Ireland: Dublin, Kilkenny, Cashel and arrival in Blarney

Good morning, Ireland!

Ok, so the fire alarm in the middle of the night wasn't great. I was pretty tired when I took the shuttle bus from the Travel Lodge back to the Dublin Airport in the morning to pick up my rental car, but I wasn't in a hurry because I wasn't due to pick up the car until after 12.

I had a "full Irish breakfast" at the airport and then went to get the car a little early. Turns out that the car I booked with my prepaid Mastercard wasn't able to be paid for with that card, so I walked next door and got a car from a different company. No biggie. I ended up getting an upgrade to a Nissan Juke (which makes me think of Kriss who used to drive one). It's a manual transmission, black, diesel with a great stereo.

At some point (possibly when having my Irish breakfast), I booked a hotel in Kilkenny. Quick side note here: I never would have gone to Kilkenny if it wasn't for my hosts in Copenhagen who have a travel blog of their own.

So, in the car and off to Kilkenny. 

About an hour and a half later after driving in a heavy rain, I reached my hotel and was so exhausted that I made the executive decision to do a quick tour of the city, pick up supplies (water, fruit, lunch) and go back to the hotel, close the blinds and only leave for a fast food dinner, which was basically in the parking lot of the hotel. I needed (and took) a day off.

The next day, the sun was shining. I was well rested and ready to explore. 

These Irish towns love their colorful buildings

Isn't this just the most charming town you've ever seen

Kilkenny Castle

A garden behind Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Cute shop name!

This massive mural is hidden behind a wall with peaky holes in it. There are "wanted" signs
for Alice Kyteler on the wall, the first person in Ireland to be accused of and killed for witchcraft. 

Having finished my fun morning tour of Kilkenny, I hopped in the car and set the GPS for Cashel. I'd read about it, too, on my friends' blog and thought I'd give it a look. But first, I pulled over to chat to some cows. It started off where they were all spread out in a field, but once I got talking..

They got interested!

I have to say that meeting up with friends in France, Italy and Denmark was just the best. I would not have lasted as long on my travels if I hadn't had time with friends. Being alone does get lonely. But it also has some advantages, like sleeping all day or stopping to randomly say hi to cows. =)

Cashel is another super cute town. It's almost a little Stepford. EVERYONE is super nice and helpful and they keep the place clean. The Rock of Cashel is where I was heading. I showed up, bought a ticket and was told that a tour had just started (see, my travel ju ju IS back). I joined the tour and walked around Cormac's Chapel.

Have a read about the Sarcophagus and Cormac's Chapel here.

Local kids used to play in the ruins, when the roof started
 to collapse, it was removed for safety

Irish  Cross in the foreground, Hore Abbey in the background.
This is where Queen Elizabeth II visited on her first trip to Ireland.

A chunk of the roof that blew off in a great wind storm!

The colors are naturally made (From plants and animal blood)

The Cross of Cashel - 1200's

And then I had lunch and wandered around the town. 

After my delicious Irish lunch of roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, chicken battered and baked and vegetables steamed to death (all smothered in gravy), I got back in the car and drove through Limerick county to Blarney. 

I'm staying at an adorable B&B within walking distance of the town and Blarney Castle (which I will explore tomorrow morning). Tonight, I had dinner at The Square Table restaurant. It was INCREDIBLE. And the people behind me were raving about their food too. Highly recommend. And on the walk home in a beautiful sun shower, I took this panorama. Everything here is so green. I didn't want to overwhelm you with 48,000 pictures of grass. So, here are two pictures.

Copenhagen to Ireland (Alternative Title: 4in4)

Prepare for the mother of all blog entries. I'm feeling a two-parter coming on!

I had set a goal for myself to reach 4 countries in 4 days and with that last hiccup, I wasn't sure I'd make it. Deciding to come to Ireland, booking the flight, hotel and rental car helped settle me down, but as the flight got closer, the more I had to wait.

