Forgive me for I am writing on eight days of blissful vacation followed by 30 hours of hellish travel. (I am trying to upload a slideshow of pictures to help tell my story)

I embarked on this trip last Saturday with seven fellow classmates studying abroad with me in Ireland. The first destination was Barcelona. After a long day of travel, we arrived at 11:00 p.m. and were blessed with warm weather (at night!), palm trees, sangria, Doner kabobs, a fun hostel, American and Canadian students, and the Mediterranean Sea. Barcelona was easy to get used to as all these things happened within a two-hour time frame. It was almost as if the entire city was planning a reception party for our group. The next morning we walked through Barcelona at a strenuous pace, which was to set the precedent for the rest of the trip. The best part was the Sagrada Familia Church. This church began construction in 1882 by the architect Gaudi, and is still under construction, expected to be finished in 2026. As we were walking the streets, I noticed a group of 15-foot high costumes parading down the street accompanied by screeching Spanish music. Our group followed the parade that made its way to the front of the church, where a large crowd had assembled within the hour that we had left it. The group was primarily made up of four groups, each wearing their own color. As we watched the music continued and each group began to bunch together. Slowly one member was lifted up, than another climbed up and on top of the first. This continued until each group was four people high, creating a human representation of the spires of the Sagrada Familia Church directly behind them. After that we continued to explore Barcelona and eventually made our way to the port to board the Norwegian Gem.

The cruise aspect of the trip had both pros and cons.

Pro: All you can eat food. After a month and a half of my pilgrim lifestyle, I ate. Meal after meal was a treat. Food was available 24/7. Every night our entire group would sit down at a "fancy" restaurant and get four-course meals.

Con: The entire aspect of the cruise had a very cheesy aspect about it. For example, the "fancy" restaurant was filled with fake Mahoney and ridiculous chandeliers. The other guests on the cruise (another con: most guests except for two friends we made were experiencing some degree of a midlife crisis) played along with the cheesy aspect of the cruise. They would dress extravagantly, and once a meal the chefs (all foreign) would be sent out to a rousing round of applause. The food was good not amazing, but the cruise staff hyped it up, and everyone bought it. I just ate.

Pro: Every stop we made was unbelievable (Malta, Napoli, Rome, Florence, Cannes). Travel was easy, as I would wake up after a refreshing night of sleep and be in a radically different city. This made it possible to see a variety of different things, not many people can say they have been to Malta, but I can and I loved it.

Con: We did not get to see the nightlife in any city. We would wake up early and see as much as we could see before getting back on the boat. The nightlife on the boat consisted of “cheese” city. The entire staff of the crew was foreign, mostly from Indonesia and Nepal. I have no idea why or how people from Nepal were working on this cruise, they have come along way from Mount Everest to the Mediterranean. Entertainment consisted of Indonesians (sometimes the same ones that had just served me dinner) dressing up with backwards hats or Hawaiian shirts and singing Jimmy Buffet songs or a Nepal native attempting a magic show. It was amazing to watch how the crowd would cheer at each performance. It was corporate American brainwashing at its finest. I only went to the shows the first day when there were no stops, and I was almost prepared to hurl myself into the sea afterwards. The following nights I ate, made new friends (an American guy and Australian girl), read my book and hung out with my friends on the trip. This was much better and complemented our rigorous travel that we would do each day.

Pro: I did not spend much money in any town, as the boat would provide the essentials.

Con: The boat docked in two ports that were an hour away from both Rome and Florence. We had to find our own way in each city or pay a ridiculous charge to go on cruise excursions. This cut drastically into our time, but also added an element of adventure and exploring that is supposed to be part of college traveling. I saw Rome in a day for 14 Euro and was drenched by pouring rains, and it was an absolute blast. The cruise had hidden charges for nearly everything. This is why we got such a cheap ticket. Being aware and poor travelers, we managed to go unscathed by fees. Watching some of the totally unaware tourists we were with, I must have saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

In hindsight I had a fantastic time because I got to see all the cities we stopped at, and I could not have accomplished this any other way besides the cruise. I wouldn't do a cruise again anytime soon, but I was able to do my own thing both on and off the ship so I had a good time.

I also learned some things about myself. I like to travel raw. I enjoy skipping comfort for experience. I love Ireland (I'll get back to that one).

