Today we went for a bike ride- Our driver took us to Honghua Lake, the local reservoir which doubles as an evacuation center (with chemical decontamination facilities, stockpiles of food and tents, and similar supplies for the apocalypse). At the bike rental lot we got to test-ride dozens of bikes and pick our favorite variant. Being lazy, I went with a road bike since that would mean I could do less work. Jeremy and Milo (our host) also chose road bikes, while our Chinese coworker chose a mountain bike. And we set off on the 18km ride! And we set off pretty hard. Jeremy does triathlons, and I noted our host had proper form and pants tailored to stay out of bikechains... So he's not new to this either. Robin doesn't ride much and had a slower bike, but he made up for these disadvantages by being almost a decade younger than us! We stopped once about a mile in for pictures, but other than that we kept a solid pace the entire circumference - frequently crossing that border between fun exercise and actual exercise. I did have to slow down to reread a "no electrocuting the fish" sign. We generally took in the nature and people-watched the other people bicycling. Some mom steamed by on a bicycle for two with her kid as ballast on the back. I was impressed. By the end I was actually drafting off teammates to be lazier. Of course, by that point Jeremy was pouring on the power because he could. So fun, but I was glad we finished.
After our ride we had time to kill before our lunch reservation (apparently we completed the biking part of the day faster than anticipated), so we walked a mile down to the Buddhist temple. The temple was gorgeous. Beautiful courtyard flanked by mini-shrines with an enormous (I'd guess over 10 feet tall) bell in one, and a similarly sized drum in the other. Expansive stone steps leading up to a bed of incense burning before the temple itself - all wood construction and bigger than a house. Inside the temple was a giant golden Buddha, flanked by gilt goddesses. These goddesses were smaller, only 14' tall while seated. All against an intricately carved and gilt backsplash... it was awe inspiring. The same hushed tones and silence that I last saw surrounding the Book of Kells and in Cathedrals was also evoked here.
(Jeremy)
After admiring the temple in awe, we walked back to the lake for lunch. Delicious food, painfully slow service, but luckily my housemates cat had stolen her meds, so we stayed entertained by status reports of just how high this kitty was.
I emailed my girlfriend the following: "Going to an expat bar tonight. Getting a hamburger, and hopefully some fries. NOT GOING TO PULL ANY BONES OUT OF MY FOOD. NOT EATING LUMPS OF FAT LIKE IT'S NORMAL! "
...
So young, so naive... The expat bar was more of an American-themed bar than an American bar, and their hamburgers were flavored, fatty, and dripped all over the plate. However the whiskey sour that I got when I ordered a whiskey-coke was pretty great, and there were cigars on the menu! We ordered one for the novelty and then remembered why we never smoke cigars. The American themed band was actually really good though, with some quality Beatles covers mixed in with Chinese rock.
I'll leave you with a quote from the evening:
"I love the hubris of jumping in a taxi with a business card you can't read and a pocket full of cash, and saying 'Bàoqiàn, Měiguó*' anytime the cabbie asks you a question."
*"Sorry, America"
(Jeremy. Also this is what China thinks America looks like - pretty close!)
Jeremy and I met in the hotel bar for a whiskey to decide whether we should visit the club next door. Apart from an incredibly bizarre motto on the outside wall ("WITH YOU - ALL ARE JUST DUSTS") we know nothing about this club. Even the internet couldn't shed any light on it. We headed over around 9pm because we're in China and we're trying things and we're gonna try a club, dammit. We got metal-detectored, walked past the cover charge desk (I think, I have no idea what the desk was), and into a room of loud Eminem music, literally 20 staff, and no guests. Oh, this must just be the entry lounge, we'll get the elevator up? down? to the actual club. Nope, that's a coatcheck, and that's a restroom. This is it. Most of the staff chose this moment of confusion to swarm us, and none of them speak English. We communicate that we want beer. They bring us to a table and some couches, we sit down, they show us the menu.... it's all massively overpriced. A corona is ¥500 (~$80 usd), and budweiser is twice that. That can't possibly be correct, right? So we order two! They ask for ¥1000. I claim to only have cash, and not nearly that much. They need credit card, and need ¥1000. After a lot of back and forth we apologize and walk out, laughing.
