Last day in Dublin and London

Hi there!

I'm now in Madrid. I felt like going to Spain, but now I feel like comming back to Dublin ha ha. I had a good time with my friends my last day there. We went to have dinner and for a drink. I would like to thank my Dublin's friends the time we stayed together. I hope we could meet again.

The flight to London was one hour late because it was foggy in Gatwick, but was late for everybody thank goodness. So, I could met Nuria and Yara without problems. I have to say that the weather was sunny everyday, except the day I came back... at least in the early morning. Here is the Londres photo album.

London is very interesting. The architecture, the people... it's very cosmopolitan. In some aspects quite different to Dublin. If you've nerver been there, you should go :D And it's fairly expensive if you want to visit monuments. For instance, the London Eye was 15 pounds!!!! but British Museum is for free.

Going from one place to other is easy whether by bus or by tube. Buses have a display where tell you the next stop. And tube is not as complex as pleople say. Go for a walk it's nice as well especially along the Thames at the weekend, because is full of artists and you could came across surprises such as guitar lessons for free (watch the video) :D




That's all folks! Here finishes my English adventure. Will I repeat it again? Who knows...

bye bye

The end is close

Well, after almost a month my adventure is finishing. I'm staying in Ireland for just 1 day more before visiting London. There were exciting, funny and boring situations. I've met nice and not nice people. But the adventure is the adventure.

I'd like to comment briefly some of the places visited during the last 10 days...

• Drogheda - In the catholic church of St Peter's, there is the head of Oliver Plunkett, an archbishop martyred in 1681. Slightly bad taste :D

• Monasterboice - The best of Monasterboice are its 10th century High Crosses. Muiredach's High Cross is the finest of its kind in Ireland.

• Slane Castle - It's a private property, a pity because we couldn't visit it. Famous for the concerts played there (the best U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle" of course)

• Grianán of Aileach - Circular stone structure, measuring 23m in diameter. The day was foggy, but in a sunny day it's possible to see 3 counties from there. I'll believe it.

• Londonderry (Northern Ireland) - My first contact with pounds. I have to say that there are British pounds and Northern Ireland pounds, and the latter are only valid in Nothern Ireland. So, if you go there, you must be careful and spend all that money there. Anyway, Londonderry (also know as Derry) is the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland. Nothing comparable with Avila walls :D Famous in 1972 when British troops shot dead 13 demonstrators. The city centre is nice but is deserted in the afternoon. Slightly sad. We had a guided tour in the morning.

• Dunluce Castle (Northern Ireland) - On the way to Causeway Giants. A big castle situated in an amazing place. We only stopped there to take some photos.

• Giants Causeway (Northern Ireland) - Ireland's only World Heritage Site. One of the most striking beauty places of Ireland, with hexagonal columns. One legend tells how the giant Finn MacCool laid the causeway to provide a path across the sea to his lady love, who lived on the island of Staffa in Scotland.

• Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge (Northern Ireland) - An exciting rope bridge that hangs 25m above the sea.

• Belfast (Northern Ireland) - A big city. The day was cloudy, maybe because of that I didn't like it very much.

• Glenveagh National Park and Castle - Really beautiful. A nice place to go hiking. We visited the Glenveagh Castle. There were people recording a movie or an ad (I'm not sure).

• Croagh Patrick and National Famine Memorial - Ireland's holy mountain. Place of pilgrimage. Beautiful views of Clew Bay.

• Cong - Picturesque village that was the setting for "The Quiet Man".

• Ashford Castle - Just south of Cong, it's one of the Ireland's best hotels (Norman Castle).

• Connemara National Park - Other striking beauty place. The day was rainy but in some ways it was better like that.

• Galway - For some people, the best city in Ireland. The average age it's 25 (more or less), so it's a very nice place.

• Dunguaire Castle - You should walk round it thinking in a question, and when the day is finishing you will have the answer.

• The Burren - Rocky land. Nice sceneries.

• Cliffs of Moher - They rise to a height of 200m out of the sea and extend for 8km. This time was sunny, but I liked it more the first time I saw them. It was crowded.

• Shannon Ferry - This part of the trip was a surprise. I didn't know that we had to cross the river Shannon on a Ferry.

• Dingle and Dingle Peninsula - Were people go to rest. We could see the Sleepy Giant (see photo).

• Killarney and the Ring of Kerry - Killarney is a nice city close to the National Park. There, there are amazing sceneries of the lakes with the Ross Castle. I think it could be a very nice place to live because you can go for a walk or to go riding, hiking or cycling to the National Park. It's also a good place to visit the Ring of Kerry, a long-established route around the Iveragh Peninsula. There are three lakes, mountains and even a waterfall (Torc Waterfall). By the way, we went to see Riverdance show! A great show.

• Blarney Castle - Visitors from all over the world flock to there to see the legendary Blarney Stone. Kissing it is a tradition, intended to confer a magical eloquence. The photo shows where you kiss the stone.
  

• Cork - The second largest city in Ireland. I thought it wasn't very beautiful, but I realize that it has some nice places in the city centre. In the hostel, I met two young guys from Valencia and other guy from Argentina. I was feeling like speaking in Spanish :D

Paddywagon report: days #6 to #10

I've already come back!

