Week 2- The Weekend Trips

Saturday morning two of my roommates and a couple of friends that live a few houses away headed to downtown Limerick for the milk market. The milk market is open from Friday to Sunday until about 3 p.m. I would describe it as a combination of a farmers’ market and a flea market. It is located in a huge tent that can be seen a few blocks away. On the inside were produce, fruit, meat, cheese, and bakery stands. Around the outside were tables of tools, flowers, cellphone cases, and other used items that are typical at flea markets.

The five of us did not stay long due to the high congestion (we had ridden in a free bus there with about two hundred other students, so it was extremely crowded.) We decided, instead, to try and find a café or some type of restaurant to eat at. On the way to the café we encountered some strange and wonderful sights. There were two men dressed as kangaroos, and actually had the capability of hopping around. They were quite entertaining to watch bouncing around the city. The café we found was named (if I remember correctly) O’Conner’s. I ordered a tea and sweet potato and coconut soup that came with bland tasting bread. It was tremendously delicious!

After the café we went to Saint Mary’s Cathedral and made our way through the cemetery along the outskirts. There were sections dating back to the 12^th century and then some that were only a few years old. We left shortly afterwards due to the free busing only running until 3 p.m., but headed back to my house to have a girl’s night of watching movies. We picked Bridesmaids (a timeless classic) and let the laughter begin. I ended up missing the first part of the movie in order to have a Skype date with my family (it was my sister’s birthday!)

On Sunday I had to get up early to catch the bus heading to my next adventure spot: The Aran Islands. Most of my roommates would be going the following weekend, so it was just one roommate and I left to go together (my wonderfully French roommate Vince). We ended up meeting up with five of our neighbors when we got there, which was great because I had yet to meet three of them and it was a good opportunity to spend the day together. The two girls were from Germany, one guy was from Belgium, and the remaining lot were from the United States. The trip required an hour and a half bus drive one way, and then a 30 minute ferry trip to reach the island.

 

Once we all got off the ferry, the first stop on the guided tour was to the remains of a 10^th century church located in the center of a cemetery. The greatest parts of it I thought were the carving of Jesus on the cross that was still discernible, and the fact that the doors were sized proportionally to the people that lived in the 10^th century, but everyone from the 21^st century has to squat in order to pass through them. That was pretty crazy to think about.

The next stop was to the Plassey Wreck. This was the rusted shell of a ship that wrecked on the shores of Inis Oirr (the east island) in 1960. The great news is that all of the crew survived the wreck with the help of the islanders. I was able to climb into several of the rooms like the engine room and the main room, which was actually pretty creepy because all that remained were the rusted parts and some bits of rope. The rocks around the ship were all red from the oxidation of the rust, which was pretty cool.

The final part of the tour that I thought was one of the best parts was the 14^th or 15^th century castle. People were able to climb up the ruined side of it in order to get on top, but my fear of heights kept me from passing the first story, so instead I explored the insides of the castle. It was made up of three rooms. Each of them were not very big, and the entrances had iron doors that looked like prison bars. The middle room was the biggest without a ceiling, and the left room did not have its ceiling either. The right room was still intact and had a fireplace on the right side if you were able to gain enough courage to enter the dark room.

My group decided to grab some drinks and fries at one of the only pubs on the island (at this point three of us were starting to feel, ill including myself.) I thought this pub was interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, there were license plates from different U.S. states on the wall around the bar area. On the ceiling were flags from different countries, as well as a few U.S. states again and some random flags like the one from Brittany, France (my name!) There was also a man who was singing something in another language to his two mates. After the pub my group walked along the beach for a bit and drew a castle in the sand with each of us adding a new part to it. Once we got on the ferry I was feeling quite ill, but I still enjoyed my day and had an amazing weekend overall.

Fun Facts of Ireland:

#1: Wait staff receive a regular wage in Ireland, so tipping is unnecessary and quite uncommon.

#2: The national symbol of Ireland is the harp. It can be seen on a lot of objects around here including on the euro and on Guiness beer.

#3: Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom, and still has the British Pound as its currency. Scotland will be voting for its own independence from the UK this Thursday (technically today), which will put Northern Ireland in a very awkward position not being directly by another section of the UK.