I recommend being unemployed to all of you reading this. It feels like when I first arrived in Ireland (except with more debt).
Yesterday I got back from a week in County Fermanagh out on the farm in a town I'm ashamed to say I still don't know how to spell but it's on Lough Erne Lake if that helps! Beautiful and peaceful besides a couple craic-filled nights. I ended up falling in love with this donkey out on the farm. I didn't know I even liked donkeys but this one is beautiful! I call it Donkey. Donkey's are surprisingly popular in Ireland. They even have donkey races in a small town down South in August. I'm not that obsessed.
During the weekend my cousin Sinead and I ventured down South to a town called Carrick-on Shannon. PS, also another popular Hen and stag party place! Crazy Irish. We visited this 300 year old Thatch pub just outside town that my moms brother ended up landing a job and room while cycling around Ireland a few years back. What a gem! It was amazing with all these antiques cluttered on any available surface not excluding the ceiling which held old farm equipment I've never seen and walls covered in character paintings and portraits of the thatch (one which has a corner missing because someone needed to roll a cigarette a few years back). Seriously! It was great. When we walked in at 8pm (when it opens) a 84 year old gentleman named pierce greeted us and was pulling pints for me in-between his football match. Nobody showed up really except Dublin Patty and his separated wife of twenty years and a trio from Notting Hill until the music started at 11pm. The band by the way was owner Gene who played the guitar, accordion, harmonica and sang. I could have stayed there all night but we had to hit the twisty rural road back home in the rain. I'll go back. You should too!
And drum roll please! To commemorate the Queen's visit to Enniskillen I got a tattoo! Just kidding. But I really did get the tattoo. I just never went to see the Queen while she was in town. After two failed attempts at getting a tattoo at this mysterious drop in only guy's house out in the country I went to a well known parlour. It was pretty rad because right when he started my tattoo Nirvana's Teen Spirit was playing... perfect. Sadly it was only to be followed by Arosmith's armageddon song. I hate that song. Anyways, the tattoo I love and I'm pretty proud of myself for making the biggest commitment of my life, thus far. It's only permanent.
Anywho! Off to Paris in three days and hopefully there's some good craic about town with the Irish Golf open going on just down the road... I swear I saw that Rory golfer character across the street when I was heading home but I could have been mistaken. I'm awful at spotting my friends never mind famous people!
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Where Rainbows end
Okay, I totally stole that from the latest Cecilia Ahern book
I'm reading. I just always seem to read her books at the right times.
Last night was my last shift at work. As my mom’s cousin Myra would say, "Yee - hoo!" I am now un-employed until my departure on July 9th. That's right, I'm coming home but not before one final Euro-trip to Paris on Canada Day, no-less.
I've seen a lot on my travels. But you can never really see enough, can you? I've been very lucky and very unlucky, it can't all be rainbows!
Last week my friend Andrew took me out on his job sites as he's a town planner and we took the coastal route to towns I've never been too. The roads were proper rural Irish roads along steep cliffs which on-coming traffic tended to drive outside the lines. It was only slightly terrifying. I met Randall's goat, hiked through mud to see really old farm houses, forest and hilltops with rocks that called castles (kidding) I conquered my fear and curiosity by crossing Carrick-a-Reede Rope Bridge. There has to be some deep seeded metaphor here as the bridge means, "a rock in the road". Ya, got it.
This past weekend I went 'camping' with my often-talked about friends Meabh and Andrew to Westport in the south in a County called Mayo, if you've ever heard of such a ridiculous name for a County. The landscape I saw through the fog on the way down and my reclined hung-over position on the way back was beautiful. If you ever plan on having a stag or hen party I suggest Westport as that seems to be where everyone in Ireland goes. While there, we visited Matt Malone's Pub and on the way up sipped delicious French wine in a castle and had a pic-nic at Yates's grave. The Irish love their graveyards!
