I was walking my Jack Russell Terrier, Grace, around the block and shot some things that I thought were pretty cool.
The walls of this hostel is quite thin. I woke up to moans and love grunts. Seriously at 6 am? I mean wow! Either they are real early birds or they went on for…
Thankfully, yesterday, I bought cereal bars, bread, orange juice, and cheese. A pretty light breakfast, which was fine with me. I dressed up in my typical cargo khaki pants and Orange Princeton tee. Today looked like a good day to explore, well like every other day.
Time to go!
I met Tim downstairs, he was checking out and flying back home. We walked all the way to the roundabout when we parted ways.
I went towards King’s Castle, absorbing the really gorgeous day. Bright blue skies with some clouds up there, it was really a great day! I walked around the castle since it was still closed, checking out the cathedral that was near it and around getting a sense of the location. I went back to the castle to wait for it to open.
When the door finally opened, I entered and used my Princeton University ID card for a discount. hehe! I love my PU ID! With my PU ID I got my discount and free pamphlets! :D And toured I did! I was able to go through all the rooms and caverns underneath to scope out the castle. It looked more like a fort to be honest. I climbed to the top of the towers to get a better view of Limerick. It was fantastic! The view on top of the towers was a great sight overlooking Limerick!
I went back down to the picnic tables, to eat my apples and snacks that I brought with me. Mmmm… food! While I was taking a break I looked at my map and went to the dig site. I’d like to go down there to check it out.
On my way out, I went to the souvenir shop to check out some stuff. I bought Eric cap, a necklace, and some post cards.
When I left the castle I headed towards this lemon shop. Can’t remember the name of the shop, but I got a vegetarian sandwich which had mayo in it. Crap! I don’t like mayo! It started raining so I stayed inside for a little bit. Ahh… I am really not a fan of mayonnaise especially since it has eggs in it. Oh well. I am just going to have a lot of….
When the rain stopped, I went around to look for an external hard drive. HMV told me that I would need to go to Maplin’s, but I would need to call a taxi since Maplin’s was a good forty minute walk away. Before I left for Maplin’s I called my parents to talk to them. My mom was set to go to Vietnam. I told my mom and dad about my journey so far and wanted to know how my mom was doing with her leg and all. But it sounds like it was feeling better so going to Vietnam wouldn’t be an issue.
Happy knowing that they are doing well, I found a taxi right outside of the phone booths. Nice! The taxi driver dropped me in front of the store and I paid him 6 Euros. I was a little worried on how I would get back, but I needed to find an external first. I found one, a Seagate FreeAgent, for 96 Euros which was about $120 in USD. It was a necessary purchase, even though I mentally debated myself about it, buying it was a necessary purchase. Used my credit card and never looked back! ha!
On my way back to the city centre I asked where the University of Limerick was. I heard there was a good vegetarian place to eat there and wanted to check it out. But it was on the other side of the city and pretty far. Maybe tomorrow. I continued to walk to look for a coffee shop. Neeed coffee…
It started to rain, and then the sun came out, and then it started a huge rain storm. In that order.
It stopped raining and I left my rain cover, the trees, to get to the info place to ask where I could find knit sweaters. I would have to look for an Irish hand crafts store. My mom asked me when I called home if I could find a knit sweater for her. I’ll have to keep that in mind, but my priority is coffee. Walking in a circle, I found a Carlton Coffee shop to get a mocha.
The mocha was … alright. Since it started raining again, I pulled out my newly acquired external hard drive. My plan for tonight was to prepare for my trip to the cliffs of Moher tomorrow. I saw this promo for it and was told I could take a bus there tomorrow. I’d like to do some night shots, but I am afraid I would get mugged. My hostel is really in the outskirts of town and along the high way. Just a good thing, that my bags are torn up and beat up looking.
I started to head back to the hostel at 4. I had to go to the bathroom so bad on the way back! I didn’t use the toilet since 7 am! Oh boy!
When I finally relieved myself I went back to my room to rest up and transfer some more photos to the new portable hard drive. I can take more photos without worrying of losing space. Eighty gigs is a good size for me to use. I don’t think I will use up that much for one journey! ha!
Rested up, I left to go back out to get some food to eat for dinner. I went back to the Apache pizza for dinner. The guy who told me about Dunnes, asked me if I found my external hard drive. :) I told him that I did and that I found it at Maplin’s. When I finished my pizza, I left to go to the train and bus station to inquire the times I would need to be there to go to the Cliffs of Moher. Turns out that I have to be there at about 6:30 am. Alright, just leave my hostel at 5:40 am.
When I left the station, it was still drizzling out. Taking out my umbrella, for once, I went to this park to take some photos. Going around and shooting these bright red monuments I some how lost my umbrella. I didn’t realize that I lost it till after I got off the phone with Eric and Vincent. I didn’t feel like going back to look for it, so I went back to hostel to get ready for the cliffs.
