Eastern Ireland...Dublin, Cork and the Blarney Stone

I'm a little embarassed to write this posting. I almost took the coward´s way out and skipped the Dublin story altogether. I knew you guys weren't smart enough to notice... well...maybe a few of you are smart enough...I´ll let you decide which category you fall into. Natigo and Bo...you´re in the first category for sure...nice try.

Why be embarassed???

I hate to admit it...don´t make me say it... but while in Dublin I never got into a drunken brawl, I wasn´t arrested, I didn´t run down the streets naked (Natigo would have) and I remember most of what happened while I was there. (Oooh the shame of it all)

How sad is that? I apologize to my readership and feel free to disown me. All I ask...try to remember all the good drinking stories I had in NZ and Australia.

But I´m still Canadian and trust me...I held my own in the bars I did go to. The first night I was tired and didn´t expect to spend much time at the bars...but running into a few Cdns changed my mind. And to make things even better...I had only taken enough money to buy a few pints...so they bought me beers into the wee hours of the morning. We are a friendly people.

Now I´m not exactly sure what to think of the picture to the immediate left and the one above that. As for the Murphy´s picture...I´m assuming only foreigners live on that lane. I´ve never known a sober Irish person yet. I imagine that Irish people are even afraid to walk down that lane in case someone sees them.

And the picture to the left...I´ll leave that up to you, but the picture was taken in my hostel´s bathroom.

The one important thing I did when in Dublin was to find my way to the Guiness brewery...and it was very cool. I guess that´s a huge understatement as so many beer drinkers consider it their mecca. I can proudly say that I completed my pilgrimage.

It´s all down hill from here!

Cork is an Irish town. That´s about all I can really say about it. It was nothing special, but it was a jumping-off-point to Blarney and my second pilgrimage was to the Blarney Stone.

And for those of you who don´t know about the Blarney Stone...basically it gives those that kiss it the gift of eloquence in speech.

Well...I´m not a germophobe Michael Jackson sort or anything but the thought of kissing something millions have kissed before didn´t seem like the right thing to do. However, as I climbed the very steep, winding stairs to the roof of the castle...I decided I had to kiss the stone. Then I saw a very old man kiss the stone ahead of me...and I said...no thanks...I don´t even know how he got up the stairs, but at that moment...I knew I had made the right decision.

And I´ve been in sales long enough to think I have some gift for talking...if not...I´ve had some very special clients, which is probably closer to the truth. Thanks Lorne and Jim...you guys rock.

The top picture was from the grounds around Blarney Castle which were the best part of Blarney.

As for the Guiness picture...it speaks for itself.

See you in Spain!!

Northern Ireland...Belfast, Derry and the Giant´s Causeway

After hearing all the crazy stories from my new found Irish friends...I finally find myself in the Land of Guiness. I'm sure it has other names, but I figured most of my friends could relate.


Well...being a backpacker...I finally had to try Ryan Air (a very cheap European airline) from Glasgow to Belfast and was quite impressed until we bounced THREE times on landing. Oh well...a little excitement is good for the heart.



After finding my hostel and a quick walking tour of Belfast...it didn't take me long to find a pub to have my first Guiness in Ireland. And you know what...it definitely tastes better in Ireland.
Normally I can only drink one or two back home (we all know it's more of a meal than a drink), but I found the courage to consume 6 or 7 in the first pub I set foot in.



It also didn't hurt that I met two locals who invited me to stay at their place within 10 minutes of meeting them. Yes, that was kind of spooky.

But what wasn't spooky was the table full of Irish girls who invited me to their table. Now Irish women often get a bad rep as being freckled and red haired, but I can assure you that none of the women sitting at this table fit the mould. I soon found that many Irish women don't fit the normal stereotype.


The next day I was excited to see Jane (who I met in NZ) who was going to show me around Derry and her home town as well. She picks me up in front of the hostel in a black BMW convertible. Nice...

I was living the high life...especially when I saw the room I got to sleep in at her Mom and Dad's. I was ready to trade in my backpack for some permanent residence as her Mom was an excellent cook to boot.



The tour of Derry was very fascinating, especially since the tour guide said we couldn't have traveled in the places we went just a short 10 years ago. But he did say that depending on your religion, it's still best not to enter some areas at night. Kind of scary.

You can still see the who "owns" the neighbourhoods by the colour of the curbs or light posts as they are painted either Irish or British colours.

However, there were some very cool murals depicting different events (mostly sad) of the "civil" war in Nothern Ireland.

Then it was to Jane's home town to pick up Max her dog and head out to the Giant's Causeway. I had never heard of this place before travelling, but the folklore behind it is very cool and the shape of the rocks are pretty freaky as they are all hexagonal or octagonal (same difference in my mind...I never was a huge fan of geometry) in shape.

Then we were supposed to head out to a Celtic football game, but ran out of time and were going to go out for some drinks, but I was pretty happy to be pampered back at Jane´s parents place so we ended up talking and drinking red wine.

I know...Joe not going out to drink...what´s the world coming to?

This picture was just another castle ruin that Jane had never stopped to look at even though she only lives 15 minutes away. I guess that put things in perspective for me since I´m sure many tourists to Canada have seen wicked things I´ve only driven by doing 150kph.

So get out there and see Canada for yourself and then pack your bags and realize there´s a big world out there.

See you in Dublin...that is if I can spell my name after touring the Guiness brewery. Slainte!!