The evening of May 7th - I had booked an Aer Lingus flight from Copenhagen to Dublin Ireland at 10pm. The flight I booked was the only Aer Lingus flight on the departures board (I mean, who knew this was a real airline anyway). There were probably 40 or 50 other departures scheduled with numbers next to them for which baggage claim area to check-in and drop off bags. The Aer Lingus flight had no number for a very long time. I distracted myself by updating the blog, pacing a lot and eventually having dinner from a well-stocked 7-11. I had a mozzarella sandwich with tomato and pesto on brown bread. It was delicious. (The Oreos weren't bad either)

Finally, the baggage desk number popped up. I checked my bags and was through security in no more than 6 minutes. On the other side of security was Customs. The guy said, "Dublin?" in a high pitched, happy voice and then, "Are you going there for residence?" I responded, "No. I live in the US. Or Australia. I do both." He stamped my passport (YES! Another stamp!) and I proceeded into the largest mall you could ever imagine existing. Seriously, there were clothing stores and dishware, fine foods with fresh meats and cheeses, more clothes, shoes...it was nuts. Every so often there was a gate. It was like a dream where you're shopping and then go to enter a store, but end up on a plane. 

I found the next style of departure board for my gate number. Same thing. No gate. I waited until nearly boarding time (9:30pm) for the gate number to show up. My gate was a through the mall and through a portal into another world. A less posh world. A world where the poor people fly. The gate was closed.

At first, I was the only one waiting outside the gate, but shortly more and more passengers showed up. I was sitting on the ground, waiting for an employee to open the gate, so I could charge my phone and a potential passenger started talking to me. 

You know that kind of person who will tell you more than you want to know because they just can't help themselves. This guy was that type of guy. I had my headphones in and he just kept talking. "I missed my Ryan Air flight yesterday. I could see people boarding and they wouldn't let me on." He was not making me feel good about the cheap side of this airport. "So, I had to book this flight because I missed a dentist appointment," Really. Come on. "Usually I fly Norwegian." Miraculously, a woman came and opened the gate. I sprinted away from this man (I shit you not) to the Aer Lingus woman who checked my boarding pass and let me into the seating area, where I quickly scouted, then snagged the only electrical outlet in the joint.

By this time, it was 10:20pm. We hadn't boarded and I was beginning to worry about the 4in4 goal. But in no time at all, boarding began and we shuffled our way onto my very first green plane.

The seats were an ok width. The leg room was a joke. I am 5'4" (or at least that's what I tell people) and I had about 2" before my knees would be digging into the back of the poor bloke in front of me. These 6 foot plus men on the flight were either hanging into the aisles or folding up into themselves. 

Listen, I'm not complaining, because I am a small woman. I fit fine. I'm just saying, if you're big....avoid.

Once we were into the air, flight attendants came around offering food and drink (for a fee - again, I'm not complaining...just saying). I got a ginger ale and a water (to take to my hotel room later, figuring I'd get in late and not be able to find a bottle in the middle of the night). 

After a 2 hour flight and a 1 hour time change, we landed before midnight! Huzzah! I did it! On a green plane no less! 4 Countries in 4 Days! Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland. New personal best. I felt at that moment that my travelling ju ju came back to me and I was all smiles (you can even see it in this incredibly blurry picture).

The Irish Customs agent was gruff and the ONLY Irish person I've met so far who isn't just the sweetest most wonderful person ever. He said, "How long are you staying?", "Five or six days" and then he said, "Why?"

I was flustered for a second and reminded of a question asked by Amadeus in Cinque Terra. He asked Kate what her name was. She (obviously) responded, "Kate" and he said, "Why?" and followed up with, "For what reason?" We were both so thrown by this questioning, our expressions were priceless confoundment (might not be a word, but really). "It's a very Italian question," said Amadeus.

And so after making my confounded face, I said to the Irish Customs agent, "I'm just travelling around" and then I got another stamp in my passport. Yippy!

I'm going to wrap this part of the story up with a quick summary. Taxi. Travel Lodge Airport South. Friendly staff. 1am sleep. 2am fire alarm. 2:10am fire alarm. 3am fire alarm. 8am wake up. 