Cities:

Malta was incredible. In terms of weather, color schemes, and architecture it felt like I was in Egypt. Upon docking, our group walked to the main attraction: St. John's Church. We got there and mass had just started so we had to wait two hours and come back for a tour. My friend Thomas Joyce and I asked if we could go to the mass, as it had only just started. We did and the inside of the church was beautiful. We had communion with the Maltenese and then we were back on our way to explore the city. I decided to go back and take a tour of the church, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. Malta is a country straight out of a Dan Brown Novel, as the Knights Templar founded the country. During mass, little did I know that the floor was made up of 400 marked graves of knights from 500 years ago. The rest of the city was perfect (so was the 77 degree f weather). Geckos ran circles around me as I relaxed and explored this slice of exotic paradise.

Napoli was dirty and poor, or at least were the majority of the parts of the city I saw. We walked through neighborhood areas and tried to communicate with Italians. We ended up find back alleys to breathtaking views and lush parks. Jimmy Backus, Thomas Joyce, and I found an old castle on the Mediterranean that was simple, yet one of the best parts of the trip. We were the only ones there and we climbed to the top. See pictures. (Weather: 75 degree f and sunny= perfection)

Rome was a struggle to get to and our time was short there. We ran around in the rain and managed to see most of it. I wasn't too worried because I had already seen Rome. It reminded me of the T.V. show The Amazing Race. It was fun, but I was a little disappointed that I couldn't see my friends studying abroad there, but all in all it was a blast.

Florence was another struggle to get into to, and there was a threat of a train strike. Only three of us went and it was worth the risk. The city was walkable and scenic. The best part was waiting to see the statue of David by Michelangelo. The line was ridiculous and it was going to take all day to see the statue. We decided to skip it, but walking away I was astounded, no shocked within the point of a heart attack to see my friend Leah Palermo from high school. She is studying abroad in Rome but was traveling around with her family. This meeting boggled my mind; all I can say is that it truly is a small world. We talked for some time and parted ways, as we are hopefully meeting up with some friends in Dublin in a couple of weeks. It was crazy, I loved it.

Cannes was the last stop and the nicest day. Our group explored the city and spent the majority of the day on the beach. Perfect ending of the trip... but it turned out it was not the ending at all, because a rat race ensued trying to get back to Ireland the next day. I'll save this blog for later. Hopefully the pictures will fill in what I missed. Part two of the trip entitled “My Personal Struggle through Inferno” will come soon.

I went to the Cliffs of Moher today. I had totally forgotten this trip until yesterday, a testament to how amazing studying abroad has been. For example, as Minnesotans were dodging snow flakes the last two days, I was dodging jellyfish in the Atlantic Ocean. It was 70 degrees and sunny yesterday. Today started the same way, but soon we had ascended into the clouds: literally. I still am absolutely baffled by the roads over here. The first 30 minutes of our drive today was slow and uphill and I swear I could hear that clicking noise a roller coaster makes as it climbs the first big hill. It really does feel like a roller coaster because the road is no wider than the track of the Wild Thing. As soon as our bus hit the clouds, we blindly made a dramatic drop that was complemented with twists and turns until we were 700 feet above the ocean at the Cliffs of Moher. The clouds began to lift and the cliffs were incredible, with a special mysticism added due to the wisps of clouds, nay ghosts, flying down to the ocean. The Cliffs of Moher: It's a long way down or I survived the Cliffs of Moher are my two entrepreneurial t-shirt ideas. Another good day in Ireland.

Tomorrow is start of the 10 day midterm break. I will accompany seven fellow students from this program on a cruise on the Mediterranean. It sounds great, all I know is that there are seven restaurants on the boat I can eat ate for free and I will take warm showers. I will be taking a break from my pilgrimage and return to an American lifestyle. We were able to smooth-talk our way into a relatively cheap deal and it is an American company so we payed in dollars, not Euros, which makes a HUGE difference. I know people that are backpacking and staying at hostels that have already spent more money on their trips than the cruise. I fly out of Dublin on Saturday to Barcelona, were I will spend one night in a hostel and than board the Norwegian Gem at 5 in the morning on Sunday. This is my next week:

Itinerary

Day	Port	Arrive	Depart
Sun	Barcelona	-	7:00 PM
Mon	At Sea	-	-
Tue	Valletta (Malta)	8:00 AM	3:00 PM
Wed	Naples	8:00 AM	7:00 PM
Thu	Rome (Civitavecchia)	7:00 AM	7:00 PM
Fri	Florence/Pisa (Livorno)	7:00 AM	7:00 PM
Sat	Cannes	7:00 AM	3:00 PM
Sun	Barcelona	5:00 AM	-

I'll be off the computer until I return but I will update any followers I still have after my voyages.

