February 16, 2010
On Sunday, we woke to a knock on the door, some whispered swearing, and a bunch of rustling. I pulled out my earplugs and rolled over to find the three girls from France frantically packing across the room. Apparently, not one of their alarms went off and their taxi to the airport was waiting outside. They said a quick goodbye and were out the door. Viv and I were wide-awake after all the excitement and began getting ready for our busy day. We loaded all of our stuff back into bags and headed downstairs for continental breakfast and checkout. Once again, it was a beautiful day in Ireland.
First, we trekked across the area of Temple Bar to Trinity College. It was beautiful on a Sunday morning. Quiet while all the students were still sleeping and everyone else was at church. I wish we had had more time to take some tours of these places because I would have really liked to know more. I read a few Wikipedia pages before I went, but I didn’t really get my fill of facts.
With the sun still shining, we walked a bit farther to the DART train station, which would take us to Howth. Howth is a touristy fishing village, east of Dublin, on the cliffs, overlooking the Irish Sea. We boarded the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) Train and sat back for the ride. Wow, the DART wasn’t comparable to a Tube ride in the least. We got to sit down on the DART! And couldn’t smell the bad breath of the man standing not inches from you because you were crammed in like sardines. I even enjoyed the ride to Howth! It was nice to see some Irish countryside and the coastline.
Howth turned out to be exactly the kind of scenic place I think of when I think of Ireland. Quant, green, relaxing, and beautiful. Everything was perfect. I can’t even describe it. I’m so glad we went there! After getting off the train, we walked along the docks for a bit. Checking out at all the fish shops and restaurants and looking out on the bay. We happened upon this crowd of people looking over the water and taking pictures. I thought someone had fallen in because there was no railing or anything. Hal went to investigate and yelled back, “Seals!” There were wild seals in the water. And a lot of them, too. A couple of kids were feeding them and the seals were splashing and swimming in the water. Really cool. I took a bunch of pictures, but they kept moving!
Next, we took some pictures on the dock end and by the lighthouse. London seemed so far away out on that ledge. Everything was silent, still, peaceful. I needed this day so much. A day to do nothing but relax and explore. Little did I know, the relaxation wouldn’t last much longer. Now that I look back on my trip to Howth, I wouldn’t ever describe it as relaxing or calming. More as an exhausting, painful adventure that I wouldn’t take back for my life.
Here we go. Hal, Viv, and I decided to hike across the small peninsula that Howth sits on to see the cliffs on the south side. The town pretty much dominates the peninsula, so we thought we could follow a few city streets and make it there in no time. It looked like a reasonable distance on the map! We passed a nice church and a bunch of colorful pubs on the way. There was never a lack of something to look at. Very quickly, we realized this trek was going to be a bit tougher than we thought. The streets were almost straight up. It was crazy. After about five blocks my calves were burning. We took a break when the street divided into three sections. A road we thought would be the slowest, but least steep. A road that looked nearly vertical from the bottom, but also the shortest route. Or, a path that meandered through a wooded area, that twisted and turned, but didn’t look too steep. Hmm… we chose the wooded path. It seemed like a fun idea at the time. Bad choice. By the time we got out of the park, my inhaler was out, I was sweating through my clothes even though it was only 40 degrees, and I was dead tired. That path turned mean fast, but we didn’t turn back. The views from the top were pretty impressive. But we still had further to go until we reached the cliff.
After about an hour and half hike with our heavy backpacks and poor walking shoes (Viv was wearing heeled boots), we found the Summit Inn, a restaurant near the cliffs. We sat down for a much needed meal and glass of water. Refill please! I had a chicken wrap. It was delicious. But, we had places to be, cliffs to see, so we didn’t hang around very long. Back out onto the road, we encountered one more hill… by this time I was just immune. My whole body ached, but I was happy my pitcher of tap water! And we were almost there.
The cliffs… I don’t really know how to describe. It is kind of like the popular sites and buildings in London. I’ve seen them so many times on postcards and pictures, I knew what to expect, but I was blown away yet again. So beautiful. Breath-taking. Literally, I couldn’t breath it was so windy. Took a bunch of pictures of the lighthouse down below and of the sea. I also discovered the panoramic view on my camera. Awesome.
This is what I will always think of when I remember Ireland. Not the airport nightmare, not pubs in Dublin, and not shopping, but this peaceful, magical, untouched place. Ahhhh…
Well, the dream didn’t last long. We had to walk back. Luckily, it was downhill. We left Howth around 4 and headed for the airport. The Dublin airport was wonderful yet again. We didn’t wait in a single line. Not at the check-in, not in security. I got my bag checked yet again. I bought some hand sanitizer and they thought it was over the regulation 100 mL, but it wasn’t. Only 70 mL! I got to keep my Irish hand sanitizer, no worries! After security, we waited for our plane for a few hours, boarded on the tarmac again(!!!), and found seats by each other. This is how airport experiences and traveling should be. Stress free.
If only London Stansted could adopt this pain-free policy. Once again, the London Airport system inflicted its wrath. We waited in line at customs for over an hour. The guy behind us called it the “Queue of Doom”. (They love that word, queue, over here. They say it as much and as often as possible… seriously, it’s called a line. Just kidding, “Queue of Doom: it was.) They run a background check on everyone coming into the country. I passed. Because of this wait, we were late meeting our taxi, which was supposed to pick us up at 11:30PM. It was 12AM by this time, so we looked around for him at the arrivals gate. We even called the taxi office, but there was no answer. After about twenty minutes of searching, we resigned to taking a bus home because the driver had either left or didn’t come in the first place. We boarded the bus at 12:30… and an hour and a half later, we arrived at Victoria station. We hailed a taxi at Victoria to Kensington, only about 7 minutes. Best three pounds I’ve ever spent! Somehow, our 9:45 flight turned into getting home at 2:30… so tired at this point. I just wanted by own bed. Class in the morning at 9AM…
So, that was Ireland. Great vacation. Great first travel experience on my own. Great, great everything.
Be back soon,
Kelly
No comments:
Post a Comment