Relaxing at the Cliffs of Moher... in the wind and rain

I've had some relaxing but adventurous few days here.

When I last blogged, I was getting ready to leave with Allison, an Australian I met at the hostel in Dingle. We left around 3 and four hours drive and a ferry ride later we were in Doolin. It's not remote, but it is a very small town. There's a lot of music here. Every night the pubs (which outnumber shops) have music. It usually starts around 9. We got to town around 8p and we were staying in different hostels, which I figured was ok. Mine turned out to be very institutional, very clinical and overrun with a group of 20 17-19 years old German students over for a school trip. They were nice kids and I ended up going to the pub with them. Only slightly odd to meet a group of school kids and seeing them all drink beer on a school trip, but welcome to Europe! They were great- only three girls in the lot of them so I hung out with them. When I was listening to the music I recognised the sweater of Catherine, who I met in Cashel over a week ago! We talked a bit and made plans to meet the next day to the Cliffs of Moher. They're two hour walk or 20 minute drive and she had a car so it was great!

She picked me up and had a car load of other people from the hostel who were just getting a ride with her. It ended up being just Catherine, me and Madori. Madori is amazing! She's Japanese and went to Dublin for a month to learn English with a private tutor and has been speaking it now for just two months! She's learned so much! It's really amazing! And she's learning all the time. I've learned that phrases don't always mean the same as the words they're made of which makes them hard to explain. Today she learned "cool beans" from a kid who walked by and I just told her it meant "cool". She's funny and really easy going so it was good to spend time with her.

The Cliffs of Moher were rainy, cloudy and windy. It was still really beautiful though- evocative. We parked about a kilometer away so we didn't have to pay 8 euro for parking. The walk there was really nice. Views from every angle and one minute it may be cloudy and the next clearer (but not clear). There are puffins there that only come for a few weeks before going to South Africa, so we were luck to see them. A ranger pointed them out to Catherine and we would have completely missed them if he hadn't said anything. Catherine had binoculars with her, so we really got to see them better than most. We went into the displays they had set up and learnt why the weather is the way it is, how they were formed and lot of other facts and stories.

From the Cliffs, we came back to their hostel and I realised just how much better it was so I talked to Karl, who runs the hostel, about moving in for the weekend. He said it was ok and was happy to have me so I was very glad to leave my sterile, soulless hostel! We picked up Allison (who gave me the lift from Dingle) and went to lunch for pub grub. I had Chicken and Cheese Panini, chips (French fries) and salad. It was really good and only 8 euro. Catherine got apple crisp (they don't have it in Switzerland so she was very excited about it) and shared with all of us. She's very generous and Madori and I decided she is our mother here, always making sure we're happy, have food, water, toilets, time, everything. In Cashel, she was the one who I had dinner with (and her friend, Thierry, who is gone back home now) and paid for it all because "it's not that much more for one person after two." She's really a great person.

After lunch, we went around the countryside and found some wedge tombs and portal tombs that were prehistoric. They are just in a cow pasture off the road, no trail going to them, sometimes a sign pointing in the general direction and maybe steps built into the stone wall to get over from the road. Some were from 4000 BC! Amazing. And the sun had started to come out by this point, so it was even better.

With the sun out we went back to the Cliffs of Moher and it was almost a totally different place. It was beautiful in a very different way. No wind so we could hear the birds more. It was around 7p by this time and the sun sets at 9:20p these days! So much sunlight. You almost forget to eat dinner until 9, which is what we did that day and what will probably happen tonight with Madori and myself.

We came back for a feast of white sausage, tomatoes, noodle veg soup, bread, garlic toast, fried rice and Japanese tea. Madori's mother teaches tea ceremonies so she showed us some things. When you serve two cups at once, you fill each halfway, then wait, then fill up each bit by bit alternating pours between cups. It was interesting to learn about Japanese culture in Ireland but that's what this trip is all about!

I went back to the sterile hostel since I had paid already and in the morning I moved to this hostel and I am so much happier. I hadn't met many people at all besides the German students and here I've met some many more people in much less time. At the other hostel, I never even met my roommates because one of us was always sleeping or gone while the other was up but here I'm in the common room and just waiting for Madori to make dinner. It's the same price, just a ten minute walk away so first thing in the morning, I checked out and moved here.

On my walk there, Catherine and Madori drove by, honking, saying they were glad to catch me because they were going to a Slow Food Festival in Lisdoonvarnna, about 15 minute drive away. We went back to the hostel so I could check in and get some food and then took off for the festival. There was a lot of organic, local food and plenty of samples. I think I got full just on samples. Breads, jams, sauces, cookies, loaves, quiche, cheese and much more. It was great. We got some picnic supplies after walking around for an hour (two loops- one to try things and look, the second to buy) and then had another feast outside at the picnic benches, right in the wind. It was still great and we all shared with everyone.

Coming back to the hostel, Catherine left for Dingle and Madori and I made plans for dinner. Well, not really plans, we just planned on making something for dinner sometime, and after tea and a biscuit (cookie) I went for a nap and now I'm blogging and emailing and then will read until she appears. Probably pasta, leftovers from the Slow Food Festival, a bottle of wine we bought (for 10 euro it was the cheapest I've seen outside of cheap convenience stores) and whatever else we find.

I'm sitting by the fire now and there around about a dozen people in the common room which is a little lounge area by the fire and two big dining tables. I'm apparently the person to go to with questions and request. An Australian, Megan, just asked me if I could email her my pictures of the cliffs because "they were better than the postcards"! That sure made me feel good.

An American from California, Heather is studying for her Masters in London and first asked me if I thought it was ok to put her coat straight on the stove to dry but I suggested on the back of the rocker so it didn't melt. :) Also, she asked why people were putting newspaper in their shoes by the fire so I told her it was to absorb more liquid and let them air out more and that maybe she could take out the insoles, too. People are funny sometimes. I have no idea if my answers to her were right, but I obviously seemed certain enough that she followed them.

I just saw a guy walk by with a Seattle Mariners shirt and he's from just South of Olympia. He just finished studying in Austria so is traveling before he goes back home. Good idea. It costs so much to get her it's good to use the time once you're already here to travel.