Week 19: Ireland and the UK

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Well... Ireland was spectacular. On Saturday I took a trip to Cork with my rail pass. My last trip with it. I'm a little sad my privileges of unlimited travel have come to an end. Anyways, I got to see a lot of the countryside. It is beautiful. Mostly green farm fields with hedgerow fences and either cattle or sheep grazing. You can also usually see some mountain range in the background. Cork was a lot like Dublin. Although these cities have large populations, they feel small because their centers have mostly three story or lower buildings. What you don't see is their sprawling suburbs. Anyways, I looked around Cork for a bit and then took the bus to Blarney to see the one and only Blarney Castle. It was nice to see a castle in the stereotypical sense of castles: dark stone ruins of a fortress variety. All the castles in central europe had plaster on them... they looked like villas. While at Blarney castle, I kissed the Blarney stone... its supposed to give you the gift of gab. We shall see. I did some more looking around in Blarney and bought a few 'special presents' before heading back to Cork and eventually on to Dublin. By the time I arrived in Dublin, I had already finished reading The Man Who Was Thursday by CK Chesterton. I had purchased it in Cork just before leaving for Blarney. Yes, I liked it that much. I highly recommend it.

Sunday I went on a tour of the Boyne Valley. I got to see the Hill of Tara- the ancient crowning place of Ireland's past kings. I also got to see Trim Castle (Braveheart was filmed here). Finally, I got to go to the Boyne Valley vistor's center and tour the Newgrange Tomb circa 5000 BC. Older than the pyramids, this tomb shows that Neolithic peoples had knowledge of the Winter Solstice. For the shortest 5 days of every year, the sun pours in each morning for 17 minutes through a window box looking due east. The rest of the year it is totally dark. The absence of smoke residue on the ceiling further suggests that no one ever went in the tomb except for this brief time each year, as it is doubtful that neolithic people had flashlights. :) Super interesting.

Monday turned into an all day flying experience. I left the hostel in Dublin at 9, got to the airport around 10. Waited for my delayed flight to leave. Arrived finally in London Gatwick around 2, and then took public transit for almost 2 more hours. By the time I was in my hostel room it was 4:30. Too late to do much, plus it was raining and I was beat. So I took myself to see the new Fantastic 4 movie, which is not all that fantastic, but had a lot of London in it suprisingly. Then I hit the internet, finished reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and went to sleep.

Tuesday was my big sightseeing day... Tate Modern had an amazing urbanism exhibit, and its free to get into! Then I took the ferry over to Tate Britain where I had lunch and did a quick walkthrough. After that I saw the Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye (ferris wheel), Trafalgar Square, etc. I also had coffee, because that is what I do. Later on I came back to the hostel area and bought new bottles of sunscreen, bugspray, and all the other toiletries that were too heavy to come on my Ryanair flights.

I think tonight I will go back downtown and take some night photos. Tomorrow is my last day in London. I have to spend the night at the airport because my flight leaves at 6 AM and the metro will close at midnight. In a way it will be nice to not have to worry about waking up at 3 AM to leave. I think tomorrow I will see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace at 11:30 before heading over to the Tower of London, London Bridge, and the Design Museum. And maybe the Freud Museum. And thats all folks. Then I am going to AFRICA! I can't believe it. So until then, signing off... Sally.