May 29, 2007
It’s the last night in Ireland and I’m camping out in a hotel in Dublin prior to an early morning departure. The beauty of this country’s parks and scenery will be missed — even dull bus rides are enjoyable by watching the sheep, mountains, and old country houses that line the roads. I’ll have to do more hiking in Bear Mountain to try and match this.
Cows and Clouds in Cashel
Originally I planned on a fourteen day trip away, because I wanted to fully take in the culture of an area. This trip hit nine days, which was enough to get through a lot.
Some highlights:
- Walking through a field full of cows (with no fences in the way). They were massive and I was afraid.
- Wedging my feet between the tiny steps of the Blarney Castle
- Trying to get dinner in Dublin, only realizing everything shuts down at 7 PM and having to grab a sandwich from a grocery store
- Waking up on the water in Cobh
- Having the bartender lock Kelly and I in a bar with a dozen other people after official bar hours closed.
- Walking by HMV and being overwhelmed by the massive outdoor Arctic Monkeys posters
- Spending the night in a bar meeting locals (by myself)
- Pouring a perfect pint myself
- Sitting in the grass of St Stephen’s Green with Kelly as we counted our final hours in Ireland
- Listening to Irish music in an old pub while watching a daddy long-legs dance to the beat
- Going for relaxed runs around the castles of Cashel and Kilkenny
- Getting late night post-pub pizza at Uncle Sam’s
May 28, 2007
Someone needs to read about wall paper. It’s starting to get to the point where the cathedrals and castles are all merging together as one memory. The photos are still going great but today we walked up to a Cathedral and zinged through it in ten minutes. Off to a larger castle now, hopefully this one will still wow like the others.
I am in Kilkenny now and had a great night last night. Even though it was Sunday, all of the pubs were open and I caught a great band featuring two acoustic gutars, an electric, electric base, and drummer. The drummer was fantastic and the songs wre all based on traditional songwriting (ala Ryan Adams). Great place. We then hit a few other crowded bars to find a rock cover band playing old American tunes. When a European band covers songs like Sweet Home Alabama I can’t help but think how un rock-and-roll the whole event can be.
Cheers.
May 25, 2007
Time is going by quickly here, it’s shocking to think that I’m leaving Cork now after two nights.
As Cork is a city, I was able to catch up on my shopping and picked up an EP and some clothes. In addition, I was able to get a thumb drive that lets me hook up my camera’s photos to the computer, so below is a photo from this trip’s collection. This photo was taken in Cobh, which proved to be a classical European town that fit in perfectly along the water.
May 22, 2007
It’s time to retire. I took a four hour train ride from Dublin to Cobh today (with a stop at Cork), and am now logging in through a computer in my B&B on the water of the town my family supposedly originated from.
I’m a big fan of train rides (when they’re not for commuting). Compared to the busy walks of Dublin and its loud and bouncy crowds, the train was a vacation in itself. Kelly and I sat at a table across from an aspiring actor studying Antigone for one of his classes. We caught up and learned that Budweiser was pretty big over here. Our new friend himself spoke fondly of spiked cider. While on the train we were served hot tea, which added some flavor to the dry Irish newspaper I picked up in the Conrad Dublin.
The town Cobh itself has a history as a major port, where most Irish immigrants departed from and from which my family apparantly originates. The city is most well-known as the location that the Titanic departed from back in the Leonardo DiCaprio days of the 90′s. I had lunch along the water and its neon painted houses and boats, and just minutes ago hopped a cab- to our hotel with a walk-out porch on the water. I’m ready to retire.
May 20, 2007
I made it through a day of Ireland and already I may have peaked my trip.
The most important part of today is obviously the music. For lunch we wandered into a pub a few blocks from Dublin’s tourist center, and while yes, the Guinness stew was excellent, the highlight was clearly the jukebox.
Over my dinner I was treated to “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve, “Don’t Go Away” by Oasis, U2, Stereophonics, and two tracks from The Killers. When Kelly went to the bathroom, I snuck towards the jukebox to find the last three Oasis albums, two albums from Coldplay, two from The Killers, and even The Street’s A Grand Don’t Come for Free.
Why don’t I live here again?
Even on my flight in, on Ireland’s Aer Lingus, I was overwhelmed by the radio. I wanted to sleep, but plugging in my earphones to listen to the plane’s audio countered my goal.
