Fri, Sat, Sun 1st-3rd September, 2006

Fri, Sat, Sun 1st-3rd September, 2006

Nandhini came to town! She has been working in Belfast and she came to spend the weekend in Dublin. Here are some pics of Neha, Nandhini and I in Dublin!


We went on a River Liffey Voyage with Eva (a colleague from the Spanish Team).


In Dun Laoghaire with Nandhini


After Nandhini left on Sunday at 5PM, I went to St. Stephen's Green to watch a performance of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night.'

 

Wednesday 30th August, 2006 - The RIYC

Wednesday 30th August, 2006 - The RIYC

I spent Wednesday evening at the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Here are some pictures from then!

You can see the club house in the back.



The Dublin Bay Waterwags out at sea!

The colourful spinnakers come out!

Patrick, who was on the committe boat with me.

 

Wednesday 30th August, 2006 - Day 4

Wednesday 30th August, 2006 - Day 4

We left Killarney early the next day to head towards the Blarney Castle. At the castle, I walked down the wishing steps backwards with my eyes closed while making a wish and I kissed the blarney stone! It is said that if you kiss the blarney stone, you are given the gift of the gab for the next 7 years!








After stopping for lunch at Cork city, we head to a small town called Mitchelstown in County Tipperary. Mitchelstown is known as one of the best caves in all of Europe. It remains at 12degrees all year and it costs just 3 Euro to go in and see it. I saw stalagmites and stalactites, things I had learnt about, but never seen! The use of cameras damage the calcite formations and so I was unable to take photographs inside the cave. One interesting thing about the cave was its excellent acoustics. I was told that many concerts and shows are held inside the caves because of its excellent acoustics. All of us who went in got together and sang ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ and it sounded great! After a long and exciting 4 days, we then returned to Dublin city. We were welcomed with 1.5 hours of traffic jams and blocks! All ended well and I came back with truck loads of fun moments and memories! 

Tuesday 29th August, 2006 - Day 3

Tuesday 29th August, 2006 - Day 3

We started our day at the Annascoul lake. It reminded me a lot of Kodai. However, it was much quieter and cleaner!



We then head towards the Dingle peninsula. There, we spent some time on the beach and some time trekking up. Well, I chose to do both. Some just preferred the beach, as it was a lovely sunny day!



We then had lunch and then crossed the River Shannon (longest river in Ireland) by Ferry and head towards Killarney.

We first head towards the Killarney National Park and toured it in a horse-carriage! The name of the horse riding us was ‘Abbey.’


After a long day, we spend the evening at an Irish pub, listening to Irish music and eating Bailey’s cheesecake! 

Monday 28th August, 2006 - Day 2

Monday 28th August, 2006 - Day 2

We left Galway to head towards the Burren and towards the Cliffs of Moher!

The Burren is just a huge mountain of just limestone.





We also stopped by an Irish beach along the way…


The cliffs were breathtaking! For the night, we stopped at Annascoul, a small tiny Irish village. The village had a lovely lake though!

 

Sunday 27th August, 2006 - Day 1

Sunday 27th August, 2006 - Day 1

We leave home and head towards the Paddywagon office near the city center.

We head towards Glendalough and Wicklow. The day was lovely – the sun was shining and there were no clouds in sight!



After the Wicklow way, we head towards Kilkenny – a small town, but a pretty one! After lunch in Kilkenny, we head towards Galway!


Sunday night at Galway was one of the best nights of my life! The evening started with coffee at the city center. It followed with a lovely hour-long walk beside the Galway bay, a wonderful ‘Trad on the Prom’ performance (www.tradontheprom.com) at the Salthill Hotel and ended with friendly chat with the cab-driver who dropped me back to my hostel late that night. I met Mairin Fahy and she autographed her CDs for me!