My hostel at night
Thursday 26 2009 was Thanksgiving in the US. My family and I celebrated our 27th Thanksgiving! A vegan Thanksgiving! It is very possible and very tasty to have a vegan/vegetarian thanksgiving! Here are some photos from the tastyness!
My Pumpkin pie cheesecake batter! Yum!
Trying out my new off camera flash system
I shot all of this with my reborn 50mm f1.4. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! God bless!
I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! I hope it is a wonderful day for each and every one of you!
-From Ted
Photographs of my vegan Thanksgiving will be posted after the celebration has been consumed and celebrated!
I went back to bed at 6 am, thinking that whatever ghost was there should be gone. Please be gone! I can’t promise you anything, mr/ms. ghost, but I could say please be gone? A little nervous, I hopped back into bed and … it was fine! YES! But then the others woke up from their meditation and were talking loudly enough that sleep was pretty useless. I brushed my teeth, in turn, and got ready to head out to Limerick.
LIMERICK!!!
I am a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, so I have their live performance at Slane Castle, and I definitely recall when Anthony asks where the people were from near the end Flea shouts out: “LIMERICK!!”
haha! I love the Peppers! I sent my family an email letting them know how I was doing and where I am heading to next. By 11am, I was set to go and Amy dropped me off at the Dublin Heuston station.
Nearly everyone drives manual! Awesome! Amy told me that only the elderly and the disabled drove automatic, but I kinda don’t think Amy is paying attention to when she shifts gears…
She brought me to the station and I thanked her for letting me stay with her and her family, as well as for dropping me off at the train station.
The station was pretty neat and my ticket was easily purchased. I seriously wished I packed lighter. ugh!
I found my line and waited in line till I needed to use the bathroom. But I would totally lose my spot! Thankfully, one of the many reasons why I love Ireland, the gentleman and his grandson behind him said that they would hold my spot in the line! Very happy I left for the bathroom. This was my first time having to pay to use the bathroom! 30 cents to use it. Whoa.
When I returned back to the line, I gave my thanks to the grandfather and grandson for helping me out! 
The lined moved faster, yeah those two pushed my gear up a bit so it wouldn’t be left behind, and we all boarded the train. I was told I would need to change trains at Limerick Junction to get to Limerick.
Then I got lost.
ARGH!
I needed to find the D train!
And there it was at the end of the line. Rats.
Stepping inside and finding my seat. The rain made the windows really murky and so I thought that it wasn’t optimal for photo ops. Pulling out the laptop I start drafting this journal entry. Well till my digestive system started to inform me of its necessities. I went to the bathroom to wait for its current occupant to finish. When it was my turn, I realized that I am going to be shifting a lot while I use the toilet. Uh oh.
I grabbed onto the handles as the train did its toss and turn. Oh god, let me survive this!
Finishing I wobbly made it back to my seat. Just in time! We just arrived at Limerick Junction! Departing the train, I headed towards my transfer that was leading towards Ellis, which the first stop was for Limerick. Looking inside, I was aghast to find that there was no where to stow my luggage. Ugh! Seriously! Why couldn’t I pack lighter? Then this cordial lady pointed out that I could put my luggage on the table! Sweet!
Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Limerick! When I left the train it was drizzling out and calling a taxi was out of the question. So I had to hike.. and drag my gear to Courtbrack Accommodations. According to the map it was close by. Yeah right.
Well along the way I met another traveller heading towards the hostel as well. Tim was hiking through Ireland and finishing his hike through Limerick as a high school graduation present. Nice! It turns out that our hostel is on its last years. Or was it that it was the last remaining hostel in Limerick? Either way our hostel was our destination. We hiked towards the very outskirts of Limerick to find the hostel.
My room was D16. Up a flight of steps I found my room and dropped my load off. The bathroom and shower was down the hall and … wow! my room was really small! Oh well. Good enough for me. Going back down I dropped off my key to the clerk. I left the hostel to head towards Kings Castle. At first I didn’t like Limerick that much but after I got to the other side of the city I was really amazed! But let me tell you, what a long walk it was from the hostel! When the rain stopped, the sun came out and it was really gorgeous out with the sun breaking through the clouds. When I got to the castle, it was closed. Darn it! On my MP3 player I had U2’s “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” and coincidentally I walked into a group of wild horses! WHOA! It was amazing! My finger was left on my shutter. ha!
Realizing that I spent too much time here and needing to call home and eat, I went to find a place to buy an international phone card. I called Eric to tell him about what happened today and how much fun it is out in Ireland! Then I spoke to Vincent, who was 4 at the time, about my trip. When I hung up the phone I went back into the centre city to this pizza place called Apache Pizza, home of really small pizza pies.
I asked one of the workers there if there was an electronics store nearby so I could buy an external hard drive. He suggested Dunnes. I know where I have to go tomorrow! That way I can stop deleting files off of my Zen!
Walking back to my hostel, it was barely lit out. According to Lonely Planet, Limerick could be pretty dangerous at night. I got back in time the sky turned dark. When I got to my room, I left the laptop on to recharge and transfer and to shower.
Where is the hot water!?
