed that street was lined with buses up and down except for the one spot right in front of us. Having gotten there fifteen minutes early, it was concluded we would wait for the next bus to pull in, get on and be on our way to Blarney, no problem. Now, as I am sure you know, there would not be much need to tell a story about this if our first attempt to catch a bus in Ireland went perfectly smoothly. So, naturally, here is where things got interesting.

We noticed about three buses up the way, a big group of people were boarding a bus, but I could not see the route number on the back. Could I have walked an extra ten steps up the sidewalk to see it better? Sure, but that would not make a fun story either. As it would happen, soon after noticing that bus, another bus drove into our spot and stopped, momentarily. This was just a Cork city bus, and thus of no use to us trying to get to Blarney.

Just after the city bus pulled away, and 10:01 am, one minute after our bus was to leave, the bus from three spots ahead pulled out and I look over by chance to see in bright lights along the back of the bus the number "40"

And like that, we were off, full out running through downtown Cork chasing our bus. To our luck, it stopped at the first red light! Which apparently holds the world record for shortest red light in all of Ireland. The bus pulled off just as I get even with the door. Off we go again, three american students, sprinting after a bus though the city centre of Cork on a sunny Saturday morning. Twice more the bus stopped at red lights, twice more it pulled away just as we reached it. So I hatched a plan!

We knew the bus was going to make a turn across the river and then stop up the hill just near our hostel. So, as we approached the next light, which had turned red, I decided that Lindsey and Ellen would stay on the sidewalk, in case the bus was actually stopped for longer than ten seconds, but I would cut across the middle of the street and head up the hill on an angle, in an attempt to beat the bus up the hill. Now, after having just sprinted four Cork blocks, with backpack in tow, this seemed like a great idea at the time. So I spot a break in the traffic, and make the jump across the street and over to the bridge.

Having noticed as I crossed that the bus was still stopped, I figured this was a brilliant plan, and then looked back to notice Lindsey and Ellen talking to the bus driver at the door. They had made it! And I then safely made my way back across the street to the bus, showed my ticket and took my seat, where we then caught our breath and relaxed, all before the bus moved an inch after waiting at that red light for the next three minutes.

....................


While waiting to get my ticket at Blarney Castle, I noticed two wet dogs walking around just inside the gate. They then walked right out the gate, between our legs, and then right back in to explore the river a bit more. Apparently, dogs get into Blarney Castle for free!

...................

quote of the day:

As you walk toward the castle you are given an incredible view of the Castle and surrounding landscape, which creates a perfect photo opportunity. Walking along the path to the castle, there was a big field to our left where we saw a couple who had set up a tripod with their camera, set the timer, and snapped a great photo of the two of them with the beautiful shot of the castle in the background.

Upon seeing this, Ellen, somewhat jokingly, comments to Lindsey, "O, I wish we brought a tripod so we could get a shot of the two of us like that!"

Lindsey replies, "We don't need a tripod! that's what we brought Pat for!"


It turned out to be a great photo.

...................

After walking the grounds and doing lots of cave and dungeon exploring, we stopped just off the east side of the Castle to the bathrooms to wash our hands and have a sit to rest a bit. As I sat on the steps outside waiting for Ellen and Lindsey, a husband and wife from England were coming down the lane after just kissing the Blarney Stone with their young four year-old daughter.

The young girl exclaimed to her mother, "Mummy, why did we go all the way up there to kiss a stone?"

At this the mother went into a short explanation of the Irish lore of kissing the Blarney stone for eloquence and the traditions behind visiting the castle. After this there was an extended pause as the young girl processed all that her mother has just said.
Then she finally thought of her response, "But Mummy, you mustn't kiss stones! They spend all day outside!"

...................

While enjoying a nice relaxing evening at a pub in Cork, listening to traditional Irish music, I was approached by a man who kept looking at my sweatshirt from across the bar. (it was my MUHS football hoddie from senior year"

"Marquette right?" he says to me

"Um, yes" I replied, caught a little off guard.

