Luck of the Irish

Since being in Denmark I have had a bit of an unlucky streak. Whether it was losing my credit cards, getting flat tires, or falling A LOT - unfortunate things seemed to keep occurring. Because of this, I thought it was absolutely vital to plan a trip to the "land of luck" to acquire some of my own. On February 24th we made our way to the airport to travel with Ryanair yet again - Our destination this time being Dublin, Ireland.

The flight was quite enjoyable because Marnie and I were able to sit next to each other. When we got off the plane we had to go through Passport Control and finally received a stamp in our Passport, which we were thrilled about. Getting through Passport Control took a bit longer than we anticipated because of some issues with one of the groups in front of us. Apparently they had overstayed their allowed time in Ireland and weren't supposed to be in the country at all. As one can imagine, these people did not appreciate this and acted quite hostile to the poor Passport officer. After getting through we grabbed a bus into the city center. The bus driver was incredibly helpful, by telling us what stop to get off and even getting off the bus to give us directions to our hostel, The Generator. At the hostel we ordered a pizza and demolished the entire thing with our very first Irish beers before calling it a night.

We were woken around 6am by our gracious roommate that for some reason decided to turn the main light on instead of her own personal one. She eventually left to shower, at which point I was relieved, since I would be able to fall back asleep. Just as I fell asleep, she returned to the room, turned the light back on, proceeded to straighten her hair, and make an excessive amount of noise. When we saw her later in the day she apologized for the morning, and we ironically ended up becoming decent friends with her. 

After a couple more hours of sleep, we started off the day with breakfast provided by the hostel  (which I still am unsure if we were allowed to have). Then we were informed about a free walking tour of South Dublin, so we decided to check it out. We met the group at the Spire, which is basically a huge needle monument that was built on O'Connell Street for the Millennium. In true Irish fashion it wasn't finished until 2001, thus making the Spire somewhat pointless. The Spire has many entertaining nicknames, such as the "Stiletto in the Ghetto", "The Stiffey by the Liffey", and even "The Erection at the Intersection". At the beginning of the tour we crossed the river of Liffey and saw the Ha'penny bridge. However, our tour guide advised us to not walk over it because it is a cast iron bridge, located over salt water (brilliant idea), and to top it all off it was constructed by the same man who built the Titanic.

Our next stop was Dublin Castle, a major Irish government complex. Our tour guide informed us that recently they had Queen Elizabeth II visit, which was a big deal because it was the first time a British Monarch has visited since Ireland broke free from England. 

In order to safely transport Queen Elizabeth II from the airport to Dublin Castle an armored car was needed. Unfortunately, the Irish government did not have one prior to her visit, so naturally they confiscated one from a nearby drug cartel. I can't help but wonder if the Queen was aware of this at the time. 

Following Dublin Castle we went to Trinity College, which was founded in 1592. The library in the college is world renowned, and was used as a set on multiple occasions for the Harry Potter series. Unfortunately the tour didn't include a stop in the library so we were unable stop. 

The next stop was at the Temple Bar region, which is an iconic part of Dublin and is known for it's nightlife and traditional Irish pubs. 

The tour concluded at Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Legend says that Saint Patrick explained the concept of Christianity's Holy Trinity by using the shamrock. The three leafed plant illustrates the Christian teaching of three persons represented in one God. As this story was explained to us, my eyes wandered to the grass in search of a shamrock, which I took with me as a souvenir. As we were taking pictures in front of the cathedral, we noticed a dog had approached us with a rock in his mouth, indicating that he wanted to play with us.

After the tour we grabbed some fish and chips at a place suggested by a local, with a girl we met on the tour from California. We then made our way back to the hostel to enjoy a free whiskey tasting.  Prior to coming to Ireland I have never tasted whiskey or had any interest in trying it, but when offered to try it for free... I obviously couldn't resist. The tasting wasn't as casual as I thought it would be, and we actually got yelled at for using our phones. The man running the tasting was asking us what flavors we tasted and what we smelled, as if we were Whiskey connoisseurs. 

For dinner that night we searched for a restaurant for quite some time. Finally, we stumbled upon a restaurant called The Turk's Head completely by accident. Come to find out - it is one of the more renowned pubs in Dublin. For dinner, Marnie and I both ordered lamb burgers and it was one of the best meals I have had in my entire life. We also received some good life advice from a sign sitting at the bar next to us.

