Yeah I bet that title got your attention...
I checked into Glasgow in the late afternoon, but it is not dark until after 10:30pm, so with plenty of sunlight I set out to orient myself. Glasgow was once a huge industrial money-maker for Scotland from textile factories to ship building. It also served as the European port for Virginia tobacco. However, after WWII it's industrial golden age (which actually added a layer of black soot to much of the city) came to a closure. The city is in the middle of a artistic revival. The Glasgow School of Art was two blocks away from my guest house. Along with the arts comes interesting restaurants and expensive shopping. While I only window shopped, it was interesting to see parts of post-industrial Glasgow transformed while other neighborhoods still awaited a face lift.
Taking advantage of having my own bedroom and bathroom, I headed to bed early after a nice long shower, which didn't include flip-flops nor the need to continually push a button to get water.
Day two in Glasgow proved to be exciting. I headed to the Kelvingrove Museum. After unintentionally taking the scenic route I found the museum. The Kelvingrove houses an eclectic collection ranging from natural history to world history to art to human rights. I was mesmerized my the honey beehive with bees busily cleaning and building the hive and honey. I also watched for 10 minutes as a drone bee was born. A drone bee is the stud of the hive and his job is to knock up the queen bee. After the bees I wander into the Ancient Egypt exhibit only to be forced out by a fire alarm. I felt horrible for the school teachers who after collecting scattered children then had to keep them calm and collected outside for nearly an hour. I took the opportunity to get some lunch from a vendor (who was clearly benefiting from the alarm) and chatted with an older couple from Sterling. They invited me to come to their home for dinner if I was going to be in Sterling at any point. Sadly I will not make it to Sterling, but they were wonderful company while the firemen verified the false alarm.
I spent the rest of the evening at the museum until closing at 6ish. I decide to take a walk along the Buchanan Street, which has no vehicle traffic. However, that changed on this particular day as a half-a-dozen emergency vehicles raced from behind me and then stopped several building ahead. Having no agenda I decided to investigate the drama. I immediately wished I had decided other wise. A man was standing atop a 5 story building threatening to jump. If anyone was thinking the jump would cause only severe injury and not be fatal he corrected them by tossing objects down to show otherwise. It was terrifying yet it was hard to walk away. But I did and not wanting to know the actual outcome, I have simply assume the man was talked down and then taken to the nearest hospital for help.
That night I made dinner and packed for an early departure to Portree on the Isle of Skye.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo and Preparation for RyanAir
After spending so much time in cities I decided I needed some green space.
I discovered the acres and acres of Phoenix Park, which include several un-noteworthy monuments, a plethora of cyclist, runners, and a collection of very non-Irish animals (the Dublin Zoo). The Zoo is what one would expect from a zoo plenty of exotic animals, held in cages that upon further thought seem rather prison like. The zoo perhaps not as large as the National Zoo in Washington D.C. does seem to do a better job of providing natural climates.
Later that evening I cooked dinner for myself in the hostel and hung out with 2 girls from Northwestern, rather they were entertained by my luggage weight predicament. The hostel was one of the few that did not have scale and so I was left to guess at the weight of my duffel and backpack. Although, Ariel, one of the Northwestern girls, played college basketball, thus spent a good amount of time in the weight room. I used her expertise of weights to more accurately judge my luggage weight. Ryan Air is notorious for its amazingly cheep flights (my ticket was 0.49 Euros + tax) and for its ability to charge fees. My checked bag could not excede 15kg (33lbs) and carry-on 10 kg (22 lbs). The weight was not combinable and I was banking on the fact that they would not weigh my carry-on. They also have a policy of absolutely only 1 carry-on. So my purse had to fit into my backpack. Not only was my backpack stuffed with my heaviest items I took layering to a new level.
I planned to wear:
I discovered the acres and acres of Phoenix Park, which include several un-noteworthy monuments, a plethora of cyclist, runners, and a collection of very non-Irish animals (the Dublin Zoo). The Zoo is what one would expect from a zoo plenty of exotic animals, held in cages that upon further thought seem rather prison like. The zoo perhaps not as large as the National Zoo in Washington D.C. does seem to do a better job of providing natural climates.
