photo post for you

hey everyone ill update the blog with stories about galway in few days here are few photos for you to see

galway and arran islands

Hello everyone in out there in space . so i guess it is time i updated this blog . Friday after a long ride on a bus to Galway i arrived here . When I got here i was carrying three bags so you can imagine how pissed off i was with three bags and it was pissing rain. I got here and thought ok find hostel and get out to see the streets for a few hours before it gets too dark to see anything. I think I now should have listened to Norma on the packing too much! So i got to my room to have a bunk that i could lift my head up at all . i went back up to the desk and asked to be moved to a new bed which was not hard . i got a new bed in a room that is massive . so i wondered most of the first night found my Chinese soup and a book and settled down and read and went to sleep for while . The next Moring I met a girl from Canada we ended up going all around Galway for the day and having a great time it was nice to be around a person from \bc she was so sweet . her name is Celia she is great . I got some great shots of her on the rocks at the beach . it was so funny cause we had the same idea, find ocean and jump in and walk along the shore . i guess the bc runs deep in me . we ended the night off having dinner at a Chinese place and then going out for beer well for her i had water ! till she bought me a beer sweet girl .

On Sunday i took in the Aran islands it was one amazing things to see . i got on the bus and talked to an American women who was over for 3 months with her prof husband and 2 kids . then i got on the ferry and slept for a good 20 mins . it was ok ride over and the boat looks like a giant speed boat . you had to take a bus from Galway to the terminal then a ferry to one of the two islands that are open in the winter . When I landed i needed some food and drink and was thinking i was going to land on a remote over priced resort . I was so wrong cause they have atm and spar .very much like hornby island in the way the people live only difference is they don’t speak English and they are an old generation . i was walking down the hill from spar and found that the bus tours had all gone and was a bit disappointed but the Irish were on my side a bus was passing by i stopped it and got in . it was funny cause i ended up with the American s i had met in the spar shop . so off we went on a tour the first stop was the old fort it is massive in size I can get the name out of my lonely planet book later . Yes mom i did buy a book on the island and it is great. So up to this site we went and wow i have seen many sites it was amazing to look over the sides of the cliffs and see the ocean. this place dates back to the fifth century so all of you that know me know i was in heaven there . There was one prob the entire museum was in irish lol ! i took pictures of all the signs to see if one day someone can translate them for me one day .
After we had been up on the site and walked a bit to get there we went down to the craft shop were i was suckered by the cold and the lady to get a pair of mitts . this lady has her stuff worn by stars in Hollywood like Sharon stone and yes it is true. So we got back to were the bus was going to meet us and granger and sonny the Americans were eating lunch in the cafe . i walked in and said the bus is here granger yelled Kim you got to try the bread ill pay for it whatever you want get it . so i was going to get some but it had heaps of buttermilk in it so i was out of luck . we ended up going to another site were there were crosses of seventh century priests buried . it was one amazing place . i got 500 pics of the island and sonny and granger were so good about me asking the guide to stop so i could take tons of pics . So we got to see a seal colonies they were neat to watch and see . i also got to stand as close to home as i could get in Ireland . Granger and sonny are two great people that pretty much adopted me for the day. They even offered to give me a ride back to the hostel! i had a great day and it was so worth it to come out to the Aran islands for the day . The ferry ride back was so bad i almost tossed my cookies till next time im off to hear a great band tonight with an aussie guy i met!

trad fest -alyssa -Kilmainham Gaol

It has been four days since my last update . I have had to face one hard thing will being on the road this week . I received an email from my old Prof at NAIT that one of my classmates had passed away in car crash ! she was only 25 and at the height of her life . My heart goes out to Alyssa Mullens family she was suppose to fly to Mexico that weekend to be married . i felt really bad for a few days i just started to feel normal again . i was not close to her but her death really hit me . she was a kind and caring person that should not have been taken at such a young age of 25 .

right so now on to the stuff Ive been up to . i came into my room to find i had a fellow canuck. she was from NB . i have never talked with a Nb person for a long while. we got to know each other and had decided since i was taking the day off from jobs because i was still upset from the news i had received the night before ! we decided to head over to the Kilmainham Gaol for a visit. i have been there five years ago and really enjoyed it so i thought why not . we only paid two euro to get into the jail and got a great talk on it for one hour . i have pulled some info off wikipedia.com. for information sake . you can read below if you want . there was one story that touched me so much so i well post it below as well it is about grace Gifford . she was in love with Joseph plunkette . he was to be executed so four hours before his execution they were married . I'm posting the rest of the story below . so that you can read about it there .

