Thursday, 8/11 – 2nd Irish Shore Excursion

Dublin – Dublin Highlights

Hubby seemed to be feeling better in the morning. He climbed out of bed about 6 and got dressed. We needed to gather in the Stardust Theater by 7:50, so I got up shortly after he did. We went to the buffet once again, and then he wanted to go out on the deck to get some pictures. And probably do some walking. He tries to walk 10,000 steps a day. I went back to our cabin to get our tickets for the day’s excursion.

7:40, I went out into the hall to catch sight of him as soon as possible, keeping an eye on both the corridor and the nearest bank of elevators. About 7:45, I finally saw him walking towards me down the corridor, so I started walking that way, because it was the opposite end of the ship that we needed to get to! We barely made it there on time, and then had to go down to the very front of the theater to find any seats to sit on. But we had just gotten situated when they called the first tour of the day. It was us! So we had to climb back up the stairs halfway, to the deck 6 exit, where we were given stickers to tell us which bus to get on. Then we had to walk down 2 decks, halfway to the rear of the ship, cross to the port side, and finally climb out to board the tender.

It was a 20- or 25-minute ride to get to the pontoon pier. Then a rather long walk to where the buses were waiting. But once we got aboard, it wasn’t long before we were on our way. This was to be a 4-hour tour, with most of it being on the bus. It sounded delightful. No struggling to keep up with a speedy tour guide, no stopping to taste or shop; just sitting on a bus and looking out the windows. Mostly.

Our tour guide was full of information; history, architecture, current events, more history, even a quick lesson in speaking Gaelic.

Our one stop was at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. After the bus parked in the back of the cathedral, we walked about 2 blocks to get to the front, where we were organized to go in as a group. We were given 45 minutes to look around at the many, many displays, and if we had any questions, we could find the tour guide and ask her. I should have asked her about the circular staircase that seemed to go up through the ceiling. Its outside was decorated with ornately carved columns, but the stairs seemed scarcely wide enough for a child to use, and the entire staircase’s diameter seemed to be about a yard.

I didn’t want to hurry back to the bus, so I left the cathedral after 35 minutes. It took me 6 minutes to saunter back to the bus. Before I left, I had warned Hubby that it was nearly time to go, and to not forget to leave time to walk to the bus. He wasn’t the last to get to the bus, but he was among the last 5 to arrive there. Happily, they weren’t late.

We zig-zagged through down-town Dublin for some time, looking at bridges, statues, Georgian squares and other examples of architecture. Eventually, we left Dublin to head to the pier a few kilometers away. We boarded a tender and rode back to the ship, where we went to the buffet for a quick lunch.

As we left the buffet, Hubby started to complain that he had a stomachache again. When we got to our cabin, he sat down to watch some tv. I plugged in my computer, and then his camera battery, which had run out of juice in the middle of Dublin. Then I laid down and listened to the tv for the better part of an hour.

When I did get up to take my computer to the internet café, I asked what he was thinking of doing, and he said possibly go walking. I wondered if he might have developed an ulcer, and he asked, “Starting yesterday?” Well, those things have to start some time. He came back with the suggestion that maybe he’s been without coffee for too long. He hasn’t been drinking it because the coffee served in the buffet is amazingly bitter. Now, I’ve ‘broken’ my caffeine addiction 2 or 3 times, and I don’t remember a stomachache as one of my symptoms. I hoped he felt better by evening; we had a reservation at the Japanese restaurant.

Tuesday, 8/9 – 1st Ireland Shore Excursion

Belfast – Taste Tour

We could have slept in today, too, since our shore excursion wasn’t until 1:15 PM, but we didn’t. We went to the buffet for breakfast, where Hubby could get a made-to-order omelet, and I could get some cream of wheat. I don’t remember what we did the rest of the morning, but it was soon time to decide if we were going to have lunch or not. Our shore excursion was a 4-hour walking tour of Belfast, where we would stop now and again to taste local specialties. So, should we eat lunch or leave room for the tastings?

We compromised by going to O’Sheehan’s and having an appetizer each. After all, how could we know how substantial those tastes might be? Hubby got a couple sausage sliders, and I got some loaded nachos. Then we left the ship to find our bus on the pier.

The bus dropped us and the tour guide, Roisin, off in downtown Belfast. Roisin took us across 2 streets to a pub called The Crown, where we got to sit in a pair of ‘privacy rooms’ that had been reserved for us. The specialty here was a local gin, which was served with tonic water. I was so glad I’d told her I didn’t think I’d be drinking any alcohol, as I got to have a coke. I like my mixed drinks like my wine – as sweet as I can get it.

After the Crown, Roisin realized she had a member of the ship’s crew in her group, and she asked him to bring up and rear and try to keep any of us from getting lost. I was glad she did that, as about 3 blocks later, I didn’t see the group turn, and I just kept going forward until Hubby yelled at me. I came back and eventually got reunited with the group.

Our next stop was a world-class chocolate shop called Daisy’s. They served us all a half cup of hot chocolate, a tiny cannola, and a chocolate liquor ball. I thought the balls were various candies like malted milk balls, but after I sucked on the one she gave me for a moment, I got a mouthful of liquor. I decided I didn’t want any of those. But Hubby bought a pound of coffee beans, which we took turns keeping track of for the rest of the walk.