Sailing new seas everyday,

John Murray

Class schedule:
Monday- 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. - Irish History
- 2 p.m. to 5 p.m- Irish Catholicism

Tuesday- 9 a.m to 10:30 a.m. - Study Abroad Seminar

Wednesday- 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. - Irish Literature

Thursday - 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.- Study Abroad Seminar

In Irish history we are currently discussing the Great Famine, or more accurately, the Great Hunger. It was no famine because as the Irish were starving to death boats overflowing with wheat and grains were leaving Irish ports daily for England. The professor in this class, Lawerence Marely from Belfast, covers hundreds of years of history in each three hour class and doesn't miss a beat. I have learned the most from this class and am able to make connections with every place we visit because of the historical background I have obtained.

Irish Catholicism is taught by an incredibly friendly old woman named Mary Clancy. Her goal is to give us as much information on the places we are going to so we can maximize our travels. She even spent the last class discussing points of interest in Europe in case we would visit them during our ten day break that starts this Friday. Unfortunately, I have learned very little about Catholicism except that it is dying in Ireland at a rapid pace. More to come on that later.

Study Abroad Seminar is taught by the professor from Saint John's, Julie Davis, and is focused on integrating experiences on excursions with a deeper understanding of Ireland primarily through writing and group discussions. This week I will start reading the book The Belfast Diaries in preparation for a trip in two weeks to Derry and Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Irish Literature is my favorite class, hands down. So far we have read in depth the works of W.B. Yeats and Frank O'Conner, and both have been fascinating. The class is discussion based but the professor Gerard O'Brien is another fascinating man that always has a new perspective or experience to add. Right now we are reading the play The Playboy of the Western World by John M. Synge. I have a part and we will finish the last act tomorrow morning. I look forward to this class.

Ten day break this Friday and I'm going on a cruise! More to come on that before I depart.

(My front yard)

Life at Park Lodge Hotel, Spiddal, Ireland:

The Park Lodge Hotel is in the middle of no where. It is 12 miles outside of Galway, hugging the coast and entrapped by rolling hills and small farms. Spiddal the town is 2 miles away and sits on top of a sandy beach, a stereotypical town made up of a church (mass is said in gaelic, not english), a butcher, a grocery store, and four pubs. The area we are in is beautiful. The ocean is a 5 minute walk and I make it daily to watch the tide change or the stars appear. Tonight the stars are out and the waves are calmly lapping against the rocky shore. As I walk back from the ocean, I cross the deadly two-lane street, thanks be to God there are no cars zooming around the corner tonight, and immediately see the front of the Park Lodge Hotel.

(Side View of Park Lodge Hotel... the pub is the glass rotunda on the left, wedding hall in the middle, class room on the far right, and hotel rooms on the second floor)

The Park Lodge Hotel is run by the Foyle family, with three of the seven Foyle siblings living and working here full time. The hotel consists of a large reception area perfect for the weddings that are held nearly every weekend here, or the weekly Wednesday Spiddal Yoga class led by Jimmy Fitzgerald. Turning the corner I see a group of students checking emails in the computer lounge (two computers, a flat screen T.V., and a couch). The classroom which I am in every Monday through Thursday is full of students using the wireless internet to Skype or finish homework. I'm still looking at the stars somehow defy the clouds while walking around the side, as the six cottages that the students live in and the director's cottage are tucked around the back of the Hotel, and I say hello to a fellow student walking to the lounge with their computer going to blog.

(My Cottage, front view)

I cross the parking lot that is in the back and make my way to my cottage, a stone's throw from the the main building. I chuckle a bit looking at the playground on the other side of the parking lot, seeing the basketball hoop set at eight and a half feet surrounded by a six foot area of cement, for those that don't know basketball thats less than half of the way to the free throw line. I walk into my cottage and think about taking a hot shower before bed, but decide not to because I haven't taken a hot shower at the cottages yet. The cottages are run on an energy machine powered by 2 Euro coins, and any leftovers of the 14 Euro weekly energy allowance is saved is split between the group. I'm used to cold showers, so I heat up some Tesco Ravioli in the microwave (valued at 35 cents) and hit the hay in preparation for the next day of classes...