No idea who this guy was, but he was also drinking in public...
Once we're outside we light up a cigarette (when in Rome...) and discuss plans for the rest of the night. While we talked a promoter tried to convince us to go back to the club, and hands us flyers - the ¥500 is for a case of coronas. Ooooh. So almost tolerable. But there are no locals, no one dancing, no one needs a case of coronas, and no one likes Eminem. Besides which, we'd already decided it wasn't for us. So we went to a local 7-11 knockoff instead! Spent 5% as much and got a couple beers and new cigarettes (ours were terrible). These are flavored nano-cigarettes! One is menthol, as expected. Jeremy makes me guess the flavor of the other. I'm guessing different fruits and berries with no success... turns out there are two flavor-bubbles, one for red wine and one for white one. WTF, lol. It's awesome. We wandered to the courtyard of the local mall and wandered about drinking, admiring the glowing art installations, checking out bonsai, and generally people-watching. It was way more fun than we would have had in the club.
After we'd finished our drink, we went shopping (browsing) in the mall. Since we're in the banking district it's generally overpriced luxury goods, though I did find a stuffed animal for a Christmas gift. After we finish browsing the mall we continued back to the hotel. Nature forced us to detour to a dark park to recycle some beer, and suddenly we were good to keep going! We started another drink and crossed the river to admire the bridges, and then - purely on impulse - went up a staircase that lead to the city wall!
Unretouched, just a great looking bridge.
We hiked along the city wall, examined the built-in ancient temple, and then did a sketchy climb where the city wall suddenly lost 10 feet of elevation. We continued hiking along the wall and down to the river, before we cut up a random alley (pictured at left,) to circle back towards our hotel. The road lead to a memorial park! For some dude* from the turn of the last century, it had a statue and an impressive structure and all sorts of engravings. It's magical to wander into another century like that with no forewarning. After admiring the courtyards we found the city wall again and headed back to the hotel - stopping briefly in another super fancy hotel (mostly to avail ourselves of the facilities). All in all we did about 6 miles... in dress loafers, so my feet were quite angry at me.
The gate in the city wall. Amazing find to stumble upon.
*Editors note: This dude is actually Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China. He was the first president after the overthrow of the Qing empire. The sweet memorial building is actually the site of the former presidential palace, which was shelled by artillery during the revolution - nearly killing his wife. You may have heard of his protege - Chiang Kai-Shek - who ruled china for almost 50 years after Dr Sun's Yat-sen.
In December, I went back to China for work. I'm not going to do the every-day-gets-its-own-post thing, because nobody wants to read "I went to the factory, we went to eat weird food, we went to the hotel" a dozen times. Instead, I'm going to extract a few excerpts from various letters I sent during the trip. In retrospect, I should have taken way more pictures.
"Survived my first really Chinese meal - although I did skip the frog because there were just too many organs. The first things I ate was a little fish. The dish was mini fishes and mini shrimps, intact. So I look down in my bowl and this little guy is looking up at me... I mentally shrugged and threw the whole thing in my mouth. Yolo."
"Fish, duck, pork, beef, rice... just entirely too much food, and most of it a bit weird. I told my coworkers I felt like a small child, just putting things in my mouth and seeing if they are food or not. Usually yes, but sometimes it's bone, tendon, fat, at least one blood vessel.. they have a different standard for 'meat' over here. Still tasty and still fun though!"
Pigeon, a regular and appreciated fixture of our meals.
"Our host turned to us and said, with the utmost earnestness, 'This is ass meat'. I smiled politely, and asked 'Oh?' like I was pleasantly surprised and curious, and not like I'm suppressing the urge to laugh hysterically. Jeremy correctly guessed that it was donkey. In case you're wondering, ass meat is served cold, but is otherwise generally pretty good. We also had giant goat drumsticks (amazing), dumplings, noodles, little goat ribs, steak, cabbage, just so much food. So far this was the best meal yet."
"Dinner tonight was some great pigs legs, and a super sketchy fish head... that was smoked and actually delicious. I started the trip asking what things were before eating them. At this point I've given up, and eat whatever they put in front of me. If I'm still curious afterwards then I'll ask what it is."
Hot pot, the one meal to take revenge on me. Not sure if it was the hot peppers or my impatience cooking the meat.