More walking, and then we arrived at a grocery shop. While the rest of the group went inside for a look around, Roisin brought out some food stuffs for us to sample. There was a bowl full of pieces of bread, a number of toast corners with dried salmon, 2 small bowls of dipping oil (one garlic-flavored, and the other spicy), a bowl of crescent-shaped pieces of butter that was so yellow people kept thinking it was some type of fruit, and a bowl of pieces of a mild blue cheese.

Our next stop was a store called Born and Bred, where we were given about 30 minutes to look around. By this time, I was flagging, and opted to sit on the bench outside, where I could keep an eye on the store’s door. The store next door, I noticed, was call Forbidden Planet Unlimited, so I wandered inside Born and Bred to let Hubby know. He took a minute to pop over and look at the stuff in the window. But even here, there was tasting to do, in that Born and Bred offered crackers with 3 different toppings to try. One was black butter, which is an apple butter made from apples only grown in Ireland. I expected to like that one, but didn’t. Neither did the other 2 toppings appeal to me.

So we continued on, turning off the street into an alley, which the Irish call an entry. Then we crossed 2 streets and went in another alley until we came to White’s, which I seem to remember her saying was the oldest tavern in Belfast. At White’s we were given our choice of a seafood gumbo or a bowl of Irish stew; a glass of Guiness or some white wine. Hubby took the gumbo and a Guiness; I opted for the Irish stew and wine. I liked the stew a lot. Hubby liked his gumbo, too, but spent more time removing the meat from the various shellfish his bowl contained than he spent eating the gumbo at last. His bowl had so many shellfish, that when he finished eating and put the shells back in his empty bowl, they filled up his bowl!

White’s was the end of the tour. A lot of our companions left the group to go exploring on their own. The rest of us walked about a block to catch our bus and were taken back to the ship.

Hubby and I went to our cabin and took it easy for a while. I took the library book back to the library and turned it in. Then I sat on the pool deck, where there was a little bit of breeze, and did some writing. Eventually, it was time for the library to open so I could check out another book (It’s only open for 1 hr in the morning and another hour in the evening), so I went and selected another book, a sf Young Adult novel called Alien Superstar by Henry Winkler and Somebody Else (I didn't note the name. I was probably so beguiled by the idea of the Fonz writing YA novels (Yes, it was he.) that the other name had no chance of making an impression on my mind. And that's a pity.

We had supper at Ginza, a restaurant that is either complimentary or pay, depending on what you order. Hubby wasn’t feeling very well when we went but started to feel better as he got some food in him. He had pot stickers, Kung Po Chicken and 5 Spice chocolate cake. I had spring rolls, vegetable fried rice and coconut tapioca pudding. After eating, we called it a night and turned in.

Man Made Islands

If you think man has only recently decided to build their own islands, think again. In Scotland, Wales and Ireland, they started doing it nearly 6,000 years ago. They are called crannogs and while some of them are partially natural,  quite a few were entirely artificial, built in lakes and estuarine waters. Crannogs are not like the prehistoric pile dwellings of the Alps, which were built on the shores and became inundated later. Crannogs were actually built in the water, forming artificial islands.

These new islands were used as dwellings for over five millennia, possibly to the early 18th century. Some were free-standing wooden structures, although they more commonly existed as brush, stone or timber mounds. However, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, timber was unavailable, so their crannogs consisted of stone, with drystone architecture sitting atop the base stones. Today, crannogs typically appear as small, circular islets, 30 to 100 feet in diameter, covered in dense vegetation because they are inaccessible to grazing livestock.

Crannogs are wide-spread in Ireland, but are frequently undercounted in Scotland, as they can be called various things, depending on who you talk to. Mainland Scotland and the Scottish isles also refer to them in various ways. Previously unknown crannogs are still being found, as underwater surveys find completely submerged examples.

Crannogs were built with whatever material was most available in the immediate area. Several feet above the water’s surface, an ‘Atlantic roundhouse’ was built on the new island, connected to the shore by a causeway. At the time, most communication and travel was achieved by waterways. They may have served as simple farmsteads or as boltholes in times of danger. Their limited access may have served as a status symbol, and their inherited location would have implied legitimacy towards ownership of the surrounding landscape.

The earliest known crannog in Scotland appears to date from 3650 BC. It is interesting to note that crannogs were often reused after a period of non-use. Defense does not appear to be the major reason for building and living on a crannog, as there is little evidence of weapons or of destruction in the excavation of prehistoric crannogs.

I have to admit, I was unaware of any such method of building a home until I googled this word for information. My first thought is that it would be a wonderful home for a water spirit or for a child of a water spirit.

My second thought was that it could be useful as a toll bridge across a river, with a causeway or bridge going from the home to both banks. Why break your back every day for the rest of your life to ferry people from one side of the river to the other when you can work hard as a youngster to build a home and 2 causeways, and still collect tolls as you totter into old age?

The article also mentioned kings and lords living on crannogs, of crannog islets being enlarged repeatedly and therefore being home to an extended family. What about a city growing up on an ever-enlarging crannog? Lots of ideas from this one word.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog