Countryside Adventures

Hello everyone I'm glad to see that you are still reading my blog and hanging onto every word. This Sunday was probably one of the best days we have spent in Ireland, not only did we get to see the countryside but the sun also decided to join us on our adventure. So we started the morning out heading to Glendalough which is about and hour south of Dublin in the Wicklow Mountains. We took a small country road through the mountains to get there, the road was very similar to a ridge road you would find in WV (wildlife included). On our way there we saw what I am calling "free range" sheep, there were no fences just open fields for these guys to gallivant around which was cool to see, we also saw a few bucks not sure what kind of deer they are but they don't look like normal whitetails. Once we got there we walked on some of the paths around the two lakes and saw some more wildlife and some scenic views of the valleys. I was really surprised when we stumbled upon some wild mountain goats, feral goats to be exact. It was pretty cool to see some wildlife that you wouldn't really get the chance to see in the states. After that we drove down through more countryside and went to Kilkenny and checked out the Kilkenny Castle (which was closed). We also attempted to see some of the other sites in Kilkenny but they were under maintenance or something. By the time we left Kilkenny the sun was setting and our day of sight seeing had come to an end, but not before i snapped 143 photos. Well the final week is underway and I'll be home soon if anyone has any reasonable requests let me know and I'll do what I can in the 20min of daylight I have each day.

Your Wicklow Wildlife Observer,

Adam

Sunday

Ok just a quick recap of today: we finally hit the country side, saw another city besides Dublin, and saw a bunch of wildlife (swans, sheep, horses, cows, mountain goats and ducks) here are some pics I'll be back tomorrow to give better descriptions. Goodnight eveybody.


Your tired traveler

Adam

I'm taking my talents to Wicklow

Welcome back to my blog, if you are here it probably because you realize that I'm awesome and interesting. This morning we went down to Howth on a mission to find some good views and we found them about half of a mile from where we usually stop. The pictures are from our little hike this morning, if they appear to be missing something it would be the sun like most of the pictures I've taken. Today we are going to head to the Jameson Distillery and tomorrow we are taking our talents to the Wicklow Mountains which is what I've been waiting for over the last couple of weeks, finally getting to see the countryside will be awesome. Yesterday we had a slight scare of having to work overtime on our last weekend but alas I am in my hotel room at 10:16am so that didn't happen. After three weeks in Ireland I am definitely ready to come home and see everyone. Well I'm off again I'll be back to let you know how the countryside it.

Adam

Ireland week 3

Hey everyone I know you all miss my sweet sweet blogs and lack of punctuation so here is another installment involving absolute random thoughts on Ireland, the super bowl and hot sauce.

So where to begin after spending roughly 3 weeks in Ireland I have come to realize that the service is not going to get any better no matter where you eat here. When you step foot in a restaurant you in their house now, and nobody will put baby in the corner! If you want a Guinness, a water, or a steak it will take the same amount of time to get what you ordered. So that kind of sucks but whatever it happens and we obviously don't have anywhere to be. Also a pleasant surprise on most menu's so far as been that chicken wings are on the menu and are there to stay, you see a lot of people ordering them and they are cooked to near perfection. An unpleasant surprise however is the said chicken wings lack of spice or "heat" if you will. The menu might read "Super hot flaming surface of the sun wings" which loosely can be translated as "mild". On a side note i did have dinner in a real castle this week and it was pretty bad ass I felt like I should have been slugging beer from a goblet while sharing tales of pillaging other castles....I guess a Guinness and a steak works. Annie I thought you might like you to know that this place had an award for best hotel interior design in all of Europe in 2009.

Now on to a recent obsession that Matt and I share....Gypsies, or Travelers. If you are not familiar with these people they are like the rednecks of Europe but these people have no permanent homes, thus the travelers tag, they pay no taxes and just move around from campsite to campsite. If you have ever seen the movie "snatch" they give a brilliant and absolutely perfect picture of a gypsy campsite/lifestyle. But the one crazy twist is that they are loaded with cash. To relay some information we have gathered they like to get wasted and tear shit up. There is apparently a place in town that will let them drink at their bar...with a few stipulations: 1) only gypsies are allowed to be there when they are there 2) they have to pay a deposit before they are allowed to drink, a deposit of 20,000 euro! This 20,000 euro is for the damages that the bar will incur as they drink and tear shit up, fair enough. If you like "My Big fat redneck wedding" then you would love "big fat gypsy weddings" same thing really but just a little crazier when you don't have a permanent home.

As far as the super bowl goes I can't tell you how lucky I am to be in Ireland the last two weeks before the super bowl I don't have to hear about them analyzing absolutely everything from the offensive line to the food line. Its usually enough to make me not want to watch the game by the time it comes around.