All heard in one half hour segment:
“Digsy’s Diner” by Oasis
The Strokes
Stereophonics
Silverchair
Stone Temple Pilots
“Weezer’s Island” in the Sun
Arctic Monkeys
Chris Cornell
I’m not even going to touch on the T-Shirts or posters that the record stores have in town. Maybe I just won’t return. Z100 is so American and passé.
They’ve got it all wrong! My bus driver drove on the left side of the road! Cars were parked in opposite directions on my left, yet cars moved against the traffic to my right! Somebody take his license!
We arrived in Dublin today at 6 AM and after a quick nap are all set to go and head out to the center of town. The goal is not to return to the hotel until we’ve conquered half of Dublin.
Wish us luck.
May 17, 2007
Some songs are like packaged goods, containing the same excitement, energy, and youth each time you hear them. On Tuesday night, when the Arctic Monkeys played The View From The Afternoon at Hammerstein Ballroom, the song was as fresh as a newly opened bag of Doritos.
For the first half of the show I was stuck behind a group of nervous teenagers side by side with some balding elders. While the Arctic Monkeys sang about putting on dancing shoes and looking good on a dance floor, the group in front of me stood stagnant, killing the mood like an early last call.
But when The View From The Afternoon erupted, the rest of the crowd went wild, and I hung left around my sleeping neighbours only to be pushed up to the front of the crowd. Suddenly I was in the middle of a bouncing mob, being pushed around and pushing back, as a roar of what can only be described as blokes chanted, “The haze has descended and it don’t make no sense anymore.” When the haze of the song descended and the band played the song’s final notes, the elders were no longer around, and the concert was fresh and exciting again.
While the band was promoting a second album that sounds decent live, the highlight of the night was how fresh the band’s first album still sounded. The Arctic Monkeys entered the music scene with the fastest selling UK debut album of all time. They roared through Europe and became the indie darlings of UK importers here in the States. The young band came fast and what’s incredible is that their songs still pack the same energy years later.
The band drained my energy and I went home for a four hour nap before my trip back into the city. Despite the fatigue, my morning commute was saved by listening to tracks from the debut album on my Zune. I was awake again.
May 6, 2007
Served with steamed vegetables and simple pasta.
Grilled Tuna with Herbs
The New York Times Cookbook
(As copied from aggie94′s post on Cooking Light)
4 (1-inch-thick) tuna steaks
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preheat an outdoor grill or preheat the oven broiler to high.
Sprinkle the tuna pieces on all sides with salt and pepper.
Combine the oil, garlic, thyme, lemon rind, and red pepper flakes. Blend well and brush the fish all over with the mixture.
Scrape the remaining oil mixture into a small saucepan and add the butter and lemon juice.
If the fish is to be cooked on an outdoor grill, place the pieces directly on the grill. Cook, turning often, 5-6 minutes. If it is to be cooked under the broiler, place it in a dish about 2 inches from the heat source. Leave the broiler door partly open. Let cook 3 minutes and turn. Cook the other side 2-3 minutes.
While the fish is cooking, heat the oil and butter mixture over low heat and keep warm. Put the steaks on individual plates or on a platter. Pour oil & butter mixture over the fish.
Serves 4.
May 2, 2007
I’ve never been one for free flash games on the web, but I recently played The Last Stand and now I’m a believer. It’s a zombie action/management game where you spend your nights defending your base shooting approaching zombies. During daylight you get to search for other survivors or weapons. There’s a clever balance behind the daily duties that makes the game fairly addictive. You can play it by clicking here.
It’s 3:30 PM and I’m sitting in a decked out hotel with the faint roar of a Boston street behind me.
Someone was silly enough today to call in assorted threats to the building I was working in, and now I’m out of work early because we were all requested to leave the premises.
When I finish this post I’m off to the gym and then to Legal Sea Food for some fish. After that I’m trying to meet up with my cousin for some drinks on the town.
It’s a different city than the last time I visited. I had to work here a few weeks ago and every day I was here the rain poured and the sun hid. By the weekend things turned around, but by the weekend I was already far away from the naturally gray and structured neighborhood known as Boston’s financial district. Today though, the sky is open, the sun is out, and the gray buildings now have tinted hints of color. It’s amazing how I am happy this week, yet I was so disappointed weeks ago – just because I couldn’t find the sun in the sky.
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