Goodbye to Dublin, Benvinguda a Barcelona

I had seen this tower from halfway across the city, and decided to make the hike to see what it was.  Turned out it was a monument to some guy in WW2.  It's large.

My last day in Dublin dawned sunny and beautiful.  I took a last walk around to enjoy the weather.  I really wanted to get a picture of the famous colored doors in the Georgian area of the city.  As usual when you have a particular idea of something you want, something that seems like it should be easy, it's incredibly hard to find (seems like there's mailboxes everywhere, but try finding one when you need one).  So after great frustration I finally managed to find three doors that were all different colors, close enough together to get in the same photo, didn't have cars parked in front of them, and didn't have "for rent" signs all over the buildings.  Then I just had to wait for the sun to come out from behind a large cloud and try to time a shot in between all the cars, motorcycles, buses, and pedestrians going by.  Photography sucks.

After my morning wandering about, I headed back to the hostel and got all my stuff packed up, ran a few errands, and generally made ready to vacate the country.  Took the bus to the airport, walked a long way out to the terminal where Ryanair flys out of, then got on a plane with seats packed as closely together as you can possibly get them.  The seats don't even recline, because if they did you'd hit the person behind you in the face.  Well, at least it was cheap.  I did grab a window seat and got some beautiful views of Normandy and the coastline along the Bay of Biscayne.  Arrived in Madrid just before ten, then had to take the metro to the hostel, which took about an hour.  I spent a sleepless night in an upper bunk in a crowded dorm room with an obnoxiously overweight woman coughing all night in the bunk next to me.  Probably the swine flu.  Got up early the next morning to ride the train out to Alcala de Henares, where my apartment is.  I arrived, dropped off some of my luggage, paid rent, then hopped back on the train to Madrid.  Another metro trip took me back to the airport, just in time for my flight to Barcelona.  I was in Madrid for barely over 12 hours.  Got another window seat on another overcrowded plane.  Definitely worth it as the views were amazing.  The area around Girona (where Ryan flies into, which is about an hour north of Barcelona) is covered with lush green rolling hills and dotted with farmhouses with spanish tile roofs.  Gorgeous.  A long bus ride followed by more metro riding took me to my hostel.  After many hours of traveling and few hours of sleep I wasn't in the mood for much adventure.  I got some food, got a hold of friends and family back in the states, and generally relaxed.  Which meant that I got up this morning ready to go.  I had a map of the city with all the attractions, but I decided to just go where my feet took me.  I ended up climbing to the top of Montjuic (literally "Mountian of the Jews") which overlooks the city at the southwest corner.  The views were incredible, and I spent most of the day there.  Shot a few photos as well.

Barcelona.

Oranges and the harbor.

The harbor with the Costa Brava extending in the background.

At the top of the mountain is Castel Montjuic, which is actually a fort.

The main courtyard.

I don't know why, but I like this shot for some reason.  Stairs.

An archer's view of the city.

The tower at the top of the fort.

All in all, a pretty good day.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of the city, but I'm also looking forward to just relaxing and living the Mediterranean lifestyle.  Tomorrow, maybe the beach.

I go to college and storm a castle.

I woke up Saturday morning to more rain, but figured I'd make the best of it.  Trinity College is located in down-town Dublin, just a few blocks from my hostel.  I decided to go check it out.  As soon as you step on campus you leave the hectic city behind.  Here's a few pictures:

I headed back to the hostel and took a nap.  Woke up around three to a change in the weather.

I grabbed the camera and headed to Malahide via the commuter train.  I went to check out the Malahide Castle and surrounding grounds, which are really beautiful.  These pictures don't really do it justice.

And finally, houses in the Malahide town center.  I dig the colors.

Tomorrow I leave for Spain.  Hoping for a little more sun before then, but I doubt it will happen.  We'll see.

A wee trip through the country...

