Escaping to the Cliffs of Moher {Day 7}

I woke up at 5:52 am to get to the station for my bus to see the Cliffs of Moher. Breakfast consisted of finishing my juice, cereal bars, and an apple, which was not the best for breakfast, but that was all that I had left to go straight to the station to get my ticket to Doolin. Whoa.. my departure time was at 9:35 am and I was here at 7:10 am. Good thing the station had food to eat! I definitely needed something more than my extra light breakfast meal! I had a croissant, jam, toast, and a hash brown.

When the bus finally arrived, I started on my new adventure! The turns were very tight, especially for a bus, which made the ride even more exciting! I wished I had rented a car so I could drive around it, which later throughout the entire adventure I really would have loved having a car. It was really a scenic trip, however, the glass panels were filthy and I could not get a good shot through the dirty windows. So I just listened to music and enjoyed the ride.

When we arrived at Ennis, at 10:20 am, we dropped off and picked up people to go to the cliffs.

When we arrived at the cliffs I had to run to the bathroom because I had to go pretty bad. Relieved, I went back to the hiking trails to check out the cliffs! It was a really awesome sight to see! They say this is the most western edge of the European continent! I spent a good two hours going up and down the trails see and photograph, what I could, of the cliffs and the crashing waves.

I stopped to eat my trail mix when I saw…

… people going past the “DO NOT ENTER – FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE” sign to check out the other areas. Yeah I felt the implicit peer pressure, meaning if they can do it, so can I! I got past the mangled fence when a ranger came up and yelled at everyone to get out of that area. Crap!

Well, I guess it was back to the trail for me. Dang it! Well better than contracting or spreading foot and mouth. When I went back down the trails I saw bikes on the side which reminded me of my older brother Dave and his travel through S. America.

I went back to the cafe to get some coffee and thought it was a wise idea to transfer the photos to the external. What I didn’t realize was that the first bus already left for Limerick and there was one more that will go back to Limerick which was at 6 pm. Uh oh.

Since I had some more time to kill, I looked around the outdoor stores and indoor souvenir shop.  I did find some knit sweaters, but they were too large to fit my mom.  But by then I started to get hungry, so I went back inside and bought some bread and cheese to eat along with my remaining trail mix.

I went back out to just enjoy the sights some more and then come back into buy some souvenirs and wait for the bus to come.  When it did come, the ride was quite eventful, a bunch of rowdy passengers hopped on.  One of them was clearly under the influence, so the bus lady informed him that he was not allowed on the bus.  After a lengthy “discussion” the bus lady hesitantly told him that he had better not cause any trouble.

After the two hour bus ride, I went to eat and then back to the hostel to shower and sleep.  I stepped into the shower and turned on the “hot” water and it was freezing cold!  Brrrr!

Way to end the day. ha!

Shooting around the other day..

I was walking my Jack Russell Terrier, Grace, around the block and shot some things that I thought were pretty cool.

Hard Drive Hunting in Limerick! {Day 6}

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

 

 

Thanksgiving 2009 with my family {Lifestyle}

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!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!