I'm off to Co. Fermanagh for a long weekend and hoping to visit the Thatch pub my uncle worked/lived in while touring Ireland a couple years back. I'll be staying at my family’s remote, peaceful homestead on a lake and maybe I'll catch a fish! Weather allowing. It is June, right?
Last night was my last shift at work. As my mom’s cousin Myra would say, "Yee - hoo!" I am now un-employed until my departure on July 9th. That's right, I'm coming home but not before one final Euro-trip to Paris on Canada Day, no-less.
I've seen a lot on my travels. But you can never really see enough, can you? I've been very lucky and very unlucky, it can't all be rainbows!
Last week my friend Andrew took me out on his job sites as he's a town planner and we took the coastal route to towns I've never been too. The roads were proper rural Irish roads along steep cliffs which on-coming traffic tended to drive outside the lines. It was only slightly terrifying. I met Randall's goat, hiked through mud to see really old farm houses, forest and hilltops with rocks that called castles (kidding) I conquered my fear and curiosity by crossing Carrick-a-Reede Rope Bridge. There has to be some deep seeded metaphor here as the bridge means, "a rock in the road". Ya, got it.
This past weekend I went 'camping' with my often-talked about friends Meabh and Andrew to Westport in the south in a County called Mayo, if you've ever heard of such a ridiculous name for a County. The landscape I saw through the fog on the way down and my reclined hung-over position on the way back was beautiful. If you ever plan on having a stag or hen party I suggest Westport as that seems to be where everyone in Ireland goes. While there, we visited Matt Malone's Pub and on the way up sipped delicious French wine in a castle and had a pic-nic at Yates's grave. The Irish love their graveyards!
I'm off to Co. Fermanagh for a long weekend and hoping to visit the Thatch pub my uncle worked/lived in while touring Ireland a couple years back. I'll be staying at my family’s remote, peaceful homestead on a lake and maybe I'll catch a fish! Weather allowing. It is June, right?
Monday, 11 June 2012
When in Rome..
Visit the Canadian Embassy. They're really nice, (obviously). As if I don't spend enough time in self reflection the embassy made me write it out on paper. Every date, address and job over the past seven years! I highly recommend you do this and see how you feel after, besides headachy.
Despite a few non-alcoholic induced hiccups I'm happy I had the chance to spend five days in Italy. I had great weather, some really great food and Italy was the first place where I felt like a foreigner, and it's good to be a minority sometimes I think to keep you right.
I landed in Pisa. The air was warm which was a definite contrast to the cool Belfast airport air. I suggest only dedicating half a day to Pisa. It's amazing and slightly uncomfortable to see the Leaning Tower in person.
The following day I took a short train trip to Lucca it was in my tour book and I was lucky enough to stumble across the main attraction due to my extremely strong sense of direction. Ha ha! Then I secretly shadowed English speaking walking tour guides to see the rest, only slightly creepy I'm sure.
A bit of a detour as me and my passport parted ways around this point so I'm on the 5:45 am train to Rome! (PS, I have no love for that place.) I'll spare the 'humourous' details of my misfortunes that day which makes me wonder why when really shitty things happen people say, "Oh, one day you'll look back at all that and laugh!" I'm pretty sure I'll still be bitter but slightly smarter for it.
The only attraction I saw in Rome was a cardboard cut out of a Canadian Mountain Police saluting me. I can't remember the last time I saw one in person but felt oddly comforted by this none-the-less.
Um, a bit of interesting things I took with me from Rome (besides my Temporary Passport). People park in intersections. Seriously; leaving just enough room for a car to inch through if they so need to. And the homeless people that I did see were heartbreaking, they were about as old as the buildings I couldn't help but think about my granny sitting out there begging for money, (she'd probably be lecturing people too though with her crazy stories).
I made it in time to catch the last train to Florence! I love Florence, I could live there. Despite all the American tourists I really enjoyed the busyness and beauty this easily accessible city offered. AND FOOD! I finally had a chance to relax, eat and enjoy some vino.