"Do you go there now? In Milwaukee correct?"

"Well, yes sort of," I told him, "I am from Milwaukee and I went to Marquette University High School. I go to John Carroll University in Cleveland now, but I know tons of people who go to Marquette, including many close friends."

"O, cool. Well I am from Cork all my life, but I studied at Marquette many, many years ago." he exclaimed. "I absolutely loved it! Such a lovely city and wonderful university. I'll have to go back to visit sometime. Well anyway, my wife and I are off, but I had to come say hi before I left so we could share our love of Marquette!"

And with that he was off.

I add this story to let all you Marquette students, alumni, fans and friends that you are deeply loved, especially in Ireland!

...................

After learning our lessons from he first bus attempt on Saturday, surely the John Carroll Three would have figured it out for our journey to Middletown on Sunday morning, right? Well if there is one thing I learned in Cork, its that the buses are either always on time, or early, never late. Sunday, our bus left five minutes early, as we arrived one minute early.

So we then tried to find a way to get to Middleton for the 11:30 am tour of the Jameson distillery, this then giving us time to get back to Cork early enough to walk round the city before we left back for Maynooth at 5pm. We noticed that the bus to Waterford went right through Middleton. Bingo! We just buy a Middleton ticket, get on the Waterford bus, and get off at Middleton.

Easier said then done. So we went to talk with the man in charge. Literally, this turned out to be the guy in charge of every bus in the whole station. He told us that since the Waterford bus was non-stop, this would only work if we "felt sick near Middleton", and asked the bus driver to let us off.

Did he really just say that??

After letting it sink in for a few seconds, he laughed and informed us that he knows the Waterford driver personally and he will ask him to let us off in Middleton, no worries. As he put it, "I am the man in charge. If I say it will happen, it will happen, you have my word"

If there was any doubt that the Irish are the best hosts to tourists in the world, this story summed it up for me.

...................

After taking the Jameson tour, we were all invited to become official whiskey tasters and then have a free Jameson drink before we left. I thought this would be a fun thing to do, especially since both my father and older brother have done it. I couldn't go all the way to Ireland and not try some Jameson from the source, right?

Now, I have been 21 since November, and even when I was in Ireland 5 years ago, some people thought I was 23 then, and you only have to be 18 in Ireland anyway. Plus I am the oldest member of the John Carroll Three, and there was only seven other people in our tour. No issues then right?

I was carded for the first time ever for "looking 17".

................

Those are some of the stories from Cork, but there is plenty more history and lore to be told from my pictures and explorations. I will surely tell many more in person, as I am now blessed with "The Gift of Eloquent Speech" from the Blarney stone itself!

Maynooth Video: Part 2!

Hi everyone!

Here is the link to Part 2 of my Maynooth living environment videos. Again, its mostly a tour of the campus to give you an idea of where I live.

This weekend I am headed to Cork!
So I will be sure to share my fun times with friends and The Fuchsia Band here sometime next week!

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0xuUJtXsMc

Maynooth Video: Part 2

(also, due to copy-right issues with the original cut of the video, the new music on Maynooth: Part 2 is "Surfacing", by Vincent Cordel)

Maynooth Pictures Video

Here is the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnJipbGNTNg


Maynooth Video: Part 1


Enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome everyone to my site!

Above is the first few line of Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", the novel for which this blog is named after.

I am glad I finally got this site going and I am very excited to begin sharing my adventures with all of you, as the character spoken about above did so in the novel.

I have been in Maynooth for two weeks now, and I am finally getting use to things and getting situated.

So, done with the welcome, I would like to start things off by giving you a visual show of what my new environment looks like. I just made this video today, and it does not include any of the North Campus, so I will make a second video to add on to this one, but I think this is a good starter.

Hope you all enjoy! More adventures to come soon!