We left the restaurant highly satisfied and entirely stuffed. When we got back to the hostel we were pleasantly surprised to hear live music coming from the bar. We grabbed a table and gawked over the young guitarist, who we thought was Irish.. but ended up being from Venezuela. Regardless, he was ridiculously talented and Marnie and I may have had a tiny crush on him, especially when he sang 'Sweet Home Alabama'.

Prior to coming to Ireland I had decided that booking a 3 day tour would allow us to maximize our experience during such a short stay. On Friday at 8 am we made our way to the tour office, Paddywagon Palace, and joined 7 other people to begin our tour of Southern Ireland. Accompanying us was a couple from Australia, a mother and daughter from Hawaii, two girls studying abroad in Spain - originally from Wisconsin and Alaska, and a women from Virginia. Our tour guide, Ruari, began the tour with many humorous stories. He informed us that right next to the famous Guinness Storehouse, there is a rehab center for recovering alcoholics. On top of that there is another distillery being built on the opposite side of the center. Talk about cruelty.

Throughout the tour we saw numerous castles. Some of which were fully restored, and others which had only few remnants of their existence. The main castles included:

Corcomroe Abbey - Country Clare, 1205

This castle was one that is generally not included on the tour, although our tour guide decided to add a couple extra stops in, Corcomroe being one of them. The rooms intertwined throughout the castle gave it a maze-like feel that challenged my ability to navigate out of the castle. Nonetheless I eventually found my way. 

Cong Abbey - Cong, 7th Century

I can't really explain the feeling you receive when you enter a castle as old as this. You can truly feel the history and stories that lurk within the ruins immediately upon entering. It's a strange combination of eerie and captivating.

Ross Abbey - County Galway, 1351 

Ross Abbey was one of my favorite stops on the whole trip. The window, shown in two of the pictures above, was magnificent in size and allowed for some incredible pictures. We also managed to take a picture with our tour group, that we eventually nicknamed "Fifty Shades of Green". 

Ashford Castle - County Galway, 1228

This hotel was previously owned by the Guinness Family, and is now a five star hotel after a meager 47,000,000 Euros was spent on restorations. Unfortunately, this hotel was slightly out of our price range for our recent visit to Ireland - maybe one day. 

Blarney Castle - Cork, 1446

Blarney Castle was absolutely incredible, more so because of the story of the Blarney Stone. The castle was built by Cormac McCarthy. Legend says that McCarthy was involved in a lawsuit, and was thought to be doomed due to his lack of eloquence. The morning of the trial he went to the goddess of the hills, Cliodhna, and asked for her assistance. In return, she instructed him to kiss the first stone he found - enter the Blarney Stone. McCarthy ended up winning his trial with his new found articulacy. As a result, he built the stone into the battlements of the castle. Today, it has been kissed by millions all over the world, myself included, hoping to receive "The Gift of the Gab". I'm not sure if it's the Placebo effect, but I do indeed seem to be a bit more eloquent than usual, since kissing the stone. 

As we traversed the Irish countryside I noticed a common theme of stone walls, sheep, and GREEN. The old stone walls are made out of blue limestone and constructed without any mortar. Irish law bans landowners from removing these walls to preserve the authentic Irish landscape. No matter the direction I looked, I saw a vast amount of green - which made it clear why Ireland is represented by that color. It was also evident why lamb is such a popular Irish dish.

Our first night was spent in Galway Bay, where we were able to reconnect with two fellow Clarksonian's studying at the University there. After grabbing drinks with them, we went our separate ways and rejoined the tour group for the "best fish and chips", according to our tour guide, at McDonough's. They certainly lived up to my expectations. At dinner we informed Ruari that we didn't want to leave Ireland, so he needed to find us two Irish men to wed. He suggested that we join his site "SheBay" - the EBay of women. 

On our way from Galway to Kerry, we journeyed through what is known as the Burren. The Burren is known for it's lunar landscape that is thought to be formed over 300 million years ago, the oldest landscape of this type in the world. While passing through, Ruari said he had a surprise for all of the ladies - a stop at a famous Irish chocolatier. The chocolate is homemade in the Burren with fresh Irish Milk, and was absolutely delicious. 

Another stop we made was at the 'Mini Cliffs'. When we arrived at the cliffs I was enchanted by their beauty, yet puzzled why they were called the Mini Cliffs because they were far from 'mini'. 

On the last day of the tour we did a group carriage ride through Killarney National Park.

Our horse Deliah guided us through the park for an hour providing us with wonderful views of McGillicuddy's Reeks, the highest mountain range in Ireland. We were also able to see Ireland's only native heard of red deer. 

