Week in Review

Before I catch the bus to Dublin today for my first race tomorrow morning, I thought I would give an update and post my pictures from this past week.

On Sunday, Kelly and I biked down to Galway Bay for a swim. Unsure of exactly how cold it was going to be, we went in at the closest point to our house. The tide was low, so I was able to take my camera with me out to the floating dock before I actually jumped in and fully submerged myself. It wasn't exactly warm, but I still wouldn't rule out doing this again if a "hot" day were to come along.

Here are the rest of the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjerichsen/GalwayBay

On Tuesday morning, we headed off to Cork for a few days. We didn't have to work until the weekend and the bus tickets were really cheap, so we decided to spend a few days exploring the "real" capital of Ireland. For the record, I'm not buying it.

I had read about St. Patrick's Hill, a very steep incline that provides a great view of the city from the top, but I didn't realize the rest of the city was as sloped as it was. The city center is basically in a valley of the River Lee and is surrounded by hills on the three sides opposite the harbor. Cork, supposedly a cross between the bustling capital of Dublin and the more subdued Galway, was far more like the former. It was nice to visit, but I surely wouldn't want to live there.

On our second day in Cork, Kelly and I took advantage of one of our free methods of transportation. We rode our bikes the 6-7 miles out to Blarney to see the Blarney Castle. It was well worth the effort (seemingly uphill the entire way out). The castle itself was impressive and after climbing the increasingly steep and narrow spiral staircase, we arrived at the top of the castle. Here, I was able to see some fantastic views of the surrounding area (seen above). I also kissed the Blarney Stone, unfortunate for everyone else because from now on legend has it that I will never be at a loss for words...

Comparatively, the return journey on bikes was a breeze. I once again took the N20 (a divided highway) which was the most direct route. Kelly opted for the bike trail that paralleled the N20. It was probably more scenic, but at the time I didn't want to be on my bike any longer than I absolutely had to. It was the second time in our short trip that we were separated for an extended period without an easy method of communication (he had a different sim card in his cell phone at the time). We still managed to make it back to the bus station with about 3 minutes to spare for our return journey to Galway - plenty of time.

Here are the pictures from Cork and Blarney:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjerichsen/CorkAndBlarneyCastle