Later that evening I cooked dinner for myself in the hostel and hung out with 2 girls from Northwestern, rather they were entertained by my luggage weight predicament. The hostel was one of the few that did not have scale and so I was left to guess at the weight of my duffel and backpack. Although, Ariel, one of the Northwestern girls, played college basketball, thus spent a good amount of time in the weight room. I used her expertise of weights to more accurately judge my luggage weight. Ryan Air is notorious for its amazingly cheep flights (my ticket was 0.49 Euros + tax) and for its ability to charge fees. My checked bag could not excede 15kg (33lbs) and carry-on 10 kg (22 lbs). The weight was not combinable and I was banking on the fact that they would not weigh my carry-on. They also have a policy of absolutely only 1 carry-on. So my purse had to fit into my backpack. Not only was my backpack stuffed with my heaviest items I took layering to a new level.
I planned to wear:
- Hiking boots
- jeans with my belt under my sweat pants
- 3 shirts
- my winter coat
- and every single pocket stuffed
As you an imagine going through the security was a comical and slow process. But all that mattered was my checked bag only weighed 13.1 kg and my backpack was not weighed. The moment I picked my checked bag up I stripped and emptied my backpack's heavy contents.
As I rode the bus into Glasgow (Scotland) I felt a great much more relaxed than I had in several days. I am not quite sure why or even why I was uptight to begin with, but the change was a relief. I think it may of had something to do with the Scottish accent, it still has me smiling.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Arriving in Dublin and the Book of Kells and Guinness
Crystal and I took the bus to Dublin. The buses here have the ability to put me to sleep within 20 minutes, which certainly passes the time faster. My hostel, Isaac's Hostel, was conveniently directly across from the bus station and a dart stop. While Crystal and I would both be staying in Dublin for nearly the same amount of time we each picked a different hostel, but agreed to meet up at 7:30 for dinner and drinks.
Isaac's was a nice hostel, but my room was huge. Now you may be thinking... why is that a but. Well, a large room means there were 13 other beds in the room. However, it turned out to be an all girls' room which helps some.
After dropping my bags and getting a shower I set off to orient myself in the large city of Dublin. For those of you who have traveled to an old city in Europe you will understand how difficult it is to orientate oneself. Most blocks are more oval than square, because the streets wind through the city and frequently change names. The locals say this is great because once you know the city it is very easy to locate something by its street name and is there is hardly a need for street numbers. As a tourist and a struggling navigator this was mind boggling and a mild form of torture. After several hours of exploring and round-about routes I found myself back at my hostel. BUT I did have a better sense of my location and had found the sculpture where I was suppose to meet Crystal- the spire. The spire is a metal cone that points 120 meters into the sky. However, due to the growing issues of drug use in Dublin it is often referred to as a needle by locals.
There are many different statues and sculptures along O'Connell Street to commemorate different people and moments and time. Intersecting O'Connell Street at the spire is Earl Street (well it is Earl Street at one point) which is great for people watching, window shopping or actual shopping. Earl Street turned out to be the most direct route to my Hostel which I did not discover until after I went the most indirect route.
Dinner with Crystal was delicious and very Irish, so I was only able to finish part of my meal. Afterwards, we headed to a bar called the wool shed, owned by a couple of Aussie guys. Crystal wanted to check it out and I had no better suggestions so we went. It was fun and hilarious. Thursday night is karaoke night- always a good laugh.
Friday morning I woke up with ambitions to visit Trinity College and the Guinness Storehouse. Very stereotypical things to do, but I could not image coming to Dublin and not visiting the two icons of the city. I walk across town to Trinity and explored the campus for a bit before going to the Book of Kells Museum. The word Kells literally means old so it is the book of old. Indeed it is the book is estimated to be from 800 AD and written by monks. The process of making the book was quite tedious so I can not imagine anyone other than a monk creating this piece of work. Many of the pages are decorated in the most intricate detail that it's creator must have had a surplus of patience. The binding of the book, creation of the cover and page material was a long process in of itself. The museum had a video of a man going through the process to create the pages from calf vellum (mammal skin used for writing). The entire book is written in Latin and includes the four gospels. However, the monks incorporated many Celtic traditions into the book, such as drawings of elaborate Celtic knots. The idea of blending of traditions was also used by St. Patrick and his evangelism endeavors. St. Patrick combined the Celtic sun-cross with the Christian cross to incorporate the idea that the Christian cross, like the sun-cross is a source of life. These monks and early priests were very clever men.
