Bunratty & Coole Park

March 23, 2011

As a group, we all went up to Bunratty for a feast! On our way to Bunratty, we stopped at two old monasteries: Clonmacnoise and Kilmacdough. We had a guided tour of Clonmacnoise and then just walked around Kilmacdough. They were both very interesting sights with a lot of history attached to them.

After our tours, we went to our B&B and had time to get some homework done before our feat at 9:00. The Bunratty Feast is quite an experience. Bunratty is an old castle that has been turned into a castle that can be toured and hosts these feats every evening. When you arrive, you go upstairs to a banquet hall where you are greeted by women dressed in medieval costumes and receive a glass of mead and there is a harpist playing in the center of the room. After a friendly welcome we went back downstairs to the room where everyone eats. We had a delicious four course meal and throughout the entire evening there was music and entertainment. It was a ton of fun, but definitely a touristy place.

The next morning we had a tour of the castle where we had dinner the night before and were given a chance to walk up the towers and see some of the rooms. After the tour of the castle, we walked around the folk park which had cottages from all over Ireland built there to represent what life was like in Ireland during certain time periods and for certain social classes. After Bunratty, we took the bus to Coole Park and walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather and being outside!

   

St. Patrick's Day

This year I had the great experience of  celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ireland! As a group, we all took the bus to Clifden to see the parade. St. Patrick's Day here is very much oriented for all ages as children participate in the parade and all have their faces painted and are dressed in green. The parade in Clifden is not a large parade, but what is unique is that it goes around the city three times! It was very cool to see the floats, some of them were very political, one made fun of the royal wedding at the end of this month.

After the parade, we went to Aldi to grocery shop. After everything had been scanned, we were told our total was 336 euro!! Heather (my roommate) and I freaked out because we have never spent that much on groceries and did not know how we had accumulated so much when the most expensive this we purchased was 4 euro. We looked at the receipt and saw that we were charged 199euro for a bag of potatoes!

After Clifden, we all returned to Tully Cross to celebrate the rest of St. Patrick's Day.

Spring Break 2011 - London

March 10 – March 12

After checking out in Vencie, we took an hour long bus ride to the airport where I was able to have my first Ryan Air experience. Ryan Air has very cheap flights and is unlike any company in the United States. You are only allowed to have one personal item with you on the flight and it has to be within a certain size limit and they make you prove that your bag will fit before you get on the flight. Also, there are no assigned seats on Ryan Air so when the gate opens it is a madhouse to get in line. Furthermore they board from both the front and the back of the plane so to get a seat; people will literally run to the back of the plane! Landing is also a very scary experience, when we landed we were going so fast I did not think we were going to be able to stop and we also landed at an angle and to correct it, the plane severely jerked whipping everyone on the plane from right to left. I do not have any problems flying but I was very scared! Once we landed in London we took an almost 2 hour bus into London and then found our hotel. We met up with another Aquinas girl and her friend and had fish and chips for dinner before calling it a night.

The next morning we walked to Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben and also walked to Downing Street. Downing Street is blocked off so we could only see limited things from behind the blockade. After walking around the government buildings we walked to Buckingham Palace and watched the changing of the guard. It was a forty minute ceremony and was elaborate. There was a band which played and guards on horses, very different from the changing of the guard in Athens. After the changing of the guard we walked to Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens and found the Peter Pan statue.   After the park, we stopped for lunch and then walked to the London Eye, bought our tickets and rode on the London Eye. We were so lucky because only 9 people were in our capsule while other capsules had almost 20 people! The view was incredible and you could see for miles around London. After the London Eye we went shopping where everywhere we turned there was William and Cate memorabilia! Seriously who buys and ash tray with their faces on it? I do not get the fascination with the tea towels, the plates, the t-shirts, I think it’s funny.

The next morning we walked to Harrod’s and walked around inside marveling at the prices and merchandise. When we walked in, I was afraid that I was going to get stopped at the door and asked to leave because I was in jeans and a t-shirt, but luckily I was allowed in :-). After Harrods we went to Kings Cross Station and I went to Platform 9 ¾ but unfortunately the portal had closed and I had to stay in the muggle world. After lunch, we went and saw the London Tower and walked across Tower Bridge and went on an adventure to find the Globe Theater, but we eventually made our way there. After walking around, we took the bus to Oxford Street and went shopping on Oxford and Regent Street. One of the highlights of the day was going into Hamley’s Toy Store. We were in the 7 story toy store for over an hour playing with the toys and seeing every floor. This toy store was so big that there was a candy shop and a Build-A-Bear store inside! After our evening shopping we went out to dinner and then packed for the next day of travel: a flight to Shannon and then 2 busses to get to Tully Cross!

