A Week in Kerry - Part 1

 I don't even know how to begin my series of blog posts on my time in County Kerry. For one thing, there are literally over 500 photos to wade through. I guess I'll just work my way through chronologically, and stop whenever the post seems to be getting too long!

Where our story really begins and ends is with Liz, the owner of The Anvil Bar - the BnB and restaurant/pub I stayed at for the week. When the staff worked out that I was alone and without a car, she basically adopted me for the week and personally took me all around the county. I learned so much about the history of Kerry and Irish culture, and had such a fun time with her. If you ever find yourself in southwest Ireland, head outside of Castlemaine to find The Anvil and say hi to Liz for me! 

I know I said I'd go in order, and this is already out of order, but here's the lovely Liz herself!

Now onto a more linear narrative:

I knew I wanted to travel by train as much as possible during my brief stint in Europe, so rather than take a quick puddle jumper from Dublin to Kerry, I opted for a leisurely train ride instead. It was such a low key and simple way to travel - no worrying about security lines and weight limits and minuscule seats, just plenty of space to move around and lots of scenery to watch. I was feeling a little edgy when I started, as I find I generally am on travel days, but I pulled up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on my Kindle and the accompanying movie soundtrack on my phone, and boy if that didn't just whip me right into a good frame of mind. Going between reading and staring at the rolling green fields while Hedwig's Theme played, even if I was technically in the wrong country, just felt so fitting and like I was on an adventure and maybe even on the right path. 

Scenes from the train

The windows were evidently tinted blue!

Everything was surprisingly ambiguously signed, but I made my transfer correctly and upon alighting in Tralee I found the taxi stand - though it took about half an hour for a taxi to show up (there was one leaving right when I arrived, so I wasn't just standing around optimistically, I promise). My taxi driver gave me my favorite weather forecast I think I've ever heard: 

"If you can see the mountains, it's going to rain. If you can't see them, it's raining."

The Anvil is on a quiet road out in the countryside - the only stretch with sidewalks has the Anvil, another bar called Murphy's Bar, a sewing shop, a church, and a tax advisor. There is also a hiking loop that starts right behind the bar, but it was apparently closed for renovations, so I never tried it out. The pub itself was exactly what it should be - dark wood and amber lighting and a good crowd of regulars. And SPECTACULAR food. If you ever stop by (and you should!), try the grilled goat cheese. My taste buds swooned. 

Working dinner in the pub

Monday morning I took it nice and slow - but was actually awake during the morning! Jet lag is finally over! I enjoyed my lovely room and the views of the rolling hills I could see from my many windows, and rescued a butterfly that somehow got inside my skylight:

And I went for a little walk around the stretch of neighborhood that I could reach. It was very peaceful, and since I was in the countryside and did not need to block out city weirdos, I did not have headphones in, which is how I discovered that I was walking past a burbling brook:

Returning to the Anvil, I came across the owner's son who works the bar, and he figured out pretty quickly that I didn't have a car, and told me about the shuttle buses. During the summer they are available for the guests in the high season, but during the winter they actually function as school buses. But that means that they make runs into Tralee and Killarney each day for a few hours (and for the full day if I wanted to go with them for the morning run at 7:30am, which I decidedly did not). "Just let them know at the bar, and they'll let the drivers know." 

And then later that night, I met Liz. She popped by my table as I sat enjoying another fine meal in the pub to give me a handwritten schedule of the bus for the rest of the week, and we got to chatting. Soon enough, she had brought me a brochure of County Kerry and all of the places the school bus could drop me off for a few hours. When we were done talking and she left me to the rest of my meal, I experienced one of those odd moments that happen only when I'm traveling, where I have an actual physical feeling of overwhelming joy and like the whole universe aligned to create this singular moment. Running off to the Irish countryside was such a random, spontaneous decision on my part. Choosing this particular BnB was a complete whim, and the whole thing came together in a matter of minutes. I didn't do enough research to realize that I couldn't walk anywhere from the BnB, I had no idea what even was in the area to see, and it just generally could have been such a dud of a week. And instead, I was sitting in a picture-perfect pub with music playing and rugby on the TV in the background and that warm glowing lighting, eating a warm meal and getting ready to adventure around the Dingle Peninsula for the week, making friends, and it just felt amazing. All of those days and stretched where traveling is so much harder than just living at home, where I don't feel adventurous just overwhelmed, where I wonder what on earth I am thinking doing this with my life - this was one of those moments where it all pays off. 