"We drove across the city, and started going down alleys. I assumed the driver was trying to take a shortcut and got lost. He was! Then we went down another dead-end-alley which wasn't a mistake. We walk into an open concrete restaurant, past a handful of fish tanks, to a table in the back. Then they started bringing out shellfish. Razor clams. Scallops. Mussels in all sizes. Giant shrimp. Crabs. After trying oysters in the states I'd written off mollusks - what a mistake. It was amazing. I ended the night with a full stomach, a pile of skeletons on the table ahead of me, and a smile on my face."
Near the end, but before I ate literally all the shrimp on the family platter.
"'I know I can get you to try anything if I try it first and you how terrible it was' - Jeremy, after he convinced me to eat a whole peppercorn. They are so spicy they make your mouth tingle. Not because they are hot, it's a weird feeling similar to anesthetic without numbness. I'm really not sure what to compare it to, it's just weird."
(Jeremy's) shot of the Wild Animal Restaurant
"Dinner tonight was a 'wild animal restaurant' where all the dishes (fish, chicken, and inkfish [squid]) were wild animals that they hunted. Decent food, super amusing owner who kept trying to speak american while he hung out and drank beer with us. It had a neat location down a dirty road, under a few highways, on a small lake. I love the anachronism of driving under a futuristic LED billboard to a restaurant that looks and feels like it's in the middle of the jungle and the 1950s. Oh, and the squid was great, amazingly tender."
By this point I shouldn't have been surprised by how good this fish was. When we asked if he had any more he yelled out the window and ten minutes later his daughter brought in another. Would not surprise me if she hooked it on request.
"Today we had the typical 'omg I can't believe they eat that' Chinese food. Definitely edible, but I can definitely see why dog has not caught on in the states - almost every other animal I've eaten is better."
Before, Jeremy meeting our meat.
"Last night in China, so we had the whole team out for a fancy dinner, which included snake! Snake is (still) great, the gall bladder is not. I spent ten minutes trying to get Jeremy to eat it, so I felt like I had to when he offered it to me instead. It's almost sweet, but it has such a terrible aftertaste... "
Today was our last day in North Ireland, and almost our last day on the island at all - we fly home tomorrow morning. But we still had things to do! So we got up early and set about doing them! First stop was Bushmills Distillery. The oldest distillery on the island, individuals in the Bushmills region have been distilling since the 1400's, and the Distillery itself was licensed by king James the First in 1608 and has produced whiskey more-or-less continuously since then. While I've toured distilleries before, the Bushmills tour is interesting because Bushmills is as much a factory as it is a distillery. Although the futuristic control room - directing and and monitoring eight enormous stills - came close, the coolest part was the bottling plant. It was remarkably similar to the assembly lines I've worked on DEWALT plants. At the end of the tour they let us sample various whiskeys and gave us drink vouchers... and despite all we had learned, I still spent my drink voucher on a Coke. Despite all I learned I still can't enjoy whiskey. The science and art of it is fascinating... but the taste remains that of rubbing alcohol and dirt.
(Totally forget) who took this one, but thanks random tourist!
After a surprisingly cheap and enjoyable lunch at the distillery, we went over to Giant's Causeway - the original reason we came to Northern Ireland - and possibly all of Ireland - now the last stop on our week-long tour. But before that, allow me a side rant:
(Ethan's) shot showing almost the entire Causeway
The National Trust (for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty) is a load of wankers. Remember when the U.S. government "shut down" and then the National Park Service used extra manpower to close parks and prevent people from doing things that shouldn't have needed any government involvement in the first place? That's the NT. They took over management of the causeway and built a very nice visitors center. Then they blocked all the free or cheap parking nearby... going so far as to place "helpers" in the lots of nearby businesses dressed like officers to "helpfully" remind you you weren't allowed to park there. This is so you will pay $10 PER PERSON to park. Furthermore, they obfuscated all the paths to the cliffs so it looks like you have to go through the vi$itors center in order to get to the causeway. And what do they spend their ill-gotten gains on? Some of it must go to the preservation of the cliffs and trails - a noble goal that I'd gladly contribute a few quid towards. But the lion's share goes to providing "safety officers" to blow whistles whenever anyone gets too close to the sea - as if we hadn't just survived a week collective 152 years of scampering over rocks next to the ocean. Tossers.
