Updates

So my computer's memory was full for quite a while, but I've cleared some space in hopes to get the rest of my pictures developed and posted onto my blog. The cities that are left are Vienna, Munich, Venice, Rome, and London. Then I also have some pictures from my Sister's Visit. More pictures should be posted soon!

Plan for the rest of my time abroad:
- Trip to Scotland (Edinburgh or Glasgow)
- Trip to Northern Ireland
- Trip up to Limerick

Sisters' Visit!

So we met up in London, but then flew into Shannon after two days. Stayed in a hotel in Limerick and had Easter dinner over at the McGinns. The next day we rented a car from Shannon and we went to Lemonfield to see Mammo's property, the Limerick cemetery, Thomond Park, and then to Kitty and Timmy Kellys. It's much easier getting around by car now, then by bus! We had a great time at the Kellys catching up and hearing stories of our family. Definitely going to try to see them one more time before I ship out of Ireland. We checked out of our hotel the following day and headed into Co. Clare. We stopped by Bunratty beforehand to see the castle and old medieval grounds. We then drove up to Lahinch, which was a beautiful beach. Would love to be here in the summertime. From there we went to the Cliffs of Moher and then up to Doolin. We stayed in a hostel up in Doolin and were able to hear some trad music at McGann's pub. The next day we caught a ferry over to the Aran Island, Inisheer. The island is very remote and quiet. We checked out most of the things to do there. Molly said that they have an intense summer program to master the language of Gaelic; sounds pretty interesting to me! From Doolin we drove all the way to Cork. Stopped by Tesco to pick up supplies for a tasty dinner. Had a nice relaxing night and then met up with some soccer friends for a beer. Headed back for our early day. We drove down to Kinsale with perfect weather conditions! Last time I was there, it was stormy and you could barely see in front of yourself. We checked out the James and Charles Fort. We had to grab some lunch because Kinsale is the capital of food in Ireland, but that means a pricey meal! Shopped for some gifts for family and friends and then trekked off back to Cork. We went to the English Market to pick up some more goods for dinner that night and the market is a must visit when you're in Cork! Headed to Blarney Castle afterward and Molly and Noreen kissed the Blarney stone! Figured I didn't need to since I've been a victim of the stone once before. Wandered through the poison garden next to the castle, yes a poison garden. Be careful not to breath too close to any of the plants! They all have warning signs of terrible effects. Quite an interesting garden though. We went back to my apartment and made a big dinner again and relaxed for the night, chit chatting about our trip so far. The next day we took a quick trip through my school and then headed to Co. Kerry. We drove all the way to Dingle, but stopped at Inch beach on the way (on Dingle Peninsula). Inch beach was class just as Lahinch. Dingle is an awesome little town! Again, would love to spend some more time here. Everything is in Gaelic (so that class sure came in handy). Didn't have enough time to see Fungi the Dingle Dolphin, but were able to walk around a bit. We took the Connor Pass (which is the highest mountain pass in Ireland) which becomes one lane at points winding around mountain cliffs! It gives you quite an amazing view! They have a stone up there dedicated to Doolin's sister city - Santa Barbara (a little taste of California). We took the N69 route that goes along the Shannon River to Limerick. We made it back to Limerick and hung out at the McGinns for the night. The following day, we returned the car and made our way to Thomond Park for Munster's semi-final in the Amlin Cup. Unfortunately Munster lost, but the experience was fantastic! This weekend was Limerick's River Fest, so many things were happening. We met up with the McGinns for dinner and then went to an outside event with music. We waited until the fireworks were to go off over the Shannon and we took a walk to the River. The fireworks capped our night. The girls were off early the next morning. The Limerick marathon, half-marathon, and 10k were going on the next day. So I stuck around to see Christina run the 10k, congrats Christina! I think my sisters and I made great use out of 99s during their visit! We had one almost everyday. Avoid the tourist spots though because they like to change the motto of 99 cents to 2.20 Euro. All in all, we managed to cram in a rather large number of places and had a fantastic time!

London, England

Arrived in London on Wednesday, the 20th of April. Met up with my friend in King's Cross and dropped my things off at his apartment. Went to catch the Arsenal vs. Tottenham game. The bars get pretty packed for any English league game. Watched the end of the Barcelona vs. Real game as well and then grabbed some food and hung out at his apartment. Next day we walked around LSE (London School of Economics) and went to the Courtauld House. I went to Uncle Paddy's place that night and caught up; we had a great time. My sisters flew in the next day. After a long hassle of phones not working and mixed terminals, we made it to our hotel (which was another fiasco due to the lack of sign on the building). Relaxed a bit and then headed out to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Parliament Building. We checked out the Tate Modern Museum. It's mostly modern art (which can get a little weird), but many of the artists I learned about in my 3-D design class last semester. So I found it really interesting being able to see the artist's work right in front of my eyes. We went back and grabbed some food. The next day we met Uncle Paddy, Damien, and Sean Reidy at Harrod's Dept. Store. Noreen bought some chocolate and then we headed out to check out more of London. We went the British Museum (that holds all the items stolen by the British from around the world), walked through Camden (very similar to the atmosphere in Venice, California) and stopped for some Pimms, St. Paul's Cathedral, walked the Millennium bridge, took a ferry ride down the Thames River, and all in 33 degress Celcius/91 Fahrenheit. After the ferry, it began to pour. We looked into taking the London Eye ride (gigantic ferris wheel that takes 30 minutes to go 360 degrees so you get a slow paced view of the city), but it was too long of a wait. We grabbed some dinner and had a few pints to call it a day. Back to Ireland!