Phoenix Park, Dublin. Site where Pope John Paul the Second visited 30 years ago. More than a million people gathered in the park, calling it the "best rock concert" Ireland has ever had.

Back from Dublin... and no stories to tell. The weekend excursion was fun, but was nothing more then spending time in a big city. I'm almost certain I haven't seen an Irish person in three days, and I just got out of the capital city with more than a fourth of Ireland's population. Lots of Gypsy's and bad Borat impressions will be my memories from the trip.

Our hostel was located right next to the Temple Bar area, which is notorious for "hen" and "stag" parties, the American equivalent being the bachelor party. To add to the mayhem, Ireland played Italy in Dublin for the World Cup Qualifiers on Saturday night. I would have considered buying tickets for the game (50 Euro for the nosebleeds or 70 American dollars) but our program had pre-purchased tickets to a play at the Abbey Theater. The Abbey Theater was developed by Irish intellects such as W.B. Yeats to promote the arts and Irish artists, and boy o boy did we see a piece of art. If anyone ever has a chance to see "The New Electric Ballroom", know that it has my approval. The play was actually in the Peacock Theater, directly below the Abbey Theater and it was absolutely bizarre. I made no sense of it and neither did anyone in the group. At one point a male private area (penis) was flashed and at another point a women wet herself on stage. As I looked around the small theater of 100 seats and saw all my fellow students grimacing in shock or horror, I laughed. And laughed. And continued to laugh for the remainder of the play. I wish my brother Joe could have been there for it, he truly would have gone bananas and probably would have been forcibly removed.

Prices in Dublin are unreal. 3.80 Euro ($5) is the price of any pint in Galway or anywhere else we have been thus far in Ireland. The cheapest pint in Dublin was 5.50 Euro ($9). I didn't get a pint... poor little me.

I did a lot of walking around Dublin, James Joyce style. People watching was crazy and I did see some sights, but the overall city is just a city. Nothing really separates it from New York or Minneapolis/St. Paul and there is no Irish feel to Dublin. Originally a Viking city, then the headquarters for 800 years of British rule, Dublin lacks the Irish spirit that fuels the craic (good times) on the west coast. I've also come to realize I'm not much of a city boy.

We did make a trip out to the Newgrange, a prehistoric pagan temple/tomb, which I was unable to do on my last trip to Ireland. It poured rain for the first time since we have been in Ireland. My favorite part of it was there was some farmer in working in his tractor about 100 yards from this 5,000 year old monument.

It was a fun trip, but really made me understand how magical the rest of the trip has been. I guess I was due for a mediocre blog or people would stop believing what I've been saying. I have also realized there is something about the Irish people, not the landscape, museums, tourist traps, and cities, that really makes this place special. I volunteered my afternoon Wednesday helping J.P. Foyle, one of the siblings that owns the Park Lodge Hotel, and was rewarded by eating a delicious home cooked meal of lamb and potatoes while sharing a bottle of wine with him. This was a better experience than Dublin.

Tomorrow I will try to blog about day-to-day life and classes here in Spiddal, Ireland.

Voyaging onwards,

John Murray

Before you start to read click the green October tab on the right, then you will be able to see the pictures that I put up. There should be seven or so at the bottom. It's 9 p.m. here and I'm going to bed. Everyone is waking up at 2 in the morning to watch the Viking-Packer game. I'm going to be behind on sleep but might have to do it two nights in a row to watch my beloved twins.

Tink I be goin to my wee bed now, night all!

County Kerry was a beautiful weekend excursion.

Note: I will try and post a basic summary of classes and daily life soon, but one more adventure.

