First Day in Ireland – 14.3.2010

I woke up on my own to the bright and beautiful sun shining in through our sky light. I cleaned up using my new Lush products that smelled divine as I prepared for mass. The strange thing about the showers was not that they were unisex but the shower head worked the same as most public sink faucets. I had to push a button and it would release the water for about 10 seconds then shut off which could have made for a frustrating shower if it was not my first day in Ireland. The walk through the Killarney streets on my way to St. Mary’s Cathedral for mass was peaceful. The streets were quiet and empty except for those people headed to one of the several churches. The Cathedral was beautiful despite the fact that it was exactly like many Italian churches with a few minor changes. Definitely gothic with its stone, stained glass windows and pointed arches. I enjoyed being able to hear and understand the father’s homily but it reminded me too much of home that I had to fight back tears a few times. I grew up going to mass as a family every Sunday, a good memory. After touring around the church after mass I headed back to the Hostel to meet up with my friends but instead ran into them on the street. At that point we were all hungry and decided to stop into a pub advertising a full Irish breakfast. It was an egg, couple of sausages, bacon, hash browns, toast, blood pudding and tea. I walked around for a bit by myself afterward to enjoy the cool weather. The views were spectacular with the mountains in sight. I did my first sketch of the mountains in the distance cows in between, and then fences and a gate. It looked awful but served its purpose by relaxing me and eventually jog my memory about the view and environment as I stood there sketching it. I did not get to finish it because I went to meet up with the girls for a movie since we were in an English speaking country. We watched Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 3D for the steep price of 11 Euros. I got so wrapped up in the experience I forgot I was not home til the lights came on and the people around me started speaking in their Irish accents. To end the night we had dinner in a small bar where we got 5 free beers and I got a free soup, we were not sure why but did not argue just tipped well.