We're the most hated people in Dublin right now.

The start of the university semester after Christmas break brought a tidal wave of work onto my plate.  Turns out, being responsible for 120 students' regular and lecture courses is not easy to say the least.  Last year, I shared the responsibilities with a colleague in Nantes; in La Roche, I'm the lone professor teaching American civilization.  At least I have quite a bit of interesting (shall we say?) current events material thanks to the presidential primaries.

So after just five jam-packed weeks, the February vacation was a more-than-welcome break.  I kicked it off hosting a Sunday "chicken and waffles" brunch for a group of friends who had never tasted the American diner delicacy.  They did very well with the mixing of sweet and savory and the lack of proper courses!

Then it was high time to set off for an adventure...and (Paris), Ireland, and Scotland did not disappoint.  Tuesday morning, Annie and Norie and I were up and on the 6am train to Paris for the day.  Our highlight was the Opéra, a place I'd only seen from the outside before.  With our bags, backpacks, and (in my case) small suitcase, we tried to get through security, and maybe the French-est situation I've experienced yet ensued.  It went something like this:

Security officer: "You can't bring that bag inside."
Me: "Bummer.  But I understand - I'll wait here while my friends go in."
Security officer: "Okay, you can bring in the bag."
Me: "Uhh...what?"  The officer gestured for me to go through the metal detector.
Another security officer: "You can't bring in that bag!"
Me: "...Uhh...okay.  That guy said it was fine, but okay."
Second security officer: "Well, normally it's not okay to bring in bags like that.  We don't have a coat or bag check."
Me: "..."
Second security officer: "Normally we don't accept those bags."
Me: "...So can I come in or not?"
Security officer: "Normally not."  And he gestures for me to continue on.
Me: "..."

Ceiling painting by Chagall

He never gave me a clear answer; I went in anyway, leaving three security guards bickering.  I proceeded to the ticket counter, where the woman looked at my bag with a horrified expression on her face and began bickering about the bag with two other colleagues.  Nobody was addressing me about it...so I went in.  Many suitcase jokes ensued.

Opéra

The inside of the Opéra was stunning.  I can't believe I'd never been inside before.  The ceiling is made up of a giant bright circular mural by Chagall, which I thought contrasted beautifully with the darker more classic decor of the seats and walls.  There is also a hall with chandeliers, kind of a mini Hall of Mirrors like in Versailles, and a library off to the side.  We decided we would definitely splurge on opera tickets just once to see a show there.

Around six in the evening, it was time to head to the Porte Maillot to catch our shuttle to the airport.  When we booked our plane tickets before Christmas, we bought them thinking, "Wow!  A 13€ flight from Paris to Ireland!" and did not realize that the airport of departure, Paris Beauvais, may not be accessibly situated.  We were even more surprised to discover that Paris Beauvais is not in Paris at all - it is an hour and fifteen minutes north of Paris.  In normal traffic.  In rush hour traffic, it took well over two hours.  When we arrived, a fire truck with sirens was blocking the bus lane; we weren't allowed off the bus for another thirty minutes.  In that time, I read up about Paris Beauvais on Google and found that it has merited a spot in quite a few "Top 10 Worst Airports in the World" lists.

Thanks to complete disorganization and over an hour-long delay, we did not miss our flight, and were thrilled and relieved to land late but safely in Shannon, Ireland.

I broke in the Ireland experience gracefully, forgetting that their steering wheels are on the right side and almost climbing into the driver's seat of our taxi to the hotel.

We experienced the luck of the Irish the next morning when we met our taxi driver back to the airport, who helped us to modify our plans for the day to incorporate a beautiful drive along the western shore not too far from where we were already planning on going.  He gave us excellent directions and advice, and left us with his business card: "If you get lost, ring me.  If you get in trouble with the law, don't f***ing ring me."

Not long after, I was sitting in the (right side) driver's seat of our trusty little rental car, making loops around the rental lot, willing myself to stay to the left.  With no phone service or GPS and only a paper map of Ireland in hand, we set off, Norie and Annie navigating and spotting traffic signs for me; it was a true team effort.  The strangest part of driving on the left is the roundabouts: we had a "look right" mantra each time.  Also, roads outside of main cities in Ireland tend to be narrow; it's always a scary moment when semis pass in the opposite direction.  We took it slowly and arrived safely at our favorite taxi driver's first recommendation:  Loophead Lighthouse.