I'll take you through the adventures and wanderings that ensued in the next post. For now, I leave you with one more out-of-order photo, just because I like it:

Having a WONDERFUL time on my impromptu Kerry trip

Girls' Home

Spent two hours at Girls' Home tonight. No crazed children stealing my camera, so no photos for you today, but I absolutely will be taking a few pictures when I visit next week, because the view from their roof is spectacular.

 

Actually, I will show you one picture:

 

Several children have asked me over the past few days to see a picture of my family. This picture is saved in my Favorites on my phone, so it is very easy to pull up. I point out my mother and my sister, and without fail they point to me and ask who it is. And without fail, they are shocked when I tell them it is me, and stare intently at me trying to see it. So apparently I'm looking a little dowdier than I thought lately. So now I'm on a mission to locate an optometrist so I can get contact solution and put an end to this nonsense!

Back to Girls' Home. They were eating while I was there, and they dished me up a bowl. I don't think it was the actual meal, but I haven't figured out how these things work yet. Regardless, it was excellent. It was cooked chickpeas. Just chickpeas. I even checked if they cooked them in anything, or added ghee, but nothing. Just pure, unadulterated chickpeas cooked from scratch. And they were so good. Eaten sitting on the floor, with the bowl on the floor, with your fingers. I noticed several, but not all, of the girls mashing each handful a little before they ate. I tried it, but it didn't affect the taste, and seemed like unnecessary effort to me. I also had a cup of tea at the end of the night, with a little sugar and lots of milk. Definitely not as much sugar as they put in my coffee each morning- I mainly drink that to be polite, but it's doable because it basically tastes like tiramisu.

I spent about an hour on the roof with some first graders, doing maths (writing out the words for numbers from the digits), and despite my repeated attempts to explain that I don't speak the language, correcting their Tamil homework as well. The last half hour was back inside (with tea!), helping one of the older girls with her maths. She needs to brush up on the basics, but picked it up astonishingly fast once I started walking her through it. She is going to come find me during lunch tomorrow to keep working on it. I am rapidly getting frustrated with all of the Reading work I do with the kids, but who ever would have thought I would become the Math Maven?

 

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Road Trip 2012: Land of Enchantment

Oh my goodness, I have gotten so behind. In terms of days, we are still less than halfway through, but it feels like we are already on the home stretch! But for now, let's journey back a few days, when we explored New Mexico....

Our time in New Mexico was centered around Santa Fe. It brought us a healthy introduction to the geological splendor that is the Southwest, which we have been thoroughly enjoying at its fullest in Arizona. After making camp, we basically had a night in, with a brief stop at Olive Garden. Something about being on a road trip has us both mentally geared towards all of the Americana chain restaurants. Thus far, we have made stops at Sonic, Dennys, Olive Garden, Dairy Queen, and I think Katie got something from a Burger King at one point. A stop at Chili's is also likely. Hopefully we will return to our senses soon, but in the meantime, Sonic makes darn good mozzarella sticks.

Our full day in New Mexico started with a journey to Taos, an artistic community about an hour outside of Santa Fe.

Some cool freeway decorations

Camel Rock

The Road to Taos

Just your average freeway overpass

Preliminary research suggests this might be Frijoles Canyon

Once we got there, we realized that we knew little of what to actually do in Taos. We just knew we were supposed to go. So we wandered around Old Town, in and out of shops (met some excellent shop cats at the bookstore, Mable and Little Trouble), and had organic smoothies in the sun.