This weekend is also the beginning of Trad fest in temple bar area. i have been out to the pubs for really great free music in the last few nights . i was out the other night for the pipe band which was really neat to see i loved hearing it . they walk up and down the street in Temple bar and play in the Square for about 25 Min's then march off. it was neat to follow them up and down the road and snap pictures like a mad paparazzo crazed fan lol !

today i took a good friends advice and went to a Church to think about Alyssa for one last time before i go to Galloway . I found Christchurch Cathedral after much walking . I paid the four euro to get in i lied saying i was a student and he let me in i don't think i should have to pay to sit in a church to think on a dead friend . so i was walking around and found a place in the lady chapel of all places to have a prayer read for her at Sundays service and light a candle in her memory . it was a nice thing for me to do since I'm so far away an could not attend her wake in Edmonton ab .



here are few photos for you all to see one is of the jail . two is of the candle i lit in Alyssa's memory and the rest are just randoms that i thought you may enjoy . I'm also posting the link to Alyssa's obit and news story about her death if you are interested in reading about it .
story about her
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Entertainment/Woman+killed+crash+days+before+wedding/1213968/story.html
obit
http://www.legacy.com/CAN-EDMONTON/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=123295060

Kilmainham Gaol(Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison, located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980s by the Office of Public Works (O.P.W.), an Irish Government agency.

Kilmainham Gaol has played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the jail. The jail has also been used as a set for several films.

When it was first built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was called the 'New Gaol' to distinguish it from the old jail it was intended to replace - a noisome dungeon, just a few hundred metres from the present site. It was officially called the County of Dublin Gaol, and was originally run by the Grand Jury for County Dublin. Over the 140 years it served as a prison, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. The leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed here. read more here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilmainham_Gaol

Grace Gifords story can be found here
race’s growing interest in the Roman Catholic religion led to the deepening of her acquaintance with Joseph Plunkett. She began to question him about his faith – a subject on which she could not have found a better teacher. He proposed to her in 1915; Grace accepted and decided to take instruction in the Catholic religion. She was formally received into the Catholic Church in April, 1916. Having no knowledge of the plans for the Easter Rising, she planned to marry Joseph on Easter Sunday of that year in University Chapel on St Stephen's Green, in a double wedding with his sister and her fiancé.

After the Rising, the leaders were condemned to death by firing squad. When Grace knew that Joseph was due to be shot on 4 May, she bought a wedding ring in a jeweller’s shop in Dublin city centre. She and Joseph were married on the night of 3 May in the chapel of Kilmainham Jail, only a few hours before he was executed.

There is a rumour that she was pregnant at the time she got married, but later had a miscarriage. However this rumour appears to originate from her sister-in-law Geraldine, who disliked her, was denied by Seoirse Plunkett, and is widely regarded as unsubstantiated.

read more here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Gifford

St. Kevin of Glendalough

I went on a a day tour today it was really good . i went to a old monastic settlement.it was settled by St. Kevin in the early years of Ireland's Christan period. we also went to killkenny a very medieval city in the heart of Ireland were the beer is made . i loved just walking around and seeing all the different chruches. i took a few well 200 pics Glendalough. i loved walking all around and just getting lost for the 2 hours that we were there . i went to see killkenny castle i went inside and sorta found it was done up in the 19Th century so it really did not interest me as much as Glendalough did .

i met a kiwi girl who is a nurse in cork . we had lunch in a cute little pub in Killkenny . it was a good day all and all i have included a few pics and the description off the paddy wagon tours website . i must say i was really pleased about the paddy wagon as i have done shamrocker and found them to be sorta geared more to the "tourist" sites and and you spend so much money on them and i hate that .


http://www.paddywagontours.com/viewtour.php?id=18&&day=25&&month=01&&year=2009
a way to get a taste of the true beauty of Ireland! Travel through beautiful Kildare to historic Kilkenny. Once the medieval capital of Ireland, Kilkenny boasts of Irelands finest Norman castle with an opportunity to enjoy a pint of kilkenny in Kilkenny. Also great shopping in the indigenous and traditional Kilkenny design shop. Gaze at the rolling hills, rugged mountains and glacial valleys of county Wicklow. The Garden of Ireland Visit the monastic city of St. Kevin at Glendalough (Braveheart wedding scenes). Sparkling lakes, dense forests and romantic babbling brooks make this a spectacular and scenic drive...

the soup is to roup for i know it makes no sense but wtf eh !