To be continued...(but not in a bad way, things have been great in Ireland)

First Bump in The Road

Up until today, I have had fantastic travel juju. If I was going to catch a train, it would pull up as I arrived. Buses were the same. The weather has been cooperative 95% of the time. I've been able to figure out which train, which carriage, which seat, which bus, which direction to travel with ease most of the time. I, honestly, could not have been happier.

This morning, my host here in Copenhagen was leaving a few hours before me on a trip to the states. I had a ticket booked to Hamburg via a train that travels on a ferry. I had booked a hotel, a car for Germany and (just the night before) made a general plan for the next 10 days. 

At 11am, I was updating my blog and received an email saying that my train had been canceled. The email was in German, so I could not tell what to do or the reason for the cancellation. I jumped on Google and typed in Hamburg News. Up popped two pieces of information. Firstly, there was a tornado that ripped through Germany yesterday and killed a man in Hamburg (also, apparently causing a million euro worth of damage). Secondly, there is a train strike. 

Ok. 

Even if there was a reroute or delayed replacement train for my tickets, I'd be travelling to a tornado torn town, and this did not sound good to me. I cancelled my hotel and my car reservations and went to the Østerport train station (my departure station) to figure out what to do with my ticket. The woman in the information booth was very friendly, but could not help me. She said I'd have to call customer service (which I could not do, having no SIM). She then said that I could go to Copenhagen's Central Train Station and speak to customer service there. She was showing me how to book a ticket to the station when she noticed that my train ticket to Hamburg was scheduled for today and told me just to ride the train at no cost, it should be covered by my ticket in case anyone asked.

I took the train to Central and spoke to a woman in the info booth there. She was not friendly (though not rude in anyway) and told me that the 3pm train would be replaced by a local train and then a bus all the way to Hamburg. I asked if I could get a refund and she told me that I'd have to request it from the company (online) who I booked the ticket from. Okie dokie. 

So, I sat at a Starbucks and went on the Bahn website only to find that I'd have to mail in my request for a refund.

At this point, I felt a little stuck. Maybe just stuck emotionally. I started looking at options out of Copenhagen. Trains, flights, etc. Expedia WOULD NOT open a site in English or with an option to pay in Euro OR show me any flights available tonight. Booking.com would only show flights in dkk (Danish Kroner) and due to the pre-loaded currency card I'm using, this was not an option.

At this point, I closed my tablet and forced myself to take some time off from thinking about this little problem I was having. It was about 2pm. I still had 2 hours until the bus to Hamburg option, so time was on my side.

I ordered a Caramel Pecan Brownie, cappuccino and bottle of water from Starbucks and fed my emotions for a little while. After I composed myself, and had most of the bland brownie, I got back on my tablet and went to work.

I weighed all options for destinations. Where did I really want to go? What did I really want to see? I decided on Ireland and found via Hipmunk (if you don't know about Hipmunk, you should download the app - it's boss) that there was a relatively cheap flight out tonight at 10pm. It was a direct flight from Copenhagen to Dublin.  Following my rule on this trip, I researched it a little bit and booked a non-refundable ticket quickly. BOOM. Done! I'm going to Ireland tonight.

Next, I spent about an hour online looking for a hotel for tonight. I found a reasonable Travelodge near the airport with a noon check-out and bing, bang, boom, booked that too. 

At this point, I was mentally exhausted and needed a break, but knew I had one last thing to accomplish. Getting to the CPH Airport. I booked a train ticket (1 stop from where I was) and made my way there. Found my terminal. Found a quiet corner with no people and laid down with my luggage, utterly drained. 

I get equally tired from walking around all day or using my brain to book travel plans. Now that the booking is done, I can relax. I have found an electrical plug to sit next to and charge my devices for a while before I can check in and drop off my luggage. 

It's super fun that I'm going to Ireland today, having NO forethought about it. Tomorrow morning, after a good night's sleep, I'll figure out my next move. Probably renting a car and exploring Ireland's countryside. 

I don't know if I will be able to do a Germany trip after this, but if I can, I've got it all mapped out and will be ready to hit the ground running. 

Now, I rest until my flight.

 

Denmark, Sweden, Tivoli

I've had a big day. Here are the highlights and photos. Detailed update to come.

