Going to Kilkenny and Dublin

Hey there,

I'm back. I just couldn't update earlier because I was busy exploring Ireland. But let's start where I left off.
On Sunday, the 15th of April, I didn't do a lot. The girls all came back and Oliver came by as well  to tell us that he found a plumber who should come on Monday which usually means Tuesday. So we thought that maybe if we were lucky on Wednesday the problem would be fixed. Sadly I got a bit of a headache so I just laid down for a bit and afterwards went to Boots to browse around before meeting up with Anna and Emma at a cafe. we then went to the guys apartment to cook and eat. Oliver also told us that it was okay to use the kitchen but we were kind of skeptical about it.

On Monday I went to work and put all the iPhone parts in an Excel worksheet. Other than that I cleaned a few more phones before leaving early. Also Heiko, my trainer from Germany, arrived in Galway on Monday. First we had plans to maybe meet up in the evening. But after arriving at his hotel we found out that it is a bit far away to meet somewhere near and so I finished packing for my upcoming plans and went to bed. On a positive note I can tell you that the dripping had stopped when I came home. Oliver hasn't said a piep to us but we know that there was a plumber in the apartment above us and in the afternoon the dripping stopped and it hasn't started again (fingers crossed it won't ever start again while I'm here).So this problem was solved. Now there are only the nasty stains on the ceiling left.

On Tuesday Heiko came to the shop in the morning and had a chat with John. After that we left to go to Kilkenny. In Kilkenny we went to the Smithwick's experience. There you can learn about the history and the brewing of the beer coming from Kilkenny. The brewery was founded by John Smithwick in 1710.

John Smithwick 1690-1768

information about Smithwicks Ales

The best known beer is the Smithwick's Red Ale which in Germany is sold as Kilkenny. Even tough they change it up a bit to get an alcohol level of 4.8 Vol%. But there are also two other Ales. The Pale Ale and the Blonde Ale. The Pale Ale was launched in 2011 and the Blonde Ale in 2014 making it the latest addition. Today Smithwicks is part of Guiness and isn't brewed in Kilkenny anymore but rather in Dublin at St. James' Gate (next to Guiness Store House). The last Smithwicks was brewed in Kilkenny in December 2013. As part of the guided tour through the former brewery one gets a free drink. Having tried them all by now I can confidently say that my personal favorite is the Red Ale followed by the Blonde Ale and Heiko said his favorite was the Blonde Ale. Also, Heiko is waiting for the Blonde Ale to be released in Germany, which probably says it all. So on the left there is a bit more information about all the Ales.

After that we went to Kilkenny Castle, which was built from 1195 to 1213 and was home to the Butler of Ormonde family for 500 years starting in 1391. It has a nice library room containing 2430 books and has a long room called Picture Gallery. This Gallery contains a lot of paintings but it also has a painted roof. It looked quite amazing.

1/5

Kilkenny Castle

2/5

nursery at Kilkenny Castle

3/5

painted roof at Kilkenny Castle

4/5

garden fountain at Kilkenny Castle

5/5

two pints of Smithwick's Red Ale

❮ ❯

In true Irish fashion we went to Langton's pub for dinner before walking back to the hotel and having pint or two there and talking about pretty much anything and everything.

On Wednesday we started the short journey to Dublin for him to go home and for me to explore Dublin and meet up with the guys from the German Bundestag and one from the Federal Administrative Court. But before that I got some food. I went to Nando's for lunch. Nando's is a restaurant chain from South Africa and is famous for its chicken cooked in piri-piri sauce (chilli sauce from Portugal). Currently there are now restaurants in Germany but I hope that there will be some in Germany/Berlin soon because I really love it. Afterwards I went to the National Leprechaun Museum but unfortunately the next available tour was too late. But next time I'm in Dublin I wanna go there. So I just went to Temple Bar and browsed some shops and menus there before going to Chistchurch Cathedral. This is dated back to 1030, which makes it the oldest church in Dublin. Also it was built by the Vikings.

Here are some pictures I took in Dublin: 

1/6

Ha'penny bridge

2/6

Christchurch Cathedral

3/6

Oscar Wilde statue
at Merrion Square

4/6

quote of Humphrey Bogart
at Foley's

5/6

the Spire of Dublin or
Monument of Light (An Túr Solais)

6/6

house in Dublin

❮ ❯

Sláinte!

