And here I am, back at Muhlenberg after a great semester!
The flight was fine...long, but what I expected. Finished a book or two, and took a nap. Met my parents at the airport, drove down to the Berg, and dropped off my stuff. Next morning, we drove down to Virgina (after a nice lunch) and got all ready for the graduation party, which was a lot of fun. Then drove back to Muhlenberg, and here I am!
It was a great experience, I'm really lucky to have been able to have gone. Thanks for reading about it. Hope you enjoyed the blog!
Love,
Justin
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Dublin, take 2
Last trip of the season, I fear, but it was a fun one. Dan and I went to Dublin for a day. We had to get up really early to catch the bus, and it took like 3 hours to get there. But get there we did, then we went right over to the book of Kells, which was AMAZING. It told us all about how they made Vellum (calf skin) and binded the book together, and about the symbolism of some of the symbols and stuff. I hadn't realized how small, and thus intricate the book was. It was really amazing how fine the detail looked, even after all these years. It was stunning. Then there was this old library we walked through to get out that had lots of old books like that, too.
Then we walked to go to a river cruise, but luckily the tide was out and not due back in until 4pm, cuz I didn't want to go anyway. So after that we went to the tourist office to find out how to get to the brewery and newgrange, an place built 1000 years before Stonehenge, with a hole in a rock formation that only catches the light on the winter solstice. But it was too far out of the way for us to go, unfortunately. So we continued on to the guiness factory, which was neat. We learned all about how guiness was made, from the barley (it's the roast barely that gives the drink its distinctive dark red, almost black look) to mashing the barley, to adding water, to adding yeast, to boiling it, to adding hops (which act as a preservative as well as adding flavor, so they'd load up the beers with hops if they had to go on long journeys overseas). We saw some cool guiness ads, learned how to sample different beers (but they only gave us one...jerks), and got to the top where they let you pour your own pint, which was neat. I tried to make a shamrock, but it didn't work out too well. There's a picture. Also, little known fact, it takes a guiness exactly 119.5 seconds to completely settle. After that, it was getting kind of late, and shops were closing down, so we took an earlier bus back, which was way to long and hot and I felt sick on. But we got back, and there you have it. The last trip in Ireland. Probably.
So thanks for reading about my travels, hope you enjoyed them, and I'm sure I'll be telling all of you about them in person fairly soon.
Love,
Justin
Pictures:
Then we walked to go to a river cruise, but luckily the tide was out and not due back in until 4pm, cuz I didn't want to go anyway. So after that we went to the tourist office to find out how to get to the brewery and newgrange, an place built 1000 years before Stonehenge, with a hole in a rock formation that only catches the light on the winter solstice. But it was too far out of the way for us to go, unfortunately. So we continued on to the guiness factory, which was neat. We learned all about how guiness was made, from the barley (it's the roast barely that gives the drink its distinctive dark red, almost black look) to mashing the barley, to adding water, to adding yeast, to boiling it, to adding hops (which act as a preservative as well as adding flavor, so they'd load up the beers with hops if they had to go on long journeys overseas). We saw some cool guiness ads, learned how to sample different beers (but they only gave us one...jerks), and got to the top where they let you pour your own pint, which was neat. I tried to make a shamrock, but it didn't work out too well. There's a picture. Also, little known fact, it takes a guiness exactly 119.5 seconds to completely settle. After that, it was getting kind of late, and shops were closing down, so we took an earlier bus back, which was way to long and hot and I felt sick on. But we got back, and there you have it. The last trip in Ireland. Probably.
So thanks for reading about my travels, hope you enjoyed them, and I'm sure I'll be telling all of you about them in person fairly soon.
Love,
Justin
Pictures:
 |
| Dublin |
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Two trips for the price of one!
So, a few quick trips. First we went to Dingle for an overnight, which was quite fun. Stayed at the Grapevine hostel, got some shopping done, walked along the harbor for a bit, and then went to the pub for a drink and some great music. Interestingly, when we got back to the hostel, there was an older guy in our room (it was an 8 person room, the only one they had left), and he didnt' have any pants on while he was sleeping. Quite nude from the waist down, which is usually where you keep your clothes. Ah, well, an experience, anyway.
The next morning, we got up, went to a great bakery, and started chatting with the proprieter, which was kinda cool. For the first hour. Then we missed our bus. Yet still we kept talking
3 hours later we FINALLY got out of there, and none to soon. He had some great stories (they passed a law outlawing the name Dingle, they can only call it An Daigain, the Gaelic name, even though the population voted to overturn it by a 95% majority. So his son made a 16-foot high sign out of wood that looks like the hollywood sign, and it says Dingle.) Interesting stories, but not 3 hours interesting.
So then we'd missed our bus, so we walked around again for a while, before catching the bus back. Really pretty scenery.