Scotland - Part 2

You won't believe it...I can hardly believe it myself...I saw the Loch Ness monster. And no...I hadn't been drinking. I took the morning cruise along Loch Ness just to make sure I didn't let alcohol cloud my judgement.



Unfortunately...damn camera screwed up again and I all I have to show for my once-in-a-lifetime experience is a picture of a blue cartoon Nessie. How sad is that?


But I was lucky enough to befriend a couple good Aussie lads and they helped me drown my sorrows in a pub after our walk around Inverness.



The young, hot Scottish girl who was out for her 21st birthday and was buying US drinks helped some too. She topped it off by doing backflips for us in the bar. We have it on video in case you think I'm lying again.




The region around Inverness was a fairly boring, beautiful place... but you have to give their folklore an A+ for getting people to come to Loch Ness. The waters were so dark and cold it was omnious. We were told that after about 10 metres down...it's completely black with no visibility and all year the water is a frosty 3 degrees. It's also about 700 metres deep...hence my pal Nessie hasn't been caught. I just wish she would have smiled a bit longer while I fumbled with my camera. Next time!

Then it was on to Glasgow. Only the last two pictures are from Glasgow. I must admit, I wasn't too impressed with the city. After loving Edinburgh so much, I was expecting something similar, but I found Glasgow to be a more modern looking city with hardly any cool looking old buildings around. And as you can see from my pictures...I love the old buildings.

However, with it being a university town, I'm told from the many students I met in my hostel, it has a great vibe and the bar scene is quite impressive. With that being said, I still wasn't going to line up outside a bar on a Thursday night to find out if that was true. Man...I am old!

Now don't cast-off Glasgow because of what I've written here...please experience it for yourself...since I might be a little jaded.

Upon arriving in Glasgow, I was offered up some friendly Scottish advice from the info booth at the bus station that I could walk to my hostel in 6-8 minutes. Yeah...right.


To make matters worse, my on-line hostel reservation sent me the wrong directions. After about 20-25 minutes of walking...I found myself at the sister hostel of mine.

Of course, my hostel was another 20 minutes away. And why are all my hostels at the top of a hill? I think Canada softened me up as I was definitely beat by the time I checked into my hostel.

I know I'm starting to sound like a little cry baby, but as I told McAuley...travelling is hard work.

Luckily the weather as you can see continued to be on my side so I'll shut up now.

See you in Ireland...

Scotland - Part 1

I guess the story continues...

After 6 fast and fabulous weeks back in Canada, I find myself back across the pond exploring Western Europe. It was great seeing everyone from back home, but I just wasn't ready to come back to reality...so here I am in Scotland.

Now I must admit, this was almost one of the fastest trips in history as they didn't want to let me into Scotland. Can you blame them?

It started out innocent enough, Edinburgh has a pretty small airport and ours was the only plane to arrive at the time. Since I hadn't filled out my landing card, I let everyone go in front of me to customs. Let me tell you...don't ever do that!

As I was the only one left to pass through customs, I think they wanted to put in some time and decided to interrogate me. They asked the usual questions like why was I flying to Edinburgh, etc. After telling them about my travels, they questioned my new passport as it didn't have any stamps. I explained that my last passport was damaged and I had to get a new one. They certainly didn't like that answer and grilled me for quite awhile on how I could possibly get my passport wet in Surfer's Paradise Australia. Come on people...it's surrounded by water.

Then came the question about only having a one-way ticket. It really didn't help my case since I only had 20$pounds on me. They hated that. So then they had to take stock of every possession I had on me. I was feeling a little bit violated, but at least the rubber gloves hadn't come out yet. Then the questions on how I could afford to travel for so long without working...yada yada.

Finally after about 25-30 minutes, I said..."Look...I made X amount of money the last few years which I'm sure you'll agree is enough to travel on." Now they really HATED that answer. I was getting mad, but they were even more mad...I thought I had finally pushed my luck too far when I think they finally got bored and couldn't be bothered to continue. All they said, was "we expect you to be out of the country on the 25th" as I had told them I would be.

Oh yeah...I'm in. However, things didn't get much better as my backpack was nowhere to be seen in the baggage claim area and I was the only person in the whole area. After 10 mins...a guy wearing an airport suit came through and I basically stepped in front of him and asked if he knew anyone who could help me find my bag. He said continue through the airport to departures and ask the girls at the counter.

I walked through two large rooms with me being the only person around and finally came out to the departure area where a guy yelled at me...where'd you come from?...but I just kept on walking. I found the counter and they said they were waiting for me. They had noticed I was having trouble at customs and laughed, but gave me my bag and I was outta there. Good riddens!!!

From that point on, things have been marvelous. The weather in Scotland was the best it had been all summer. I actually only saw rain once and for a very brief time...nice. I thought Edinburgh was amazing and would certainly put it on my recommendation list.

The people were so friendly and seemed to push other Scots out of the way just to help me. I had found my people and proud to have Scottish roots.

It was also awesome to hook up with Karen, who is a fun, drinking Edinburgh girl that I had previously met on the Magic Bus in NZ. Like old times, we started drinking early and didn't stop to the wee hours of the morning. It was Karen who cooked up my first ever Haggis meal and I must admit...I really enjoyed it. I had seconds. It tastes and looks much better than the preconceptions I had about it.

It was now time to depart Edinburgh and make my mark in this world by capturing the Loch Ness monster.

I found myself on a slow bus to Inverness, but it allowed me time to hatch an awesome plan to find Nessie in the dark, cold waters of Loch Ness.

You don't want to miss out on that adventure.