Barely visible in this picture, my family!
Ireland has a great story-telling culture. And faced with such amazing geology as the Causeway, they came up with fittingly imaginative legends. Finn McCool, the giant, built the Causeway as a bridge to Scotland to challenge his rival. However, once he got to Scotland he found his rival was far larger than he expected! He ran back to Ireland in fear, pursued by his colossal rival. Fortunately his wife had a clever idea, and swaddled him as a babe. Seeing this enormous "infant" and aghast at the idea of a full-grown giant, Finn's rival fled back to Scotland, destroying the causeway behind him.
Regardless of the origin, be it allegorical or volcanic, the causeway and cliffs are quite impressive. The cliffs are larger and the individual rock formations smaller than I expected, but still bizarre and awe-inspiring. We went out over the upper trail, getting a birds eye view, before continuing down the face to the formations and back across the coast. I gave my family a head start to get some photos of them dwarfed by the cliffs. Those little red and yellow dots? Those are my family! Then I raced off after them - midway across the face we saw the Giant's organ and then we hiked around the point to the end of the trail, before heading back to the causeway proper.
In the intertidal rock-and-wave zone we climbed all over the rocks, got yelled at by the wankers in "Luminous" vests, and I finally got a decent photo of some birds. Flighty little buggers, them. Then, regrettably, it was time to head home. We hiked back up the coast (and finally saw Finn's Camel which we'd been misidentifying for hours!) As I waited for Adam to extract the car and my family to circumnavigate the visitors center I spent my time telling random people in the parking lot how to avoid the entrance fees. #Resist
Then it was over. We got in the car, drove back to Swords (the suburb of Dublin next to the airport), and had our last pub dinner. Dad even got a good beer this time! Now it's time to shower, sleep, and get on an airplane.
All in all I completely recommend Ireland. It's one of the most beautiful countries on earth, and has the richest history of anywhere I've ever been.
(Adam)'s picture of Ethan and Dad about to get whistled
Yesterday I mentioned how much we love waves and wind and the violence.... and apparently God listens closely to Ireland, because he heard me and delivered in spades. We woke up early(ish) to do the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge! When we arrived we found it was closed due to high winds... but we were still free to take a chilly hike down to the bridge, so we did! Honestly, I think not walking the bridge in terrible weather is more fun than walking the bridge in great weather would be. The bridge itself looks pretty ridiculously overbuilt, but 40 knots is well over their limit. I might be disappointed if it was still the old working fishing bridge - one railing and some sketchy boards...
Having admired the wind and waves from a distance, we decided we'd check them out close up and stopped back at Ballintoy harbor! A higher tide and the excessive winds made rocks much more precarious. Most of the rocks we climbed yesterday were unreachable without a death wish, and the channels looked like they'd love to grind a boat to splinters. In short, it was great.
We then hit Dunseverick castle! Unfortunately Cromwell absolutely destroyed it in the 1650s, and now the ruins of the gatehouse barely survive :( . I jogged a few feet down the path to get some pictures, then we all jumped back in the car to head to another castle!
(Dad)'s picture of us examining the chimneys
Maintaining momentum we went to Dunluce castle! This castle is said to have inspired CS Lewis's Caire Paravel - both are abandoned castles half fallen into the sea. But first, lunch. Sandwiches at the tasty and very warm on-site cafe were vastly appreciated. Mom even got fancy English tea with all the accouterments. Then we went to the castle proper. After a surprisingly interesting video explaining the history (Scotch-Irish warriors lost the castle to a clan of Scottish Mercenaries they had hired and imported a few decades earlier) we wandered down into the ruins! It was better preserved (and with more safety railings) than I expected. But it was totally a castle, with arrow-slots, towers, and even a drawbridge! (Back in the day - the bridge doesn't draw anymore). And as it was on a corner of the coastal cliffs the wind tore through it and chilled our fingers fiercely. We were discussing heading down to sea the sea-caves literally beneath the castle, but the path down was closed... which simplified our decision.
(Adam) took this picture the best. What a cool castle.