Part II
Then this weekend I travelled to Leeds to see Nana and Gramps. It was quite a lovely trip. Got in on Friday morning, after not being able to find the taxi that was supposed to pick me up. I got in a bit early, I guess, and I didn't see him, so I walked to where they parked, then figured I should go back, and then found him. It took about 45 minutes to make it to Nana and Gramp's, and then we had a great Irish breakfast of eggs and bacon. Then we relaxed for a bit before going to the coal museum, which was actually a more fun than that sounds (though I guess that's not hard).Afterwards, we watched some snooker on TV, which is a really cool game! it's like pool, except better. You have 5 colored balls on the table, and then a triangle full of red ones. You have to sink a red ball, then you hit a colored ball, then a red, then a colored. The balls all have different points: red 1, yellow 2, green 3, brown, pink, and black at 7. When you hit a colored ball in, they take it out and put it back in its position. So you hit a red, then you hit the black, and that gives you 8 points (1 for red, 7 for black). but then they put the black back, so you can hit a different red, then the black again, for another 8 points. And you keep going until you can't hit a ball any more. And once all the reds are in, you have to hit the colored balls in the pockets in order. It's really great! we watched the championship, too. Then we went to a fish and chip shop, which was great, and they knew the waitress, which was cool. Afterwards we went to the golf club, which was really nice. Beautiful inside and outside. I tried some English beers, which was fun. Afterwards, we headed to bed, since it'd been a long day for me.
Next day I was supposed to meet up with a friend in Leeds, but she didn't get back to me, so we walked around Sandal castle, which was really cool. Only a few walls still stand, but it was still cool. Then Gramps and I had a half pint at a local pub, and then we headed out to the sculpture museum, which was pretty neat. Then Nana and Gramps had some friends over, which was nice to get to talk to them. (and yes, the phrase "cheeky monkey" was uttered). Then Bright and Early I got up, drove to the airport, got on the plane, only to have the stairs not retract back into the plane. Yup. So the other engineers couldn't' fix it, because the other planes didn't have retractable stairs. So they were going to fly a guy over from Dublin, but we ended up taking a ryanair plane that had just flown in and taking that back to Shannon, so i ended up back in Shannon at 11 instead of 9, so it was fine. Luckily it was at that leg of the flight. And now I'm back safe and sound!
Maybe one more trip to Dublin to go...
The next morning, we got up, went to a great bakery, and started chatting with the proprieter, which was kinda cool. For the first hour. Then we missed our bus. Yet still we kept talking
3 hours later we FINALLY got out of there, and none to soon. He had some great stories (they passed a law outlawing the name Dingle, they can only call it An Daigain, the Gaelic name, even though the population voted to overturn it by a 95% majority. So his son made a 16-foot high sign out of wood that looks like the hollywood sign, and it says Dingle.) Interesting stories, but not 3 hours interesting.
So then we'd missed our bus, so we walked around again for a while, before catching the bus back. Really pretty scenery.
 |
| Dingle for the Weekend |
Part II
Then this weekend I travelled to Leeds to see Nana and Gramps. It was quite a lovely trip. Got in on Friday morning, after not being able to find the taxi that was supposed to pick me up. I got in a bit early, I guess, and I didn't see him, so I walked to where they parked, then figured I should go back, and then found him. It took about 45 minutes to make it to Nana and Gramp's, and then we had a great Irish breakfast of eggs and bacon. Then we relaxed for a bit before going to the coal museum, which was actually a more fun than that sounds (though I guess that's not hard).Afterwards, we watched some snooker on TV, which is a really cool game! it's like pool, except better. You have 5 colored balls on the table, and then a triangle full of red ones. You have to sink a red ball, then you hit a colored ball, then a red, then a colored. The balls all have different points: red 1, yellow 2, green 3, brown, pink, and black at 7. When you hit a colored ball in, they take it out and put it back in its position. So you hit a red, then you hit the black, and that gives you 8 points (1 for red, 7 for black). but then they put the black back, so you can hit a different red, then the black again, for another 8 points. And you keep going until you can't hit a ball any more. And once all the reds are in, you have to hit the colored balls in the pockets in order. It's really great! we watched the championship, too. Then we went to a fish and chip shop, which was great, and they knew the waitress, which was cool. Afterwards we went to the golf club, which was really nice. Beautiful inside and outside. I tried some English beers, which was fun. Afterwards, we headed to bed, since it'd been a long day for me.
Next day I was supposed to meet up with a friend in Leeds, but she didn't get back to me, so we walked around Sandal castle, which was really cool. Only a few walls still stand, but it was still cool. Then Gramps and I had a half pint at a local pub, and then we headed out to the sculpture museum, which was pretty neat. Then Nana and Gramps had some friends over, which was nice to get to talk to them. (and yes, the phrase "cheeky monkey" was uttered). Then Bright and Early I got up, drove to the airport, got on the plane, only to have the stairs not retract back into the plane. Yup. So the other engineers couldn't' fix it, because the other planes didn't have retractable stairs. So they were going to fly a guy over from Dublin, but we ended up taking a ryanair plane that had just flown in and taking that back to Shannon, so i ended up back in Shannon at 11 instead of 9, so it was fine. Luckily it was at that leg of the flight. And now I'm back safe and sound!
Maybe one more trip to Dublin to go...
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