Our tour eventually came to an end and we had to part ways with our Paddywagon crew. Our last meal in Dublin was at the oldest pub in Ireland - The Brazen Head. There we had an amazing Irish stew with, yet again, lamb. 

The next morning we went to the Guinness Storehouse, before heading back to Copenhagen, for a healthy breakfast - an ice cold Guinness. At the factory we became certified pourers of Guinness, only after completing all 6 steps correctly. By 11pm Marnie and I were on the top floor having our proper breakfast, and planning out how we were going to get away with stealing our cups. Luckily our scheming paid off, and we successfully added the Guinness cups to our collection. Cheers to that!

Something that I was incredibly grateful to be able to experience were the Celtic tales that our tour guide shared with us. My favorite tale was about the fairy rings in Ireland. Fairy rings are basically a group of trees that naturally form a perfect circle. Before the Celts inhabited Ireland, it was thought to believe that magical creatures, such as leprechauns and fairies, resided there. When the Celts tried to occupy the land, a war broke out. After many lives were shed, the Gods intervened and created a treaty between the two groups. The treaty indicated that the Celts would be granted access to the land and the magical creatures would be allowed to reside underground. In order to access the underground, fairy rings were created as portals. Because of this, fairy rings hold a great importance in Irish culture. It is thought that if one was to disturb a fairy ring, his or her family would be cursed for seven generations. There is only one documented case in history of the destruction of a fairy ring, and it was by an Irishman that later migrated to America. It seems as if the curse was legitimate because this popular American family, currently on it's seventh generation, has had a plethora of horrendous luck. Can you guess the family? - The Kennedy's. 

My favorite part of the trip was the Cliffs of Moher. It was made clear to me after seeing these cliffs, why the Mini Cliffs were allotted that name. I could write out all the reasons why it was my favorite, but words can't even begin to do it justice. We were beyond fortunate to be blessed with such a beautiful day here. It is truly a moment that I will hold with me forever and never forget!

While exploring the cliffs, we climbed to the top of O'Brien's Tower. The tower was built by Cornelius O'Brien in 1835 near the edge of the cliffs, in an attempt to impress the many women he courted. Marnie and I were impressed, although we were NOT courted.

Looking back, the decision to sit on the edge of the tallest cliffs in Europe was not one of my brightest ideas. It was definitely a bit intimidating, however, I made it out alive and got a pretty sweet memento. 

To say Ireland was amazing simply does not suffice. It was one of the most enchanting places I've been in my life and I am counting the seconds until I can return.

Until next time,
R- 

Four Cities, Two Days

If I were to ask you, "What do you associate with Belgium?" I think it's safe to assume that your response would include waffles and chocolate at some point. That was all I really knew about the country when we booked our $40 roundtrip from Copenhagen to Charleroi (an hour south of Brussels) for February 4th. The flight that we booked was with Ryanair. For those of you that have never flown with Ryanair - it's an experience to say the least. For the first time in my life I had to go outside to board the plane via a detachable staircase. The efficiency of the airlines however is astounding. The previous flight landed about 20 minutes prior to us taking off. So in that 20 minute period the incoming passengers were unloaded along with their baggage, the plane was fueled, and all outbound passengers were boarded. The flight was relatively quick, although Marnie and I were not seated next to each other. I was surrounded on all sides by happy couples that insisted on making me feel uncomfortable with their excessive amounts of affection. When we landed in Belgium, we were incredibly bitter because we didn't receive a stamp in our passport. We then made our way to the shuttle that would take us into Brussels center. As I said previously, I didn't have a great deal of knowledge about Belgium prior to coming, and it was made clear to me that it isn't exactly the safest place. There were numerous men in uniform walking around with rifles which was very alarming to me. Currently there are many middle eastern refugees that are fleeing to northern Europe which has in turn raised the level of security.

When we finally got into the city center from the shuttle we hailed a taxi to get to our hostel - Brussels isn't somewhere that you want to be wandering around at midnight. That night was our very first hostel experience, in the Meininger - Brussels, and it was not a good one. When we walked into our room, a shared 6 person dorm, we were greeted with a surplus of snoring. Marnie kept shushing the snoring man located on the top of her bunk, which greatly amused me. I quickly noted that earplugs were an essential for hostels that I so conveniently forgot. After a night of sleep, interrupted multiple times by our favorite dorm mate, we rose early in the morning to begin our exploration of Brussels. The city reminded me of a less populated NYC, with older architecture. Our first stop was at The Grand Place, home to gothic 17th century buildings. Numerous pictures were taken before proceeding to the next tourist attraction - Manneken Pis, also known as "The Peeing Boy".

