Andrea and I hiked through enough rain in Switzerland and France, so luckily Ireland was beautiful weather. We spent a day walking around Dublin, checking out St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, Trinity College, Temple Bar, and a few pubs. We spent an evening at Ireland's oldest pub, the Brazen Head, established in 1198, sipping Irish coffees and listening to live music.
Christ Church Cathedral
The oldest pub in Ireland!And we couldn't leave Dublin without visiting the Guinness factory, where we learned all about the making and the history of Guiness beer (it was much more interesting than I had anticipated).
Our tour finished off with a taste of all of Guiness' brews.
The view from the tasting room of the Guiness Storehouse
Leaving Dublin, we caught a bus up to Northern Ireland (changing from Euros back to English Pounds) near Ballintoy. The National Trust maintains the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, which is a 20m long, 30m high suspension bridge to a small island. The coastline is gorgeous, and we could even see to Scotland!
The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge behind us, and a close up below.
Traveling further north we came to the Giant's Causeway, which is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns which are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. The columns are hexagonal, due to fracturing of the lava plateau as it cooled, and are quite impressive!
Some of the hexagonal basalt stacks
Andrea climbing some larger stacks, called chimneys
They're everywhere!
Who could resist climbing these?Next, we ventured across the island towards the west coast. We stopped at Corcomroe Abbey, a 13th century Cistercian Monestery. According to legend, the five masons who completed the abbey were executed in order to prevent them from constructing a rival elsewhere.
Our final destination was the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs range between 400 and 700 feet high, and are spectacular!
Looking inland from the Cliffs (above), and Andrea mimicking the danger sign (below). Amazingly, quite a few people jump off, fall off, or get blown off the cliffs each year!
O'Brien's tower in the background. From the top of the tower we could see the Aran Islands.
Just plain silliness
After another night of sleeping in the airport, we were back to London early the next morning, and Andrea returned to Minneapolis. What a holiday!
The first term also brought Balliol's first BOP (themed costume party) of the year, and this year's theme was 'National Geographic.' I came as a snake, decked in a snakeskin dress, skakeskin tights, and a homemade forked tongue. A picture of my friend Simon and I below, on the cover of National Geographic Magazine.
My achilles tendon is unfortunately still a bit torn, and a year after the original tear, I'm still not running. I think I'm making progress, albeit slowly, and I hope to be back to running by the beginning of March. While I can't run, there's still much I can do. Here's a picture of Chris, Maxim and I enjoying a chilly autumn Sunday in an Oxford park, working on our muscle-ups. This park contains the only hill in Oxford, and provides a great view looking down on the spires of the city.
Finally, in the first term of the new school year, I completed my Transfer Viva. This is the evaluation which occurs after one year, where students have to defend their work thus far to Fellows in the department, in an attempt to transfer their status from a 'probationary student' to a 'D.Phil. candidate.' I am happy to say that the viva went successfully, and I can now consider myself a D.Phil. candidate :)