Spring Break 2011 - Venice

March 7 – March 9

After checking out of our B&B, we walked to the train station and took the train to Venice. Taking the train through Italy was such a great decision because it gave us a chance to see the country side, although on the way to Venice we saw snow on the ground and that was a little disheartening, but when we arrived in Venice it was cold, but sunny! When we arrived we took a water taxi to our hostel and checked in before heading back out into the city. It was so refreshing to walk around and not have to worry about getting hit by cars or busses and crossing all the little bridges was so much fun! We walked to St. Marks Plaza which had been transformed into a huge stage for Carnival! Carnival in Venice is absolute madness. People of all ages are dressed up in elaborate costumes to celebrate and at night, St. Marks turned into one big disco! It was so much fun to walk around women and men in 19^th Century dresses and suits, while people my age are dressed up in the equivalent of Halloween costumes. We walked past St. Marks and saw the Bridge of Sighs before stopping for dinner and then went back to St. Marks to listen to the music and see everyone’s costumes.

Our next day in Venice was Marti Gras! We got our faces painted which was so much fun, although after a while it started to itch and I would forget that half my face was covered in glitter and paint and it would startle me. After getting our faces painted, we walked to a point across from San Marco and looked at the bay and saw Venice from another perspective. We spent the rest of the day just walking around and taking in the mass craziness that Venice turned into. Every street was jam-packed and it was like one big party. We stopped in San Marco to watch the crowning of “The Maria of Carnival” the only way to describe what it was is to compare it to a Miss America pageant except that the winner was waiting backstage to be brought out. After dinner, the streets of Venice we packed with people around my age and the music was blasting as Venice turned into an even bigger party. At midnight, there is a silent regatta of gondolas to welcome in Lent. It was an amazing sight to see so many gondolas coming down the Grand Canal and they were all lead by a trumpet at the front.

Wednesday we went to mass at the San Marco Basilica where we learned that in Italy, they do not put a cross of ashes on your forehead. Instead the priest takes a pile of ashes and dumps it on the top of your head and then spreads them in your hair/on your head. It was a very interesting cultural shock, something I was not expecting. After mass, we had lunch and then went on a gondola ride!! Although it was so expensive, it was totally worth it! We started in the Grand Canal and then went under the Bridge of Sighs and passed by Casanova’s house and Marco Polo’s house as well. The entire gondola ride was about 45 minutes. After that, we went and sat by the Grand Canal and walked to the Rialto. It was amazing how depopulated the city of Venice was when carnival was over. We definitely went to Venice at the right time, because I think if we went any other time, there would not be a lot going on. That night we went back to the hostel and packed and got ready for London. 

Spring Break 2011 - Florence

March 5 – March 6

We checked out of our hostel in the morning and walked to the trains station where I had my first nervous fit of the trip. Our train was not showing up on the departure board, the only train at the time our tickets said was for Milan, luckily we found a board and realized that Florence is one of the stops on the way to Milan, so we were able to board and get on our train, but not without a moment of panic. When we arrived in Florence, the owner of the B&B we stayed in, Leonardo, was waiting for us and walked us to where we were staying. After we unpacked we went to the lobby where he got a map and planned out what we should do for the afternoon. Florence is not as big of a city as I expected and we were able to cover the city in the afternoon. We walked to the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Veccho and walked by the Medici House (Plazzo Pitta) and the Basilica di Santa Croce. While were walking around I found a store named Edison, appropriately enough it was a bookstore (for all the reading my mom and sister do). We had dinner and went out for delicious Tiramisu!

The next morning we woke up to sun and warm weather and enjoyed a nice lunch outside before walking to the Plaza de Michelangelo. The plaza is at the top of a hill and we had to walk up a bunch of stairs before reaching the top, but the view was totally worth it. A common theme for this trip is that in every city thus far I have climbed to the top of a building or in this case a hill and had a spectacular view of the city. After climbing back down, we went and saw the original David statue which in reality is not life size like I thought it would be, but actually really big. Since it was Sunday, we went to mass inside the Duomo, it was all in Italian and I was not really able to understand anything except for a few words here and there, but it was such a unique experience. After mass, we went back to dinner and then back to our room to pack for Venice!