After visiting the old writing of Christianity I felt that I needed to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and of the city to learn about the brewing process.
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is the original factory from 1759. Although technologies have changed the basic ideas and original buildings have not changed for the makers of Guinness. The four ingredients are
Isaac's was a nice hostel, but my room was huge. Now you may be thinking... why is that a but. Well, a large room means there were 13 other beds in the room. However, it turned out to be an all girls' room which helps some.
After dropping my bags and getting a shower I set off to orient myself in the large city of Dublin. For those of you who have traveled to an old city in Europe you will understand how difficult it is to orientate oneself. Most blocks are more oval than square, because the streets wind through the city and frequently change names. The locals say this is great because once you know the city it is very easy to locate something by its street name and is there is hardly a need for street numbers. As a tourist and a struggling navigator this was mind boggling and a mild form of torture. After several hours of exploring and round-about routes I found myself back at my hostel. BUT I did have a better sense of my location and had found the sculpture where I was suppose to meet Crystal- the spire. The spire is a metal cone that points 120 meters into the sky. However, due to the growing issues of drug use in Dublin it is often referred to as a needle by locals.
There are many different statues and sculptures along O'Connell Street to commemorate different people and moments and time. Intersecting O'Connell Street at the spire is Earl Street (well it is Earl Street at one point) which is great for people watching, window shopping or actual shopping. Earl Street turned out to be the most direct route to my Hostel which I did not discover until after I went the most indirect route.
Dinner with Crystal was delicious and very Irish, so I was only able to finish part of my meal. Afterwards, we headed to a bar called the wool shed, owned by a couple of Aussie guys. Crystal wanted to check it out and I had no better suggestions so we went. It was fun and hilarious. Thursday night is karaoke night- always a good laugh.
Friday morning I woke up with ambitions to visit Trinity College and the Guinness Storehouse. Very stereotypical things to do, but I could not image coming to Dublin and not visiting the two icons of the city. I walk across town to Trinity and explored the campus for a bit before going to the Book of Kells Museum. The word Kells literally means old so it is the book of old. Indeed it is the book is estimated to be from 800 AD and written by monks. The process of making the book was quite tedious so I can not imagine anyone other than a monk creating this piece of work. Many of the pages are decorated in the most intricate detail that it's creator must have had a surplus of patience. The binding of the book, creation of the cover and page material was a long process in of itself. The museum had a video of a man going through the process to create the pages from calf vellum (mammal skin used for writing). The entire book is written in Latin and includes the four gospels. However, the monks incorporated many Celtic traditions into the book, such as drawings of elaborate Celtic knots. The idea of blending of traditions was also used by St. Patrick and his evangelism endeavors. St. Patrick combined the Celtic sun-cross with the Christian cross to incorporate the idea that the Christian cross, like the sun-cross is a source of life. These monks and early priests were very clever men.
After visiting the old writing of Christianity I felt that I needed to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and of the city to learn about the brewing process.
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is the original factory from 1759. Although technologies have changed the basic ideas and original buildings have not changed for the makers of Guinness. The four ingredients are
- Barley
- Water
- Hops
- Yeast
They are added in that order. The barley is roasted at high temperatures and then allow to sit. After sitting and spouting it is crushed in a mill and then water from the mountains surrounding Dublin (where the water comes from is apparently key) is added, then after some more sitting a soaking the hops are added until they dissolve. Then after additional sitting or "flavor development period" the yeast is added to ferment the mixture. The yeast is not all completely used as some is saved to generate more yeast. So the yeast today is the great great great x 100 grandchild of the orginial yeast. The museum allows vistors to sample the different Guinness brews and I confirmed that I still do not like Guinness.
On the other floors of the museum there information on Advertising History and of course Guinness gear (anything you can image with Guinness logo on it).
That night at my hostel there was BBQ, so Crystal and I went and then out for traditional Irish music.
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