Next on the plan was Giant's Causeway, but as the winds had not subsided at all and the coldness was seeping into our bones, we continued on to Downhill Demesne instead. We blew by the entrance at first, which worked out as it meant we could go down to the beach and look up at the iconic library! Several of us were in favor of driving out on the beach (where the road lead), but some of us were not, so that proposal got nixed. After parking at Downhill Demesne we walked through a fancy door and across the walled garden, towards the Mussenden Temple, as the library is officially known!
First stop was the dove-cote. This round building was an icehouse on the lower levels, and the upper level had nesting slots for 300 pairs of doves (Typical occupancy: 200 doves. Current occupancy: 1 pigeon, and 5 tourists avoiding the rain). It was quite a neat structure. If I ever have a farm or an extra acre somewhere I'll probably try to build a dovecote... or maybe I'll just sneak into the woods and build one in the middle of nowhere... Once the rain shower had (mostly) passed and it was back to being only cold and windy, we continued towards the circular library. My parents veered off towards the manor, while the boys chose the coastal road. We walked across the field (except for Adam, who galloped) and made it to the cliff-side wall, where we could look down on the carpark we'd just visited. Now we could clearly see the library and approached it, pausing to take pictures (and attempt to take better versions of the photos our other brothers had just taken.). Finally making it to the library, we rejoined our parents. It would have been an amazing library. Excellent natural light, shelter from the elements, and coves for statues and shelving all around. On top of that, back in the day a fire was kept burning continually beneath the floor to keep it warm and protect the books from the dampness which was now all-so evident. On top of that, the library was right on the cliff, providing excellent views. When it was constructed, there was "enough room to run a carriage around" the library. Now, just like at the cliffs of Moher and the Dunluce castle, erosion had made itself strikingly evident, and there is now only enough room to walk a small dog around the library - assuming you and your dog are both very sure-footed.
We then made our way up to the manor, which was construct to imitate an older castle, and by and large did so. When we were in Dunluce, I thought that if I ever built a castle I'd build it to look like ruins look - not like historical castles actually looked when they were built. Here, the Hervey family did exactly that at the beginning of the 19th century. Later, the manor was given to the RAF, who let it go to ruin after the war. Having explored the entire manor we were well cold, and ready to go home, so we made our way back to the car.
(Adam)'s picture of our parents and the manor.
But I was still hyped up on the caffeine I'd had with lunch and pushed for more. Mom brought up the Lissanduff Earthworks, and I immediately agreed without knowing what they were. I assumed some sort of pottery factory - but I was wrong! They are instead prehistoric earthen constructions. We followed the GPS to the middle of nowhere, checked the satellite imagery, and then Ethan and I decided to YOLO it. We jumped out, climbed over a fence, and tromped through the prickerbushes endemic to Ireland towards where the Earthworks should be! What first appeared as random hills resolved as concentric rings, 8 feet high. Inside the center ring is a marshy collection of reeds, just wet enough to drench your boots if you were, for example, to tromp into the center of the ring trying to feel mystic pagan energies. (None were felt). We then found the second ring, which was mowed, dry, and had staircases for official access. Then we found a path to a carpark! We jogged back to the first ring and saw dad walking out to us. With exaggerated sign-language we semiphore'd that they should drive down around toward the shore - signals he relayed to the car. Then we tromped around and after a few minutes Mom and Adam came walking up the trail! As weird as the site is, what is more weird is that in the 1800's someone decided that it would make a great place for a garden, and put their house/shed RIGHT THERE. They bulldozed (or whatever you did in the 1800s) the 3000 year old temple / shipping terminal / fort, built their shed as part of the inner ring, and built their house as part of the outer ring, and used it as a garden. Weird.
We made our way back down to the carpark, watched the waves (still whipped into full violence by the cutting wind), and then drove the 10 minutes back to our airBNB. A quick stop to freshen up, and then Adam treated us to a very upscale meal where Mom got giggly off a quarter glass of wine. It was cute. All in all a great, but tiring, day.
Dear Irish God: Please let tomorrow be less windy. I'd really like to see Giant's Causeway while being able to feel my fingertips.
Today we headed out of Dublin to Northern Ireland - which is technically part of the UK. However, since they are all EU (for now - Brexit may change that), there wasn't anything to mark the border besides an abrupt switch of the speed limit signs from KPH to MPH.
