May 21, 2012

Day 1: Ahiohill, Co. Cork, Ireland

Between travel time, the time change, and my inability to sleep in public places, today has turned out to be quite long.

The flight to Charlotte was uneventful, other than the fact that I started and finished a book by James Patterson, and the flight to Dublin was punctuated by periodic outbursts from the 3 not-able-to-walk-yet children sitting a few rows behind me. I think I got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep total though, in the most uncomfortable positions ever, naturally. After our dinner of overcooked pasta & salad, I topped off the meal with a hot cup of tea. Well… I tried to… until the stewardess knocked the cup all over my legs. Luckily, it wasn’t freshly brewed/as hot as it should have been so it only stung for a few minutes; crises averted!

We landed in Dublin around 6:30a. I got on a bus to the city center, and was greeted by the welcome view of O’Connell Street, that still very stupid Spire, and throngs of tourists with their cameras out and baggage trying to trip me everywhere I turned. Nonetheless, the sight of the city- my home away from home- made me smile. I found an Internet café that I could check my luggage at for a few hours, and meandered around the city, taking in old sites and stumbling upon new ones. A few photos of some of my morning in the City Centre:

Ahhh, the City Centre.

Grafton St. early in the morning!

Not the traditional Irish breakfast, but still delicious! Organic yogurt, Irish honey and roasted almonds with tea :)

St. Stephen's Green

 

More of St. Stephen's Green. Was a beautiful morning!

And, again.

Gogarty's. Flashback to my very first night in Dublin, ever.

My phone was a bit messed up when I landed, so unfortunately my original plans to meet up with Jackie and Jack were foiled L Jackie’s sim card & phone number had also expired, and without my working phone and another mobile way to communicate, we were screwed!

I wandered around the city near the Customs House for a bit until I found the Bus Eirann station where I would board the bus to Cork. I grabbed a quick baguette for lunch (chicken, salsa, basil and cheese) and got on the bus at 2p! A few short naps here and there were much needed during the bus ride, but while I was awake, I met a very nice man named John who told me about a time in 1961 when he danced with a girl from Boston. He also told me to go trace my roots in Kilkenny, where the Butlers are from. Useful piece of information, I might do just that!

I also took in the scenery as we made our way to Cork, admiring the incredible amount of land, trees, livestock and farmland that we passed. It’s just a very different backdrop than what I’m used to and it makes me feel like I’ve gone back in time. Not because things here are behind the times by any means, but because I could see people doing things for themselves. Working their own land to sustain their family, doing their own construction on the house, sitting on their porch with the grandchildren just enjoying the day. I really like the pace of things here.

When I got to Cork, I started wandering the streets, crossing my fingers that I’d stumble across the pub I needed to meet the family at. No dice. Wandering was fun, and the shops were really cute (but all closed), but carrying around a heavy suitcase, backpack on sunburned shoulders and purse stuffed to capacity got old pretty quickly. I asked for some directions and magically got myself there without getting lost, certainly a first for me.

When I walked into the Franciscan Well, I met Zoe, the other WWOOFer. We sat and chatted for a while, drank some of the brewery’s signature beers and shared a pizza. A great first meal in Cork, with great company! Soon after, Tina, John and Rob joined us. We chatted outside a bit and did some quick introductions, and then they headed inside to play for a few hours. I was in and out for the rest of the night, listening to them playing some soulful blues music and also socializing with a friend of a friend of a friend that Zoe had met up with. It was a fantastic first night, but having been mostly awake since 8:30am Sunday morning, I was happy when I got back to the house and climbed into bed.

I’m already behind with the one-a-day thing, but I’ll try to get back on it! Things at the house have a flexible schedule, so that probably means I will too. More on this first full day, later!

Favorite part of the day: Live music, for sure. It's great to be back in a place where this is so common, heartfelt and genuine.