I had a ritual when i was traveling last time . i would scope out how far the nearest Chinese restaurant and got right down to it and buy hot and sour soup for supper ! Today I spent most part of the day looking for work and getting stuff done for working .on my way home i stopped at penny’s it is an outlet store here that is ubber cheap. i mean like the bay on bay days cheap . i went in to get a towel cause im tired of having smurf feet ! i got a towel for about 6 can dollars it was so neat to have something so nice for so cheap . ok fine the towel is nice . i met an irish guy who told me about these free places i could go to hangout and look at the ocean i thought that might be fun . ok so back to the soup. i was out after i had made my calls to the temp places to remind them im still out here . i really feel like getting some red flags and waving them in the temp places faces to say hi im here . Actually i just had an image of the drunken piper video with cookie Rankin ! Norma I’m sure you are sitting thinking that this story will go on forever eh . ok so i got out of the hostel and was walking down the road to see if i could get some bread to go with my cheap ww pasta thing i found at dunes ( all Irish might i add as well ) . i was half way there when i saw a Chinese place and now you know the rest of the story . oh and i got sucked into getting some hemp cream at the body shop here causes of some kindness shown to me by an Irish girl of all things named sheersha ! ok till my next update my friends !

something i heard in the hall

thought i would share this song
Hey Daisy darling
Don’t spread your arms so wide
Why don’t you keep a little something inside?
I know you think that hands are made for pulling us through
But there are people in this world who don’t think like you do

Hey Daisy darling
Don’t give them all you can
Why don’t you keep a few more cards in your hand?
I know you’ll only say a thing you believe to be true
But there are people in this world who don’t think like you do

They don’t think like you do
And some don’t think at all

Hey Daisy darling
Don’t take it all as read
Why don’t you ask a few more questions instead?
I know you think that everyone should be paid what they’re due
But there are people in this world who don’t think like you do

They don’t think like you do
And some don’t think at all

the Americans and brazen head

so let me start by saying i have got one :) call from a lady about a nanny job in sligo but it does not start till april cause she is having a baby in feb! so i shall start with our excursion last night to the Brazen Head here in dublin . this pub is the oldest pub in dublin it was built in 1198 or something . I walked into the room at around five in the afternoon and found a bunch of bodies all over the beds they looked dead and that they were ! then one woke up and said hi her name was kimberly and she had lived in the bridge too . it was werid cause i had met her earlier on in the day and showed her around the town . We talked for bit then the boys woke up and one had a interesting accent of a texan and sounded much like travis . then the other one woke up and he was from oklahoma he was quite at first and then started talking he was very nice . the american guys had just booked it from O'Hare airport and had not slept for 36 hours so you cannot blame them for not being alive . so they wanted to see a good pub in dublin so i took them to where i thought the side of the river were the pub supposedly was located . now if you all know me you know that i have no sense of direction are we right there . i was going off five years previous on where in the heck the pub was located . so we wondered across the liffy to the pole in the hole .. we got down some seaty street and decided to find the pub by asking some irish guys well we could not find an irish guy i site (yes mom sandy is right about the people in dublin ). so we wondering into a spar(the 7/11 of ireland ) and found out that i was wrong on the whole area of were it was located . so we went on to the liffey and got far enough to realize that we need to get a cab . when we got in the cab we found out that we were five min walk from the place lol . so we arrived and had many pints not ! i bought nothing the boys got our beer because us girls got the cab so it was worth the excursion we went on . i was looking out for laurie five dollar bill on the wall well ill post a pic of it later cause my p.c. is in the safe at the moment and we have little power here cause of some stupid girl who &(*& the wall outlets !