Tomorrow afternoon I leave for a week in Ireland with the fam, armed with a stack of Irish literature for the many hours destined to be spent on planes and in cars. Luckily, the Transportation Security Administration issued their new list of items banned from carry-on luggage just in time, so I can feel safe knowing that no one carrying a spear gun will be allowed on the plane.

My iBook will be sitting this… See more →

We arrived at Shannon International Airport via Aer Lingus shortly before 6:00 AM, Ireland time (1:00 AM Philadelphia time). It was a five hour flight from Boston to Shannon, about 80 minutes from Philadelphia to Boston, take-off delayed by about 90 minutes, so we were lucky to make our flight out of Boston.

We rented a van that resembled a wheeled breadbox, continually reminded my father to stay left, and were off.

First destination, Bunratty… See more →

Tourist trap #2: Blarney. As we already know, I generally find castles to be pretty wicked, and Blarney Castle, though overrun by site-seers of every shape and size, was no exception. It was older and bigger than Bunratty Castle, less “renovated,” and a larger percent of it was open to the public. It was pretty spectacular. If there’s a next time, I’ll have to bring a flashlight to explore the dungeon, which turned pitch black… See more →

I’m in Dublin today and tomorrow and this cyber cafe ain’t cheap, so I’ll just briefly say that the trip is going well, I’ll be back in the States this weekend, and I’ll be putting together a micro-site detailing the trip then.

Last night I dreamt that I pulled out all of my facial hair. My parents – reasonable, considerate, and loving as they are – have in them the capacity to irritate me beyond belief, and like no other. So my anticipation for the remainder of the trip’s Irish destinations is rivalled by my anticipation for our final destination: home, where ambitions of escape are boundless.

Most of today was spent on the road between Blarney… See more →

With public transportation finally at our disposal, my sister and I left our parents behind to make the most of our one day in Dublin. One day is not nearly enough for a satisfactorily thorough Dublin experience, but as that was apparent at the outset, we did our best to maximize our time spent there.

We covered much of the city centre south of the Liffey on foot throughout the day, including the Guinness brewery… See more →

Much of today consisted of the adventure that was finding our way out of Dublin and onto a solid route southwest to Roscrea. On the way out of the city we stopped at the James Joyce Tower and Museum, which was filled with original printed editions of his books, letters, articles, personal belongings, etc. I found it funny that the museum itself addressed the absurdity in naming the tower after Joyce, since he lived there… See more →

Today we trekked south to Kilkenny, primarily to see Kilkenny Castle, but I was also keen to check out the Design Centre and Butler Gallery of Contemporary Art. Unfortunately the gallery was closed while they assembled an installation. the Castle and Design Centre were open, however, and worth a visit.

I’ll say that Kilkenny Castle was my least favorite of the castles we’ve seen over the last week, mostly because its restoration was so thorough… See more →

We struck out north from the midlands on what would be our last full day in Ireland. First stop: Clonmacnoise, still more monastic ruins. The addition of a Visitor’s Center to a location of this sort has a tendency to rob it of much of its ambience, and Clonmacnoise was no exception. A little walk-through museum with excessive information about the craftmanship found in the area’s many, many stone crosses was enough to bore me… See more →

I have returned from Ireland in one piece. Details and photos should be up within a few days, but I see that the Resident Evil redux for GameCube arrived in my absence, so don’t hold your breath.