Ireland, September 2013

Before I even set foot in Oxford I traveled to Ireland for two weeks.  I flew into London, spent two days visiting with my Uncle Carl - the best tour guide in London - and then hopped a flight to Dublin.  My relatives Pauline and Tom Senchyna graciously hosted me in their town of Maynooth on the outskirts of Dublin.  I hadn't met Pauline and Tom before but they are part of the Kelly Clan.  They also have a son named Sean who was my exact age.  Pauline gave me a tour of Maynooth Castle and the university nearby.  I explored Dublin on my own and with Sean for the next two days.

Highlights of Dublin included the "Stiffy on the Liffy" and Kilmainham Gaol (think 'jail') where Irish revolutionaries have been held prisoner for centuries.  Kilmainham is also the execution site of leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916.  These events helped turn Irish national sentiment against the British and Ireland finally became a free state in 1921.

Inside Kilmainham Gaol

After Dublin, I caught a bus to Cork where I kissed the Blarney Stone and also met four fellow travelers who I would remain with for the remainder of my trip around Ireland.  Their names were Dawn and Leanna from Canada and Alex and Chelsea from New Jersey:

"The family" - Leanna, Dawn, Me, Chelsea, Alex.

The five of us rented a tiny little car and spent the next week driving clockwise around nearly the entire perimeter of Ireland, from Cork all the way back around to Belfast.  I sat in the passenger seat and navigated for Leanna, the driver.  We visited beaches, castles, cliffs, and national parks, sharing the road with sheep and goats and squeezing through tiny tunnels.  I crossed a precarious one rope bridge hundreds of feet above the foaming sea:

Our little Peugeot. This is a two way road.  Oncoming traffic was very scary.

After forgetting my sunglasses on the roof of the car.

There were dozens of tunnels on the Dingle Peninsula scenic route.

Bahhhhhhhh.

The one rope bridge.

We stopped to experience some Irish nightlife in the party town of Galway.  I'll never forget that I saw two girls peeing on the ground there in front of dozens of pedestrians at 1 AM on a Saturday night.  Guys urinate in public all the time so I thought it was funny.  However it was also common to see middle aged men and women stumbling around helplessly drunk.  These sad displays of alcoholism are probably the only thing that left a poor taste in my mouth after visiting this otherwise fabulous country.  On a different note, Galway has a public square named after JFK - he spoke there just a few months before he was killed.

Continuing north we stopped at Giant's Causeway, famous for it's rock formations:

Approaching the causeway.

Giant's Causeway

Close up of the rocks at Giant's Causeway.

Two of our final stops were in Derry, a beautiful walled city, and Belfast, home of the Irish shipbuilding industry.  In Derry I took an emotional walking tour that highlighted the troubles of Northern Ireland in the 1970s.  Derry is near the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom.  The city saw serious violence between Irish Republicans and British loyalists.  Innocent people were often caught in the crossfire.  My favorite song by U2 is about the Bloody Sunday massacre which took place in Derry in 1972.  Belfast was a much larger, dirtier city, and also had dark vibes which creeped us out.  Huge walls stand to this day in Belfast separating Irish catholic neighborhoods from British protestant ones.  The cab driver showed me locations of famous bombings and murals memorializing members of each side who died for their respective cause.

In Belfast I left Dawn and Leanna to catch a bus back to Dublin.  I spent my final night in Maynooth with the Senchynas before boarding my flight from Dublin back to London - a flight which cost me just $22.  Ireland's small size meant we saw nearly the entire country in under two weeks.  I enjoyed the breathtaking scenery but was just as fascinated with Irish history.  War between the Irish and English in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries caused the island to be split in two.  To this day, the United Kingdom governs Northern Ireland and to this day, many Irish people consider this unjust.