I decided to sacrifice my pride and take a bus tour of the Irish countryside.  County Wicklow to be exact.  I figured I'd be the only person under the age of 60 on the whole bus, but I wanted a chance to take some pictures outside the city.  I was suprised to see that most of the other people on the bus were actually younger than me.  I guess that means I'm old.  Anyway, it was a rainy day (My luck with the weather on my first day is turning out to be a fluke) so not ideal for photos, but the scenery was gorgeous.  Here we go...

Rest stop, Ireland style.

Lach Tay the "Guiness Lake".  The white sand was imported to look like the head on a pint of guiness.  Seriously.

We were told this is "the bridge from P.S. I Love You."  Impressive.

These pits are left from when people used to dig peat to burn for heat.  Ireland has less than 17% of its peat left, so digging it has now been outlawed.

I didn't catch the name of this waterfall, but it's in a pretty idyllic setting.  Those little white dots are sheep.

Looking down the valley from the falls.  Could you get more quaint?

Look at the pretty flowers.

The rest of these are from St. Kevin's monastic site.  Gorgeous setting, wish we had better light and less rain.  Oh well.

Today was more rain.  I ended up spending most of the day sleeping and I think I'm finally caught up from my jet-lag.  Hoping for some decent weather tomorrow.

Jet-Lag, Guiness, and Sun

Evidently I am a sun god.  I arrived at the Dublin airport this morning in a fog so thick we had to sit on the taxiway for ten minutes waiting for ATC to figure out where all the planes were.  By the time I cleared customs and went outside it was a gorgeous sunny morning.  Unfortunately for me it was also seven in the morning on the day after I started my trip (at seven in the morning).  Jet lag was in full effect.  I wanted nothing more than to lay down and pass out.  Unfortunately I couldn't check in to my hostel until after noon.  So I wandered around in a zombie-like haze, trying to get my bearings and take a few photos.  Here's a little scenery, with more to come later:

On the road...

I left SLC in miserable weather and drove south through more miserable weather to arrive in Moab in pouring rain.  Woke up the next morning to this:

From there it was another drive to NM to visit my parents and leave all my worldy possessions in their care.  More grey, overcast weather ensued, but woke up one morning to a beautiful winter wonderland (in mid-April).  The dogs didn't seem to mind:

After a short stay it was time to say goodbye to the immediate family and fly to the bay to see more family; in this case my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Dan, and cousin Jeff.  La Morinda was hot, especially after the wintery conditions in NM.  The weather even held while I traveled across the bay to stay with Duane in SF.  Unfortunately this trip involved trying to take the bus from downtown to the Haight (where Duane's house is located) in the middle of the afternoon on April 20th!  (If you're not catching the implications of heading towards Haight-Ashbury on 4/20 then nevermind).  I eventually found a bus with enough room (barely) for me and my large duffel bag.  Arriving at Duane's in a haggard, sweaty state I was ready to head to the beach/bar.  $2 pints and a view like this can't be beat:

We had the good fortune of meeting up with our friend Icefoot, who was nice enough to invite us over to eat his fresh caught abalone.  Sweet.  The view from Foot's deck:

The usual suspects:

Going...Going...Gone.

A leprechaun is cooking our seafood:

And feeding us booze:

And a little post-dinner campfire to end the evening.  Life is good.

Woke up this morning to another gorgeous sunrise:

And now I'm sitting in the Newark airport.  My first time in Jersey.  I feel dirty.  Getting on the plane in a few minutes.  Coming up:  The Land of Eire.

Winter's end. Spring on the horizon.

Wow, it's been nearly two years since the last time I posted here. Crazy. I've decided that since I'm headed off on a wild adventure I would start updating this again so maybe a few people can keep track of me.

I just finished skiing my last day of the season. 14" overnight, with more falling all day. That put the finishing touches on a season of over 100 days and nearly 600" of snow. My ski appetite is sated, for now.

From here it's down to NM to visit the parents, a flight to the Bay for a couple of days, then a long flight to Dublin. Heavy drinking may ensue, then a short hop to Madrid where I will spend the next few months. I'm excited. And a little sad to be ending such a great winter. But mostly excited.

More to follow.