We drove through/under Belfast (another large city, with more manufacturing, enormous cranes, and general malaise) and kept going until we got to the coast. We could see Scotland! It's really not surprising that they migrated back and forth, as Scotland is just 13 miles away and clearly visible. I've walked farther than that! But I've never swam that far.... On this protected coast, there were almost no waves. We can't have that, so we continued around the coastal route (including some very small, very windy roads) further north.
Our first stop was Torr Head. In antiquity this crag was used for signal fires so the Scottish clans could communicate across the sea. More recently, this lookout post was used to track trans-Atlantic shipping, and after that was a coast guard post (Rumor has it that the customs house was burned down in the 1970s by the IRA, but apart from a failed attack in 1956 I can't find any evidence). Now, it's just an abandoned hut on top of a hill, with waves crashing all around. We even saw a seal! I love seals, so I switched to the zoom lens and laid prone waiting for him, but he never popped back up. We roamed around the island (I saw a rabbit? They're almost as cute as seals), and we took in the amazing views. But we were still hundreds of feet from the crashing waves, so we continued on.
So many choices, but (Ethan)'s pano captured the scene the best.
Adam on the crux
of a bouldering problem.
Continuing north, we found Ballintoy harbor. This begins our Game-Of-Thrones tour! The harbor and the rocky coast was used for a few different scenes.... not that we really cared - we were more interested in the landscape. We poked around the caves on the shore and then started scrambling out over the basalt stabbing into the sea and sky. Super photogenic rocks, with waves crashing! We poked our way around several outcroppings, crossing from one to the other in the still pauses between waves. Eventually we climbed down to get even more dramatic pictures and I finally got close enough to the waves! I'd watched several big waves roll in and noted that a certain part of the rock always stayed dry. So I stood there! And when I looked up, and the next wave was just a bit larger. But I was committed, and as the wave grew closer and larger so did my doubts. However, my decision was behind me and I had no choice but to ride it out (or get hit mid-stride and potentially thrown into the churn). When the chaos subsided, my boots were generously sprinkled. Totally worth it for the footage I hope Ethan got...
Ethan didn't get any... (Dad) did though!
We stopped at a rope bridge to check it out, but there were tour buses and jammed parking lots full of people - We were told an hour wait, and decided we'll rework our schedule a bit to hit it tomorrow morning. So more on this tomorrow!
Continuing on our game-of-thrones kick, we went to the Dark Hedges - a super photogenic rows of trees (that was used as The Kings Road in the Game of Thrones series). It was quite uncanny to drive miles and miles across narrow backcountry roads, alone except for the occasional farmer, to turn on to one street almost alike all the others and find it overrun with scores of people. And while the fanboying at the harbor was minor, at the Dark Hedges it lost all subtly - a few buses had disgorged a load of aficionados garbed in cloaks and armed with cheap plastic swords to roam the avenue. I'm sure the old aristocrat who had these trees planted to welcome people to his estate never imagined people would fly halfway across the world to see the trees, nor how they would be dressed when they arrived. That said, it was still quite cool to see all the birch trees, lined up, twisted grey branches reaching into a grey sky.
An empty section! Quick take a shot!
After seeing Dark Hedges we headed to our house for the night, apparently at the same time every tractor in the county decided to head home. Our airBnb is a great half duplex near Bushmills Distillery, and after almost breaking into the neighbors house (before rechecking the address) we settled in. Somewhat burned out on pub food, we ran out to the grocery store and stocked up on basic groceries. A simple spaghetti dinner was just the thing. After the dishes were done, we settled into the family room and lit up the fire for an evening of dice, cards, and trying to decide who had the "photo of the day". We all won.
"Ireland, day whatever: Dublin. It's a city, like all cities. It was meh. Then we drank a lot. It was better, but still to hell with this let's go find some castles. The end."
So I'm going to have to recreate this from memory...
(Ethan)
We decided to take a walking tour of Dublin today! We met our tour guide, Ritchie, at the Spire of Dublin. The spire is a 390' tall stainless steel tower built to celebrate the new millennium, and conveniently within sight of our apartment. Even before they finished the monument (in 2003) the locals started renaming it, in Irish tradition. The appellations start with "Stiletto in the Ghetto" and go downhill from there.