On Thursday morning we departed at 8:00 a.m. trying to make it near Limerick to take a 10:30 ferry across the river Shannon. In the United States this would be a 45-minute drive, maybe hop on a couple of highways or interstates and arrive with time to spare. In Ireland we sat in traffic on the major road through Galway roughly the size of my driveway, finally arriving at the highway no bigger than any neighborhood street in Shoreview. We made it to the boat at 10:30 so needless to say we were about 15 minutes early as one must always take into account that Irish time is a thing onto itself. We drove the bus on the ferry and crossed the river, about a 20-minute boat ride. Another difference between Ireland and the US is the advent of bridges. Galway only has two small bridges going over the river Corrib, which cuts the city in half and apparently our group would have had to go about two hours out of the way to get to a bridge crossing the Shannon. When we were on the ferry, an announcement stated that the crew would be practicing the emergency response procedure. This consisted of throwing a large yellow dummy over the side of the boat. I watched in shock from the second level of the boat, as we were able to get off the bus and walk around, as the yellow dummy floated away from the boat. This was scary to me noting that the crew expected any passenger overboard to simply float, as I would sink like a rock to the bottom. Once the dummy was floating lifelessly 100 yards away, the boat was put in reverse and continued until the dummy was right at the edge of the boat. Then they dropped the back ramp that all the cars had entered on and the two “emergency rescue” men walked out on the ramp and picked up the dummy with a five-foot pole with a hook on it. The held up the dummy triumphantly as the entire boat cheered; while I shivered knowing any human being that fell off the boat would certainly perish.

The bus ride continued to Tralee and around the Ring of Kerry. It is an incredibly scenic, rugged, mountainous, historical, and religious area, but loses some of it’s effect when it is viewed from a bus window or through ten minute bathroom breaks. Every town and house had a green and yellow flag celebrating Kerry’s win in the All-Ireland Gaelic Football final, an event that transcends athletics and is a deep source of pride for the people of the area. Stops were made at Tralee and Gallerus Oratory, the oldest of the remaining “beehive” huts that housed hermit monks and nuns up to 1500 years ago. To be honest I found both the city of Tralee and Gallerus Oratory to be underwhelming, even a bit cheesy. We trekked on to Portmagee and arrived at 6:30-7:00 p.m.

Arriving at Portmagee was a bit of a shock. There were two pubs in the city. It’s not stretching truth to say that you can multiple the pubs in a city by 50 and roughly find the population. There were two pubs in Portmagee. To add to this, we were to stay here for two nights. The hostel was the nicest one I’ve been to yet, but walking into town I realized the only place to get groceries in the city was the post office. I repeat, there were only two pubs in this town. Back at the hostel my friend Thomas Joyce started talking to a couple of Italians, asking why on earth they had come to stay in Portmagee. It turns out that they had traveled to Ireland for one reason and were going to see only one thing in the country: Skellig Michael. They described it has an off-the-beaten-track mountainous island, which for hundreds of years monks had traveled about 15 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to live in hermitage and isolation in the most remote part of Ireland. The ruins of the monk’s buildings still remain and are surrounded by breathtaking natural formations and rare birds. They warned that not many people voyaged out and that an American woman had fallen to her death only two weeks ago. I feel bad saying this but that only increased our desire to make the trip. It was a 40 Euro trip, which included an hour ride there, and an hour ride back and two hours to get off and explore the island. The reason our group had come to Portmagee was to have a photography workshop with our program director’s Norwegian cousin who is a professional photographer. I went to bed disappointed and hungry.

The next morning I arose and went to the Portmagee community center for the workshop. This workshop is something that I might have found interesting back in the States on a rainy day, but we were in Ireland and the sun was shinning. I spent the morning wondering how basketball would be different if it was played on an Irish court, usually about half the size of a normal basketball court with one basket placed at 8 feet and one at 11 feet. I think it would be a fun modification. We broke for lunch at the local restaurant, and had lunch paid for with the program money. It was absolutely delicious. This was my first fish and chips meal and was the best and freshest food I’ve had since being in Ireland.

The second half of the day was walking around practicing taking pictures. While walking around snapping artsy pics usually of a rock or a boat or me without a shirt by a boat, a flustered Italian man approached me and asked in broken English if I could help him. I was finally able to figure out what he was saying mostly through his exaggerated hand motions that only Italians can pull off. Anyways, he had come with his wife planning to see Skellig Michael but needed a couple more people in order for the captain to take out a boat. Our group of 28 students was the only other tourists in the town at this point, which really says how remote Skellig Michael is in terms of tourism. The Italian had a look of desperation in his eyes and hands and told me that he had talked the captain into only paying 30 Euro as opposed to the regular price of 40 Euro. At this point, a group of students had formed around me and we told him we would ask our director, but still were a little turned off by paying 30 Euro. The Italian insisted that we must leave within 15 minutes for the captain to take us because it was already early in the afternoon at this point. We asked our professor if we could skip the second half of the photography workshop and go to Skellig Michael. The boat could only take 12 people and the Italians already took two spots, so people were going to be left out on the trip; however, our professor gave us her permission. Meanwhile, the desperate Italian had talked the captain down to only 20 Euro, apparently this was the last boat ride he was going to take out until next summer. The stars were aligning.

