Day 19 - In which Amy and I search for our dorms and almost have to sleep on the floor

For the next couple days Amy and I stayed at the dorms again. Here is the dorm I was in. It is the same one as before.


We explored the city a bit and Amy attended all of her Arcadia stuff. On the third day, once we both knew which flats we had gotten, we decided to go find them. We couldn't go in but we at least wanted to know where they were. Amy's was a very short walk. Here is the outside of her building:


In front of the door to her building:


After seeing her building we tried to find mine. The street was only about a ten minute walk away. We couldn't find number 16 though. Part of the problem was that unlike home where numbers alternate (all the odds are on one side and all the evens on the other) the numbers here grow up one side of the street and then wrap around to the other. This means you have 1-10 on one side and 11-20 on the other. Even being confused we still found where we thought it should be (and we were not too far off). Unfortunately where we thought it should be looked like this:

I was really, really hoping that was not it.

All the information we had been getting from the university was very confused. First it sounded as though I would not have a flat. If worst came to worst I figured I could always sleep on Amy's floor until I found something. Then while staying in the dorms it looked like Amy was not going to be able to book the last night. So, she was going to sleep on my floor. There were a couple of other times we were planning on sleeping on each others' floors too. We never ended up having to which was nice.

Day 16 - The day that never ended

After getting back from the Aran Islands we returned to the hostel and picked up our bags. We ate dinner and hung around until about 11:30 pm. We were planning on busing to Belfast and taking a ferry back to Scotland. Since we needed to be back at the University by the next afternoon we had to bus overnight. This bus journey had three legs. It was not too bad. We hardly got any sleep though. We finally got to the Belfast bus station at about 5:30 am. Here is what it looked like:


It was way nicer than the other bus stations we were in, in Ireland and we were in a lot. It even had a statue:


We were not the only ones there at 5 am.


On this bus trip we were prepared. We put our backpacks in bags again so they didn't get wet.



After getting off the bus I finally found a pay phone that worked. I had been unable to find one for the last couple days. At this point, facing having no housing in Edinburgh, I really wanted to call home. I also found out making a call with a phone card from a pay phone is very, very expensive.

After I made my call we took a taxi to the ferry. We were originally going to take the bus but it did not come. It was a good thing we took the taxi, otherwise I am sure we would have gotten very lost.

We got rail and sail tickets (combined ferry and train ticket) to Edinburgh because it was far cheaper than anything else. Since it was so much cheaper we thought that it would be minimal in terms of fanciness and comfort. We were very, very wrong. The boat was huge and super fancy!

Here is the directory sign on the first floor of the boat:


The area we sat in:


The boat ride was uneventful and easy. We landed right next door to the train station. The train ride was also very easy and pleasant. The train is much more comfortable than the bus. Unfortunately it is usually also much more expensive.

We got back to Waverly station, picked up our bags and went back to Pollock halls (the housing office of the University). I was very, very upset that they had not given me a room. Luckily when I told them my situation the organizer came out and talked to me. He then went and looked at my records and said that they were going to offer me a room in a non-catered flat which was exactly what I had wanted!

Day 15 - The Aran Islands

The next day we decided to go out to the Aran Islands. There was a bus that left from right outside our hostel that easily took us to the ferry to the island. Unfortunately I felt really awful this day. Amy, who had slept through most of the bus ride the day before, was feeling much better. Between being pretty sick and very worried about my housing I definitely was not. Still we only had one day to spend in Galway before we had to head back and we wanted to make the most of it. Here is a picture of the bus we took to the ferry (the white one):

We had thought the ride would be short. Unfortunately not. It took about 45 minutes. We left at 10am and the last ferry and bus back left at 5:30 pm so we figured we would have plenty of time. Here is the ferry we took over:


Amy at the dock:

Me at the dock:

View from the ferry:


We had originally planned on renting bicycles again and riding around the island. The island was a lot smaller than the 47.5 km ride around Dingle. I had quite enjoyed the last ride. So, when we reached the island we walked past all the tour vans and headed straight for the bicycles. However we found that renting bikes was very expensive. I did not feel so good and it didn't look like great weather. One of the tour drivers stopped us and started to tell us about the driving tour. We were about to say "no" because we thought it would be too expensive. However I decided to ask how much it cost. It turned out it was the same price as renting a bicycle!

The only problem was he needed six people to do the tour. Everyone else from the ferry had dispersed by this time. He suggested we go have tea or something until the next ferry came in and then he would give us a tour.

So, Amy and I went and looked at the shop by the dock for a bit and then got some tea in the restaurant. We were anxious to get started. We realized though that we probably would not make any better time on the bicycles than by waiting though as we were so tired and there was so much uphill.

When we did finally start we were very glad we had picked the tour bus we had. For one thing it was not really a bus. It was a van. The driver was a native islander and Gaelic speaker. Amy had really wanted to talk to som Gaelic speakers so this was perfect. He knew all sorts of interesting things about the area and stopped whenever we wanted to.

Here is the main place that we stopped, Dun Aonghus, a prehistoric fortress:



The wall on the way up:


Some perspective on the path up:



Me walking up the path:



It was easy to see how they found enough rocks to build all the walls. Rocks were everywhere! It is amazing they had enough dirt to grow anything in.






Amy hiking up:


Finally at the top. It was huge! Here is the inside





View to one side of the fort:

One of the most famous things about Dun Aonghus is the cliff. It is very tall and a sheer drop. Here is Amy leaning over to take more pictures:






Me on the edge of the cliff:
Amy and I. We realized that at this point we did not have any other pictures with the two of us from this trip. So we decided to fix that:


Jorge, Amy and I. Jorge is from the Czech Republic and was on our tour bus. We ended up walking around with him fora while.


The sea:


These flowers were everywhere!


The edge of the cliff:





I got quite close to the edge. My feet:


From the cliff looking back at the walls:





Climbing the walls:




Highland dancing at Dun Aonghus:


It was super, super windy!!


Our other main stop on the tour was at the seven churches. I am not sure how old they are but I know they are very old. They were all built right next to each other which I found a bit odd.




In the back. I am not sure what this is.



Field near by. So many stones!


Looking through the window of one of the churches:


Further back view of the window:


Amy inside a church:


Me inside the same church:



The graveyard. It is apparently still used today.




The floor of one church:


Amy and Jorge in one of the churches.



After seeing the churches we got back on the tour bus and headed to the ferry. We were really glad we had chosen the bus at this point because it started to rain really hard. Right after it started to rain we passed a lady walking who waved us down. The driver stopped and started talking to her in Gaelic. She wanted to get a lift but the bus was full. After a minute or two she got in the trunk portion of the bus (it was like the back bit of a mini van). She rode there for a mile or two then got out. Neither she nor the driver seemed to find this at all unusual!