Rome, Italy

Been soo busy lately! Back in Cork now, but needing to update my blog with a lot of information:

Arrived in Rome on Friday, the 16th of April and left for London, England on Wendesday, the 20th of April. Stayed with two friends from Wheaton who are studying abroad there, Pablo and Chris. We headed to their apartment and relaxed from our day of traveling. For dinner, we bought some Italian pizza and a suppli (which is delicious!). We met up with some of their friends at an Irish pub (they're all over Europe). During my visit, we walked all over Rome. We saw the Spanish Steps, Piazza di Spagna, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Via del Corso, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Colonna, Palazzo di Giustizia, Piazza della Repubblica, Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (The Wedding Cake), Castel Sant'Angelo, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, St. Peter's Basillica, the Vatican Museum, which has the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Square. I met up with a family friend, Tony Forte, who is a priest in Rome who teaches at a school by the Trevi Fountain. We had dinner and walked around the city for a little bit. He told us every little detail about the Trevi fountain. We went to the mass in St. Peter's Square on Sunday that was given by Pope Benedict XVI. We made our own Italian dinner with pasta, tomato sauce, and carbonera. It totaled for about 5 Euro; an extremely cheap and delicious dinner! Tony had taken us to the Vatican on Monday and gave us a great tour with detail you wouldn't find in a book! Such a unique place packed with history. Went to dinner at an Italian family's house that is friends with Tony. Tuesday, I went to the Ardeatine Memorial with Tony. This memorial was about the 135 Italians that were dragged from Rome to an outside village, Aredeatine, and massacred in a cave. The actions were brought on by two communist Italians that threw grenades at passing German troops (killing 33 Nazis). The massacre was Hitler's response. Pope Benedict XVI visited the memorial a few weeks before us. Tuesday night, I went to the Roma vs. Inter game. Italian fans are insane! Flares were shot off from the fans at all points of the game and whenever a Roma player missed a shot, all the fans would kick the seats or glass that was next them. Quite the experience! Definitely going to have to go back to Rome someday because there is too much history to see in 5 days!

Osttirol Photos

Here are the pictures from Osttirol, Austria; terrible scenery! Enjoy:

Venice, Italy

Arrived in Venice later in the evening on Wednesday the 13th. Our orginal hostel failed, but they gave us a number to another hostel. I called, but the lady didn't speak any English, but after a few minutes I booked a room. The place was awful though. Terrible service and the place smelled like crap, literally. Matt and I woke up at 6am to the sun beaming through the no-curtained windows. At around 7am, construction next door kept us up for the rest of the day. We checked out as soon as possible and with great difficulty found another hostel. It was 10x better and the guy at reception was very sympathetic with our awful experience the night before. Without further ado, we headed towards St. Mark's Square. We took the boat bus down the Grand Canal, which was pretty cool. Gondola's were definitely out of the budget (around 80 Euro a ride). Walked into St. Mark's Square and immediately went into St. Mark's Cathedral. We weren't supposed to take photos, but everyone seemed to disregard that request so I took some as well. Cathedrals have become the norm for me traveling throughout Europe, but it has been a pleasure exploring the myriad of churches. We then decided to just walk around the maze-like streets and canals. The streets are consumed with shops and pestering men trying to sell useless trinkets and ripped off designer bags. The shops are full of pricey clothes and blown glass from Murano Island (just a short boat ride north of Venice). The narrow streets and canals have a lot of character. They were a blast to walk through. We checked out a few bars at night just to get a tiny taste of the night life. We enjoyed a much needed quiet night of sleep. We left for Rome on Friday.

Munich, Germany

Arrived in Munich, Sunday night on the 10th. Martin and his friend met up with us at the train station and we took it easy and made some food. Next day we took out some bikes to see the city. The river in Munich is the cleanest river I've ever seen in any city; you could actually see the floor. It was a gorgeous day and people sat out by the river and were swimming. We biked along the river into the City Center passing by the Opera House, the Old and New Town Hall, and went up to some tower for a view of Munich. We checked out Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, known as the largest Beer Hall in the world. Since it was such a nice day out, we rode over to the English Garden by some canals and hung out in the beautiful weather. Had a dinner that is popular in Munich that is white asparagus with potatoes and a special sauce; quite tasty! Tuesday, we found a tour to see Dachau Concentration Camp. Quite depressing to see all of the things that happened there. Definitely puts things into perspective when you see it with your own eyes. The place was massive so took a few hours to see everything, including the crematorium. Had a delicious pasta dinner that night and checked out some unusual but very relaxing bars that night. Wednesday we caught our train down to Venice, about 7 to 8 hours. Pictures for past trips coming soon!