Prior to seeing the statue, it intrigued me. Now that I've seen it, I can't help but wonder why it's famous? We had purchased waffles from the shop located next to the boy and the gummy that we received on top of our waffles of the peeing boy might have been bigger than the actual peeing boy. The waffles however lived up to my expectations - and then some.

My waffle was coated in Nutella, kiwi, strawberries, and whipped cream. The only negative thing I have to say about the waffles were the utensils given to us to eat them. Trying to consume a waffle with a minuscule, 2 pronged fork proved to be a colossal test of patience.

Our exploration in Brussels quickly came to a close as we made our way to Central Station to purchase a train ticket to Brugge. We bought a Go 10 rail pass for 50 Euros, which allowed us to split a total of 10 train trips. We hopped on the train and traveled to the magnificent Brugge. Immediately when I stepped off the train I fell in love with the city. A medieval - fairytale city is the best way I can describe it. Cobblestone streets and romantic canals are intertwined throughout. It is absolutely breathtaking. Our first expedition led us to a park- the home of our new favorite trees. We call them Jew trees, and I'm sure you can see why.

After exploring the park, we came across quite a sight - an asian lady with a fur hat and sky high heels. She was quite the fashionista, and I was lucky enough to capture the moment with immense secrecy. 

After exiting the park we found ourselves in a very quaint section of Brugge. We noticed a sign that informed visitors that pictures and talking was forbidden. Naturally this encouraged us to do both of these things. The community that we entered, Beguinage, is a section of Brugge that now serves as a Benedictine covenant. 

In the 16th century however, Beguines resided here. Beguines, simply put, are nuns that don't take any formal vows or oaths. It was refreshing to have the peace and harmony of the countryside in the heart of a city. Following our exit, we noticed a plethora of swans in the canal that ran perpendicular to the streets. I even witnessed the heart that two swans create with their necks!

After the swans, we followed the tall buildings that tower over the residential ones, which led us to the Markt. No matter the direction I looked I saw absolutely stunning architecture, a common theme in Belgium. The Markt consists of Belfort Tower, the Historium (a medieval history museum), and a colorful row of buildings that resemble a rainbow. 

After entering the medieval museum and deciding we didn't have enough time, we went and climbed Belfort Tower. The journey to the top was laborious due to the treacherous, and narrow spiral stone staircase. Three hundred and sixty six steps later we arrived at the top, and were welcomed with a chorus of bells, as if to congratulate our quest. The views from the tower were breathtaking. 

We were then ravenous after our trek, therefor a pit stop at Ellis Gourmet Burger was vital to refuel. The restaurant's free wifi helped us route the rest of our journey and following paying our checks, we decided to walk to the edge of Brugge to see the windmills. As we were on our way to the windmills, splashing noises from the river caught Marnie's attention. She quickly questioned, and I quote - "What kind of f**king duck is that?". Upon further investigation we realized it was not a duck at all. It was a bird that had strayed from his normal path and was drowning. Marnie being the humanitarian that she is, ran to the edge of the river, waited for the bird to come within reach and scooped him out of the water, and in the process almost fell in herself.

As she put him down on the grass she realized the bird was shaking from the cold water. Naturally, this inspired Marnie to so charitably wrap the bird in her hat and carry it around until the shaking ceased. Safe to say we received some incredibly strange looks from bystanders.

Marnie carried the bird around, as shown, for about 30 minutes before she hesitantly returned the bird to the grass. She did this only after pleading with me to smuggle the bird back to Denmark. Once I finally separated the two, brought together by destiny apparently, we finally made it to the windmills. The windmills were wooden and painted red, white, and blue which made me grin (MERICA). Being Environmental Engineering majors, obviously these windmills captivated Marnie and I more than it would most people. However, I would find them quite impressive regardless of my bias. 

After investigating the windmills we made our way back to the train station to move onto our next destination - Ghent. The train took a little over an hour, and upon arrival in Ghent a 1.5 mile walk stood between us and our Air BnB. On our walk we were approached by these two guys questioning if we knew where the Marriott was. Unable to help them - due to our lack of knowledge about Ghent - we went our separate ways. Oddly enough, we ended up crossing paths with these two on three more separate occasions for the duration of our 24 hour stay in Ghent. It's safe to say that either they were stalking us or we were stalking them - not sure which one though. 