A little corner off of Old Town Taos

On our way back, we stopped at a pretty little pull-off, and attempted to get some bubble pictures a la the Grand Bubble Tour of Scotland, but our bubbles were not cooperating. You get a single picture of me show-boating instead.

The middle of the afternoon was occupied with a matinee of Snow White and the Huntsman (highly recommended, btw), and in the evening we wandered around downtown Santa Fe. An energetic and aggressive search landed us free street parking, and again we sauntered in and out of shops. Sadly, no jewelry even close to our price range, but we did meet this lovely donkey statue:

Donkey in Downtown Santa Fe

And we hung around the tiny cathedral. A building across the street had some sort of rooftop club, so it is possible that I may have busted out a little bit of the Cupid Shuffle on the cathedral steps. I don't admit to anything, but I also regret nothing.

Up the next morning to make the drive to Flagstaff. We are already pros at handling 400-mile drives in a single sitting, though we vaguely have intentions to make more frequent stops to walk around and stretch out. After the first two days, our bodies have settled quite nicely into the routine of things and no longer yell at us for keeping them in Candy (my car) for hours at a time, but we know we shouldn't take advantage....

Coming soon: the geological marvel that is Arizona!

Paris Revisited: Day One- Arrival and Antiques

The long flight wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. First of all, it turns out that AirFrance has an absolutely superb in-flight entertainment line-up. I was actually sad that I would need to sleep on the flight. Even watching movies non-stop for both the flight here and back would leave me sad that I had missed a few. But in the end, I just watched about an hour of Harry Potter, got half the plane in an uproar when I dropped my iPod and couldn't find it, and generally amused the same half of the plane with my antics trying to crawl over my sleeping seat partner (did it successfully both times, by the way). I'm pretty sure the entire coach section thought I was Lucy Ricardo brought back to life. But I found the iPod, and my seat partner was nicely rested when he got to Paris. Apparently, he is coming home for the first time since a year's deployment in Afghanistan (American soldier). I tried to stalk him when we got off the plane, to see the family reunion, but he had luggage checked, and I didn't. So I let him have his privacy and made my way into Paris.

A little worried about the state of my hair and make-up at this point, because when I first got on the plane, the flight crew spoke to me in French. As I exited, they spoke to me in English. I think I looked distinctly less polished. 

I actually got to Laura's place with minimal mishaps- a benefit to having lived in the city before, I would imagine. Problem was, when I got to her place at 10am, I realized I wasn't positive which one exactly was hers. I remembered the right range of numbers, but not the precise one. I settled on it being one of two numbers (it turned out I chose the wrong one), and awkwardly waited on the street for about 20 minutes. Obviously, this didn't work. Luckily, I had exited the Metro station right in front of a Starbucks, so I went back, bought a random green tea, and used their wi-fi to make contact with Laura. It all worked out, and I was able to drop off my stuff, meet The Puppy, and go grocery shopping (read: bread, goat cheese, crumpets, Nutella, peanut butter. Quite literally what I subsisted on for my entire semester here).

Nootka and her mommy, after I woke them up to let me in the apartment

The main adventure of the day was finally going to a Parisian flea market. I meant to the entire time I was here last year, and just never did. When we first got there, I could see exactly why I had never bothered:

Just a bunch of aggressive salesmen and plastic merchandise. Fortunately, Laura persevered, and we found the awesome flea-markety section, full of antiques and books and buttons and truly vintage clothing:

There were also some fun winding alleys full of antiques, but I forgot to get pictures. Sorry.

When we got back in, I was pretty well bushed, working as I was on about three hours of fitful plane sleep, and only about four hours of fitful can't-miss-the-plane sleep the night before that. So I canceled my plans to go see the Eiffel Tower, and we stayed in for the night, with pizza, the puppy, and an episode of X-Files. And then I got to stretch out on an actual bed (futon, rather, but when compared to an airplane seat...) and sleep for 12 hours. Bliss.

