Cymru

Hello hello again, this time from Caernarfon, Wales.

Dublin was fabulous, besides being cold and rainy. I got a fine youth hostel for 17.50 euros a night, yay. The first night I walked around a bit, had a crepe for dinner, and picked up info about Dublin. That night around 2:30 a couple of my roomates came in drunk and noisy, but that's what one expects at a hostel. Otherwise, it was fine.

In the morning I headed out to Trinity College, founded by Elizabeth I in the 1500s. I had a guided tour and learned about some funny college traditions (during exam time, if you come dressed exactly right (with a cloak and dagger, etc.), the provost of the college has to brin you wine during your exam. If he doesn't for some reason, you can skip the exams). Also saw the book of Kells and a couple other old, beautiful books, as well as the Trinity library, which is huge and where the books are organized by SIZE. How cool is that?

Next I walked (through the wind and rain) to the national museum, which had a lot of great archeological exhibits, including one on the bogs. There were preserved bog bodies in the exhibit, as well as other objects, though the bodies were the coolest part. A bit gruesome, because many of them were murdered, but still cool. I also saw an exhibit about Ireland during the viking invasions--British Isles and Scandinavia combined, I love it!

Next to a cafe where I had lunch and let my soaked pants dry out a bit. My, it was wet. Then to Christchurch cathedral, built about 1000 years ago, which was like many other Cathedrals, but nice all the same. And, the St. Olaf College choir was performing there that night! Though it cost 15 euros so I decided not to go.

Busy day--next I saw Dublin castle, which is more like a palace. Learned a lot about Ireland's history, especially its relation with England/Britain, which is really interesting.

Then back to the youth hostel to dry off (my umbrella had died by this point), and out for the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl! That was great fun--two actors performed bits of certain famous Irish books and plays, and told us about the authors. The Irish are very proud of James Joyce and Yeats... my favorite was a bit they did from Waiting for Godot. After each performance (somewhere on the street or so) we would head to a pub for a bit. Pubs are great, and so Irish. It was fun chatting with the others on the tour, because I'd been by myself all day. On the one hand, traveling alone is fun because of the feeling of independence, but it can also be lonely!


The next morning I took a bus to Glendalough a park in Wicklow. Glendalough has a lot of beautiful walks, so I bought a map and chose a walk. It was still cold and windy, but luckily not raining. I also paid a euro and went to the museum there, which tells the story of St. Kevin and the monastic settlement at Glendalough (valley of two rivers, in Irish)--there are some fantastic old buildings still there that I explored!

Then back to Dublin, where I had dinner in a little tea shop and walked around Temple Bar, the restaurant/walking district. Then to bed for an early morning the next day!

And darn, my 1/2 hour (for a pound... eek! That's about $1.60) is almost up, so I'll have to save the past few days for another entry!

TTFN!