I found this local gem recommended by a girl from my awesome Pisa hostel right outside the tower to visit this place called Trattoria Mario just around the corner from The Duomo Group, which is also a new odd obsession I’ve developed. It's stunning. Anyways, the food was amazing. Everyone sat with anyone and the staff were climbing over tables to take orders and deliver food. You know the food had to be good, right? My over-stuffed ravioli was silky and fresh and salty. I'll dream of it. The steaks looked like a religious experience and apparently that's what they're known for, if you're into steaks.
Later that night I found myself at an outdoor Ristoronte enjoying the best bruschetta in life. It was fresh, silky, salty, garlicky and crusty, don't-even-talk-to-me I'm eatting good! My Spaghetti tomato basil was delish too but a tad too salty... their noodles are much thinner than any I've had before and that was good. I also enjoyed three gelato's in Italy that I wanted to enjoy more than I did but how can ice cream be bad, really?
Of course my trip wouldn't be complete without being fingerprinted and mug shot by the UK Border control. Now, I did crack a smile when I was getting fingerprinted but that's another blog!
Despite a few non-alcoholic induced hiccups I'm happy I had the chance to spend five days in Italy. I had great weather, some really great food and Italy was the first place where I felt like a foreigner, and it's good to be a minority sometimes I think to keep you right.
I landed in Pisa. The air was warm which was a definite contrast to the cool Belfast airport air. I suggest only dedicating half a day to Pisa. It's amazing and slightly uncomfortable to see the Leaning Tower in person.
The following day I took a short train trip to Lucca it was in my tour book and I was lucky enough to stumble across the main attraction due to my extremely strong sense of direction. Ha ha! Then I secretly shadowed English speaking walking tour guides to see the rest, only slightly creepy I'm sure.
A bit of a detour as me and my passport parted ways around this point so I'm on the 5:45 am train to Rome! (PS, I have no love for that place.) I'll spare the 'humourous' details of my misfortunes that day which makes me wonder why when really shitty things happen people say, "Oh, one day you'll look back at all that and laugh!" I'm pretty sure I'll still be bitter but slightly smarter for it.
The only attraction I saw in Rome was a cardboard cut out of a Canadian Mountain Police saluting me. I can't remember the last time I saw one in person but felt oddly comforted by this none-the-less.
Um, a bit of interesting things I took with me from Rome (besides my Temporary Passport). People park in intersections. Seriously; leaving just enough room for a car to inch through if they so need to. And the homeless people that I did see were heartbreaking, they were about as old as the buildings I couldn't help but think about my granny sitting out there begging for money, (she'd probably be lecturing people too though with her crazy stories).
I made it in time to catch the last train to Florence! I love Florence, I could live there. Despite all the American tourists I really enjoyed the busyness and beauty this easily accessible city offered. AND FOOD! I finally had a chance to relax, eat and enjoy some vino.
I found this local gem recommended by a girl from my awesome Pisa hostel right outside the tower to visit this place called Trattoria Mario just around the corner from The Duomo Group, which is also a new odd obsession I’ve developed. It's stunning. Anyways, the food was amazing. Everyone sat with anyone and the staff were climbing over tables to take orders and deliver food. You know the food had to be good, right? My over-stuffed ravioli was silky and fresh and salty. I'll dream of it. The steaks looked like a religious experience and apparently that's what they're known for, if you're into steaks.
Later that night I found myself at an outdoor Ristoronte enjoying the best bruschetta in life. It was fresh, silky, salty, garlicky and crusty, don't-even-talk-to-me I'm eatting good! My Spaghetti tomato basil was delish too but a tad too salty... their noodles are much thinner than any I've had before and that was good. I also enjoyed three gelato's in Italy that I wanted to enjoy more than I did but how can ice cream be bad, really?
Of course my trip wouldn't be complete without being fingerprinted and mug shot by the UK Border control. Now, I did crack a smile when I was getting fingerprinted but that's another blog!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)