The Hills of Connemara

Sara's email reminded me that I hadn't yet written my update about Connemara. This week has been crazy!

I took last Friday and the following Monday off work to take a solo trip to the Connemara region in County Galway. Gorgeous doesn't really begin to describe this place! It's very different from the other areas of Ireland that I've seen. The Gaeltacht (Gaelic-speaking) communities are tiny and scattered; the region in general is sparsely populated, but has a very distinctive Irish culture amid the bare limestone peaks of the Twelve Bens and the waterlogged moorland.

I definitely want to go back and see more of the region. I learned my lesson and will be renting a car for the next trip! Buses in the area are few and far between. At the hostel I called home for three days, a bus only goes by twice a day. So there were a few times I had to walk 3 miles to the Canal Bridge where the bus stops more often. Though it's nice to let someone else do the driving, they won't stop just because you want to take a picture of something, so I missed out on a lot of the little towns and sites along the way.

The night I arrived was very cloudy, and you couldn't see most of the mountains, but the next day was absolutely gorgeous! I rented a bike from the hostel and set off for an ambitious 50km ride from the hostel to the next town and then up the scenic mountain road over to Kylemore Abbey, through Letterfrack and Clifden, and back down to the hostel. I couldn't make much progress because of frequent stopping to take pictures. The sun, the gorgeous blue sky, and the mountain scenery were stunning! I made it to the abbey (25km) and decided I could go no further. My backside was quite sore from the hard seat, and I was getting weary of stopping to refill the air in the slowly leaking back tire. After some persuasion, a really nice bus driver agreed to let me stow-away on his tour, so I got to see some sites I might not have seen otherwise. He dropped me off back in Galway so I caught the evening bus back to the hostel.

The next day I caught the bus to Clifden - the "capital of Connemara". It's a cute little town right at the edge of the mountains. From the walk up Sky Road, I got a great view of the city and mountains on one side and the Atlantic Coast on the other side. I found my way to a random monument at the top of a mountain where I intruded upon a white horse munching grass. He wasn't bothered by my presence and continued his lunch. I decided to join him with my (about as appetizing as grass) peanut butter & jelly sandwich. It's not that I don't like PBJ... it's just that it gets tiresome eating ONLY that for three days. Not to mention it was quite stale by then.

It was getting a bit cold, so I found a pub to sit in and warm up with some hot tea. There was a band playing traditional music, so I sat back and enjoyed a glimpse into Irish culture before grabbing some Chinese takeout and catching the bus back to the hostel.

My least favorite part of the trip was the VERY crowded bus back to Derry the next day. 5 hours crammed in next to a strange smelling elderly lady doesn't do good things for your attitude.

The new IT research project at work is going well. It's scary to think we only have two full weeks of internship left! Then I'll be off on my two week whirlwind Europe trip to Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France. I've already had a few adventures pertaining to that trip. This week I called to get my reservation on the train from Copenhagen to Berlin and, after somehow getting through the voicemail labyrinth, had atense conversation with a Danish speaking lady who seemed really irritated at me for having to speak English.

Unfortunately in mid-reservation, my cell phone ran out of minutes. If she didn't already think I was a dumb American, I'm sure she did then. I topped up and called back the next day, got a different operator, and made my reservation without incident. Now I'm making a point of learning to say basic phrases in German, French, and Danish so that at least people know I'm trying.

The roommates and I have spent this weekend relaxing around the flat. It's been really nice after so many weekends of traveling. Gave me some time to post all the new pictures! There actually aren't many compared to the number I took. I didn't want to bore you guys with repeated pictures of mountains, so I chose the highlights.

Pictures 129-148

New shoes were made for walkin'..

What'se craic?
Err.. how's it goin?

I think I left you last time just before we went to Buncrana for the festival and fireworks. We had a good time, though it was very cold by the water, and we almost got stranded there for the night since the fireworks ended late and we couldn't get through on the phone to find enough taxis willing to take the 15 of us all the way back to Derry. Luckily, people here are really nice and we found a shopowner whose son drives a mini-bus and was willing to take us all home.

My work meeting in Belfast on Tuesday went well, though not as well as it could have if I had been properly informed of what kind of customers our client has...... They don't sell their product in grocery stores as I was led to believe. They sell to cinemas and only in huge quantities. But they're looking into getting into the retail market soon, so my effort wasn't completely wasted. I hope...

Then I went with a coworker to the Business 4 Business BBQ in north Belfast. I was amused that there might be some attempt at barbeque there and was determined to give it a try despite being spoiled to the world's best barbeque back home.. It WASN'T barbeque. It wasn't even close. I wouldn't even call it a cook-out. The burgers and hot dogs were cooked in the oven, and we ate them outside. Apparently that's what BBQ is.. eating food outside.

This past weekend, Brian and I went to Newcastle, Co. Down at the foot of the Mourne Mountains. Wow! That is a beautiful place! I want to go back sometime in the winter to see the snow that covers the tops of the mountains. Being as we were without a car.. we had to walk the two miles to the entrance of Tollymore Forest. Once inside we hit the trails, 3 to 4 more miles. We did get a little lost looking for a few of the historic sites. Our map wasn't the most accurate one ever made, plus many of the trail signs had been knocked down, but between his boyscout training and my excellent female sense of direction *ahem*, we managed to find our way out of the wilderness. Don't laugh. I did remember that moss only grows on the north side of the tree! Not that it helped so much.. but whatever.

Then there was the 2 miles back to town to the hostel. A strange bed never looked so good! You're probably thinking, sissy girl, eight miles isn't that bad. Normally, I would agree, but when you're lugging a sleeping bag and a heavy backpack and wearing new shoes you haven't broken in yet, it can be a little tiring.

Back in Newcastle, and hungry for ANYTHING besides more peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, we found Country Fried Chicken. Mmmm.. hit the spot. Boy do I miss home cooking!

We caught the early bus back to Belfast the next day, and from there I caught the train to Portadown for church. There was a little mix-up and no one was there to pick me up, so I went back to Belfast and took another tour of the city.

As always, there are more pictures up.
Pictures 107-128

Coming this weekend: a solo trip to County Galway. NORIBIC was nice enough to give me Friday and Monday off, so I can devote the time to do justice to the Connemara region of the island. Uh, plus I get to do some marketing research while I'm there. Fun... Oh well, all play and no work makes me a lazy girl, so I guess I can sacrifice for the good of the company.