We visited the River Liffey, the Irish House of Parliament (now a bank), Dublin Castle (now ancillary and ceremonial government offices), Temple Bar (a entire neighborhood, now full of bars) and both cathedrals (one financed by Guinness, one financed by whiskey). At each stop we were regaled with history, witticisms, and amusing rants - Ritchie was obviously chosen for his historical knowledge and personable nature. Oh, and also because he had a great speaking voice... our family nodded to each other and surreptitiously shifted over while they were splitting the group in half, and we "just happened" to get Ritchie instead of his quieter partner.
My favorite tidbit was on the history of Dublin is the history of the name of Dublin itself. Dublin was founded by the vikings (or possibly earlier monks?), who asked the locals what they called the place they were at. The locals responded: You're by the black pool (dubh lind). And the vikings responded "Blackpool. Got it" (Dublin). Later on down the line, the Irish realized that the vikings were asking for the name of the town - not the tidepool, and let the Dubliners know that the town name was actually Town-on-the-hurdled-fording-point-of-the-Liffey-River (Baile Átha Cliath). Nobody could, nor cared to, pronounce it, so they stuck with the simple Dublin in a pragmatic, Irish way. Or at least, that makes a good story, and not letting the facts get too far in the way of a good story is truly the Irish way.
(Mom)'s picture of Ritchie at The Coach House
My good picture from today.
After the tour we wended our way back and forth across the Liffey towards Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an illustrated manuscript of the four gospels, produced ~800 AD at the height of calligraphy. We pre-booked our tickets, and after a brief wait in line entered the exhibit hall. After spending some time perusing the crowded pre-exhibit learning about the book, we entered the (more crowded) viewing room itself. It was fascinating to see the reverent hush that persisted over the crowd, as we all clambered to look at the book. It was hard to see and pictures were strictly verboten, you're much better off getting a look at it online if you are interested in the content of the book. The tour ends with a walkthrough of the Long Room - the oldest part of Trinity College's library. This room was gorgeous, all muted light, dark wood, and ancient books. It's inspired libraries throughout fiction (Star Wars almost got sued for it) and it's easy to see why.
Worn out from walking (and worse - standing around) we headed back to the apartment to make plans for the evening. The boys decided to head out on Ritchie's bar tour, while our parents settled on a nice sit-down dinner. So back to the Stiffy by the Liffey! I mean, um, the Dublin Spire. The night consisted to listening to Ritchie describe the history of various drinks, and then drinking them while getting to know our single-serving friends (Navajo, Polish, German, Latvian, Canadian, etc) who were drinking with us.
At the first bar, I accidentally ordered a liter of beer. I felt like Pippin - "It comes in pints?!" Turns out when the bartender asked if I wanted this <points to poster> she meant the glass, not the Octoberfest inside it. I poured as much as I could into our new friend's empty tasting glasses, and tried (and failed) to drink the rest before we were off to bar two!
At bar two we had whiskey (still gross), a dairy-based Gin ( B+), and dinner! We went with fish&chips and Coddle, a traditional Dublin dish designed to use the last of the cheap meat before Friday. The stew is based around black pudding, white pudding, and bacon - Ritchie refused to tell us what was in the sausages until we'd eaten some. After sampling them I asked for a hint and he said "You know the grossest part of black sausage? Leave that out and you get white sausage." Despite knowing what they were made of (according to the packaging in our airbnb: suet, oatmeal, breadcrumbs, offal, and a lot of blood for the black) they were both legitimately delicious, and we finished the whole thing.
At bar three we had Guinness, Dingle Gin (we had to try it after driving all over Dingle, C-), and more Guinness. We listened to the Traditional Irish music - played in the traditional Irish manner - a few guys in a side room having fun and not really a performance. Ritchie warned us that he might give us an Irish Goodbye, but we could all make it back to the Steel Erection at the Intersection if we turned left and followed the tram lines. Around midnight we gave our own (American) goodbye, turned left, followed the tram lines, and made it home after a brief and blurry detour for milkshakes and fried chicken. I jotted down some cursory journal notes and fell thankfully into bed.