Even in February, Ireland is so green; in some places, it looks like the terrain from the Teletubbies (but we thankfully didn't see any strange singing aliens.)  We got out of the car to explore around the lighthouse, and found rolling green grass up to the cliffs that descended to the bluest of blue seas.  That first day was beautifully sunny with just a few light showers passing through, apparently the first nice day of spring; we enjoyed the scenery complete with rainbows appearing here and there in the background.

Looking at the time, we realized we needed to tear ourselves away from the lighthouse and continue along.  We worked our way up the coast, through many adorable small towns, until we reached Liscannor, our taxi driver's second recommendation: according to him, Vaughan's Anchor Inn has the best fish and chips in Ireland...and, though they were the only fish and chips we had in Ireland, I'm not going to argue with that.

Not far from Liscannor are the famous Cliffs of Moher.  We arrived just in time for a both beautiful and blinding sunset, which made for some unique photos; it's quite calm and peaceful at sunset without all the tourist buses.  The cliffs themselves are massive; the power of the crashing waves against them is incredible to see.

Afterwards, we got out our trusty map of Ireland and embarked on a rather treacherous drive in the dark to Galway, through winding streets with pedestrians and up and down cliffs.  Upon arriving in Galway, we had to stop and ask at several gas stations, stores, and restaurants before pinpointing our apartment (rented from Airbnb); the people in Ireland are some of the kindest I've met in the world.  Each person we spoke to was sincere and enthusiastic about helping us out, no strings attached.

Even though we arrived late, we found the motivation to leave the apartment and scope out the live music scene, and were not disappointed.  We discovered a bar called Quay's and spent a couple of hours listening to a live band playing a variety of covers, from today's popular music all the way back to the '60s.  You can listen to a few seconds here.  Live music turned out to be one of our favorite parts of both Ireland and Scotland - there were always live music places to be found in every town and every evening.

Irish breakfast at McCambridge's

At the end of two days, we thought we had spent the perfect amount of time in Galway.  It's a small and charming town overflowing with shops and cafés.  Our project on our first morning was to hunt down a classic Irish breakfast, the first of many.  We quickly grew to love this large, savory breakfast, especially the tomato.  I don't know what they do to make them so delicious.  Also included are spicy beans, sausages, bacon, fried eggs, black and white puddings, and toast.

Satisfied with our breakfast, the rest of the morning was spent at the Galway City Museum, a free museum that highlighted the history of the city and area, often rather quirky.  It pointed out several medieval buildings that used to be castles but are still functional today, so you can pass by and see them from the outside.  I also liked learning the story of Claddagh, a small fishing town right next to Galway, which continued crowning its own king until 1972.  You also may know it from the famous rings it produces: two hands on either side of a crowned heart.  We saw the smallest of these rings in a jewelry shop in Galway; it had to be viewed through a magnifying glass. 

Post-museum, we took a long walk out onto Nimmo's Pier to see the water.  Even in the late morning, fog covered the coast, and our pictures turned out as though we'd taken them in black and white.  While we were out there, we saw people who looked like they were harvesting something in the shallow water, so we (well, mostly Norie) tried to make friends.

Norie:  "Excuse me, sir, can I ask what you were doing out there?"
Man:  "Winkles."
Norie:  "...Oh."

(Winkles are a variety of small, edible snails.  Thanks, Google.)

 

During the day, we also stopped by the cathedral and had tea and hot chocolate (and admired the strange modern sculpture) in Eyre Square.  Around late afternoon, we made a tour through the center of town to hear all of the street musicians who had come out, and later we checked out some more live music cafés after trying Irish stew (really, the hearty Irish version of pot roast or the French boeuf bourgignon) and potatoes.  My favorite street musician, who I didn't capture on video, was a man singing Scarborough Fair.  But I did get another group that I enjoyed:  Shop Street, Galway, Ireland

The following day, we piled back into the car to cut across the country to Dublin, where we planned to drop off the car, explore a little bit, and catch a train to Belfast.  Our original plan was to make some random stops along the way as well, but it was raining and we opted to get to Dublin as quickly as possible.  A head's up if you ever drive into Dublin on the M50: there is a virtual toll that zaps and records your car's information as you come in, and you must pay the fee online by 8pm the following day or get penalized.  Thank goodness someone in Galway told us about it or we'd have never known.

Going to Dublin early was a good decision.  I don't know who created those city streets, but they are simply the embodiment of chaos.  Mentally willing myself to stay on the left side in a city driving situation was my challenge of the day.  Our map and pre-researched directions all failed, and this time is was a man shouting directions at us from a delivery truck who got us on track to the car rental drop-off.  After an equally-lamentable experience with the bus system, we opted to skip the afternoon in Dublin and take the first available train out of the Republic of Ireland and up to Belfast.