Also for the record the new Cold War Kids album is amazing, thanks Aaron for allowing me to get my paws on it, this will definitely make the rest of the trip more enjoyable. Well goodnight everybody I cant wait to see everyone soon!

Editors note: The Busty Statue is Molly Malone (refer to previous blogs for description)

Love, Your Gypsy Guru


Adam

The Weekend in Review

Hello everyone I know I didn't post anything last week but...well not much happens during the week, we pretty much work eat sleep repeat. Anyway, Holly came to visit this weekend along with Haylee and Debbie which was great fun. It was good to see Holly and she brought me some videos of Josie which was awesome! The visit was well timed as it was a nice way to break the trip up a little bit. Thursday night we went to Malahide to grab some dinner and get a few pints as it was their first night in town and I have yet to step foot in a pub that I wouldn't want to go back to. On Friday we went downtown and had dinner on a boat and quoted "Boats and Hoes" the whole time. After dinner we made our way to the Temple Bar area and enjoyed live music in some of the bars, obviously country roads was played upon request. We almost had the pleasure of seeing an old man fight the guy playing the guitar but the bouncer stepped in and ruined that. We did not however go to the "Temple Bar" as it was suggested by many people that we avoid it. So on Saturday we went to the Guinness Storehouse and got an education in the history of Guinness as well as how to pour a perfect pint (see picture of me looking like Tom Cruise in cocktail). After that we walked around and saw a few more sights. Today was another day in Downtown/Howth where we came upon a few seals and a couple markets and more delicious Irish Stew. Holly is leaving tomorrow and I wish I could go with her but my job here is not yet done. So enjoy the pictures and have a nice day.

Your Irish Stew Enthusiast,

Adam

Bars and Castles

Well the weather decided to cooperate for us at least for a little bit Saturday and all of Sunday. On Saturday we went downtown and saw some of the sights, we went to Merrion Square, the Art Museum, the Natural History Museum and Grafton St. Merrion Square is a park located by Trinity College and its pretty nice it has some statues and other sculptures in it (the picture of the guy is Oscar Wilde). The Museums are well......museums they are cool but nothing to really write about. Grafton St however comes out of nowhere and is ridiculously busy, it is Dublin's main shopping street and it has a lot of high end shops on it as well as 3 malls and tons and tons of other shops, pubs, etc. In 2008 Grafton St was the fifth most expensive shopping street in the world so that gives you an idea of how busy it can get. We also saw the statue of Molly Malone who is a popular figure in Irish culture apparently she made her living by selling fish but as Gary (our new Irish friend from the lab) so elegantly put it "You can't make that much money selling fish, so we all know what she was really selling". As for the nightlife well yeah its pretty much the coolest, Hong Kong was good, really good, but it doesn't touch Dublin (as expected). As we walk into the first pub we went to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica was playing and I knew that we were in for a good night. The best part about the pubs were that each bar was appropriately staffed and you never had to wait to get a beer it was great. Having a few personal tour guides was pretty nice to as they took us to 4 different places all of which had excellent music selections; we went to The Foggy Dew, The Globe, Hogan's (no relation to Hulk) and Captiol Lounge. So our first Saturday in Dublin went very well.

Now onto Sunday, after waking up nice and early (yeah that's a lie) we went up the coast to Malahide and visited the Malahide Castle, it was awesome the castle grounds are 250m acres and its just a bunch of wide open fields it was really nice, everything here is still so green it looks like spring in the good ole' WV. We then traveled down to Howth to get a bite to eat and we found that they set up a market on Sunday and it is full of delicious foods and deserts (Lebanese, Greek, Indian, German and traditional Irish foods to name a few) so that will probably become a Sunday ritual for us. I don't know if it was the fact that the sun was actually out or that it was Sunday but the towns were booming there were people everywhere and absolutely nowhere to park, which normally is not an issue. Sundays might just be the day to hit the streets here in sunny Ireland. To all the facebookers there are a bunch of pictures on there to look at and for everyone else I'll look into finding a way to share pics with you too. Well there is plenty of work to do tomorrow so i had better get to bed.

Hello Weekend!

Alright so its our first weekend in Dublin and yes its raining again, we saw the sun for the first time yesterday right before a nice afternoon storm. I think we are going to run up to Malahide which is right up the road to check out a castle there and perhaps get to see a little countryside along the way. Later we are finally heading downtown to see the city and experience the local nightlife. A guy that's works in the lab has offered to show us around and drink some beer with us which should be awesome seeing that he has already pointed us to some fine establishments. I went to the grocery store across the road which is cool they always had a bunch of fresh bread and such and it makes the place smell amazing. When you check out they don't bag your groceries you have to bring your own bag or buy one at the store which is a pretty good idea, but then again i haven't seen anyone buy like $300 worth of groceries either which would prob be a pain in the ass to have to supply your own bags. Well hopefully I will have some good pictures after today but who knows see you all tomorrow.