Grecian Islands: Santorini, Part I

First, let us start with how I got to Greece. I woke up veeery early in the morning (we are talking shortly after 3am), to catch the shuttle bus to the Edinburgh airport. It's a pretty cool deal- leaves at all hours, costs 3.5 quid, has free wifi, a camera on the luggage storage area that broadcasts to the upper deck so you can feel safe leaving your luggage, outlets, tables, the whole shebang. It was actually a little disappointing that the ride was only 30 minutes! After all of the epic bus journeying I did that week, 30 minutes positively flew by. My concept of time's passage has really altered in these last few months, I think. I'm used to spending three hours in class, riding on buses for hours on end, etc. etc. It's going to be absolutely bizarre to have 50 minute classes at Trinity this fall!

The flight from Edinburgh to London was quick and easy. It's when I got to London that things got a little hairy. EasyJet flies into London Gatwick airport, which has two terminals- North and South. Unlike SeaTac, where once you are through security you can get to any gate, Gatwick is one of those annoying ones where you have to reprocess through security between terminals. I flew into the North Terminal, but left on the South Terminal. I had checked my bag in Edinburgh, and assumed that I would just find it waiting for me in Athens. You know, like with most airlines.

Hah, no.

Turns out EasyJet isn't a "transfer airline," which means that you need to pick up and recheck your luggage at each stop along the way. It would have been fantastic to have been told this online when I arranged to check my bag, or in person when I actually checked it. Nada. By some amazing chance, I happened to ask an EasyJet staff member about this- once I was out of the North Terminal and through security in the South Terminal. The staff member sent me to the information desk, where I waited around for 20 minutes for an escort back out through security. Turns out that once you are through security, the only way you are supposed to leave is via an airplane? Not really sure how that works, but at least I vaguely feel that there is a reasonable security-related reason why. Anywhoo, some poor guy had to walk me out of security and then another guy had to pick me up and walk me through the special staff security at the North Terminal, and take me around to find my bag. Which wasn't where they said it would be. So I was escorted through more security. But we found in eventually, and I was re-escorted back around. All in all, I went through security four times in less than an hour. I finally get back to where I check my bag for the South Terminal. They need to reprint my boarding pass, obviously, since I already used it once to get in.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that until two hours before your flight."

Did I mention that my lay-over was 8 hours?

Eventually, I just gave into the inevitable and found a spot on the floor for a few hours, and paid through the nose for a Boingo WiFi hotspot thing. My bag eventually got checked, I went through security again,  and got on my flight to Greece. It went quite fast (see previous mention of new concept of time), and suddenly, I was in Athens!!

At which point I realized that I didn't actually know where the hostel that I was meeting everyone at was, or even what it was. Clever planning on my part.

Fortunately, my computer had about 20 minutes of battery left and the Athens International Airport sweetly offers 60 minutes of free wifi, so I was able to find the information on our Facebook thread, look up the hostel online, and get the metro directions.

Sadly, the view from the bus shuttle (a nighttime view) was about as much as I was going to see of Athens, save the areas directly around the hostel and the ferry terminal. I got in at almost midnight, left on a 7am ferry, got back in a week later at 1am, and left on an 8am flight. Athens and I, like ships passing in the night. Almost literally.

 On our way to the ferry, I got the first of what would be many "cheese pies." Sometimes these were spanakopita, sometimes just cheese. Spanakopita (if I am spelling that at all correctly) consists of that really flaky phyllo pastry around feta and spinach. This particular one was just feta. It was amaaazing. I am hooked. I only have this one picture for you from the ferry ride to Santorini, because my camera ran out of battery- and because I bought a seat inside after freezing on the deck for about an hour, and slept for the remaining seven. Yes, the ferry ride was 8 hours long. I have a vague memory of actually posting to this blog while on board- a post that I had written prior, during my time on the floor at Gatwick.