These are the places visited in the last 5 days of the tour:

Day #6

• Dunguaire Castle
• Burren
• Cliffs of Moher
• Shannon Ferry

Day #7

• Dingle Peninsula
• Dingle
• Killarney National Park
• Ross Castle
• Riverdance show

Day #8

• Killarney
• Ring of Kerry
• Sneem

Day #9

• Kinsale
• Blarney Castle
• Cork

Day #10

• Rock of Cashel
• Cashel
• Kilkenny
• Guinness Storehouse

I'm quite tired because they have been a lot of kilometres. I'll try to explain something of the most interesting places, maybe tomorrow.

For the moment, here are the photos:
- Paddywagon album (days 1 to 5)
- Paddywagon album (days 6 to 10)

Paddywagon report: days #1 to #5

Hi there,

I'm in Galway! This is a list of the places visited:

Day #1

• Drogheda
• Monasterboice (Celtic Crosses)
• Slane Castle
• Omagh
• Grianan of Aileach
• Londonderry

Day #2

• Londonderry
• Dunluce Castle
• Giants Causeway
• Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
• Belfast

Day #3

• Belfast
• Donegal
• Glenveagh National Park / Castle of Glenveagh
• Londonderry

Day #4

• The Irish Church
• Westport
• Croagh Patrick and National Famine Memorial
• Cong

Day #5

• Stone circles (Cong)
• Ashford Castle (Cong)
• Connemara National Park
• Galway

The first days were hard days. The most part of the group are from Australia and Canada, 3 person from Germany, 1 from Czech Republic, 1 from Ireland, and me. I can't understand anything when Canadian and Australian people are talking. So, it's almost impossible to communicate with them.

The trip is not as good as I thought, but it's worth while. The scenery are amazing, specially in Connemara National Park and in North Ireland. I have lots of photos but I can upload them now (I'll do it in Dublin).

Anyway, I have 5 days more to discover the south of the country. Some people leave the trip tomorrow because they go on a 6 days tour. And the last day I'm visiting the Guinness Brewery!!!

All the best guys.

Dun Laoghaire

The sunny day of tomorrow was a mirage because the rain comes back. I went to Dun Laoghaire because I had met a woman on the Internet, to talk for a while you know. A good opportunity to try the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit), the rail line running along the coast of Dublin. It's like "Cercanías" in Madrid.

Anyway, we had a coffee and we went for a brief walk because of the weather. She told me about the Festival of World Cultures, every August. It change the town completely. It could be a great idea for the next time.

I'm very nervous and excited because tomorrow I'm going away for 10 days! Will the people are kind and friendly? Do they talk to me? Will I understand them? Who knows. I don't know when I will be able to write again in the blog. But don't worry! I'll do it as soon as possible.

See you soon!

"In other life, I was a rat"

Hi there,

I woke up with a terrible headache in the morning... it was the HANGOVER :-D Yesterday, I went for a drink with Miroslaw (my apartment mate). We where in a pub called "Czech Inn", a piece of Czech Republic in the heart of Dublin, where I tasted Czech beers and meal (a pancake with brie cheese inside, absolutely mouth-watering). When we were having dinner and talking about cheese, I spit the phrase "in other live, I was a rat" because I love eating cheese. I wanted to say "mouse", but in that moment I didn't remember it. It was very funny, we laughed aloud for a while.

After that, I showed Miroslaw the Ireland's oldest pub "The Brazen Head". It was more crowded than when I was there in February. Take note Javi, if you can go on Sunday evening, much better. We finished the night in other pub, drinking more beer. We got home at about 2pm. I really had a good time.

So, I got up late in the morning. By the way, it has been a sunny day! I went for a walk to the dock area and I discovered it's a nice new area. The beautiful Sean O'Casey Bridge was built in 2005. In one of its ends, there is a building like a merchant (Former Excise Stores I think it's called) with an amazing inside. I couldn't take any photo inside because my batteries finished. In the other bridge's end there is a quiet walk called "Campshire Walk", very nice as well. A few meters ahead, there is a building under construction, The National Conference Centre. It looks like a leaning cylinder. Great building :D

And that's all. Tomorrow more.

Paddywagon tours

Hi everybody,

These days happened anything interesting. I'm very grateful to everybody who have written comments in my blog or who have emailed me. Thanks a lot for that.

I've just booked in Paddywagon tours. I'm leaving Dublin on Monday morning. I'm very excited for that because I'm being with new people (the same people) for 10 days. I hope to get on well with them. It could be a success or a failure, who knows.

In the morning I went to a recruitment fair, and it was a failure indeed. If I want to get a job here (IT job), I have to be fluent in English. I didn't think I would.

By the way, I think I'm putting on weight. Too many fish fingers, too many fries (the hard potatoes I bought are really testy fries), and too many meat products. I'm afraid but I should go on a diet when I get home.

Anyway, I'm going for a drink with my apartment mate tonight.

Do you know who is the guy in the photo? More photos in the photo album. Bye.