• Walked around Copenhagen - saw Amalienborg Palace where guards were changing (changing guards, not clothes)
• Explored Frederick's Church. Amanda had always walked by but never in...turned out to be great in there and inspired by St Peter's Basilica
• Went to Nyhavn, saw colorful houses
• Went to Malmö Sweden for lunch at a women's cooperative (Yalla Trappan) in an Arabic neighborhood. Had delicious Thai noodle salad.
• Took a walk after lunch and saw street art
• Went to Amanda's University. She had a meeting with her Thesis team, I used their Internet and booked a hotel in Hamburg Germany for tomorrow night.
• Back in Copenhagen, we went to the Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the WORLD, and rode the third oldest still active roller coaster in the world. It is over 100 years old. p.s. It was AWESOME, not at all bumpy and a longish ride.

Update:

I forgot to mention that Amanda introduced me to an App called Pocket Earth. It costs something like $4 and lets you download maps from any area in any country and use them offline. It locates where you are via the GPS capabilities on your phone and with the help of the maps and some 'favorites' you pre-save, it should help you get where you want to go. I am still directionally challenged and haven't played with the app too much yet, but it also has another GREAT feature which is easy and fun to use. When you're standing in front of a landmark (church, fountain, bridge - for example), you can pull up the app, locate yourself and there will be (for most things) a Wikipedia blurb about that landmark. Have you ever been wandering around a city, find a really cool thing but didn't know what it was. Well, now you can! (I am in no way affiliated with the people at Pocket Earth and am not earning money off their downloads...I just think it's cool).

So, we started the day by taking the local bus to Nyhavn, where there are rows of colorful houses you often see when looking up anything about Copenhagen.

This is my not-squinting smile - also, this is the cardigan I bought in Rome. 

Nyhavn, photo taken by a Japanese tourist after Amanda spoke with him in Japanese....she's so talented

On the way there, we walked through Amalienborg Palace square and saw the changing of the guards.

And at some point we stopped in "The Marble Church" aka Frederick's church. It was gorgeous inside and out.

Then we took the train to Malmö Sweeden, where Amanda has been attending a Master's program. She had a meeting scheduled and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see another country, so I came with her. First things first, we had lunch at a women's cooperative (Yalla Trappan) in an Arabic neighborhood. The Wednesday menu listed a delicious Thai noodle salad. It was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. And after all the pizza and pasta I'd eaten in Italy, I needed the veggies that were draped all over the noodles. It was seriously good. 

On the way to a bus, I saw a statue, on the sidewalk, of a woman looking up. So, naturally, I looked up to see what the statue was looking at and it was another statue. A boy hoisted up a flagpole. 

Malmö Street Art

We went to Amanda's university, she had her meeting and afterwards we head back to Copenhagen.

We went to the University Library

This beautiful thing was hanging at the train station in Sweden
(not even CENTRAL station, just a regular old station)

One of the oldest buildings in Sweden. It dates back to the 1600's (probably)

I decided not to wrap the day up just yet, but rather to go to Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest Amusement park in the world. The first being 20 minutes away. And even better, to ride the third oldest still active roller coaster in the world.

What I saw inside Tivoli was surprising. 

Tivoli is in the middle of the city. I passed it yesterday when walking from the National Museum to City Hall. The place is HUGE inside. There are rides and shops and more restaurants than I could count. Like proper restaurants, not just the corn dog stands you might see at Great America.  It's like a small version of Disneyland, with different areas. The rides are interesting too. I mean, you have the swing ride that's like spinning chains of doom with chairs on the ends. There are drop rides. But then there are rides that spin and turn in every direction all at once. And they go SO FAST that you don't even hear screaming because the G Forces make it impossible (this is a guess, they might also not be screaming because they are Danish...I'm not sure). Then there are flowers and lakes and peacocks (and poor peahens who are tired of being courted by the peacocks).

The third oldest Roller Coaster in the world. No pipe smoking please.
Also, the driver is on every ride and runs the breaks.

This ride goes up and down  and you can get some serious air! Around the bends centrifugal force throws you into your friend hard. There are parts of the ride where you go into tunnels that are darker than Space Mountain. It was GREAT.