Ghent's architecture greatly resembled that of Brugge: 13th-16th century Gothic. Following our departure from our Air BnB, with a bed that was sloped toward the middle - inevitably making Marnie and I radiate to one another throughout the entirety of the night, we stopped at a flea market. I purchased a bracelet that had consisted of the same colors as the Belgium flag. This bracelet ended up giving me hives, but we won't get into that. Next, we had our picture taken on St. Michael's bridge, an iconic tourist destination in Ghent, before making our way to my favorite part of the trip. The Gravensteen,  or "Castle of the Counts", was built in 1180 and is one of the oldest castles in Belgium. 

You can feel the history of the building almost immediately upon entrance. I think part of what made the experience so exciting was the fact that Marnie and I managed to gain free admission into the castle by pretending that we were 18 years old. We may look too young to get into bars back home, but we can get into castles for free so I ask you, "Whose really winning?" As we worked our way through the museum; armor, weapons, torture devices, and even a guillotine were scattered on the various levels of the castle. We again had to conquer the dreaded narrow spiral staircases in order to reach the top of the castle. It did prove to be worth the trouble because it gave us a picturesque birds-eye view of Ghent. 

As we were exploring Ghent we kept coming across candy carts that were selling these cone shaped gummies called Cuberndons. They have a hard outside and gelatinous inside, and are actually quite gross. However, we figured we should try them. The first cart we went to required us to buy a box of six, and we asked if we could just purchase one. Our request was declined, so we continued on to next cart after being directed to the nearest McDonald's by our gracious previous vendor. 

Our last tourist attraction in Ghent was Saint Nicholas' Church (11th century). Trust me, I have spent my fair share of time in churches and this was the most beautiful one I've ever seen. It's mammoth size demands the attention of spectators amid a bustling square. When inside, I lit a candle in my grandmother's honor - knowing that she is watching over me.

We tried changing our flight time back to Copenhagen to an earlier time because we had completed the three cities before we had originally anticipated. After finally finding wifi at a store similar to Best Buy, we managed to get a hold of Ryan Air and discovered it would be too expensive to change our flight. Let me just say, finding wifi when you need it is a surprisingly difficult task! Also Starbuck's wifi works about 1% of the time. Therefor use caution before purchasing a 5 Euro coffee in order to take advantage of their "fake" wifi. We attempted to make the most out of the situation and decided to hit one more city before heading to the airport - Antwerp.

According to trip advisor, the number one thing to do in Antwerp is to see the train station. When we finally arrived at the station I was astonished. I would describe it as Grand Central Station on steroids. 

With the exception of the train station, Antwerp was pretty lame. It was heavily commercialized and had hundreds of high end designers such as Chanel and Red by Valentino. All stores which Marnie and I could obviously afford on our college budget. Our time in Antwerp was brief with only a quick stop at Steen Castle, which in my opinion was far inferior to the Gravensteen. At the entrance of the castle there rests a famous statue called the Lange Wapper, who according to Antwerp folklore, was a giant that enjoyed teasing people. The Steen is also home to the world's oldest half hour glass which I insisted on turning over.

We took the train back to Brussels that night and returned to Grand Place to see it lit up. My rating of Brussels climbed a few steps solely because it is significantly more impressive at night.

We made two more stops before leaving - one to the same waffle place that Marnie loved so much from the first day, and the second to buy - you guessed it - CHOCOLATE (admit it you probably said chocolate in that raspy voice from SpongeBob). Ironically enough, I bought some and still have not tried it so I can't give you a reliable opinion on Belgian chocolate.

It was finally time to begin our journey back home. We caught the shuttle around 9 pm that night, and were thoroughly amused for the duration of the ride because of the drivers choice in music - the Mamma Mia soundtrack. When planning the trip I had this genius idea of spending our last night in the airport in order to save money, considering our flight was at 7am. THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA - with heavy emphasis on HORRIBLE. We ended up spending 9 hours in Charleroi, one of the world's crappiest airports as awarded by yours truly. After finally finding a seat at a desk with two computers, the countdown to takeoff began. People kept coming up to the desk and asking us questions because they thought we were employees. Although, we did help them if we were able to. By hour 6 I was incredibly grumpy and could not wait to get back home (crazy that I think of Copenhagen as home for the time being). When we landed back in Denmark the sky was the bluest I've seen it since arriving - mocking me as if it knew I was going to be sleeping for the remainder of the day. 

Our first European excursion was a complete success. It went surprisingly smoothly, and we were able to see so much of Belgium in such a short period - 4 cities in 2 days to be exact. For people that are considering traveling to Belgium I would suggest spending the majority of your time in Brugge, a day in Ghent, and your arrival/departure days in Brussels. 

Still debating whether to open my chocolate or not,

R-