A group of seven students and the two Italians ended up making the trip. Many people missed out and were off taking artsy pictures somewhere, which is a shame but part of the catch was we really did have to leave within 15 minutes of this offer. We walked down to the boat and I was shocked to see a small fishing boat with a poster covering one window with a poster of Bart Simpson saying “Eat My Shorts”. Sometime when I have more time, I would like to blog about the sense of illegitimacy that I have seen in many different aspects of Irish culture and business that reminds me very much of Africa. I was half surprised when our Captain Michael greeted us because he wasn’t wearing an old, donated Minnesota Timberwolves shirt but was not surprised that he was missing numerous teeth.

The trip out was gorgeous but rocky. We were on the ocean and the waves do rock back and forth, often feeling more like flipping over the boat than gentle rocking. I had no idea such scenic islands and cliffs and underwater caves were so close to Portmagee. I even began to enjoy myself. At one point Michael had to go get something so he asked my friend Thomas Joyce to take the wheel. We were out on the Atlantic Ocean and Thomas was navigating us over three-foot waves. I got a little seasick. Soon we were able to see Skellig Michael and the other Skellig next to it called Little Skellig. Little Skellig is much smaller and it is impossible for humans to land on, so it has become a sanctuary to over 17,000 birds. I’ve never seen anything like it. What looked like a white mountain top from miles out was really an immense collection of the sea birds. To put it in perspective, when we floated around the island, it even smelt like birds. We got to Skellig Michael and were able to get out and walk around, but what we didn’t know until that moment was that we were going to be the only people on the island! I’m talking no other tourists, no gift shops, no security, no mountain rescue, this was our island. Michael the captain dropped us off and told us to be careful and take our time. He then floated off and went fishing for Mackerel.

Walking, who am I kidding; climbing up Skellig Michael was surreal. First there were complete blue skies over the mountain surrounded by rain clouds a mile away in all directions. Second the water was unbelievable. We had only started climbing and looked down to see 20 feet to the bottom of the dark blue-green water. I could sit here and use ridiculous adjectives to describe how perfect it was but will simply say that I felt like I was on the set of the movie Jurassic Park. It was lush and mountainous and empty and foreign, yet beautiful just like Jurassic Park. There was even an empty helicopter pad. The walk was dangerous (like all my hikes in Ireland so far) but worth every terrifying moment. On the top of the mountain, there was a small village of the beehive huts directly overlooking a steep drop into the ocean; this was much better than the one beehive hut we saw on flat ground a group. We walked around and I kept an eye out for veloci-raptors and t-rexes. Once again the view was unreal, and I’m going to let my pictures do the rest of the talking.

On the boat ride back, Michael offered us some fresh Mackerel that he had literally just caught. He needed to cut it up for us so we offered to drive the boat. Visual evidence exists that I drove a boat on the Atlantic Ocean so I’m not making anything up. As we got closer to Portmagee a rainbow formed directly over the town, meanwhile Skellig Michael was engulfed in a storm. All and all, chalk up another one for magical experiences. This one cost me 20 Euro and I will never forget it. Also note my perspective of Portmagee was completely turned around, honestly this might have been the best stop yet.

We got back ate fresh fish, which was delicious and went to one of the pubs and step danced all night with locals. The next day we went to Killarney and stayed at a hostel that was full of Irish students. It was a blast and I made some new friends. We even went clubbing, which is totally not my style but it was a blast. Life is good and I will try to blog soon about everyday life and classes, maybe just something that is not a life-changing experience.

Stayin’ golden

John Murray

"Emergency Rescue Crew" saving body in Shannon River.

Walking up Skellig Michael.

View from top of Skellig Michael looking at "Little Skellig". Each on of those white dots is a bird, there are 17,000 of them on the island.

Captain Michael cutting up fresh Mackerel. Meanwhile a Johnnie or Bennie is driving the boat

Rainbow in the background directly over the city of Portmagee.

Captain Michael in the foreground of Skellig Michael

New Italian friend tying his shoe on the way up

Beehive monasteries on top of Skellig Michael

and yours truly driving a boat on the rough Atlantic Ocean