St. Patricks day in Dublin

When I think back to St. Patrick´s day three words come to my mind.
- freezing
- crowded &
- drunken

And nevertheless it was an event worth seeing.
For me, St. Patricks day started early in the morning. Probably a little bit too early. Supposable because I went out the day before, like everyone else, old enough and off work.

So the next day I got up about 7:30 am to make myself ready and head off into town. At about 10 am I found myself standing in front of a blocked road, where the Parade passed a few hours later. More precisely, 3 hours later. Yes, 3 HOURS!! So we waited and waited and waited ....

And finally the Parade started. We saw officers, marching bands, cheerleader, costume clubs,....
and it was amazing, even tough it felt like 90% of the people who took part in the parade weren´t Irish but amaricans.


When the parade was finally over the crowds got even worse and on top of that everybody was wearing green. So you better don´t loose your friends or you´ll never find them again.
Against expectation we found a place to have lunch (Powerscourt Shopping centre).

We all got the advise to avoid temple bar - and thats what we did!
You probably wonder what we did next. And I have to disappoint you.
Part 2 of St. Patricks day was spent in a friends house, where we made dinner and watched a movie. At first sight, that  sounds pretty boring and probably you are right, maybe it is boring. But it was nice to spend my day off with my beloved ones and I´m sure that´s a memory i´ll keep in mind.

North Ireland

Last Weekend I joined a trip to the North coast of Ireland and Belfast.I captured some breathtaking moments with my camera and I am dying to show you some of the results.

First Stop: dark hedges

dark hedges

These trees were planted in the 18th century by the Stuart Family to impress visitors. Two centuries later they are one of the most photographed phenomena in Northern Ireland and have been used as filming Locations for series such as Game of Thrones.

2nd Stop: Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

The carrick-a-rede rope bridge is a famous rope Bridge which links the mainland to the tiny Island of Carrickarede. The rope Bridge is 20m long and 30m high. Originally the bridge was built for the fishermen but is mainly a tourist attraction nowadays.



Rope Bridge














3rd Stop: gianst causeway

The gianst causeway were by far the most spactacular natural phenomena I have ever seen. The hexagonal shaped stones are just so unique and mysterious that you cant think of a way how this could have been formed. There are tow stories about the Formation of the gianst causeway.



giants causeway

Scientist say that it must have been a valcona that created those stones. Legend has it that two gianst, one from Ireland, the other one from scotland both built a bridge to reach one anothers country and  to battle out who is the stronger one. 


If you ask locals which story is true, they´ll tell you that there are no such things as volcano in Ireland. 




giants causeway

4th Stop: Belfast
Our last stop was Belfast. We just had an one hour stay so we couldn´t really enjoy our time. From what I have seen the downtown looks really nice. As we were all pretty tired after that long day we just went for a coffee and a little snack. I´m sure I´ll come back to Belfast any time soon and you can be 100 percent positive that I´ll report you about that.

Belfast City Hall







 

A weekend in Cork!

A weekend in Cork!

Voriges Wochenende hat mich meine liebste Freundin aus Österreich besucht und wir beschlossen das Wochenende über in den Süden Irlands, genauer gesagt nach Cork, zu fahren.
Der, meiner Meinung nach schnellste und günstigste Weg von Dublin nach Cork zu kommen ist der Aircoach (Flughafentransver) der sich stündig vom Dublin City Center in das drei Stunden entfernte Cork begibt.
An unserem Ziel angekommen checkten wir zuerst in unser Hotel ein und erkundeten gleich darauf die wunderschöne, jedoch sehr kleine Stadt am "River Lee".

Das absolute Highlight unserer Reise war die Fahrt mit dem Riesenrad im Herzen von Cork. Am höchsten Punkt des Riesenrads konnte man auf die gesamte Stadt und darüber hinaus blicken.




















Nach unserem kleinen Sight-Seeing Programm sind wir unserem Verlangen nachgegangen und haben noch eine kleine Shopping-Tour eingelegt, wobei ich sagen muss, dass das Angebot an Stores in Cork sich in Grenzen hält. Natürlich kann ich dabei nur davon ausgehen, was wir gesehen haben.  


Das Abendessen hatten wir in unserem sehr zentral gelegenem Hotel (Clarion Hotel Cork).
Zu späterer Stunde haben wir uns dann noch einmal aufgemacht um das Nachtleben in Cork kennenzulernen. Jedoch wurde das eher zum Flop weil wir nur jene Pubs angesteuert haben die  ab 21 Jahre sind. Da wir beide aber erst 19 und 20 sind haben wir uns bald wieder auf den Heimweg gemacht.
Am Sonntag haben wir erstmal ausgeschlafen, und entspannt gefrühstücken bevor wir auscheckten und dann noch einmal ins Zentrum gegangen sind um ein wenig herumzuschlendern. Um 4 Uhr  haben wir dann die Heimreise  Richtung Dublin angetreten.
Im Großen und Ganzen war es eine sehr schöne Reise, jedoch würde ich das nächste Mal nicht nur in Cork_City bleiben sondern auch ins anliegende Umland (County Cork) reisen.