View from the back of the ferry as we left Athens

Eight hours later, we pulled into the ferry terminal on the island of Santorini. The water was ridiculously blue, the sun was warm- just lovely.

Now, there's this weird little thing I do sometimes, something I've been doing pretty much at every stop along my journeys here in Europe. Whenever I get off some major mode of transportation, and get through the exit, there are always the people waiting with the signs. You know, the chauffeurs and tour guides and what have you with their little papers that say "Mr. Davenport" and the like. Even though I'm traveling alone, I always check. Not because I actually think I'll see my name there. But I always check. Just in case? 

And this time, I had a sign. It wasn't my name, it was the name of my hotel, but still! There was a huge queue of people with the various signs, and our hotel owner had come down with his van to pick us up. So we got to look for the "Stelio's Place" sign. It was terribly exciting. 

Stelio's Place. It's actually a hotel, unlike all of the hostels I have been staying at, and it's right next to the beach. Perissa Beach, apparently, which is what the little town was called. The other main cities are the adorable ones that are perched on hillsides, but they are a) more expensive and b) less beach-accessible. 

Obviously, hitting the beach was one of our first priorities. 

Once I walk out of the driveway from our hotel and turn left... Mediterranean! 

We made some new friends

Hanging out at the pool at Stelio's

Heading out on a different excursion

The first two days were pretty lazy- a nice break after my whirlwind time in Scotland and then the hectic travel day. But on the third day (I count the ferry day as Day 1, since we were at our hotel by 3), we went crazy. We went ATVing!

ATV- All Terrain Vehicle, also sometimes referred to as Four-Wheelers. All 11 of us got them, two to an ATV, and we zipped (or rather, loudly trundled) all around the island for the entire day.

My intrepid driver, Emily. I don't drive, and she loves to, so we were a perfect match.

Some of the ladies on their own ATV

If you look carefully, there are several donkeys/mules/horses in the background. I suspect mules.

Rocking the Helmet Chic.

Our first stop was to the famous Red Beach. Perissa Beach is supposedly a black sand beach, but it seemed rather similar in color to the sort of dark slate that you find on many Seattle beaches. But I suppose to those used to golden sand, it would seem black. The Red Beach was pretty red, though. Absolutely gorgeous, and my toe shoes got another workout.

Some of the ladies and myself

Crashing waves!

Up next: the lighthouse.

Peeling out 

Hiking out to the lighthouse

Yeah, it wasn't much to see

But it was situated on an absolutely wonderful cliff!

Doesn't even begin to capture the color of the water

After the lighthouse venturing, we spend a few hours in the main city of Fira, mainly window-shopping (and yes, a little actual shopping as well), and then continued on to Oja, home of the world-famous sunset.

Rocking the super-chic ATV windbreakers 

Oja! SO CUTE and exactly what one expects from a Grecian village

I like to pretend that these are olive branches, thus making this the perfect shot of Greece

Just one little problem with our world famous sunset... it was kind of a dud that night. Sunsets are such a hit-and-miss science. Observe the following two photos:

Sun is still partially there.

Sun is no longer there.

That was pretty much the extent of our sunset. We hung around until it was pretty dark, and no pretty colors ever emerged. But it was still an absolutely lovely way to spend an evening.

We almost picked up a new family pet on the way home. An adorable little dog absolutely attached herself to me, and I reeeeeally wanted to take her with me, but a) she had a collar (though it was pretty worn, and she had no tags), and b) I couldn't figure out where to stash her for my remaining time in France. It was beyond heart-breaking to drive off an leave her- she actually followed our ATV for a time. If it was a movie, some tear-jerker song from the 80s would have been playing, and everything would have been in slow-motion.

There's my girl

We wound our way back to Perissa Beach, and zonked for the night. Original plans were to go to a karaoke bar, but suddenly we were on our beds and it was the next morning....