Adam

Thrusday the 13th

So another day has passed and I still have yet to see the sun but it feels like early April with the temperature hanging around 40-45 degrees which is awesome. The last couple of day we have gone to a small town just down the road called Howth that is a little fishing town that sits right on the bay and has a bunch of cool restaurants. Wednesday we went to a small pub called The Bloody Stream, it was great because it was exactly like I imagined a small pub to be like; everyone was drinking Guinness, it looked old, and they had some traditional Irish music which was a welcomed change from the Irish Kenny G crap they play at the hotel bar. I also had some traditional Irish stew while I was there and it was easily the best thing I've eaten so far and will most likely secure a top 5 spot by the end of the trip. Today we ate at an Italian place which was also cool, but they didn't have Guinness which was a bummer. The atmospheres in all of the restaurants is incredibly laid back, it seems like when people do go out to eat here that they make a night out of it everyone sits a talks a while before and after they eat. This is cool until you want your check and the waitress is nowhere to be found. Also something I learned is that alcohol over here is crazy expensive a 6-pack of Guinness is about $19 (14 euro) and a bottle of whiskey goes for around $45 (34 euro), so drinking isn't cheap but it doesn't seem to stop anybody. Well the work week will conclude tomorrow around 4:30 and I will finally be able to get out and about and get your fools some pictures of this place.

Your Dublin Correspondent,

Adam

First Day in Dublin

Hello everyone or "Hello" as they say in Ireland. Well the first day is in the books and it was pretty good. Its pretty easy to tell that everyone here is quite laid back and not in a rush to do everything but work like in the states, so I think I'll fit right in. It gets dark here rather early we left work around 4:30 and the sun was almost set. So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to take some pictures and get them up here. The hotel has a pretty sweet view of the Dublin Bay which is nice to wake up to, but then again anything beats waking up to assholes in jacked up trucks and motorcycles flooring it past your house. The food here is pretty good although I haven't had anything that is considered "Irish" unless you consider the curry chicken and pilaf the cafeteria had Irish. I'll probably gain roughly 30lbs by the time we leave though since we will be on a steady diet of cafeteria and hotel food but that's what elastic is for. On a side note as we were at the bar last night one a traveler not to be names orders up her first beer in Ireland and what does she come back with..a Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks.......no a Corona Extra with a lemon. Needless to say she was appropriately harassed and did not order another Corona. Alight see all you fools later. Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease

First Night in Dublin

Well we made it safe and sound to our destination today, and after an incredibly long weekend spent in various airports (the one you see is Dublin airport) a hotel room seems like an oasis at the moment. Although we were all exhausted we managed to tip back our inaugural Guinness at the hotel bar. Also when I wake up tomorrow we will have a new NCAA champion, I was going to try and stay up for the game but there is no way I could stay up till 1:30.....but I might set an alarm. Any way work starts tomorrow so I'm going to try to sleep off this jet lag, I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Sweet sweet Newark NJ

Well after being in the Newark airport for a little over an hour and a half I am reminded as to why everyone makes fun of NJ......because its just so easy. Overcast and inside, why yes I will wear my sunglasses that came free with my 3 gallon purchase of hair gel. At least I will be entertained for the next 6 hrs while I wait to depart for London. Well ill be back when I reach London.

So there we were in Pittsburgh....

So we're back at our beloved gate D79 getting ready to take a second crack at leaving the states but first we will be stopping by lovely Newark, NJ (I can smell the smog and skanks already). We have been rerouted however and we get to visit London a city that I have always wanted to fly over. I will continue to post at the various airports throughout the day see you all in Newark.

Liftoff

Well at the moment I'm getting to know gates D77 and D79 of the Pittsburgh International Airport quite well. Our flight has been cancelled for tonight and at the moment we are waiting to hear something for tomorrow. Other than that the trip has been great the Wendy's in washington PA served up yet another satisfying lunch with an even more satisfying price. Ill keep everyone posted as per my travels.

Inagural Ireland Blog Post

As all of you know by now I will be spending the next 4 weeks in sunny Dublin,Ireland. It was suggested that I make a blog that all of my dedicated followers could stalk me when I'm not using facebook. My flight will be leaving today at 3:15 and I will be in Ireland by 7am on Sunday (their time, which is 5hrs ahead). Well the good posts will start when I get to Ireland so goodbye for now see you in 4 weeks.