After a quick stop back at the hostel to change into something more fitted for a dinner and a nice get together I met with Steve (blog) at the Oscar Wilde statue at Merrion Square. We talked for a bit while waiting for Tom (blog). Together we walked to our meeting point with Dorian (blog) and Patrick (blog). The fourth guy from the German Bundestag, Tobi (blog), didn't come along because he didn't feel as well so it was just us 5. For food we found this restaurant called Bunsen which serves Burgers. The menu is very short, only consisting of a hamburger and a cheeseburger, the respective doubles and three kinds of chips as sides but it tastes really good. Afterwards we went to Foley's, a pub Heiko recommended to me, and had a couple of pints. It was a quiet and chilled evening out. Steve and Tom left a bit earlier than the rest of us since they had to get up earlier than us as well.

On Thursday I took the bus to go to Howth. The weather was great so I decided to go even if I didn't have a lot of time. So I took the bus to Howth and went on the hard tour. The hard tour is 10 km and takes approximately three hours. Since I stopped quite often to take some pictures it took me 4 hours. The trail was nice and I got lucky. The guys warned me about mud and said I should weear stuff that I don't want to wear again anytime soon but because of the weather the trail was mostly try and I had next to none muddy sections. The view was incredibly beautiful. But just watch for yourself:

1/11

cliffs and beach at Howth

2/11

clouds covering the cliffs

3/11

map, I took the purple trail

4/11

me at the cliffs

5/11

water bumping the cliffs

6/11

Baily lighthouse

7/11

signpost for the telegraph cable

8/11

bird posing for a picture

9/11

fog at the cliffs

10/11

cross for someone who died at the cliffs

11/11

stone at the trail

❮ ❯

I had to be back in Dublin at 17:00 to get my luggage from the hostel I stayed in and to board my coach to Galway at 17:45. To do that I took the DART back to Tara Station which was kind of a whole new experience. And I almost didn't get back out of the DART. But luckily for me I was at the coach station on time and boarded mine to go back to Galway. 

When I arrived at the apartment only Acadia was there since the other girls had already left to Korfu in the morning and she followed them on Friday morning. I also felt like I had a sunburn which was confirmed by a look in the mirror. So I put some moisturising crem on and went to bed.

Friday I got up at 8 o'clcok just like every workday and went to work after getting ready. Since there wasn't really anything to do for me I had time to figure out how to put these wonderful slideshows you've already enjoyed on here. This took me about all day and I got a bit frustrated from time to time but I worked it out in the end. Also I fixed the till. Somewhen on Thursday the receipt-printer stopped working and the guys called for their IT-service who fixed the problem. But ever since the till wasn't opening up when a receipt was printer. I first checked that the cable was put in correctley. After that I googled how I can change printer-settings on a MacOS which I had never done before. I found a chat forum where someone was having a similar problem and just followed the steps written there. I was so happy on finding out that it worked. On another note, Darragh came by shortly and said that the pizza and pints are pushed up to next week because of some things that came up. So after work I went into boots to buy some after-sun-lotion for my sunburn/windburn-mix and got some food as well. Also while I had a catch up on tv shows there was suddenly a ship parked right outside our window. Got a little shock there.

boat outside our window

Yesterday, Saturday, the 21st of April, I didn't do a lot. I slept in, skyped my parents and tried to wash my clothes. 'Tried' because while putting my clothes in the washing maschine a different problem arose which was bigger than atticipated: the dryer. I found that most of my shirts aren't alright to tumbledry which makes it impossible to dry them in the apartment without buying a stand for them which I didn't want. So I put in what I could and then went out to search for some new shirts (dryable of course). I wasn't really succesful in that mission yesterday so I went back home to plan my next weekends as most of the stores were closing up.

Today I went on a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour throughout Galway to not only see anything but also to get some stories to some of the buildings or Galway itself. There I learned that Christopher Columbus stopped by in Galway on a trip to either Iceland or the Faroer Islands in 1477 and that the Cromwellian forces sieged the city for nine moth before an agreement was made. It was a nice trip and I learned more about the history of this city. Also I got to say that Tony, the tour guide, was quite funny and - if I dare to say so - adoreable. Made the whole tour. Afterwards I went to Dunnes and there I finally found dryable shirts. So now I seriously need to consider buying another suitcase and upgrading the checked luggage for my flight back to Berlin. On a side note the Celtic Explorer, the ship that arrived Friiday night, departed again. Otherwise I wrote this blog and played a bit with anything regarding these slideshows. 

1/3

first pub of Galway

2/3

former jail now used as a cafe

3/3

house of president Michael D. Higgens who spends his weekends here

❮ ❯
 

That's it for my second week in Galway. So here is back to work.  

Stay tuned. Cheers!

Juliane