The One and Only Ireland

The Last few days Dan and I were exploring Ireland, the country where in addition to the Careful, Children Crossing road sign, you can see Cattle Crossing, Causion Cross Wind and Leprechaun Crossing road signs.

The country that in addition to the gazelle and cow road signs, you can find a road sign that from a distance looks like the Puma logo (but actually notifies the driver of a merging road)...
The only country where you can smell the beer in the outside fresh air and find empty beer-cans thrown at the national road in the middle of nowhere, and still find a sign such as this:

The country where you can find an advertisment sign for Castle for Rent, a place called Kilbritain, and a chain of islands called after the cattle family (The Bull, The Cow and The Calf)...

The country where you can find a roadkill every 1000 meters and sometimes even every 100 meters. Mostly foxes and crows, yes I actually did mean crows, but also other kinds of birds and badgers (and no, I didn't even think about taking a picture of it...).

The only country where you can find yourself on a national road such as this,

and find that the maximum speed allowed is 100 km per hour.

But also the only country where you can find that kind of breath-taking landscapes.

More about our Easter holiday, in my next post.

Ode to the North

Last Monday-Tuesday we've been to Northern Ireland. The place where Pind (sounds almost like pint that ends with a D, but still, not exactly) is actually Pound (the currency).

Dan had to be at a place called Banbridge, for some meetings. Luckily, he rented a car on the company's expense, so I joined him. I've decided that while he's on his meetings, I'll go to Belfast. I did some checking on the internet, and it took me 15 minutes until I found a proper website to check whether there's a bus or a train from Banbridge to Belfast. They should do some major upgrade works on their SEO... I discovered that there's a direct bus, Ulsterbus, line no. 38 or 238 or 238a to Belfast, every 20-30 minutes. I was afraid it was too good to be true, and hoping that the internet search doesn't necessarily say anything about their service.

Well, the bus was exactly on time, every time! And it's surprisingly good, considering the fact that it arrives from Newry.

I don't know whether there was a vacation from school those days, but there were many teenagers at the lawn of the city hall in Belfast. Seems like they all fancy the Gothic look: dark black hair, dark cloths. They all look the same. The girls wear too much make-up powder at that age, and the shade usually doesn't fit their skin colour. When they'll grow up, it doesn't matter whether they'll keep the gothic look, they'll add some tan to it. Yeah, many Irish women (haven't see tanned men, yet) put some kind of lotion that makes their skin look tanned. But it seems like they put it on their lags and their faces only, so when it's extremely hot, like these last few day, so many girls wearing t-shirts and skirts, uncover their extremely white, untanned hands (compared to their faces or legs).

By the way, after that, they'll probably get pregnant, have kids and that's it...

Except the city hall I went to the Belfast Castle, just to discover that except for the great view from up the hill, there are 2 rooms to be seen by the public, and the rest of that pretty huge castle is used for conferences and weddings... It all explains why they don't charge to enter the castle.
The most interesting thing was a neighbourhood where walls at the end of each block is painted, and it all been kept from the time of The Troubles. I took many pictures over there, and there were some more, but I didn't have the time to stay there, I had to go back to Banbridge, and then back to Dublin. I give you a quick glimpse. If you wish to see some more, just email me.

It was a nice place to visit, Belfast, but certainly not a must.

And now, for the first time, I going to use my blog to say hey to Jeremy, the taxi driver from Banbridge. We had a nice, long chat when he was taking me from the hotel we were staying, just outside of Banbridge, to the town center, to catch the bus to Belfast. I'm quite sure he doesn't read my blog, but still... I hope you enjoyed the Chelsea-Valencia match yesterday (He flew to London for the match!). And please, next time you drive with an Israeli, I think it's pretty stupid to ask whether it's safe living there... You're from Northern Ireland, you must know that what's on the media is quite different from the real, everyday life.

Tomorrow is Good Friday, and the following Monday is Easter Monday. What better reason do we have to go out of the city for few days? This time we go to the south, and when we're back, I'll update you, of course ( who else???)

The Saga of Dublin Airport

Well, I have just landed at the Dublin Airport, where I'm supposed to meet Dan. Yeah, yeah, he had to go on a business trip and was supposed to land at 19:00, 2 hours after my plane lands. I decided I'll wait for him at the airport.
Well, nothing is supposed to work as planned, so when I landed I called Dan, and he told me there'll be a delay, and he'll probably land at 20:00!!! I knew something like that would happen! Why couldn't my flight be delayed??I just hope nothing else will occur out of the blue...

Well, at first I was thinking to go to the city, put my suitcase (which is quite big to travel the city with) at a luggage deposit, but at the tourist info i was told that there are 2 places in Dublin where I can deposit it, but they are both quite far from the area where Dan lives and from the more interesting parts of Dublin. So I decided to stay at the airport. And what can be better than writing my next post at the airport? So that's why I'm sitting down at the airport under the Meeting Point sign, my dear suitcase is next to me, and I write everything in my cool 888.com notebook.

It's 18:25. I have 1.5 hours left. If I find nothing better to do, this might be a very long post. Talking on the phone could be nice, but expensive- almost 1$ per minute for incoming calls. and that also means I'll have to convince people to call me... maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

5 minutes have passed.
There are some available Internet access positions, but it costs 1E per 10 minutes! so expensive!
hey, I can also watch and try to understand Cricket. The TV in front of us, the people at the Meeting Point, is on, and there's a cricket match. Everybody around me are quite fascinated by the match between Ireland and England.
Another 5 minutes have passed. It's going to be soooo long... That post.
Hey, I've got a wonderful idea! I'll go to the tourist info and get some ideas for Monday- Tuesday.When I come back, I'll explain.

Well, I'm back, after spending 20 minutes at the line, so that the nice lady at the tourist info would tell me that she has no info about Northern Ireland, and she gave me the address of the tourist info in Belfast (for Or's Travels Advice- near the Jury Hotel, at Royal Avenue. Hey! you've earned a free link! You lucky bitch!).
after that I bought a bottle of water, drank some, ate my last sandwich from this morning, yes, it was delicious, and no, I suppose (I use that word so much. I think, or even better- I suppose I'll have it as a label) it wasn't spoiled. After that I drank some more, and my mom called, so now I have 40 minutes left!

Ohh, No!!! I now look at the board, and his light will land at 20:10! that means I have to wait another 15 minutes!!
So now the countdown is 55 minutes.
OK. So now I have the time to tell you all ( all of my 3 frequent readers) what's on for Monday. Dan has to go to Northern Ireland for a business trip, by a rented car. I'll join him. At first I was terrified, I thought he was supposed to go to London or some other place in England, and I'll have lose 2 days with him (If I want to join him that means we'll have to book myself a flight, too expensive. And besides, there's always the chance there are no available seats on the flight). So he has to go to a place called Banbridge, and it's quite close to Belfast, so I'll take a bus there, or Dan will drop me there. I better not drive the car, unless I'm in the mood for an accident. I'm sure I'll find what to do and where to go there.

There's a couple in their mid-20's sitting next to me. they are fighting and laughing like 5 years old... What's wrong with you people??? (Dear Ellen, this one is for you!)

So now I have 40 minutes left, I filled 3 pages in my cool 888.com notebook, and I still have to type it later on today. So I think I'll watch Cricket after all, and keep you updated in what I've learned about it in my next post.